Military vehicles
First Claim
1. In a military vehicle that comprises a hull having a roof, a platform disposed on the roof for rotary motion in the azimuth plane, two parallel walls projecting upwardly from the platform to define a gun cradle;
- a main gun located within the defined cradle;
pivot means supporting the gun for adjusting movements in the elevational plane around a pivot axis transverse to the cradle walls;
two personnel stations within the hull forwardly from the platform; and
ammunition storage magazine means within the hull rearwardly from the platform;
the improvement comprising means for protecting the personnel stations and magazine means from overhead attack;
said protecting means comprising first, second and third armor plates carried by the cradle walls an appreciable distance above the hull roof;
each armor plate being essentially horizontal when the vehicle is on level ground;
a first one of the armor plates overlying one of the personnel stations when the platform is in a forward-fire position;
a second one of the armor plates overlying the other personnel station when the platform is in a forward-fire position;
a third one of the armor plates overlying the magazine means when the platform is in a forward-fire position.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Add-on armor protection for a military tank having an externally mounted n gun. Horizontal armor plates are attached to existing upstanding gun cradle wall structure to provide enhanced protection for the driver and commander; an additional armor plate can be mounted at the rear ends of the gun cradle wall structure to protect ammunition stored in rear areas of the hull. The add-on armor components are particularly designed to protect against top attack munitions. Some or all of the armor components can be swingably adjustable to provide alternate protection against enemy ground fire attack.
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Citations
14 Claims
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1. In a military vehicle that comprises a hull having a roof, a platform disposed on the roof for rotary motion in the azimuth plane, two parallel walls projecting upwardly from the platform to define a gun cradle;
- a main gun located within the defined cradle;
pivot means supporting the gun for adjusting movements in the elevational plane around a pivot axis transverse to the cradle walls;
two personnel stations within the hull forwardly from the platform; and
ammunition storage magazine means within the hull rearwardly from the platform;
the improvement comprising means for protecting the personnel stations and magazine means from overhead attack;
said protecting means comprising first, second and third armor plates carried by the cradle walls an appreciable distance above the hull roof;
each armor plate being essentially horizontal when the vehicle is on level ground;
a first one of the armor plates overlying one of the personnel stations when the platform is in a forward-fire position;
a second one of the armor plates overlying the other personnel station when the platform is in a forward-fire position;
a third one of the armor plates overlying the magazine means when the platform is in a forward-fire position. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
- a main gun located within the defined cradle;
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13. In a military vehicle that comprises a hull having a roof, a platform disposed on the roof for rotary motion in the azimuth plane, two parallel walls projecting upwardly from the platform to define a gun cradle;
- a main gun located within the defined cradle;
pivot means supporting the gun for adjusting movements in the elevational plane around a pivot axis transverse to the cradle walls;
two personnel stations within the hull forwardly from the platform;
a hatch opening in the hull roof area above each personnel station, each hatch opening being sized to permit human escape from the personnel station; and
ammunition storage magazine means within the hull rearwardly from the platform;
the improvement comprising means for protecting the personnel stations and magazine means from overhead attack;
said protecting means comprising horizontal armor plate means of c-shaped plan outline carried by the cradle walls an appreciable distance above the hull roof;
said armor plane means comprising a first armor plate section overlying one of the personnel stations when the platform is in a forward-fire position, a second armor plate section overlying the other personnel station when the platform is in a forward-fire position, and a third armor plate section overlying the magazine means when the platform is in a forward-fire position;said first armor plate section extending forwardly and laterally outwardly from one of the cradle walls;
said second armor plate section extending forwardly and laterally outwardly from the other cradle wall;
said third armor plate section extending rearwardly from both cradle walls;
said horizontal armor plate means occupying a single horizontal plane a sufficient distance above the hull roof to permit a soldier at a personnel station to extend his head upwardly through a hatch opening without striking the overhead armor plate means. - View Dependent Claims (14)
- a main gun located within the defined cradle;
Specification