US1265753A - Apparatus for aiming and launching automobile torpedoes. - Google Patents

Description

G. C. DAV-ISBN.- APPARATUS FOR AIMING AND LAUNCHING AUTOMOBILE TORPEDOES.

APPLICATION FILED DEC.5; 1914.

Patented May14,1918. 3 SHEETS-SHEET 1- v a. c. DAVISON. APPARATUSFOR AIMING AND LAUNCHING AUTOMOBILE- TORPEDOES.

APPLXCATION FILED DEC. 5, i914.

Patented May14,1918.

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WITNESSES:

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ATTO RN EY 5 G. C. DAVISON. APPARATUS FOR AIMING AND LAU NCHING AUTOMOBILE TORPEDQES. APPLICATION FILED DEC.5. 1914.

1,265,753. Patented May 14, 1918.

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. INVENTOR Q r'qgo y, Cfla 7/50 0 ATTORNEY- GEE.

GREGORY CALDWELL DAVISON, 'OF NEW LONDON, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO ELEC- TRIO BOAT COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. 1., A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

APPARATUS FOR AIIVIING AND LAUNCHING AUTOMOBILE TORPEDOES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 14, 1918.

Application filed December 5, 1914. Serial No. 875,565.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GREGORY C. DAVISON, a citizen of the United States, residing at and whose post-office address is New London, county of New London, State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Aiming and Launching Auto-mobile Torpedoes; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear,and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to apparatus for launching automobile torpedoes with their steering devices set for a course to a mark at the moment of launching.v The invention consists in producing an adjustment of one of the relatively movable parts of the well known gyroscopic steering gear of an automobile torpedo by the movements of training a sighting device, such as a periscope which is rotatable upon a vertical axis, while the torpedo is at rest in the launching tube, making it possible to adjust the steering device by the aiming device at the time up to the instant at which the discharge of the torpedo from the tube is commenced. The invention further relates to the arrange ment of the operative connection between the aiming device and the gyroscopic steering gear of the torpedo whereby the aiming device is in line with the mark when the proper ad ustment of the gyroscopic steering gear is effective to insure the course of the torpedo to the mark.

The invention further contemplates a combination of the just described new ap paratus for aiming torpedoes with the apparatus for launching torpedoes describe; in my United States Patents, Nos- 1,122,699 and 1,122,700, granted December 29, 1914:. In carrying out the invention I employ apparatus comprising an under water launching tube provided with a suitable yieldable training device by means of which it may be trained for projecting a torpedo broadside from a moving vessel at a, suitable angle to clear the ship and yet yield to the lateral pressure or the water upon the torpedo as it protrudes from and tends to bind in the muzzle of the tube, an aiming or sighting device, such as a eriscope, rotatable upon a vertical axis-and located at a convenient place, and an operative connection between the periscope and the gyroscopic steering gear within a torpedo which is at rest in the tube, whereby the parts of the gyroscopic steering gear of the torpedo will be adjusted to control the course of the torpedo to a mark upon which the sighting device is trained at the moment of launching. Sundry mechanical arrangements resulting in the correct adjustment of the steering gear of the torpedo by the sighting device irrespective of the position of the tube, and which allow the connection between the sighting device and the torpedo within the tube to be broken when the torpedo is launched, leaving the adjustment of the steering gear which prevails at the time the connection is broken, are also included within. the purview of the present invention.

I have illustrated in the accompanying drawings, apparatus designed tocarry out the invention in connection with tubes mounted below the water line within the hull of a vessel with their muzzles pivoted in the side walls of the hull, and also in connec tion with the tubes mounted upon the deck of a submersible boat.

In the drawings, Figure 1, is a plan view of a torpedo tube mounted within the hull of a ship with its muzzle pivoted in the side wall of the .hull below the water line, and apparatus suitable for the practice of this invention applied thereto, the housing and wall'of the hull being broken away adjacent the muzzle of the tube.

Fig. ,2, is a side elevation of the breech end of atube, the Walls of which are broken to expose a contained torpedo, the walls of the torpedo being in turn broken away to expose the contained mechanisms of the torpedo.

Fig. 3, is a detail line 33 of Fig. 2.

Fig. i, is a detail section taken on line H of Fig. 1.

, Fig.- 5, is a plan of the second application of the invention, wherein twin tubes are mounted upon a trunk pivot upon-the deck section taken on the of a submersible boat and are provided with ference characters In the drawings, like re 'ts in both inst-allaindicate equivalent pal tions.

Referring to the drawings, and particularly to the installation shown. in Figs. 1, 2, 3 and a, a torpedo tube has its muzzle pivoted in a hall and socket joint B in the side wall Z) of a ships hull and the bulk of the weight of the tube is supported on a wheeled carriage G which runs upon a track l), this track having the form of an arc struck from the center of the ball and socket joint B. The track D is provided with a rack {Z which is engaged by pinion 0 carried on the carriage C. The pinion c is rotated by hand wheel E through a worm and worm wheel and a friction clutch contained in a housing a on the carriage C. The worm drive permits of the easy training of the tube by the hand wheel E and the friction clutch which connects this drive with the pinion u will transmit the power necessary for manuall training the tube, but will slip and allow the tube to be moved by the pressure of the water on the side of the protruding nose of an issuing torpedo. 2i periscope F, or other sighting device, is located at any convenient place, and is provided with a worm wheel G engaged by a worm g. The worm g is provided with a crank g and the periscope may be trained on an object by rotating this crank, and when this is done a miter gear 7" is rotated with the periscope F. The miter gear f meshes with a miter gear 71 which fast upon a shaft H and a miter gear it fast upon the opposite end of the shaft H meshes with a miter gear fast upon the upper end of a vertical shaft T mounted in a bearing on a stationary bracket it. its the periscope F is turned, the shaft T is urned a like amount. The bearing of the shaft I in the bracket R is in line with the axis upon which the tube A turns when it is caused to travel upon the track D, or, in other words, the vertical axis of the ball and socket joint l3.

In Fig. 2 a torpedo I; is shown at rest in the tube A. The gyroscopic steering gear a; of the torpedo X is adjusted to determine the course the torpedo is to follow by the rotation of a vertical shaft P. A 'niter gear fastupon the upper end of the vertical shaft P meshes with a miter gear 0 fast on a. horizontal shaft 0 which protrudes rearwardly from the shell of the torpedo X in a line parallel with the axis of the torpedo.

In the well known gyroscopic steering gear usually employed in automobile torpedoes, the two movable valve elements, that which moves with the gyroscope and that which may be adjusted to determine the course, constitute the two relatively movable components of the gyroscopic steering gear which are hereinafter referrel to. Tn ord r to determine the "course of the torpedo, one

of these components is moved relatively to the other, so that a certain relation exists case the gyroscope will have a fixed relation with respect to the axis of the torpedo at the time it is released. 'Whichever of the components of the gyroscopic steering gear is chosen to be set in order to determine the course of the torpedo, that element will, in

my apparatus, be connected for angular movement by the vertical shaft P within the torpedo, and therefore, rotation imparted to the saaft O protruding through the shell of the torepdo X willrotate this element of the steering gear to a position in which it is intended it shall remain when the shaft Q ceases to rotate. The protruding end of the shaft 9 is squared or otherwise provided with means where y it may be longitudinally engaged and disengaged with a. member individually to impart angular movement to it.

A bracket g is pivoted transversely of the tube X in a horizontal bearing and may be swung from its position indicated in dotted lines in 2 to that shown in full lines in said figure. The bracket 9 carries a shaft 1*? which is provided with a socket hearing to engage with the squared protruding end of the shaft 0 when the bracket g is in the position shown in full lines in Fig. 2. ltwill be seen that the engagement of the. socket end of the shaft N and the squared protruding end of the shaft 0 will be broken upon theinitial movement of the torpedo X in the tube when about to be expelled from the tube. A miter gear a fast on the shaft if meshes with a miter gear m fast on a shaft M 'journaled in the bracket g, and a miter gear on fast on'the shaft if meshes with a miter gear Z fast on a shaft L journaled in the bracket 9 coaxially with the pivotal bearing upon which the bracket g turns. A miter gear Z fast on a protruding end of the shaft L meshes with a miter gear it fast onone end of a shaft K. spur gear 7.". fast on the other end of the shaft K engages a like spur gear fast on a shaft 3, and a miter gear j fast on the shaft J meshes with a miter gear 2" fast on the lower end of the shaft 1. The shafts K and J are journaled in a bracket S projecting from the tube A. adjacent the ball and socket joint 3. A crank 9 fast on the bracket 9' is pivoted to a rod Q, the end of which rod Q is abutted by the breech closure (4 of the tube A. When the breech closure 62 is closed the rod Q. is pushed forwardly, throwing the bracket g downwardly into the position shown in full lines in Fig. 2, in which position the shaft N engages with the shaft 0 on the torpedo. When the breech closure a of the tube is open a spring 9 forces the rod Q backwardly, throwing the bracket 9 upwardly into a recess T in the wall of the tube A and out of the way of a torpedo being extracted or inserted from or into the tube A, through its breech.

The train of shafting and gearing from tle periscope F to the shafts O and P within the torpedo, having a ratio of 1 to 1 throughout, the steering gear component driven by the shaft P within the torpedo will always maintain a parallel relatimiship with the periscope, while the planetary arrangement of the miter gear rolling about the miter gear a" when the tube is angularly moved upon its pivots produces a transla tion only of the movable component of the gyroscopic steering gear within the torpedo, making it'possible to move the tube A to any position without interfering with the condition of parallelism existing between the periscope F and the component of the steering gear of the torpedo which is moved by the periscope.

The twin tubes shown in. Figs. 5 and 6 are equipped with identically the same apparatus for effecting the movement of the movable component of the gyroscopic steering gear from a periscope or other sighting device and the equivalent parts are given like designating characters in all of the figures of the drawings.

The operation of the apparatus shown in Figs. 1 to it in carrying out the method herein described is as follows: The breech it of'the tube A being open permits the spring to throw the bracket 9 upwardly into the recess T in the wall of the tube A leaving the bore of the tube unobstructed for the introduction of a torpedo. The torpedo is then inserted into the tube to its proper position therein, and the breech closure a closed driving the rod Q forwardly and throwing the bracket q downwardly to engage the shaft N with the shaft 0 of the torpedo. Proper precautions should be taken at the time the tube is loaded to have the shafts N and O in such relative positions that when they are en gaged the periscope and the movable component of the torpedo steering gear will be connected in their proper parallel relation. hen it is desired to fire the torpedo at a mark. the peris'cope or equivalent sighting device is aimed at the mark thereby setting the movable component of the torpedo steering for a course in that direction. The sighting device is held upon the mark while the gyroscope is spun up and its rotor released in the usual way and until the fluid for expelling the torpedo from the tube has been admitted to the tube in firing and an initial movement of the torpedo in the tube accomplished. This initial movement of the torpedo in the tube breaks the connection between the shafts N and O leaving that component of the steering gear of the torpedo which has been aimed in the position which it occupied at the moment of the breaking of this connection, and the torpedo will travel to the mark as soon as it is permitted free moven'ient after leaving the tube. This method of aiming while being applicable to launching tubes located above the water is particularly adapted for tubes from which the torpedo is ejected directly into the water under its surface, in which case the maintenance of the parallelism between the movable component of the steering gear within the torpedo and the sighting device irrespective of the position or movement of the tube becomes a prominent factor in the method of aiming and launching. When the torpedo is. launched under water from a moving vessel in a direction transverse of the direction of movement of the vessel, the tube is permitted to be moved by the torpedo when the rush of the water against the protruding nose of the issuing torpedo tends to bind the torpedo in the muzzle of the tube, thus preventing injury to the torpedo. According to the course which the torpedo has been set to take relative to the position and direction of movement of the vessel the tube is trained by the hand wheel IQ upon the track D to a point froinwhich it will be moved by the torpedo as it issues, the interposition of the friction connection in the training gear permitting this, and as the point upon the track D to which the torpedo tube is moved by the hand wheel 1*) is not always the same, it will be seen. that the provision of the devices for effecting a translation of the movable component of the steering gear within the torpedo upon the movement of the tube becomes of great importance to avoid disturbance, when the tube is moved, of the parallel relation existing between the movable component of the torpedo. steering device and the periscope or aiming device.

What I claim is:

1. The combination with an angularly movable torpedo launching-tube, of an automobile torpedo having gyroscopic steering gear, and a connection from the gyroscopic steering gear to the tube including means actuated upon angular movement of the tube to convert the accompanying movement of the training component of the gyroscopic steering gear into a movement of translation, whereby the steering gear remains set for a course to the mark irrespective of the position of the tube; substantially as described.

2. The combination with a vessel, of a torpedo laLuic-hing-tube mounted to dischargeits torpedo transversely of the direction of movement of the vessel and below the suri'ace of the water, said launching tube being free to move angularly with the torpedo during such discharge and being normally uninliuenced by the movement of the vessel rough be water, whereby, as the torpedo res into the water its tendency to bind in zlc of the launching tube is met and suppre std by an accompanying angular movement of the tube, an automobile torpedo in the tube havin gyroscopic steering and a to: nection from the gyroscopic no gear to the tube including means upon angular movement of the tube the rwcompanying movement of iit'i i 121 i to eon the t steering gear into a movement of the t anslation, whereby the steering gear remains settor a course to the marl; irrespective of the position of the tube; substantially de scribed.

3. 'lhe combination with a torpedo, having a gyroscopic steering device and setting means therefor, arranged in such manner that the relative positions of cooperating parts of he steering device at the moment of disconn .cting the setting means determine the course the torpedo will take, of a holder in which the torpedo rests, and a sighting instrument establishing a setting of the steering device tor a course in the direction of the line of sight of said instrument, said instrument being mounted for movement indepei'ident of such holder and operatively connected with the setting means for the gyroscopic steering device; substantially as described.

l. The combination with a torpedo launching tube having a breech door, of an automobile torpedo equipped with gyroscopic steering gear having cooperating parts the re ative position of which determines the course the torpedo will take, setting means for the steering gear mounted in the tube and adapted upon the closing of the breech door to come into operative connection with one oi said parts, and upon the opening of the breech door to swing out 01"- the path of a torpedo moving into the tube, and a sighting instrument mounted for movement independent of the tube and operatively connected with the said set-ting means.

The combination of a torpedo launch- Eng component of the gyroscopic 1 ing tube for automobile torpedoes having gyroscopic steering gear, an aiming device and means adaptedto operatively connect said aiming device with the gyroscopic ering gear of a torpedo at rest in said tube in such manner that said steering gear is trained with said aiming device; substantially described.

lhe combination of a pivoted torpedo launching tube for automobile torpedoes having gyrcscopic steering gear an aiming device, and an operative mechanical connection extending from said aiming device to a point within the bore of said tube, said connection being adapted to operatively engage with the gyroscopic steering gear of the torpedo at rest in said tube and being provided with a planetary articulation co-axial with the pivot of said tube and arranged to etlect angular movements of the gyroscopic steering gear within the torpedo upon angular movement of the aiming novice and translatory movement of the gyroscopic steering gear upon angular movement of the tube; substantially as described.

T. An apparatus for controlling torpedo firing comprising sighting means, a torpedo, directitan-maintaining apparatus for the torpedo, and means controlled by said sighting means to modify the action or said directionmaintaining apparatus upon said torpedo.

S. in an apparatus for controlling torpedo firing, a basal support for a torpedo,

torpedo having steering means, and directimrcontrolling means for said steering means, sighting means adapted to be trained upon the object to be attacked, and means whereby the training of said sighting means modifies the action of said direction-controlling means of the torpedo.

9. An apparatus for controlling torpedo firing comprising a basal support for a plu rality of torpedoes, a plurality of torpedoes supported thereby, each having direction maintaining means and a centralized control for said plurality of torpedoes open atively associated with and adapted to modii'y, the action of the direction-maintaining means of said torpedoes.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

GREGGRY CALDWELL DAVISGN.

ll itnesses F. L BRAKE, E. C. Hnnonnrono.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the fiommissioner of Patents, Washington, I l 5.

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