Ordnance – Automatic – Gas piston type
Reexamination Certificate
1999-01-25
2001-05-08
Johnson, Stephen M. (Department: 3641)
Ordnance
Automatic
Gas piston type
C089S043010
Reexamination Certificate
active
06227098
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Many different methods have been used to reduce recoil in a gun. In artillery or cannon-type weapons the barrel is usually mounted to slide on a carriage and the recoil is absorbed by springs, fluid shock absorbers and the like, sometimes in combination with a muzzle mounted blast deflector. Recoil forces drive the gun mechanism to the rear in reaction to the projected being driven forward by the propellant gases. Since the gun mechanism is much heavier than the projectile, the major portion of the recoil is absorbed by accelerating the mass of the gun. Making a gun heavier has been one method of absorbing recoil but this results in a gun which is difficult to handle and transport, particularly when heavy weapons must be moved by aircraft.
It would be of great benefit to be able to effectively reduce recoil in a relatively light weight gun such as an artillery piece.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The recoil-controlling system of the present invention allows the gun weight, particularly that of the moving components, to be greatly reduced. Accordingly, the weight of the supporting gun carriage can also be reduced.
The moving or sliding portion of the gun, specifically the barrel and breech assembly, is coupled to an attenuator unit which is connected between the barrel and the supporting frame or carriage. The barrel has a bleed-off port just ahead of the projectile in its loaded position, so that propellant gases exit through the port before the projectile has progressed very far down the barrel. The gases are diverted into a reaction cylinder to drive a plunger or a piston, the cylinder being connected to an attenuator which is a fluid-damped shock absorber. The attenuation occurs early in the firing cycle near the momentum-to-acceleration conversion point.This early attenuation avoids the heavy kinetic energy forces as the projectile continues along the barrel and exits the muzzle. The great reduction in recoil allows the weight of the barrel and its supporting carriage to be reduced.
The system is not limited to artillery pieces but can also be adapted to .50 caliber, 20 mm, 40 mm and similar smaller caliber weapons.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2393627 (1946-01-01), Garand
patent: 2679192 (1954-05-01), Seeley et al.
patent: 3656400 (1972-04-01), Stoner et al.
patent: 3779131 (1973-12-01), Kawamura
patent: 5123194 (1992-06-01), Mason
patent: 714566 (1941-12-01), None
patent: 56071 (1939-04-01), None
English tranlation of Danish patent No. 56,071.
Brown Martin Haller & McClain LLP
Johnson Stephen M.
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