Patent GB-378978-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or in means for launching torpedoes
IPC: F41F3/08
Filed: 1920-11-12
Abstract: 378,978. Launching torpedoes. PURVES, R., Air Ministry, Alexandra, House, Kingsway, London. Nov. 12, 1920, No. 32051. [Class 9 (ii).] A torpedo is launched from a faster moving craft such as an aircraft tail first in the opposite direction to that of the motion of the craft and at such a speed that the torpedo enters the water in the direction of its course at approximately its own driving speed. As shown, the torpedo 1, Figs. 2 and 3, rides on rails 8 which are slightly inclined downwards towards the rear. The torpedo rests on these rails by means of lugs 2, 3. The rear lugs 2 bear on shoes 12 which are fitted with roller bearings and fall off the rails when the torpedo is launched. The front lugs 3 are engaged by the forked rear ends 14 of the arms 15 of a carrier which rides on the rails and is connected by a cable 22 to the rod 26 of a piston 27, the cable 22 passing over pulleys 23A, 24 on a fixed frame 23 and round pulleys 25 on the pistonrod 26. Compressed air from one or another of a number of storage tanks 33 is led through a valve 38 and a pipe 34 to a valve chamber 35 where a main valve 36 controls the admission of the air to the rear end of the power cylinder 28 through a pipe 37. The pulley frame 23 and the cylinder 28 are braced together by struts and ties 31. At the end of the stroke of the piston 27 in the cylinder 28, the piston passes beyond orifices 80 in the wall of the cylinder, the compressed air behind the piston is vented off, and the piston is checked by the air trapped in the cylinder in front of the piston. The pulley arrangement shown makes the rearward speed of the carrier 15 twice the forward speed of the piston. The carrier 15 is stopped at the end of its rearward stroke by spring buffers 77. The torpedo is ejected by this rearward stroke of the carrier and is guided out of the rails by a roller 81. Immediately before this, stops 44, which normally block the way of the shoes 12, are released by hooks operated by compressed air supplied by pipes 48 from the power cylinder 28 ; also a pair of clamping segments 49 are pulled away from the torpedo by tension members when released by a rope device 55 connected to the discharge lever 43 ; and the engine starting lever 7 is pulled by another rope device 70 connected to the rope device 55. The discharge lever 43 is connected by a cable 39 to the main valve 36, so that a single operation of the discharge lever performs automatically all the functions required to launch the torpedo. The carrier frame 15 has a forked projection which locks the safety fan 19 of the firing-gear of the torpedo until the torpedo is launched. The clamping segments 49, Fig. 10, are hinged to brackets 50 on the rails 8, and are pressed against the torpedo by tension cables 52 passing over pulleys 51 at the ends of the segments and over a pulley 53, the spindle 54 of which is connected by the cable 55 to a pulley 58 attached to a segment 59 on the discharge lever 43. The cable 55 is normally relieved of tension by struts 61 pivoted on the spindles of the pulleys 51 and supporting the spindle 54 of the pulley 53. The struts 61 are removed by another cable 65 also operated by the discharge lever and connected by links 64 to the struts 61. When the clamping segments 49 are released by the deflection of the struts and the slackening of the cable 55 by the discharge lever, they are pulled away from the torpedo 1 by tension members 69. The rope 70 for pulling the starting lever 7 is connected to and pulled by the pulley 53 ; and when the starting lever has been pulled, the rope 70 slips from the lever and is pulled out of the way by a weight 74 and arrested by the abutment of a stop 75 against a pulley 72. This launching apparatus is supported by columns 9 on bottom transverse frames and on a top beam in the fuselage. The rear end of the launching chamber is closed by a sluice door 82, Fig. 15, operated by means of racks 93, worm gears 85, and cords passing over pulleys 89, 90 and around a pulley on the spindle 41 of the discharge lever 43. Safety devices may be provided to prevent the discharge of the torpedo when the sluice door is closed.