Ordnance – Firing devices – Percussion firing
Patent
1993-05-11
1995-05-02
Brown, David
Ordnance
Firing devices
Percussion firing
42 84, 89 273, 89 281, F41A 1959, F41A 1929
Patent
active
054109426
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention concerns a firing mechanism by percussion for a mortar or similar weapon, and a mortar or similar weapon incorporating such a mechanism.
Apart from muzzle-loading mortars, there are also known to exist mortars loaded from the rear, whether from a drum-type magazine of shells, as described in FR-A-2 402 852 or from a loading chamber being moved perpendicularly to the axis of the discharge tube as described, for example, in FR-A-2 163 932. While the usual muzzle-loading mortars are equipped with a firing mechanism which simply consists of a firing-pin rigidly fixed to the baseplate of the weapon, this approach is unsuitable for the advanced mortars of the types described in the aforesaid documents, nor generally for rear-loading mortars, in which one part of the discharge tube that serves as a shell carrier is to be displaced relative to the discharge tube proper.
The problem thus arises of providing such mortars with a firing mechanism using mechanical percussion which would be at once reliable, capable of containing the pressure of the propellant gas upon discharge, and also capable of withstanding the recoil acceleration in the case of weapons equipped with an arrangement for absorbing this recoil and, finally, enabling automatic reloading upon the counter-recoil of the weapon as required, in particular, for rapid-fire mortars.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The basic problem of the invention is solved by providing a percussion-firing mechanism for a mortar or similar weapon comprising a movable firing-pin mounted on a translation carriage and an apparatus for activating this pin. The pin forms a part of a percussion assembly housed in a housing rigidly affixed to the rear baseplate of the mortar. The pin is activated by a trigger releasing a percussion spring with an interposed articulated lever on which pivots an arm which may be engaged, on the one hand, with the activating organ associated with the trigger and, on the other hand, with a movable stop assembly also rigidly affixed to the rear baseplate of the mortar. The movable stop assembly should be engaged with a fixed organ of the mortar.
According to another characteristic of the invention, the trigger is a solenoid with a rod engaging with the activation organ which includes a push-rod loaded by the return spring and has its extremity adjacent to the solenoid rod including a rocking mechanism mounted so as to pivot around an axis essentially perpendicular to the striker sliding runout.
In a preferred realization the percussion assembly includes the following:
The firing-pin proper, of circular cross-section, split into longitudinal channels movable along the first bore provided in the housing affixed to the rear baseplate of the mortar;
A piston of the same axis as the firing-pin, housed in the second bore of the housing and forming one piece with the firing-pin, these two being connected by a sealed rod that fits in the ring separating the first from the second bore;
A percussion spring pressing, on one hand, on the piston face opposed to the face turned towards the firing-pin proper and, on the other hand, against a threaded plug which forms the second bore; and
The second bore containing a shock absorbing spring member of which the pre-stress may be adjusted by way of the threaded plug and which is intended to be engaged by the piston.
The invention also includes the articulated lever having one of its extremities on the connecting rod that joins the firing-pin proper with the piston, which is similarly articulated at its other extremity along the guiding jaws of the body rigidly affixed to the rear baseplate of the mortar.
The baseplate also carries the mobile stop assembly including a cocking pin mounted so as to slide against the action of a compression spring having its tension adjustable by an adjusting screw on which the articulated arm pivoted on the lever connected to the percussion assembly is intended to be supported.
According to yet other characteristic of the invention, the articulated arm f
REFERENCES:
patent: 1298887 (1919-04-01), Challenger et al.
patent: 1352891 (1920-09-01), Green
patent: 2473555 (1949-06-01), Weiss
patent: 2656636 (1953-10-01), Green
patent: 2779242 (1957-01-01), Willhauck
patent: 3283658 (1966-11-01), Knight et al.
patent: 4986019 (1991-01-01), Dennis
Brown David
Giat Industries
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