Ammunition and explosives – Shells – With secondary shells
Patent
1994-10-24
1995-12-12
Tudor, Harold J.
Ammunition and explosives
Shells
With secondary shells
102293, 102393, F42B 1258
Patent
active
054739888
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The scope of the present invention is that of wedging devices for sub-munitions placed inside the envelope of a projectile.
It is known to design projectiles intended to carry sub-munitions. These projectiles can be of a type such as the artillery shell, missile, rocket or mortar projectile.
Such a projectile comprises a pyrotechnic charge which is initiated when it nears its target thereby causing the sub-munitions to be ejected from the envelope.
The sub-munitions can be of the anti-personnel or anti-tank type. When their diameter is less than that of the internal diameter of the envelope, the problem arises of how to wedge them radially with respect to the envelope.
In fact the projectile must be able to withstand the mechanical stresses caused by the transportation, handling and above all firing, without causing the deterioration of the sub-munitions.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,793,260 describes an artillery shell which carries anti-tank bomblets. The latter are wedged with respect to the envelope by means of inserts. Each insert comprises concave surfaces which come into contact with two adjacent bomblets and also comprises one convex surface which comes into contact with the internal surface of the shell envelope.
Thus, six inserts evenly distributed at an angle provide the radial wedging for seven bomblets with respect to the shell envelope.
The shell contains several "layers" of bomblets stacked axially, and each layer is wedged with respect to the envelope by a set of six inserts.
Such a wedging device presents certain disadvantages.
In fact, in order to ensure that the bomblets remain immobile, the inserts have to be of such a size that the assembly presents no radial give.
Such a tightly fitting assembly imposes the use of a press to install into the shell each group of seven bomblets together with their inserts.
So as to limit the compressive load and the stresses to which the bomblets are subjected, it is not possible to install all the "layers" of bomblets in a single operation.
The assembly must therefore be carried out "layer" by "layer", resorting at each stage to the use of a press to install the inserts.
Such an installation procedure is both long and costly. In fact, a bomblet-carrying artillery cargo shell can hold up to nine layers of bomblets which implies nine successive compression operations.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A goal of the present invention is to propose a wedging device for sub-munitions which enables the sub-munitions to be quickly installed into the envelope and whereby the sub-munitions are radially wedged with no give in respect of the envelope.
Therefore, an object of the invention is a wedging device for sub-munitions placed inside a projectile envelope, a device constituted of small bars evenly distributed at an angle, each bar comprising a bearing surface designed to come into contact with an internal surface of the envelope and two holding surfaces designed to come into contact with at least two adjacent sub-munitions, this device being characterised in that each bar is divided into at least two half-bars which come into contact with each other by at least one inclined guiding surface, a surface such that, by the relative sliding of each half-bar, it enables the two holding surfaces to be forced apart in such a way as to eliminate radial give in the sub-munitions assembly in the envelope.
According to one particular embodiment of the invention, each half-bar is constituted by the assemblage of at least two identical block elements, each block element comprising a bearing surface, a holding surface and a guiding surface.
Advantageously, the block elements constituting a half-bar are assembled by means of dog points and holes fitted to each end.
The block elements can be identical for both half-bars.
So as to facilitate the assembly of the bars, each block can be fitted with a pin placed on its guiding surface. This pin is designed to fit into a housing cut into the guiding surface of another block, the pins and housings enabling the two half-b
REFERENCES:
patent: 2809583 (1957-10-01), Ortynsky et al.
patent: 3611931 (1971-10-01), Bessey et al.
patent: 4480552 (1984-11-01), Eckel et al.
patent: 4793260 (1988-12-01), Kruse et al.
Giat Industries
Tudor Harold J.
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