Patent GB-896341-A (GB)
Title: Improvements relating to releasable connectors
Inventor: MARTIN FRANK
IPC: F42B10/06
Filed: 1957-09-23
Abstract: 896,341. Stud and socket fastenings. FAlREY CO. Ltd. Sept. 16, 1958 [Sept. 23, 1957], No. 29852/57. Class 44. [Also in Group XXI] A releasable connector for securing together two members, comprises a spigot member 12, Figs. I and 4, for attachment to one of the two members and a co-operating socket member 13, Fig. 6, for attachment to the other member, the spigot 14 of the spigot member  12 being a sliding fit in the socket of the socket member 13, and releasable locking means for interlocking the spigot 14 and socket in their fully connected position, the locking means comprising a reciprocable bolt 40 and a spring- loaded, tapered wedging pin 18 slidably mounted between opposed surfaces of the spigot and the socket when in the fully con nected position. As shown the said one member is a removable wing 10 of a guided missile and the said other member is the body 11 of the missile, the spigot member 12 comprising a base-plate 15 provided with holes 16 for securing it to the inner end of the wing 10 and the socket member comprising a cylindrical sleeve 31 provided with a flange, not shown, for fixing it to the body 11, the sleeve 31 being buried in the body 11 with its open end 33 flush with the surface of the body 11 and its bore providing the socket. Protruding integrally from the outer face of the baseplate 15 is the spigot 14 provided with a longitudinally extending tapered groove 17 of semicircular cross-section formed in the cylindrical surface of the spigot 14 : the sleeve 31 is also formed with a similar groove 35 so that when the spigot 14 is inserted in the socket and the two grooves 17 and 35 register with one another the latter form a tapered recess for receiving the wedging pin 18. To ensure that the grooves 17, 35 accurately register the spigot 14 is provided with a pair of dowel pins (not shown) which engage in holes 38 provided in the sleeve 31. The pin 18 is slidably mounted in a cylindrical housing 21, the wall of the housing being provided with slots 25 in which engage studs 26 projecting transversely from the pin 18, so as to prevent the pin from rotating but allowing axial movement. The pin 40 is slidably mounted in a bore 41 extending transversely through the spigot 14, one end 42 of the pin 40 being hemispherical for engaging in an abutment 43 in the sleeve 31, and the other end of the pin 40 being formed with a detent 44 for engaging in a recess 45 in the pin 18 to hold the pin 18 in its withdrawn position. The movement of the pin 40 is controlled by a lever 50 extending within a bore 51 formed in the spigot 14, one end 52 of the lever 50 engaging in a hole 53 in the pin 40 and the other end 57 protruding beyond the inner face of the base-plate 15. Near the end 57 the lever 50 is formed with a rounded bearing portion 54 engaging in a recess 55 in a plunger 56, and the lever 50 is provided with a pivot pin 58 pivoted at its ends in the walls of the bore 51. The plunger 56 is slidingly disposed in a bore 60 in the base-plate 15, one end 61 of the plunger projecting beyond the end of the base-plate and provided thereon with a recessed nut 66 which is engageable by a detent 64 pivoted at 67 on the end of the baseplate 15. A compression spring 62 acts between a sliding collar 69, mounted on the plunger end 61, and the plunger to bias the latter in a direction tending to cause the end 42 of the pin 40 to engage in the abutment 43, the collar 69 being engaged by an abutment 70 on the detent 64. For setting the locking means to an intermediate position so that the wing 10 may be attached to or detached from the body 11 a key 29 is provided comprising a handle from which protrude two tapered blades 71, 72; the blade 71 is inserted in a keyhole 28 provided in the pin 18 to raise the pin to a position in which the detent 44 may engage in the recess 45, and the blade 72 engages the end 57 of the lever 50 to move it and thereby cause the detent 44 to be engaged in the recess 45 and the plunger 56 to be moved to a position in which the detent 64 may be swung to engage the nut 66, retaining the locking means in the intermediate position when the key 29 is withdrawn. In the latter position the end 42 of the pin 40 remains protruding from the bore 41 and when the spigot 14 is inserted in the socket to attach the wing 10 to the body 11 the end 42 is depressed by the rounded edge of the end 33 of the sleeve 31 so that the plunger 56 is moved to release the detent 64 from engagement with the nut 66 and when the end 42 enters the abutment 43 the spring 62 moves the locking means to a position in which the pin 40 is fully engaged in the abutment 43 and the detent 44 is disengaged from the recess 45 in the pin 18 allowing the latter to be spring-forced to its wedging position. An electric plug 75 housed within the bore of the spigot 14 co-operates with a mating socket, not shown, housed within the sleeve 31.