Ordnance – Recoilless gun – Having breech closure
Patent
1998-01-26
1999-05-04
Jordan, Charles T.
Ordnance
Recoilless gun
Having breech closure
89 1704, F41A 108
Patent
active
059005750
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to a bottom plate member which is designed and made for initially tightening a chamber in which a high gas pressure is generated. Examples of such chambers can be found in ammunition rounds for recoilless weapons but also in pipes and containers within the process industry. Specifically, the invention relates to a bottom plate member which is located at the rear end of a propellant charge chamber of an ammunition round for a recoilless weapon. Initially the bottom plate member provides a tightening and barrier for the propellant gases, for instance gases of powder, generated in the chamber when the round is fired, but is broken when the gas pressure within the chamber exceeds a certain level so that the gases are allowed to exit from the rear end of the ammunition round.
Bottom plate members of this type have previously been used in ammunition rounds for recoilless weapon systems. It is the gas outlet rearwards, when the rear bottom plate is broken, that makes the weapon recoilless. It is also previously known to use similar bottom plates as so-called blasting foils in the process industry, in which the function of the bottom plate is to break and evacuate the gases as soon as an inadmissible gas pressure is generated in a pipe or a container.
When the bottom plate is broken it is thrown rearwards with great force and it is a high risk that personnel and equipment behind the weapon or the process equipment in question will be damaged. This is a well-known problem to which one has tried to find a solution by providing the plate with fractural impressions which divides the plate into a number of smaller and then less dangerous parts.
It has turned out, however, that the methods that have been used so far for reducing the risks for personal injuries and other damages have been unsatisfactory. Even those fragments which are coming from the broken bottom plate could hurt persons that are staying behind the weapon. On the whole, previously known methods with fractural impressions, light-weight bottom plate materials or the like, have not been satisfactory with respect to a safe and predictable process for the gas outlet.
The object of this invention is to solve the problems that have been discussed above and provide a more controlled and splinterfree process for the opening of the plate so that a substantially 100% safety is achieved for this process. According to the invention this is achieved by providing the bottom plate with a through hole in the center which gives an effective starting point for the cracking process, fractural impressions for controlling the cracking process so that the plate after the cracking start is divided into a number of well defined flaps, but which are connected to each other, and a number of straight edges, which number corresponds to the number of flaps, against which edges the base of the flaps are arranged to be folded when the plate is opened up due to the gas pressure.
One embodiment of the invention is schematically illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which FIGS. 1 and 2 show a complete ammunition round for a recoilless weapon system before firing as well as after firing, FIG. 3 shows the bottom plate with the fractural impressions more in detail, FIG. 4 shows an insert member for the bottom plate and FIG. 5 shows the two members bottom plate and insert member put together.
FIG. 1 shows a complete ammunition round 1 in firing position in a launching barrel 2 of a recoilless weapon system, for example a 20 mm ammunition round he launching barrel 2 has a rear conventional nozzle 3 for the exhausting propellant gases. The ammunition round 1 comprises a chamber 4 with a propellant charge therein and a detonator 5. A bottom plate 6 is located at the rear end of the chamber 4 for tightening the chamber and providing a barrier for the generated powder gases so that an efficient ignition over the propellant charge is guaranteed. The bottom plate consists basically of a comparatively thin, circular disc 7 and a flange 8 arranged at the rearmost part of
REFERENCES:
patent: 3614907 (1971-10-01), Haglund et al.
patent: 4739799 (1988-04-01), Carney et al.
patent: 4902043 (1990-02-01), Zillig et al.
patent: 5186214 (1993-02-01), Savard
patent: 5216194 (1993-06-01), Boire
Johansson Ingemar
Lager Tomas
Linderholt Lief
Sundell Christer
Jordan Charles T.
Roberts John T.
Simbal AB, A Corp. of Sweden
Wesson Theresa M.
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