Lifting device in an armoured vehicle

The invention relates to a lifting device in an armoured vehicle. The lifting device comprises a holder, which can be engaged with a body to be raised, particularly a shell. A driven lifting element is also provided, by means of which the holder can be raised and lowered. In order to be able to take up and transfer in simple, flexible manner the shells, the lifting element is a cable drivable by means of a winch, which is guided on a pivotable, multicomponent articulated arm and carries the holder at its lower end. Preferably the cable passes through the articulated arm and its free end extends substantially vertically downwards, the articulated arm being pivotable substantially in a horizontal plane.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
The invention relates to a lifting device in an armoured vehicle, having a 
holder which is engageable with a body to be raised and in particular a 
shell, and a driven lifting element, by means of which the holder can be 
raised and lowered. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
In tanks or armoured vehicles it is conventional practice for obtaining a 
maximum battle strength, to carry a large amount of ammunition or shells 
in a magazine. A shell can be supplied to the weapon from the magazine 
either manually or using so-called loading aids. As shells are relatively 
heavy, the manual lifting and transferring of shells is not only very 
strenuous, but in the long term is not very effective. 
A loading aid in the form of a substantially vertically pivotable loading 
arm is known, which carries a holder, which is able to receive the shells. 
The loading arm can be raised and lowered either by means of a hydraulic 
cylinder or due to gravity in combination with a restoring spring, so that 
the shell can be supplied from the magazine to a rammer of the weapon. For 
reception by the loading arm the shell must assume a predetermined 
position in the magazine, which leads to a rearrangement of the shells in 
the magazine and therefore to a constructionally complicated magazine 
structure, which involves high costs. In addition, the loading arm is not 
usable for random raising and lowering of shells within the armoured 
vehicle and is consequently not flexibly usable. 
The problem of the invention is to provide a lifting device in an armoured 
vehicle with which it is possible to receive and transfer in a simple and 
flexible manner more especially shells. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
According to the invention this problem is solved in that the lifting 
element is a cable drivable by means of a winch and which is guided on a 
pivotable, multicomponent articulated arm and carries at its lower end the 
holder. 
By means of the pivotable, multicomponent articulated arm it is possible to 
cover a large area of the interior of the armoured vehicle, so that each 
shell located within the pivoting area of the articulated arm can be taken 
up in simple manner with the lifting device according to the invention. As 
the lifting element is a cable, the user can bring about minor position 
corrections by a transverse deflection of the cable, without having to 
adjust the articulated arm. 
Preferably the articulated arm is mounted in freely projecting manner and 
comprises a first arm component fitted in articulated manner by its one 
end to the armoured vehicle and a second arm component fitted in 
articulated manner to the other end of the first arm component. A 
two-component construction of the articulated arm has proved advantageous 
for bringing the articulated arm in a rapid and reliable manner to a 
desired position. 
According to a preferred development of the invention the articulated arm 
is substantially pivotable in a horizontal plane. In order to raise a 
shell from the bottom of the interior of the armoured vehicle, the 
articulated arm is pivoted in the horizontal plane into a position in 
which the cable is located substantially above the shell. The cable 
preferably passes through the articulated arm and extends substantially 
vertically downwards at its free end. Thus, the vertical movement of the 
shell is solely determined by the cable and the horizontal movement of the 
shell by the articulated arm. This permits simple handling, because the 
user can perform the two movement components independently of one another 
and superimpose them in a random manner. 
Preferably the articulated arm is fitted in the roof area of the armoured 
vehicle, which leads to a relatively long, vertical extension length of 
the cable. Through the transverse deflection of the cable this once again 
enables a user to reach remote areas of the interior of the armoured 
vehicle with the holder fitted to the cable. 
In a special development of the invention the winch is formed by a per se 
known servowinch. The servowinch permits an electrical weight balance 
enabling the user of the lifting device to take up, move and deposit in a 
desired position the shell whilst involving relatively little force 
expenditure. 
The holder for receiving the shells can be constituted by any random 
mechanism, which permits a rapid reception or taking up of the shells and 
ensures the secure holding thereof. Preferably the holder has a receptacle 
into which can be inserted the shells to be raised and which has a locking 
element by means of which the shells can either be fixed in random manner 
in or released from the receptacle. The locking element can be a 
displaceably mounted, spring-loaded locking bolt. Such a shell gripper is 
known from the applicant's patent application P 44 42 313.6, to whose 
content express reference is made. 
When using a lifting device according to the invention the user will grip 
the holder by a handle optionally fixed thereto. It has proved 
advantageous if the holder also carries a control device for the winch 
movement control, so that the user can control the shell raising and 
lowering from the holder or even its handle. Advantageously the control 
device has an infrared transmitter fitted to the holder and said 
transmitter cooperates with a corresponding infrared receiver of the 
winch. 
If the electric drive of the lifting device and therefore the cable winch 
fails, the operator located in the armoured vehicle would have to manually 
transfer the shells. In order to facilitate this, in a further development 
of the invention, the holder is detachably coupled to the cable. In the 
case of an electrical fault the holder can be removed manually from the 
cable and handled in emergency operation. The operator can also engage the 
holder with a shell and handle or take up the same by means of the handle 
fitted to the holder. In manual operation it is appropriate and helpful 
due to the relatively high weight of a shell, if two operators can grip 
the shell. For this purpose the holder can have a further handle for the 
second operator. 
So that the further handle has no hindering action in the normal operation 
of the lifting device and so as not to take up excessive construction 
space, according to a further development of the invention the further 
handle can be extended or swung out from a position flush in the holder. 
The lifting device cannot only be used for removing a shell from the 
magazine and for depositing it in a rammer, but instead by means of the 
lifting device the shells can also be placed in the magazine. For this 
purpose the shells must be conveyed from the outside of the armoured 
vehicle into its interior, so that they can be taken up by the lifting 
device and placed in the magazine. In order to be able to convey the 
relatively heavy shells in simple manner into the armoured vehicle, the 
invention provides a conveying mechanism by means of which the shells can 
be brought from the outside of the vehicle into the pivoting area of the 
articulated arm. The shell is placed on the conveying mechanism by an 
operator on the outside of the armoured vehicle and can then be moved into 
the interior of said vehicle. 
Normally an armoured vehicle has on its back a rear entrance hatch, which 
can be closed by a hatch door and through which personnel and/or material 
can pass into the interior of the armoured vehicle. According to a 
particularly advantageous development of the invention, the conveying 
mechanism has a driven slide displaceably mounted on the entrance hatch. 
After the shell has been deposited on the slide, the latter is moved into 
the interior, so that the lifting device can directly remove the shell 
from the slide. 
So that the entrance hatch is impeded to the minimum extent by the 
conveying mechanism, the slide together with its guide can be fitted in 
pivotable manner to the entrance hatch door and can be brought into an 
inoperative position substantially freeing the said hatch. Thus, if the 
conveying mechanism is not required, it is pivoted into the inoperative 
position, where it is as close as possible to the inside of the door, so 
that the effective cross-section of the entrance hatch is only 
insignificantly reduced. When the conveying mechanism is in use it is 
folded down into its operating position. 
The lifting device is so positioned and designed that the articulated arm 
covers all the essential areas of the interior of the armoured vehicle. 
Thus, a shell or a round can be taken up from the slide used for loading 
the armoured vehicle, from the magazine, from any point in the vehicle 
bottom area and from the conventionally present turret magazine. The shell 
taken up by the holder can be deposited at any of the indicated locations 
and preferably in the rammer or directly in the weapon.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
FIGS. 1 and 2 show an armoured vehicle 10 which, in conventional manner, 
has a weapon 11 located on a rotary turret 16. In the interior 19 of the 
turret 16 are stored a plurality of shells 14, which are either received 
in a magazine 13 in a substantially horizontal orientation at the rear end 
of the armoured vehicle 10 or are stored in the interior in a 
substantially vertical orientation. The interior also contains several 
prepared propellant charges 15. To load the weapon 11, a shell 14 must be 
inserted in a rammer 12, with the aid of which the shell can be supplied 
to the weapon 11. 
To be able to transfer the shells 14 into the interior of the armoured 
vehicle 10, a lifting device 20 is provided. The lifting device 20 
comprises a two-component articulated arm 21 with a first arm component 
22a, whose one end is fitted in articulated manner to the roof of the 
interior of the armoured vehicle. A second arm component 22b is connected 
in articulated manner to the other end of the first arm component 22a. The 
two arm components 22a, 22b are located substantially in a horizontal 
plane and are pivotable therein. 
With the articulated arm 21 is associated a servowinch 24, from which a 
cable 25 extends through the articulated arm 21 up to the front end of the 
second arm component 22b and from there passes substantially vertically 
downwards. At the lower end of the cable 25 is positioned a holder 23 with 
a handle 27. The holder 23 has a receptacle into which can be inserted the 
shell 14 to be transferred, as well as a locking element with which the 
shell can be fixed in the receptacle. On the holder is located a control 
device for controlling the functions or movements of the servowinch 24. 
The control device comprises an infrared transmitter 28 fitted to the 
holder and which cooperates with a corresponding infrared receiver 29 on 
the servowinch 24. 
According to FIG. 2 the magazine 13 is constructed as a drawer magazine, 
the individual shells 14 being placed on an extendable drawer. In order to 
transfer a shell 14 from the magazine 13 into the rammer 12 for the weapon 
11, the desired shell 14 is extracted from the magazine 13 and the 
articulated arm 21 is so pivoted and positioned by the user that the free 
end of the second arm component 22b is positioned somewhat above the shell 
14 to be received. By operating the servowinch 24 the holder 23 is then 
lowered until it is placed round the shell 14 and can take up the latter. 
By operating the winch 24, accompanied by the simultaneous pivoting of the 
articulated arm 21, the shell 14 can be removed from the drawer of the 
magazine 13 and placed in the rammer 12. 
For clearly illustrating the pivoting area S in FIG. 3, hatching is used 
for the area which can be covered by the outer, free end of the second arm 
component 22b of the articulated arm 21. However, as the cable can be 
deflected by the user in the transverse direction of its longitudinal 
extension with limited force expenditure, the area of the interior of the 
armoured vehicle covered by this lifting device is further increased 
compared with the pivoting area S, so that virtually the entire interior 
can be reached. 
Apart from the transfer of the shells from the magazine 13 into the rammer 
12, the lifting device 20 can also be used for filling the magazine 13. 
Use is in particular made of a conveying mechanism 30, as shown in FIGS. 4 
and 5. 
On its back the armoured vehicle 10 has an entrance hatch 17, which can be 
closed by a door 18. On the door 18 a holding arm 31 is vertically 
pivotably mounted by means of an articulation 34. At the free end of the 
holding arm 31 is constructed a guideway 32 on which a slide 33 is 
displaceably guided. 
For loading the magazine 13 with shells 14, a shell 14 is placed by an 
operator located on the outside of the armoured vehicle 10 on the slide 33 
and then the latter is moved along the guideway 32 through the entrance 
hatch 17 into the armoured vehicle interior 19, which can take place 
either manually or by means of a corresponding drive mechanism. The shell 
14 located on the slide 33 is then gripped by the operator located in the 
vehicle interior 19 with the aid of the lifting device, in that the holder 
23 is fixed to the shell 14. By raising the shell by means of the 
activation of the winch and by pivoting the articulated arm 21, the shell 
can be taken up from the slide 33 and deposited in a desired drawer of the 
magazine 13. 
The pivotable mounting of the holding arm 31 on the door 18 makes it 
possible to pivot the complete conveying mechanism 30 into an inoperative 
position, where it is as close as possible to the door 18, so that the 
entrance hatch is substantially free and the entrance and exit is not 
impeded by the conveying mechanism 30. The inoperative position of the 
conveying mechanism 30 is shown in broken line form in FIG. 4.