Patent GB-176843-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in and relating to apparatus for directing the elevational and/or training movements of guns or analogous bodies from a distance
IPC: G05D3/12
Filed: 1920-11-08
Abstract: 176,843. Miller. J. M. Nov. 8, 1920. Methods of sighting.-In distant control systems of the kind wherein the elevating and training movements of a sighting-device 4, Fig. 1, are utilized through electromechanical means to effect corresponding movements of a gun 38, the movements of the gun are governed by a pair of electric motors A, B which drive opposite sides of a differential gear 94, the casing of which is connected to a control device 134 for the motor 135 which moves the gun. Further, the motor A is put into operation by a hunting-switch device 64, 44 of usual form, whilst the acceleration and direction of rotation of the motor B is controlled by contact fingers operated by cams or the like on the casing of the differential gear. The sighting-telescope 4, which may be gyroscopically or otherwise stabilized, is so mounted in the conning-tower 3 that its movements in elevation and training are conveyed through hand-controlled differential gears 17, 32 respectively, to transmitters 20, 34 which are connected electricallv or otherwise to repeaters 22, 36 at the gun turret 40. The means by which these repeaters actuate the gun being the same both for elevating and training, the connections relating to the elevating gear only are described. The elevation repeater 22 drives one element 44 of the hunting-switch, the other element 64 of which carries contacts 68, 69 and rings 65, 66 shown in detail in Fig. 2, which are connected bv leads 76<1> to the armature of the motor A which is therefore started in one direction or the other depending upon the position of the contacts relatively to the neutral point 52 of the hunting-switch. The movements of the gun are conveyed through gearing 87, 80 to the member 64 of the hunting-switch to return the contacts to the neutral point and stop the motor A when the gun is properly elevated. The shaft 92 of the motor A drives one side of a differential gear contained in a casing 94, Fig. 6, the casing having cams 96, 97, 98, 100 operating upon rollers 118 carried by eight spring-pressed fingers 108 pivoted in a frame 110, Fig. 5 in which the casing 94 revolves, the fingers being mounted in pairs so that their rollers bear on opposite sides of the cams 96, 97, 98, 100. When the rollers encounter gaps in the cams, the fingers spring fcrward and make contact in turn with plates 113, 114 to establish electric circuits of variable resistance through the motor B to move it in opposite direction to the motor A first at a slower speed and later at the same speed as that of the motor A. The motor B drives a shaft 93 leading to the other side of the differential gear the casing 94 of which conveys the resultant movement of the A and B motors to an hydraulic " tilting box " variable-speed device 134 driven by a continuously-running motor 135. The hunting- switch member 44 carries a contact 53 connected by leads 72, 73 with the firing circuit 74. To compensate, for lag in firing, the contact 53 is wider than the neutral-point member 52 and is adapted to engage near the neutral-point with a contact 70 included in the firing circuit 74. If desired, a number of guns can be elevated and trained from a single control station at which place a switch 165 mav he closed to enable all the guns to be fired together when they are at the proper angles of elevation and training. Corrections to the angles of elevation may be imposed on the differential gear 17 by a repeater 172 connected to atransmitter 170 situated in the plotting room.