Patent GB-124512-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to Submarine Mines.
IPC: F42B22/10
Filed: 1916-02-24
Abstract: 124,512. Vickers, Ltd., and North, T. K.. Feb. 24, 1916. Mines, marine.-Relates to mines provided with an anchor and a plummet or sinker for automatically anchoring the mine at a given depth, and consists in an arrangement, whereby the anchoring is effected as follows: First, the mine. the anchor, and the sinker all sink together to the bottom; after a given time the mine and anchor rise together from the sinker; when the line connecting the sinker to the anchor becomes taut, the mine is released from the anchor and rises to the surface; when the mine reaches the surface, the sinker line slackens and stops the paying out of the anchor cable; finally the anchor becomes filled with water and drags the mine down to the desired depth. A construction of mine adapted to become anchored in this manner is shown in Fig. 7. The sinker C is normally secured to the anchor B by a bolt G, which is removed before the mine is laid; and a dash-pot H' delays the separations of the sinker from the anchor. When the sinker line E becomes taut, it pulls a rod J down against a spring J<6>, removing the end J' of the rod from between bolts N<2>, which are then wedged in by a cramp P<1> by the upward pull of the mine A to which the cramp is attached. The cramp then slips past the bolts N<2>, and the mine rises from the anchor, pulling the anchor cable F from around the anchor. This cable passes through an eyelet L<1> in a disk K, which is thus made to rotate under the control of a spring brake L<4>. When the mine reaches the surface and the sinker line E in consequence becomes slack, the spring J<6> pulls the rod J up again, bringing a groove J<3> in the rod opposite a bolt M', which is then wedged away from a notch M<5> in a spring-piston M<1> when this snaps into a hole L<2> in' the rotating disk K, stopping it and preventing any further paying out of the anchor cable. Return of the piston M<1> is prevented by the red M' being forced into another notch M<6> in the piston by the further inward movement of the rod J. An opening L<3> in the disk is now opposite an opening L' in the anchor, and water entering therethrough weighs the anchor down and drags the mine to the desired depth. The opening L' may normally be closed by a wooden plug, which is dislodged by the rotation of the disk K, or it may be closed by a soluble plug. In a modification, the dash-pot H is interposed between the anchor and the mine instead of between the sinker and the anchor. The mine is provided with projecting arms, which, when struck by a ship, cause the mine to be fired by a spring- striker cocked and released by the buoyancy of the mine. Each arm comprises two parts Q<2>, Q<3> which, before the mine is laid, are held one within the other inside a casing Q<1> by a split pin R and a second pin R<2> inserted between the split parts of the pin R. The pin R<2> is removed by hand by a handle S, and the pin R is removed automatically during the laying operation by a line S<1> connecting it to the sinker C. The part Q<2> is then extended by a spring, and is locked in the extended position by a spring catch T. When the part Q<2> of the arm is struck by a ship, a small pin Q<4> securing the arm to the casing Q<1> is broken. This releases a bolt Q<5>, allowing a lever U to yield to the pull of a line V tensioned by a spring V<4>. The line V then rotates a pulley P over which it is wound, bringing recesses P<2> in the pulley opposite bolts O<8>, which can then be wedged aside by the rod O<1> attached to the anchor cable. The mine A therefore rises by its buoyancy, and compresses a spring O<6>, until bolts O<4> are in their turn wedged into a recess 0', releasing the firing-striker O<2>.