US1305188A - Illtjmmating-pbojectiiie - Google Patents

Description

A. G. BERGMAN. ILLUM!NAT|NG PROJECTILE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 2,1919.

Patented ,May 27, 1919.

Y INVENTOR v ze'vg/Za rz thereof for a suicient length of time to c nable the illuminating material to expend 1t- 25 No. 119396,11 have To all whom 'it may concern 17 1917, Serial vNo.

UnrrEn STATES, PATENT orifice.

AXEL G BERG'MAN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., lASSIGNO'B. TO -OBDN'ANCE EN(avINEEB'IN'GI' CORPORATION, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.,

A. CORPORATION OF. NEW JERSEY.

' ILLUMmA'rrNG-Pnomcrnn.

vOriginal application led February 17, 191-7, Serial No. 149,260. Divided and 1919. Serial No. 287,002.

Be it known that I, AXEL G. BERGMAN, a subject of the King of Sweden, residing in the borough of Manhattan, city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in. Illuminating-Projectiles, of'which the following is a specification. l

This invention relates to illuminating projectiles and aims to provide certain improvements therein, -thea'pplication being ra division of original application filed February 149,260. -Projectiles of this type are designed for illuminating an object or field in the .distance 'and usually comprise a casing havin a mass of discharged from definite point inthe Hight nited. The illuminatingmaterial is 'usually sustained in mid-air by a" parachute or` equivalent device which retardsV the fall self. In my application illustrated a construction of such shell.

The present invention relates to.. a construction of such .deviceswhich will-better rt-the shell for usein connection with higher sible -to use effectively yfor tain low rate,

powered guns such purposes. In the .ordinary use of such projectiles it isfound that if the speed of the projectile expulsion of nant and its parachute be in excess of a certhe parachute, whose rea l v'function it is to sustainthe illuminant, is

' which point the immediately slatted or torn to pieces with the result that the illuminant drops `tothe ground. Hence where thefield of illuminaso that a gun of tance, it his found impracticable to release the illuminant and-Tits parachute except .at or about the shell is traveling at its lowest speed.- This seriously interferes with the usefulness of the shell, as it practically prevents its use at shorter ranges.

The principal object ofthe present invention is to provide an illuminating shell from which the illuminant can be discharged at speeicatin `of Letters Patent.

.in such manner as proper than it has been hitherto' posl3--3 in Figs summit of the trajectory, at

' comprising casing C. -provided Patented May 27, 1919. this application lled .April 2,

any point in the trajectory, practically irrespective of the speed of the projectile at the time of discharge. To this end the invention comprises a means stopping the illuminant in its forward flight sustaining parachute or other device.

the preferred'for'm of the invention I make use -of a `retardin parachute whichis so' much smaller an so much stronger than fully resist the atmospheric pressure and check orretard the flight of the illuminant without danger of being destroyed. In carrying out the'invention I may employ two casings, the inner of which contains the Ailluminant and its sustaining parachute, and

propriate point in the flight of the projectile, the ,outer casing/ continuing its flight and the inner casing oint for the Preferably also field to be illuminated. the inner casing contains some timing element (which may be fixed) adapted to delay the expulsion charge for the illuminant until the speed of the inner for checking or l being retarded at the' to avoid 'slatting of thethe sustaining parachute that it can successcasing is well checked, whereupon the' illuminant and its sustaining parachute are pro j-ected and the' illuminant ignited. The in- {ventfion also includes certain other improvey ments which will 1' described.

be hereinafter more fully Referring to trate the preferred form of the invention,-

Figure 1 is a diametrical section of the corlnplete projectile;

the drawings which illusy,

f g.' 2- is a similar view taken at an angle to Fig. 1;

Fi'g. 3 isa cross-section taken on the lines 1 land 2.

Referring to the drawings, -let A indicate the. projectile as a whole. which is shown as an ,outer casing B and an inner Theouter casing is preferably with a timing element such as a time fuse, the latter being shown asmount'- ed in the base D'and comprising a puncturable tube E arrangedv within a vcircular chamber F. The lower end of the casing B v is formed with a series of apertures G through which an instrument can be forced to penetrate the casing E. The casing E `ontains a powder or other charge having a d finite rate of-A burning, and by puncturing t e lat-ter at the appropriate point, the length of time required to ignite the expelling charge is predetermined." Preferably the tube 'E is fitted in a bloclmH which has an extension I leadingto the chamber J which contains the expelling charge. Openings such as 'K permit the lire gases from the propelling charge to ignite the fuse through the punctured hole. 'This construction is inthe main set forth in my prior ap# plication above -alluded to. The casing B also contains the retarding parachute L which is best packed'above the 20 casing C and is preferably attached to the latter casing by a chain M, the end ofrwhich is fastened to thel casing C by a pin or the like N.

The casing C contains the illuminating body O, and above'l it the sustaining parachute P fastened to the body O by a cord connected with an eye Q, or in any other Dsuitable manner. The casing C i s preferably provided with a base R, the center part of which is formed with a chamber S adaptfed to contain an expelling charge for the illuminant. Inthe construction shown the base is also bored to receive a fuse such as T, the base-at the ends of the bore being cut away as shown at U inl order to permit the flames from the main expelling charge in the chamber J to easily reach the fuse. In the construction indicated the fuse T is adapted to burn .about two seconds after the casing C is expelled, and before the eXpelling charge in the chamber S is ignited, this delay being desirable in order that time may be provided for the Speed of the casing-C to be checked or retarded7 before the .illuminantbody is expelled from the latter casing. Y A 1 1 In illuminating shells, (and particularly those for, use in high power guns', the illuminant body is very apt to become-shattered 50. or crumbled bythe force of the propelling charge inthe gun. This force is communicated to the Casingteforeth anemia. of the shell can be transferred to the illuminant, and the latter becomes disintegrated vor crushed. I find in practice, however, that if the illuminant be packed in a metallic orl other 'stiff container which is adapted to burn or melt at about the 'same speed as the illuminant, the latter :will be maintained intact, and this is particularly true if the container d be wound with wire so as to vstrengthen the container. I have found in` practice that sheet-zinc is quite appropriate --for the container (which 'isfshown at V). A common iron wire of light gage is suit- A in B as indicated at Y.

. illumina the 'base I preferably employ a metal disk X )which is suitably perforated to permit vthe gases from the 4 chamber S to ignite the il1uminant;' and I- also preferably 'imposebetween"`the disk X; and the bottom of the illuminant a liber disk X which eases the shock on the illuminant when the projectile is fired.

Difficulty has 'also been encountered in the provision of a suitable cover for the casing 8() C, which -must be sufliciently easily forced outy of. place to permit the illuminant to leave the shell and which at the same time is capable of preventing Vingress of lire gases' to the illuminant while the latter is in the g5 gun; I haveyfound that a fiber disk such as Y forced into vthe end of the casing serves these purposes admirably. A similar constructionis adopted in the end of the casn all prior illuminating shells with which I am acquainted, difficulty x has been encountered in the unfolding of the parachute element in Hight. Great care has. been used in packing the parachute to avoid any twists or turns inthe cords leading from the pe riphery of the parachute to-the'main or cenf tral cord, the latter device being folded or. looped with the idea thatby so doing the parachute would be enabled to become immeminantsfall tothe ground withdut the parachute filling. Efforts have. been overcome this without success.

I havefound, contrary to expectation, that if the numerous cords be well wound around `madeto.

and around the'parachute body, the latter 110 will ll quiteas quickly, and practically all K irisk of entanglement ofthefcords is elimi- The operation ofthe invention -will be Aapparent; "If a gun'has the-possible range 1-16 of three and it is desired to illuminate a field one-halfmile distant, the time fuse is appropriately punctured to expel the suiiciently to enable the sustaining, parachute to act' with safety, whereupon 4 the charge 'andH Sustaining para- '125 chute are eJe'cted and the charge ignited.

While the invention has been described with reference to'a particular form offcon-y struction, it is not limited to the precise arv*rangement shown and described, inasmuch as various changes'can be made without departingfrorn the spirit and scope of my invention.

What I4 claim isz- 1. An illuminating projectile having an outer casing, an inner casing7 a retarding -parachute fastened to said i'nner casing7 an illuminant Within sald inner casing, and av sustainingwparachute' also Within said inner casing, and connected to said illuminant.

2. An illuminating shell comprising an outer casing, a timing device carried by said outer casing, an inner casing, a retarding parachute connected to said inner casing,

an expelling charge adapted to expel said inner casing and said parachute at a predetermined point in'fthe trajectory of -the shell,

' said inner casing carrying an illunnnant,

and a-sustainin'g parachute, and means for expelling said illuminant and inner parachute after the inner casingjis expelled from the outer casing..

3. A projectile having an illuminant con' tained therein and an automatically separablerigid Wall positioned laterally of the ,illuminant and acting to protect the illuminant from excessive explosive shocks.

i4. An illuminating shell comprising an outer casing, an innerv casing, and an illuminant within the inner casing, an expelling .charge for the inner casing,'

charge for the inner casing, andv an expelling charge for the illuminant.

5. An illuminating shell 'comprising 'an outer casing, an innerv casing, and anilluminant Within the inner casing, an expellingb an expelling charge .for the illuminant, and Aa', time fuse for said last-named expelling charge.

6. An illuminating shell comprising a casing, and' a cover for said casing comprising 40 a disk member contacting with a -steel portion of the shell., saiddiskmember formed of materially Asofter .metal than steel.

7. An illuminating shell comprising a casing and a cover for sai casing comprising 45 a ber member forced into the end` of said casing.

8 An illuminating projectile containing an illuminant andsustaining means adapted to be discharged therefrom, charge, and separable means coperating With said illumina-nt and sustaning means and acting to house the illuminant and sustaining means and also to receive the force of said expelling-charge, whereby said con- 55 1 tents can be discharged from the projectile my name.l

I AXEL G. BERGMAN.

an expelling 50

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