Ordnance – Mounts – Aircraft type
Reexamination Certificate
1999-05-11
2001-06-26
Johnson, Stephen M. (Department: 3641)
Ordnance
Mounts
Aircraft type
Reexamination Certificate
active
06250197
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention generally relates to aircraft armament apparatus and, in a preferred embodiment thereof, more particularly relates to the external mounting of armament apparatus on a helicopter.
The Blackhawk military helicopter has a cabin area positioned behind the cockpit area and having sliding gunner's windows on opposite sides thereof. Using conventional mounting techniques, either 7.62 mm mini-guns or single barrel 7.62 mm machine guns may be mounted on the horizontal sill areas of these gunner's windows on articulated support linkage assemblies that permit the guns to be swung outwardly through the opened windows to use orientations, or inwardly through the opened windows to storage orientations. Various well-known problems, limitations and disadvantages are associated with this conventional helicopter armament mounting technique.
For example, with both the 7.62 mm mini-gun and the single barrel 7.62 mm machine gun, the articulated, sill-mounted support structure for the gun has an undesirable amount of positional “play” therein which, although necessary for gun adjustment and deployment, substantially degrades the firing accuracy of the gun. Additionally, while the single barrel 7.62 mm machine gun has an ammo box mounted directly on the gun, the 7.62 mm mini-gun has an external ammo box that must be positioned in the adjacent cabin area, with the belted ammunition fed from the ammo box, out the gunner's window and to the gun. This, of course, undesirably clutters up the cabin area. Another problem associated with this sill mounting of both the 7.62 mm mini-gun and the 7.62 mm single barrel machine gun is that the gunner's windows cannot be closed with the guns in their ready positions. The inability to close these windows leads to uncomfortably cold cabin temperatures during cold weather missions, and fuel mist potentially entering the cabin area during in-flight refueling.
With either the 7.62 mm mini-gun or the 7.62 mm single barrel machine gun conventionally mounted on a cabin area gunner's window sill, the maximum upward firing angle of the gun relative to horizontal is approximately 1.5 degrees. This is due to the fact that, with the sillmounted gun pointed forwardly along a side of the helicopter, this is the maximum upward firing elevation angle of the gun that (with a predetermined margin of safety) will position its bullet path safely beneath the helicopter's forwardly drooped rotor blade tip path to preclude bullet impact with the spinning rotor blades. This 1.5 degree maximum upward elevational firing angle of the gun undesirably limits the maximum firing range of the gun when the gun is swung away from its forwardly pointed orientation—for example when it is being fired off to the side of the helicopter or to the rear thereof.
Yet another limitation presented by this conventional helicopter window sill-mounting of machine guns is that larger machine guns, such as 0.50 caliber machine guns, are difficult to deploy, and, because of their weight, intensify crash load issues.
As can readily be seen from the foregoing, a need exists for an improved technique for operatively mounting armament apparatus, including a machine gun, on a helicopter in a manner eliminating or at least substantially reducing the above-mentioned problems, limitations and disadvantages typically associated with the conventional window sill-mounting of machine guns on a helicopter. It is to this need that the present invention is directed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In carrying out principles of the present invention, in accordance with a preferred embodiment thereof, external armament apparatus is provided for a helicopter having an external structure disposed on a side portion thereof. According to one aspect of the invention, the external armament apparatus comprises a support structure which, with the helicopter in a level orientation, is operative to support a machine gun, representatively a 0.50 caliber machine gun, on the external structure for (1) vertical elevational pivoting about a horizontal axis relative to the support structure toward and away from a predetermined upper limit position in which the firing axis of the machine gun is upwardly inclined at an acute elevational angle relative to a horizontal reference axis, and (2) horizontal forward and rearward pivoting about a forwardly inclined vertical axis.
In this manner, with the machine gun in its upper limit position and the helicopter in a level orientation, the elevational angle of the machine gun's firing axis is automatically increased as the machine gun is rearwardly pivoted about the forwardly inclined vertical axis, and is automatically decreased as the machine gun is forwardly pivoted about the forwardly inclined vertical axis. This advantageously increases the gun's side and rear firing ranges, while at the same time maintaining a safe vertical clearance distance between the gun's firing axis and the drooped front end of the helicopter's rotor blade tip envelope when the gun is in its forwardmost azimuth orientation.
Representatively, the machine gun is secured to the outboard post portion of a specially designed rotatable pintle arm assembly in which an inboard post portion is joined to the outboard post portion by a support arm member that supports the outboard post portion in a horizontally and vertically offset relationship with the inboard post portion. The inboard post portion is rotatably secured to a pintle mounting block member which, in turn, is secured to a tow plate portion of one of the helicopter's landing wheel-supporting sponsons extending outwardly from a side of the helicopter generally beneath a gunner's window on both sides of a cabin area of the helicopter. The external armament apparatus also preferably includes an ammunition magazine box supported on the tow plate and adapted to hold belted ammunition feedable to the machine gun.
With both the machine gun and its associated ammunition box disposed externally of the cabin area, the gunner's window can be closed during inclement weather during periods when the gun is not being fired, the cabin area is not cluttered with armament apparatus, and the use of larger machine guns, such as 0.50 caliber machine guns, is substantially facilitated. The pintle arm assembly has a rugged construction which has only minimal vertical and horizontal “play” therein, thereby substantially increasing the firing accuracy of the gun.
According to one aspect of the invention, a yoke assembly is mounted on the outboard post portion of the pintle arm assembly for rotation relative thereto about the forwardly inclined vertical axis which is preferably parallel to the helicopter's forwardly inclined rotor mast axis, the mast axis being forwardly inclined at an angle of about 3 degrees. A specially designed cradle assembly is secured to the yoke assembly for horizontal rotation therewith about the forwardly inclined vertical axis, and vertical rotation relative thereto about a horizontal axis.
The cradle assembly, in its illustrated preferred embodiment, includes a frame portion including a pair of laterally spaced apart parallel slide tubes, and a connection portion secured to the yoke assembly in a manner permitting the cradle assembly to pivot around the connection, about a horizontal axis, relative to the yoke assembly. A cradle assembly body portion to which the machine gun may be secured for movement therewith is carried by the slide tubes for sliding reciprocation along their lengths, and the machine gun is mountable on the body portion. A pair of shock absorbers have first end portions anchored to the frame portion and second ends anchored to the body portion so as to resiliently resist movement of the body portion in one axial direction along the slide tubes. The cradle assembly advantageously provides a direct load path for machine gun recoil forces to the pintle arm assembly via the pivot location on the yoke assembly.
According to another aspect of the i
Johnson Stephen M.
Konneker & Smith
LandOfFree
Sponson tow-plate-mounted helicopter armament apparatus and... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Sponson tow-plate-mounted helicopter armament apparatus and..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Sponson tow-plate-mounted helicopter armament apparatus and... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2495643