US2378050A - Gun mounting system for turrets - Google Patents

Description

June 12, 1945- J. A. vAuGHAN 2,378,050

` GUN MOUNTING vSYSTEM FOR TURRETS Filed oct. 2, 1942 3&5 l@

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ATTORNEY' lgunnen Patented June 12, 1945 VGrUN MOUNTING"SYSTEMFORTTURETS V John A. Vaughan, Hempstead, ,N. Y., assig'noryby;` mesne assignments, to The W. kI... MaxAson,Gorporation, lNew York, N. Y., .a corporationof.

New l'York Applicatie Geister 2, 1942.,"ser1a1rNa.460.4911

40mm.. (C1. ssi-37) Thisin'ven'ton relates to gunmountin'gs vand particularly to a mounting -system suitable -for use inantnaircraft-gun turrets.

yWhen -ring'at hostile aircraft the gunner-must be able to shift' the gun rapidly and-accurately inl bothhorizontal and vertical-directions and must move'his head vaccordingly 'in ordery to re vmain `at all timesv in proper sightingposition.

Thisoperation frequently requires considerable gun is swung to follow a plane flying overthe 'Ihese'contortions increase the diniculty'of accurate Iire.

`A generalpurpose of the inventionistoipro- Vide-ag'un mounting in which the gunner 'can 1 shiftw the-` gun rapidly and accurately' in any 'direction' above the 'horizontal' and" maintain his head lin" proper aiming 'relationship to the "gun 'without-'requiring 'him tojmove"exceptfcra'rock- 'within the-natural' and comfortable range of such head'moven'ient This purpose is in general a""horiz'ontal 'as well as a vertical axis, thereby i permitting funiversal movement of the gun', and

supporting thegunner so that thev upper end of -hisspine.'which forms a p'ivotion which his" head rocks-I is located 'substantially on said 'horizontal aXisoff-gun movement. By rotatingjboth'the "'gnner'andlthe 'gun about the .the'vertical axis,

asf ips-'usual in 'gun turret'operation,`the gunner can "maintain his K sighting` eye in alignment .with

"ftlie'g'un sights at all times simply by rocking his lieadbackward or forward about its .pivot asth'e gun is elevated or depressed. l

' ','Another' purpose of'the invention is'to locate fand 'supportthe'gunner so' thathe can comfortab'ly'and conveniently rockr his head'vertically Athrough at least'the angl'eof 90 between horizontal and vertical gun positions. Since the Vmythe gunner.'

.-The; last mentioned. purposeA is in general lacl `complished lay-,providing a seat in whichlthegun.-

' comfortable"limitsfaboutits'lspinal pivot. A-seat inclinedat-'about 45f"has`beenvfound to `be suitingmovem'ent of his'head backward'or forwardfzo ner .reclnes at .anangle to gtheJhorizontalfwhich 55 permits him` =to"f look directlyx upward For horizontally-forward*without -transverse@sluiting` "of or strain on the-neck, :the-head lbe'ingl rocked Within able forthis purpose.

Avv further object oftheinvention is yto provide an inclined seat of the''indicated type Which-is suitableY for supporting men lof "different 'proportions "comfortably with their heads 'located accurately in' 'the proper position' above indicated.

This is Vin generalaccomplished icy-'forming the seat of a strip -of longitudinally flexible lmaterial constituting Aboth the' back andthe-bottom of "the seat an'dfsupported atits` ends. :With kthis typeof seatagunner'can locate hishead in propergun' sighting position by Aadjusting himself longitudinally/on the seat, and will thenbe supported comfortably'in such position. Moreover, a seatlof thisf'type allowsgreat freedom of movement' under `emergency "conditions Further objects' and advantages ,will appear from the folloiawing descriptionconsidered in connection with' the accompanying"drawing'in'which Fig. 1 is a vdiagrammatic,side elevation of a gun' mounting, 'including yth'e Y turret vsupport and operators seat, with vparts .brokenaway'," showing the gun in horizontal position;

Fig.2vis a similarv View with thergun in vertical position; and

l`Fig. isafragmentary sectionvon line 3-'3 of Fig. .1 showing themountingjof the vgun trunnion. l

The: invention is.Y illustrated 'in its application to agun turretpfrtheltypein Whichuthe gun is mounted for vertical movement7 the combination of such movement with` the required rotation of theturret serving vvto aim the gun at any desired .forthegunnen -indicatedlgenerally at I4, and

one or more guns l5, which may be machine .guns oncannon. A n arrangement suitable forthe use A,oiguns-oneitherside of vtheygunner is shown, eachxgunor groupof guns: beingsupportedV by` brackets I6A and pivotally-rnounted.Withinla `trunnionirame l1 4onfplatform ily-so` thateach gun I5-is rotatable about a horizontal y. axis `passing ythrough the.fcranialfpivot `ISI-of4 al-gunner 22 .-in

seat a I 4,-',.said'pivot'being5 located fin the. articula- Various types of trunnion construction may be employed. In the form shown the brackets I6 are attached to a trunnion member such as metal disk 23 movable on ball bearings 23a along a. circular track 24 carried by frame I1. Connected to disk 23 is the sighting device 25 of any desired type extending into alignment with the eyes of the gunner 22 and movable with the guns I5.

It will be understood that a corresponding gun support may be located on the near side of the gunner, so that he can operate a plurality of guns simultaneously, in accordance with well known turret construction,-the near gun mount being broken away in the interest of clearness.

The trunnion disk 23 and'turret platform II may be rotated in any desired manner, either manually or by electric drives of known types, which therefore are not illustrated, a reversible electric drive motorv 26 mounted on frame II and geared to a drive sector 21 attached to disk 23 being illustrated as representative of one type of electrical gun elevating means. These controls, as well as the firing button for the guns,

are ordinarily operated from one or more control handles 28 carried by bracket 29 extending from platform II into convenient position for operation by the gunner 22.

In order to permit the gunner 22 to tilt his head vertically about its pivot I9 between horizontal sighting position as shown in Fig. 1 and vertical sighting position illustrated in Fig. 2, without the strain and difficulty in maintaining head alignment with the sights that results from tilting the head backward to an excessive extent, the seat I4 is located and arranged so that the operators back is inclined to the horizontal sufficiently to bring the vertical firing position of his head within the range of easy backward movement of the head about its pivot I9. Since the operators head can readily be tilted forward comfortably from this position into horizontal firing position shown in Fig. l, this arrangement prevents any tendency for the operator to shift his neck relative to the trunnion axis I8, a tendency that would have to be counteracted by muscular eiIort on the part of theV gunner, resulting in strain andless effective sighting under emergency conditions.

In the form illustrated seat I4 comprises a strip 30 of longitudinally flexible material, such as cloth, which will accommodate itself to the body of the gunner 22, the strip extending across the body of the user but advantageously limited in width to the width of the gunners trunk, leaving his arms free to move backward beyond the side margins of the seat. "The ends of the strip extend around and are fixed as by rivets to upper cross bar 3| located behind the shoulders or upper back of the gunner 22 and attached to frame I1 by a bracket 32 at each end, and lower cross bar 33' located under the knees of the gunner and supported at each end by a bracket 34 on platform I I. A foot support bar 35 mounted at each end on a bracket 36 flxed' to platform II may also be provided.

By providing a ilexible support 30 for the gunner 22 he is enabled to adjust himself lengthwise in seat I4 to bring his head pivot I9 into accurate alignment with the gun mounting axis I8, a construction which permits gunners of various dimensions to position themselves properly in the indicated manner. However, means for adjusting the seat I4 to take care of variations in the sizes of gunners beyond those which can be accommodated by shiftingfin theV seat may be provided. In the form illustrated this may be accomplished by mounting the lower cross bar 33 at each end on an eccentric pivot 31 extending through bracket 34, and clamping the bar 33 in adjusted position by means of a clamping nut 38 threaded on an extension of each pivot 31, after the bar 33 has been rotated to adjust the length of strip 30 between bars 3| and 33 to the dimensions of particular gunners.

In operating the illustrated type of gun turret the gunner 22 can rotate the turret platform II and trunnion members 23 manually or by manipulation of control handle 26, whereby the gun I5 may be pointed in any direction about the horizontal; and the gunners sighting eye can be maintained in perfect alignment with the sighting device 25 simply by comfortable vertical rocking movements of the gunners head.

The references to horizontal and vertical positions in the specification and claims are not intended as.k limitations, since the positions of the parts thus described will necessarily vary when they are used on an airplane in night; but such description is intended simply to designate the relative position of the various parts.

I have described what I believe to be the best embodiments of my invention. I do not wish, however, to be coniined to the embodiments shown, but what I desire to cover by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In combination, a gun turret revoluble about a vertical axis, gun mounting means on the turret defining a horizontal pivotal gun axis in fixed relation to the turret, and a stable, supporting hammock for the gunner mounted on the turret, in which gunners of dierent sizes may comfortably and stably place themselves lengthwise of the hammock in different semi-reclining positions, respectively, according to their personal requirements, so that the cranial pivot 0f the gunner in each instance will substantially coincide with said dened horizontal pivotal gun axis.

2. In combination, a gun turret revoluble about a vertical axis, gun mounting means 0n the turret defining a horizontal pivotal gun axis in xed relation to the turret, and a hammocklike support for lthe gunner mounted on the turret, comprising widely spaced, end supports rigidly ainxed to `the turret and a broad flexible web connected between the supports and having considerably greater length than the distance between the points at which it is connected to the supports, in which gunners of different sizes may comfortably and stably place themselves in different semi-reclining positions, respectively, according to -their personal requirements, so that the cranial pivot of the gunner in each instance will substantially coincide with the dened horizontal pivotal gun axis.

3. In combination, a gun turret revoluble about a vertical axis, gun mounting means on the turret deiining a horizontal pivotal gun axis in fixed relation to the turret, and a stable. hammock-like support for the gunner mounted on the turret, comprising widely spaced, end supports rigidly affixed to the .turret and a broad flexible web connected between the supports and having considerably greater length than the distance between the points at which it is connected ing to their personal requirements, so that the cranial pivot of the gunnerin each instance .will

substantially coincide with said defined horizontal pivotal gun axis, one of said end supports for the flexible web being located adjacent the gun axis and substantially higher than the other end support, to facilitate the gunners assuming an attitude in which his. trunk is inclined at an angle of the order of 45.

4. In combination, a gun turret revoluble about a vertical axis, gun mounting means on the .turret defining a horizontal pivotal gun axis in fixed relation to the turret, a stable, hammocklike support for the gunner mounted on the turret, comprising widely spaced, end supports rigidly affixed to the turret and a broad flexible web connected between the supports and having considerably greater length than the distance between the points at which it is connected tothe supports, in which gunners of different sizes may comfortably and stably place themselves in different positions, respectively, according to their personal requirements, so that the cranial pivot of the gunner in each instance will substantially coincide with said defined horizontal pivotal gun axis, one of said fend supports for the flexible web being located adjacent the gun axis and l0 substantially higher :than the other end support,

to facilitate the gunners assuming an attitude in which his trunk is inclined at an angle of the order of 45, and means for adjusting one of the end supports to adapt the gunners support for 15 gunners of different size ranges.

JOHN A. V'UGI-IAN.

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