Patent GB-481649-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in and relating to mounting and sighting guns on aircraft and other vehicles
IPC: B64D7/02
Filed: 1937-06-18
Abstract: 481,649. Mounting and sighting guns on aircraft. JUNKERS FLUGZEUGUND-MOTORENWERKE AKT.-GES. June 18, 1937, No. 17014. Convention date, June 18, 1936. [Classes 92 (i) and 92 (ii)] Relates to an arrangement for laying automatic guns fixed to aircraft and other vehicles, wherein the gun is mounted to pivot on horizontal and vertical axes and wherein the laying of the gun is effected by a sighting device mounted separately from the gun and upon axes separate from but parallel to those of the gun. According to the invention, the sighting device and gun are located on a common rigid mount secured to the vehicle. In the construction shown in . Fig. 2, the sights 9, 10, and the training and elevating mechanisms therefor, are carried by a mount 1. The sights are carried by a rocking beam 8 which is attached to a quadrant 44 mounted on a support 7. Elevation of the sights is effected by a handle 58, the shaft of which is geared to a screwed spindle 78 engaging with slide 79 which has teeth 81 meshing with the quadrant 44. A pinion 62 is keyed to the spindle 78 and meshes with a pinion 63 carried by but not keyed to a shaft 55. A cone pinion 64 is formed integral with the pinion 63 and meshes with planet wheels 67, 68 seated on fixed arms 65, 66 of the shaft 55. The planet wheels mesh with a cone pinion 69 idly mounted on the shaft and integral with a pinion 70 which meshes with the external teeth of a ring 72 surrounding a ring 3 upon which the gun 5 is mounted. Within the ring 3 is mounted a pinion 74 having teeth which pass through an opening in the ring and mesh with teeth formed on the inner circumferential edge of the ring 72. The shaft carrying the pinion 74 has a worm 76 which meshes ith a quadrant 77 carried by the gun. Rotation of the handle 58 thus effects elevating movements of both the sights and the gun. For training purposes a second handle 52 geared to the shaft 55 is provided. The shaft carries pinions 15, 16, which mesh respectively with pinions formed on the support 7 and ring 3 to effect equal training movements of the gun and sight. During this operation the pinion 63 remains stationary and, by means of the planet wheels and gearing associated therewith, the ring 72 rotates with the ring 3 so that no elevating movement of the gun is produced. In a modification, different forms of gearing are employed for effecting the elevating and training movements by means of two separate handles. In a further modification, Fig. 4, these movements are effected by a single handlever 90. This lever is pivoted at 91 to a shaft 92 which is geared to a shaft 194 by means of toothed wheels 93, 94. A pinion 95 on the shaft meshes with a pinion 96 attached by arms 99 to the ring 3 which carries the gun, and a second pinion 97 thereon meshes with a pinion 98 attached to the member 7 which carries the sights. The transmission ratio is such that the gun and sights receive equal angular displacements when the shaft 92 is rotated by means of the lever 90. Attached to the pivot pin 91 of the hand-lever is a toothed quadrant 102 which meshes with a rack 103 secured to a sleeve 104 which is slidably and non-rotatably mounted on the shaft 92. One arm of the pivoted lever 107 engages in a groove 105 of this sleeve and another arm similarly engages in a groove 108 of a shaft 109 which is slidably but non-rotatably mounted in the hub of the pinion 96. The racks 119 and 110 which co-operate respectively with toothed quadrants 44, 111, on the pivot pins of the sights and gun are connected, by links 115, 116, and the shaft 109, respectively, with opposite arms of the lever 107. The arrangement is such that the gun and sights receive equal elevating movements when the handle 90 is raised or depressed.