Launching devices enabling sub-caliber artillery projectiles

• US 8,333,153 B2
• Filed: 12/01/2010
• Issued: 12/18/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nexter Munitions
• Original Assignee: Nexter Munitions
• Inventors: Caillat, Lionel
• Primary Examiner(s): BERGIN, JAMES S
• Application Number:
  US12/957,939
• Publication Number:
  US 20110146525A1
• Time in Patent Office: 748 Days
• Field of Search: 102/520, 102/521, 102/522, 102/523, 102/526
• US Class Current: 102/522
• CPC Class Codes: F42B 14/064 Sabots enclosing the rear end of a kinetic energy projectile, i.e. having a closed disk shaped obturator base and petals extending forward from said base

Abstract

The invention relates to a launching device for a sub-caliber artillery projectile employing a base with sliding band, the base being linked to sabot sectors by means of hinges that can be detached during flight, the opening of the sabot being activated thanks to the dynamic air pressure on the flared shapes to the fore of the sectors, said hinge is flanged radially so as to prevent its becoming separated from the sabot sectors 5 outside of the flight phase.

Claims

1. A launching device for a sub-caliber artillery projectile, said launching device comprising:

a base that incorporates a sliding band at the periphery of a projectile, said base containing a rear part of said projectile and incorporating a thrust surface cooperating with a matching surface at the rear of said projectile;

at least two cylinder sectors surrounding said projectile to ensure guidance by means of exterior ring-shaped support bands, said sectors being in contact by at least one interior support shape with said projectile; and

said cylinder sectors including;

at least one hinge materializing an instantaneous axis, said hinge being detachable during flight, said hinge linking said base to one of said cylinder sectors,

said hinge including;

at least one notch on said base, said notch being delimited to the fore by a plane inclined surface and to the rear by a stop surface perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of said projectile, and

at least one tooth linked to one of said sectors, wherein said notch cooperating with a matching support surface on said tooth, an edge of said tooth being in contact with said stop surface and constituting said instantaneous axis, said tooth and said notch having a geometry such that said tooth pivots when one of said sectors opens around said instantaneous axis without interfering with said inclined surface.

2. The launching device according to claim 1, wherein said notch includes an inclined surface forming an angle (α

) greater than or equal to 90 degrees with a fictive plane (F) passing through said instantaneous axis and through a point of contact between said tooth and said inclined surface, any part of said tooth placed between said fictive plane F and said stop surface being located at a distance from said instantaneous axis that is less than the distance separating said instantaneous axis and the point of contact between said tooth and said inclined surface.

3. The launching device according to claim 2, wherein said hinge incorporates at least one means to adjust the axial pressure play between said base and said sector.

4. The launching device according to claim 1, wherein said hinge incorporates at least one means to adjust the axial pressure play between said base and said sectors.

5. The launching device according to claim 4, wherein the means to adjust said axial pressure play including at least one pressure screw at each hinge formed through an internal thread in said tooth and pressing on said inclined surface of said notch.

6. The launching device according to claim 5, the launching device further comprising:

at least one flange means for said hinge to oppose the radial distancing between said base and said sectors when said base and said sectors are in contact with said projectile.

7. The launching device according to claim 1, the launching device further comprising:

at least one flange means for said hinge to oppose the radial distancing between said base and said sectors when said sectors are in contact with said projectile.

8. The launching device according to claim 7, wherein said flange means includes at least one flange screw in each hinge that passes through said tooth by means of internal threading, such as said flange screw being oriented so as to penetrate to the rear of said launching device and into a recess made in said notch in said base, said recess in contact with said flange screw so as to prevent any radial movement of said tooth with respect to said base.

9. The launching device according to claim 8, wherein the surfaces of said recess are selected with dimensions such that they do not interfere with said flange screw when said tooth rotates around said instantaneous axis in the direction of opening of said sectors.