US3200707A - Bomb arming solenoid - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 17, 1965 Filed Sept. 5, 1963 I 1 W! H NH 1: MI; 76 F f i W. F. WEST BOMB ARMING SOLENOID 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR William F Wes! g- 17, 1955 w. F. WEST 3,200,

BOMB ARMING SOLENO ID Filed Sept. 5, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,200,707 BDMB ARMING SQLENOID William F. West, Glendale, Caiif., assignor to Standard Armament Inc., Glendale, Caiif., a corporation of California Filed Sept. 5, 1963, Ser. No. 306,948 1 Claim. (Cl. 89-15) This invention relates to a solenoid lock and, in particular, to a solenoid arming unit for holding the ring of a bomb arming wire.

Arming ring locks are used for holding the ring of an arming wire so that, if a bomb is accidentally dropped, the ring will pull loose from the lock without arming the bomb. On the other hand, if an armed bomb is to be deliberately dropped, then the locking device is brought into lock position so that the arming wire is held and pulls loose from the dropping bomb so that an armed bomb is released. Such devices are shown, for example, in Wilkie, Patent No. 2,922,340, and Anderson et al., Patent No. 2,992,594.

The object of this invention is to produce an improved solenoid locking unit which is of simple construction and of great reliability.

The means by which these objects are obtained are set forth more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevational view of the solenoid lock;

FIGURE 2 is a top plan view of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is an end view of FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 4 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of FIGURE 3.

The solenoid lock is composed of a cylindrical housing formed from a metal tube which surrounds a solenoid winding formed of a coil of wires 12 wound on a synthetic plastic spool 14 having a smooth inner Wall which serves as the cylinder wall for an anvil or armature 16.

Armature 16 is composed of a solid body of soft steel having a lowered conical end 18 which is obred to receive the press-fitted non-magnetic stainless steel locking pin 20. A housing plunger base portion 22 has an upper annular flange 24 which surrounds and tightly engages the lower outer surface portion of the housing 10. A soft metal bushing 26 having a conical seat 28 in one end thereof fits in the cylindrical core of the spool 14 and into a recessed portion in base 22. A spring 30 is positioned between the bushing and the pin 20 to urge the anvil 16 into the upper position as shown in FIGURE 5. This anvil has a longitudinally extending groove 32 for the passage of air displaced by movement of the anvil. Spool 14 is seated upon a soft steel washer 34 in the bottom of the recess formed by the flange 24.

The top of this solenoid lock is closed by a molded fiber plastic washer 40. This washer has two circular recesses in the upper side thereof for receiving internally threaded sockets 42 into which the connecting wire terminals 44 are eventually threaded. Washer 40 has a circular boss 46 fitting into the upper end of the spool 14 and an oppositely positioned divider 48 extending between the terminals 44 for preventing the frayed ends of the connecting wires from contacting each other and short circuiting. Drill holes through the washer are provided for the lead wires 50 coming from the winding and which have their free ends soldered to the sockets 42. The washer is topped by an epoxy potting 52 cast into place.

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Base portion 22 contains a cylindrical bore in which is mounted a plunger 62. This plunger has a circumferential groove 64 into which the lower end of pin 20 is adapted to extend to lock the plunger in position. The plunger has a bore 66 in one end into which extends a compression spring 63. The other end of the plunger has a solid conical nose postion 70 extending through plunger nose outlet opening 72 across the nose closing ring slot 74 through ring 76 and then bearing against the inner wall of a flange 77 as urged by spring 68. The grrlning wire ring 76, shown in dashed lines, is thus An annular flange 78 forms a groove around nose 70 and has an O-ring 80 sea ed therein to form a seal against dirt and moisture entering the cylindrical bore 60. The opposite cap opening end of cylindrical bore 60 is closed by a locking cap disc 82 which is tightly press-fitted into a shoulder formed at the end of the bore.

Threaded bolt holes extend through base portion 22 for the purpose of fastening the lock to a supporting structure.

In operation, the coil 1.2 is not energized and the locking pin remains in its upper unlocked position as urged by spring 39. The arming wire ring 76 is then pushed into the opening 74 and forces the plunger nose 70 to open against the pressure of spring 68. Under a fivepound pull on ring 76, the spring 68 will yield and let the ring he pulled loose from the locking nose 70. However, when a bomb with a live fuse is to be dropped, the coil 12 is energized and forces the anvil 16 down wardly against the pressure of spring 30 so that the lower end of the pin enters into groove 64 to prevent movement of the plunger 62. Consequently, a pull of at least a hundred pounds on ring 76 will not move the nose portion 70 and the arming wire will pull free from the bomb fuse so that an actively fused bomb is dropped.

As stainless steel pin 20 is substantially non-magnetic, there will be no tendency for it to cling to have its movements impeded by the magnetic field created by the coil 12 and in the bushing 26.

Having now described the means by which the objects of the invention are obtained, I claim:

In a solenoid lock having a housing, a cylindrical solenoid coil in said housing, an armature and locking pin movably mounted in said coil, and a spring-pressed plunger adapted to be engaged by said locking pin, the improvement comprising a plunger base portion on said housing, a cylindrical bore through said base portion and having a plunger nose outlet opening and a cap opening and containing said spring-pressed plunger, an annular flange on said plunger forming a groove facing said plunger nose outlet opening at the nose end of said plunger, an O-ring seated in said groove and surrounding said nose outlet opening for sealing said nose outlet opening, and a locking cap press-fitted into said cap opening and forming an abutment for the spring of said spring-pressed plunger.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,449,438 9/48 Wisegarver 317-191 2,845,003 7/58 Thomas 89-1 2,902,557 9/59 Brockman 20082 2,987,655 6/61 McCurdy 317-458 X JOHN F. BURNS, Primary Examiner.

LARAMIE E. ASKIN, Examiner.

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