US2989900A - Stopping and starting system - Google Patents

Description

June 27, 1961 Filed June 9, 1960 D. P. GROVER STOPPING AND STARTING SYSTEM 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 F g I g a 9mm I m o l 0 T' T rfi rfl 8 (it 3 @i) Q) I I? 5 m 3 INVENTOR.

BY ED111116 P- EITDVE'T June 27, 1961 2,989,900

D. P. GROVER STOPPING AND STARTING SYSTEM 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 1 Filed June 9, 1960 FjgiL v INVENTOR.

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STOPPING AND STARTING SYSTEM Filed June 9, 1960 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 IN V EN TOR.

United States Pater g 2,989,900 p STOPPING AND STARTING SYSTEM Donald P. Grover, Chicago, 111., assignor, by mesne assignments, to the United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army Filed June 9, 1960, Ser. No. 35,098 2 Claims. ('Cl. 8912) This invention relates to machine guns and more particulanly to a brake-starter device for guns of the Gatlingtype.

-Machine guns of the Gatling-type include a plurality of barrels which are mounted to a rotatable cage. Consequently, when a gun of this type includes five or six barrels, the inertia of the rotatable cage mass is considerable and, as a result, the gun is either relatively slow accelerating to operating speed or the motor for rotating the page mass is overpowered with a corresponding increase in size and mass if quick acceleration is to be effected solely by the motor.

' Such a gun, too,-must be braked to a quick stop at the end of each burst to prevent excessixe overrun whereby a large number of live cartridges would be cycled through the gun unfired and, when a gun is driven by an electric motor, this means the addition of a braking system to the Moreover, if a gun is self-energized by an integral, gas-powered motor, starting means must be provided to successively move one of the barrels to the firing station for discharge of the cartridge chambered in such barrel before power can be produced by the gun for energizing the drive motor.

It is, therefore, one object of this invention to provide an auxiliary torque means which temporarily cooperates with the operating motor of a Gatling-type machine gun for starting rotation of the gun and accelerating the gun to operating speed.

It is another object of this invention to provide such a torque device for both starting and stopping a Gatlingtype gun.

a It is still another object of this invention to provide such a brake-starter device which is energized while braking the gun, stores the energy for later use and resupplies it to the gun to assist the drive motor thereof in accelerating the gun to operating speed.

The specific nature of the invention as well as other objects and advantages thereof will clearly appear from a description of a preferred embodiment as shown in the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view of a Gatling-type machine gun which has been partially broken away to show the brakestarter device assembled thereto;

FIG. 2 is a view taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view taken along line 33 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of the brake-starter device showing the relationship of the parts when the gun is operating and the torsion spring is relaxed; and

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4 but showing the relationship of the parts when the coupler is engaged and the torsion spring wound up with the energy therein stored for starting the gun when the coupler is disengaged.

Shown in the figures is a machine gun 12 which is of a Gatling-type and, therefore, includes a receiver 14 to which there is rotatingly mounted a cage 16 with six barrels 18 assembled thereto. Cage 16 is rotated by a drive motor 20 which may be energized by forces produced during firing of gun 12 or by external means and which is connected to the cage by a gear train including a spur-gear 22 coaxially mounted on the cage and fixed thereto.

A starter-brake device 24 is mounted on the outside of receiver 14 and includes a housing 26 for inclosing a transmission mechanism 27. Transmission mechanism 27 includes a longitudinally disposed shaft 28 which is rotatingly journaled in housing 26 and fixedly mounted on the rear end of such shaft is a first gear 30 disposed for meshing engagement with spur-gear 22. A second gear 32 is fixedly mounted on the front end of shaft 28 so as to rotate with first gear 30.

An axle 34 is rotatingly journaled in housing 26 parallel to shaft 28 and fixedly mounted on such axle is a third gear 36 which has meshing engagement with spurgear 22. A torsion rod 38 is journaled in housing 26 and extends forwardly through the front end thereof in axial alignment with axle 34. The portion of torsion rod 38 which extends from housing 26 is encased in a torsion tube 40. The front ends of torsion rod 38 and torsion tube 40 are integrally joined so as to form a unitary torsion spring 42 the effective length of which is the total length of the torsion tube and rod. A flange 44 is fixed to the rear end of torsion tube 40 and is joined to housing 26 to anchor one end of torsion spring 42 thereto. Fixedly mounted on torsion rod 38 within housing 26 is an overrun clutch 46 which carries a fourth gear 48 having meshing engagement with second gear 32. Overrun clutch 46 is designed to transmit the torque in torsion spring 42, after being wound up, as hereinafter described, to fourth gear 48 and through second gear 32 and first gear 30 to spur-gear 22 for starting gun 12. Overrun clutch 46, however, permits fourth gear 48 to overrun torsion rod 38 after torsion spring 42 is unwound.

Axle 34 is connectable to torsion rod 38 by a cylindrical, ratchet-toothed coupler device 50 which includes a primary member 52 fixed to the front end of axle 34 and a secondary member 54 which is mounted to the rear end of torsion rod 38 by spline means 56. Whereby, secondary member 54 is displaceable along torsion rod 38 between an engaged and a disengaged position. Engagement is made between primary member 52 and secondary member 54, when the secondary member is in the engaged position, by cooperating ratchet-type teeth 58 which are provided on the facing sides of the primary and secondary members. The teeth 58 are formed so that the torque in cage 16 is transferable through axle 34 to torsion rod 38 for winding up torsion spring 42.

Secondary member 54 is displaceable between the engaged and disengaged positions by an electric, springbiased solenoid 60 which is of conventional design and is connected to the secondary member by means of a pivotal fork 62 which has sliding engagement with an annular channel 64 provided around the secondary member. Solenoid 60 is connected by electrical means to the electrical firing mechanism (not shown) of gun 12 so as to be energized therewith when the firing mechanism is triggered to start gun 12 and thereby simultaneously actuate secondary member 54 to the disengaged position. When the firing mechanism is de-energized to stop gun 12, solenoid 60 is deenergized therewith whereby the integral spring therein actuates secondary member 54 to the engaged position.

Thus, during operation of gun 12, the gears 30, 32, 36 and 48 are all rotated by spur-gear 22, as shown in FIG. 4, with fourth gear 48 overrunning torsion rod 38 and secondary member 54 disengaged from primary member 52.

When the firing mechanism of gun 12 is tie-energized to stop the firing thereof, solenoid 60 is simultaneously de-energized and thereby actuates secondary member 54 to the engaged position to connect axle 34 to torsion rod 38. Whereby, the energy in cage 16 winds up torsion spring 42 with fourth gear 48 still overrunning torsion rod 38 opposite to the winding rotation of torsion spring 42. When the energy in cage 16 is transferred to torsion spring 42, gun 12 is stopped. Whereupon, torsion spring 42 tries to unwind but cannot as long as coupler device 50 is engaged because overrun clutch 46 makes connection between rod 38 and fourth gear 48 when the rod isrotated in the direction of the unwinding of the torsion spring and because of such connection, third gear 36, which is connected directly to such rod through the coupler device, rotates in one direction while first gear 30 is driven in the opposite direction by the engagement of fourth gear 48 with second gear 32. Consequently, as first gear 34? and third gear 36 are both in meshing engagement with spur-gear 22, torsion spring 42 is prevented from unwinding and thereby the energy remains stored therein until coupler device 50 is disengaged by solenoid 60.

When the firing mechanism of gun 12 is triggered to initiate a burst, solenoid 60 is simultaneously energized therewith to actuate engaging member 54 to the disengaged position and thereby releases torsion rod 38 from axle 34. Thereby, torsion spring 42 is free to unwind and, because overrun clutch 46 drives in the direction of unwinding, the energy in the torsion spring is transferred through gears 43, 32 and 30 to spur-gear 22 with the direction of the unwinding of the torsion spring being reversed by the inter-position of first gear 30 and second gear 32 between fourth gear 48 and spurgear 22. Whereby spur-gear 22 is energized by torsion spring 42 in the direction of operation to assist drive motor 20 in accelerating gun 12 to operating speed. If drive motor 20 is energized by gun 12 tension spring 42 will rotate cage 16, as hereinbefore described, to bring the succeeding barrel 18 into position for firing the cartridge therein and so initiate a burst.

Torsion spring 42 may be any other type which is compact in size, adapted to store considerable energy and is energized by rotary means.

From the foregoing it is seen that there is herein provided for a Gatling-type machine gun a simple brakestarter device which removes energy from the gun to brake it to a stop, stores the energy for later use, and resupplies the energy to the gun when needed.

Although a particular embodiment of the invention has been described in detail herein, it is evident that many variations may be devised within the spirit and scope thereof and the following claims are intended to include such variations.

I'claim:

1. In a machine gun having a rotary cage with a spur- 4 gear coaxially and fixedly mounted thereon and a pinrality of barrels supported thereby, a drive motor for rotating the barrels successively to a firing station, a brake-starter device including a housing in which there is journaled a longitudinally disposed shaft and an axle disposed parallel thereto, a first gear fixedly mounted on one end of said shaft for meshing engagement with the spur-gear, a second gear fixedly mounted on the opposite end of said shaft, a third gear fixedly mounted on said axle for meshing engagement with the spurgear, a torsion spring having one end anchored to said housing and the free end disposed within said housing adjacent said axle and in axial alignment therewith, a coupler device interposed between said axle and said torsional spring for releasably connecting said shaft to the free end thereof to wind said torsional spring for transferring thereto after the firing of the gun is stopped the energy in said cage, an overrun clutch mounted on the free end of said torsion spring, a fourth gear carried by said overrun clutch and disposed for meshing etigagement with said second gear, said overrun clutch being designed to transmit the torque of said torsion spring to said fourth gear when unwinding and permit said fourth gear to overrun said torsion bar after being unwound, whereby the energy transferred to said torsion spring from the cage is stored in said torsion spring as long as said coupler connects said axle thereto, and means for actuating said coupler to disconnect said axle from said torsion spring for release of the energy therein to temporarily augment the drive motor in accelerating the gun to operating speed.

2. The brake-starter device as defined in claim 1 wherein said torsion spring includes a torsion rod having one end disposed within said housing and journaled thereto with the opposite end extending outside said housing, a torsion tube encasing the portion of said torsion rod extending outwardly from said housing with the outer ends of said tube and rod being securely joined, and a flange for anchoring the opposite end of said torsion tube to said housing.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,390,401 Trotter Dec. 4; 1945 2,480,212 Baines Aug. 30, 1-949 2,849,921 Otto Sept. 2, 1958

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