Patent GB-800361-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in and relating to magazine rocket projectors
IPC: F41A9/35
Filed: 1956-12-11
Abstract: 800,361. Rocket launchers. VERWALTUNGSGESELLSCHAFT DER WERKZEUG-MASCHEN-FABRIK OERLIKON. Dec. 11, 1956 [Jan. 1, 1956], No. 37832/56. Class 92 In a double barrelled projector, rockets 1 are conveyed by a feed mechanism from a magazine shoot 40 alternately to each of two firing chambers 52 attached to each barrel 53 (shown in part) and are automatically electrically fired. Pins 78 and 79 on endless chains 77 carry the rockets 7 from the shoot 40 to feed drums 1 and 2 which are mounted side by side in the part of a main casing 3, Figs. 1, 2 and 8. upper part of a main casing 53 are situated at the bottom of the casing 3, one below and corresponding to each drum 1 or 2. The drums 1 and 2 have longitudinal arcuate recesses 6, Figs. 8 and 10, which engage the rockets 7 fed to them by the chains 77 and carry them down to each of the firing chambers 53 in turn. The drums 1 and 2 are dismountably mounted on short shafts, such as 12, Fig. 2, and are constructed in three sections. Between the sections are reinforcement ribs 10 which are shaped to co-operate with the drums 1 and 2 and with other rib-surfaces 55, Fig. 8, to assist in guiding the rockets into the firing chambers. Projections 29 at the ends of the drums 1 and 2 engage with dogs 28 on sprocket wheel 14, 15 and 18 journalled in the casing 3. An electric motor 21 operates through a magnetic clutch 27, Fig. 5 (not shown), and appropriate gearing to turn the sprocket wheels and rotate the drums 1 and 2 and the chain conveyers 77. Spring loaded flaps 31, Figs. 2 and 10, whose motion is limited by pins 34 in slots 35 are mounted at the rear end of the drums and engage with circumferential grooves 33 in the bodies of the rockets to locate them longitudinally. Smaller spring loaded flaps 38 are fixed to the casing 3 to bridge the gap between the shoot 40 and the drums. Between and below the drums 1 and 2 a rocket member 41 is pivoted at 42 to ribs 43 on the casing 3. The rocker 41 is divided into sections 41a, b, c corresponding to the similar sections of the drums, Fig. 3. When a rocket is fed down by one of the drums, say 1, to its corresponding firing chamber the rocker 41 is pushed aside to admit it. This causes it to move across and co-operate with the other drum, say 2, to close the firing chamber on the opposite side. The position of components during this sequence is illustrated in Figs. 12 to 16 (not shown). The rocket 41 carries a pair of electrical contacts 47, Figs. 6 and 7 (not shown), which alternately complete the firing circuit for each chamber in turn at the appropriate instant when the chamber is loaded and closed. To deal with missfires, spring loaded switch pins 71 are mounted in bushes 72 towards the rear end of the drums, Fig. 2. Ordinarily the pins 71 are positioned centrally, but when a rocket remains in the firing chamber after the corresponding drum has rotated beyond the point when the rocket should have been fired, the rocket body fouls the lower end of the pin 71 causing its upper end to close a switch 76 and start an electric motor 58. Starting the motor 58 operates the magnetic clutch 27, Figs. 5 (not shown), which arrests the normal loading cycle. Meanwhile the electric motor 58 operates a transmission system 59-65, Figs. 1 and 3, to rotate a pair of rollers 57 which are mounted on spring loaded levers 56 and which intrude into the firing chambers 52, Fig. 10. The additional thrust force applied by the chain drive 64 added to the spring load on the levers 56 causes the rollers 57 to grip the unfired round and to eject it rearwards through the vent 54 of the firing chamber. When the round has gone, the pin 71 centralises, switching off the motor 58 and reconnecting the magnetic clutch 27 so that the loading and firing cycle can continue. A second embodiment is illustrated in Figs. 17 to 23 (not shown). In this, the rocket 41 is replaced by two flaps similarly pivoted on a common axis 87 and urged apart by coil springs 91. When one of the drums feeds a rocket to its corresponding firing chamber the corresponding flap is pivoted aside, but quickly reasserts itself under the action of the springs 91 to close the chamber and operate the firing switch after the rocket has passed. In a third embodiment in Figs. 24 to 29 (not shown) each of the loading chambers is provided with a separate rocket member 99. The two rocket members are urged apart by a spring 104, like the flaps in the second embodiment, but otherwise their mode of closing the chambers is more similar to that of the single rocket 41 of the first embodiment.