US2751819A - Cocking mechanism for a slide block cannon - Google Patents

Description

June 26, 1956 Q [3, HQOPES ET AL 2,751,819

COOKING MECHANISM FOR A SLIDE BLOCK CANNON Filed Dec. 25, 1954 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 FI'EKIL- L 4s 32 4Q 44 52 :I

INVENTOR. Ewan D HEIU '|3EE| BY Jcfl-u-LB E illery /fMfdWM June 26, 1956 o, HQOPES ET AL 2,751,819

COCKING MECHANISM FOR A SLIDE BLOCK CANNON Filed Dec. 25, 1954 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 JNVENTOR, Uwan ILHuu E5 By John B- Elil sry wmwmaw R TTOENEYS 0. D. HOOPES ET AL COCKING MECHANISM FOR A SLIDE BLOCK CANNON June 26, 1956 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Dec. 25, 1954 INVENTOR. Gwen ELI-Inc:

ATTORNEYS COCKING MECHANISM FOR A SLIDE. BLOCK CANNON Owen D. Hoopes, Latham, and John B. Sillery, Albany,

N. Y., assignors to the United States of America: as represented by the Secretary of the Army The invention described herein may be manufactured and used" by or for the Government for governmental purposes without the payment of any royalty thereon.

This invention relates to slide block cannons and more particularly to the cooking mechanism therefor.

Because of the misfires occasionally encountered. in slide block cannons-having automatic firingmechanisms of manually operated percussion type, it is necessary to provide means for manually cocking the gun for refire. However, it has been customary to position the manual cocking lever so that the gunner is forced to assume a vulnerable position-when cocking the gun and, therefore, injuries are oftentimes experienced. In most instances, the gunner has to reach over the gun and push the cocking lever against the direction of recoil. Consequently, should the gu-nners hand slip from the cocking lever before the firing pin is cocked and the accidentally released firingpin' strike the primer to fire the round, his arm, which would normally follow through in the direction of applied force, would meet the gun in recoil resulting in an injury.

Designs have been provided which utilize a manual, rearwardly actuated cocking lever but they have all resulted in complex manufacturing problems and some have sacrificed vital breech-block strength because of the clearance cuts required therein to attain the desired movement.

It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a device for manually cooking a cannon whereby the gunner need not extend his hand or arm in the path of the recoiling parts of the gun during the cooking. operation.

It is another object of this invention to provide a device for manually cocking the cannon wherein the cocking lever is actuated rearwardly.

It is a further object of this invention. to provide a rearwardly actuated cocking device having a minimum number of parts which is easy to manufacture and requires few weakening clearance cuts in the breechblock.

It is' the specific object of this invention to provide a cooking device wherein a rotatable shaft cIammingly cooperates between a pivotally mounted cocking lever and a longitudinally reicprocat'ing firing pin device to translate rearward movement of such cocking lever to rearward movement of such firing pin.

The specific nature of the invention as well as other objects and advantages thereof will clearly appear from a description of a preferrtd embodiment as shown in the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. l is a fragmentary partially cross-sectional view of the rear end of the breech of a cannon;

Fig. 2 is a reduced perspective view of the breech of a cannon;

Fig. 3- is a view along line 3-3 of Fig. lshowing the firing pin in phantom actuated to cock position by' the cooking lever;

Fig. 4' is a view similar to Fig. 3 but showing the firing pin in phantom in normal fire position" and the cocking lever in normal forward position; and

Fig. 5 is an enlarged perspective exploded view of the cocking mechanism.

States Patent 5" 2,7 51,819 Patented June 26, I956 Shown in the figures is a slide block cannon. having a breech ring 12' and a breechblock 14 slidably mounted in an opening IS'therein for movement between a downward loading and an upward blocking position. Breechblock 14 may be operated manually by an operating handle 18 mounted on the right side of breech ring 12. Provided longitudinally through breechblock 14 is a cylindrical hole 20 and mounted for longitudinal movement therein is a firing pin mechanism 24 which is reciprocable between a forward fire position and a rearward cock position. Provided around the rear endof firing pin mechanism 24 is arr-annular flange 28 which is latchable by a sear (not shown) mounted in the left' side of breechblock 14 for rel'easably securing such firing pin mechanism in cock position.

Arranged in hole 20, to bias firing pin mechanism 24 forwardly to fire position, is a coiled compression spring 32. The scar is actuatable to release firing pin mechanism 24 either manually by an operating lever 36 pivotally mounted on the right side of breech ring 12 or electrically by an electric solenoid 38, such operating shaft and solenoid being connected to the sear by a linkage mechanism 34.

A wide vertical groove 39 is provided in the right side of'b-reechblock 14 and extending inwardly therefrom so as to communicate with hole 20 is a bore 40 the axis of which is on a lower level than the axis of such hole as will be further explained hereinafter. Bore 40 is counterbored, as noted at 42, to form an annular shoulder 44. Rotatably mounted in bore 40 is a cylindrical cocking shaft'46 having at one end an annular, radially project'- ing rim. 48 which is rotatably received in a mating recess 43 in the side of breechblock 14. A lug 50 extends longitudinally from the opposite end of shaft 46 and adjacent the perimeter thereof, and hole 26 and bore 40 are so related that when shaft 46 is rotated to where such lug is in the topmost position, such lug is engageable with said flange 28. Whereby,.rotation of shaft 46 to move lug 50 against flange 28* cammingly moves firing pin mechanism 24 rearwardly' to cock position. Mounted in countcrbore 42 to surrolmd. shaft 46 is a coiled torsional spring 52 having a pair of oppositely extending tangs- 54 which are interchangeably received in. a hole 56, extending inwardly from shoulder 44, and a hole 58 in rim 48. Spring 52 is arranged to be energized when shaft 46 is rotated to actuate firing, pin mechanism 24 to cock position.

Extending laterally from rim 48, opposite lug 50, is a stud 62 which is cooperable with a cocking lever 64 pivotally mounted in groove 39 as hereinafter described. Cooking lever 64 is comprised of a. cylindrical axle portion 68. which projects laterally therefrom to form a lower arm portion 70 and an upper arm portion 72. Axle: portion. 68 is rotatably received by a well 74, which extends inwardly from groove 39 vertically above bore 40, and is maintained in such well by slidable engagement of arm portions 70 and 72 with breech ring 12. Provided in lower arm portion 70 is an elongated cut-out portion 76 which cooperates with stud 62 as hereinafter described. For manual operation upper arm portion 72 is terminated by a finger gripping portion 78 which projects above breech ring 12 when. breechblock 14 is in firing position, for ready access to the operator, and is formed to arch slightly forward for easy gripping and to prevent the operators fingers slipping therefrom as cocking lever 64 is pulled rearwardly. Y

. Extending forwardly from upper arm portion 72, below gripping. portion 78, is a nose portion 80 which cooper;- ates with an. upwardly and forwardly inclining cam. portion'SZ inthe. front end of opening 15 for pivoting cocking lever 64 automatically when breechblock 14 moves to and from firing position. During the remainder of the cyclic movement of breechblock 14 to and from loading position, the actuator slidably engages the front side of opening as best shown in Fig. 3. The normal forward position of upper portion 72 is established by the engagement of lower portion 70 with the rear wall of groove 39. Lower portion 70 is normally biased into engagement with the rear wall of grove 39 by spring 52 being preloaded. The preload is maintained in spring 52 by the engagement of stud 62 with the top side of cut-out portion 76, as best shown in Fig. 4, which prevents'rotation of shaft 46 by the spring.

Operation It is seen that the manual operating mechanisms for the cannon including operating handle 18 for raising or lowering breechblock 14, operating lever 36 for releasing firing pin mechanism 24 to fire a chambered cartridge (not shown) and cocking lever 64 for cocking the firing pin mechanism are all located on the same side of breech ring 12. Therefore, the operator need not be endangered by having to reach in the way of the recoiling parts of the cannon to operate any of the actuating mechanisms.

With breechblock 14 in blocking position and firing pin mechanism 24 releasably held in cock position by the sear (not shown), the operator fires the chambered cartridge by either energizing solenoid 38 or manually actuating operating lever 36. During the ensuing counterrecoil of breech ring 12, breechblock 14 is automatically lowered therein by conventional crank means (not shown) to the loading position.

In the initial portion of the movement of breechblock 14 away from blocking position, upper portion 72 of cocking lever 64 is pivoted rearwardly around axle portion 68 through the engagement of nose portion 80 with cam 82. As upper portion 72 pivots rearwardly, lower portion 70 pivots forwardly against stud 62 to rotate shaft 46. Whereby, stud 50 is rotated against flange 28 of firing pin mechanism 24 for retraction thereof to cock position, compressing spring 32 and rotatably enenergizing spring 52. During the remainder of the travel of breechblock 14 to loading position, for the loading of a new cartridge, and the subsequent movement therefrom towards blocking position, the firing pin mechanism 24 is held securely in cock position by operating lever 36 through the sliding engagement of nose portion 80 thereof with the front side of opening 15 as best shown in Fig. 3.

As breechblock 14 approaches blocking position and nose portion 80 comes adjacent the clearance provided by cam portion 82, cocking lever 64 is permitted to be pivoted by shaft 46, through the energy stored in spring 52, to maintain such nose portion in engagement with cam portion 82 while moving therealong. In the meantime, lug 50 is rotated away from flange 28 of firing pin mechanism 24, permitting the compressed spring 32 to move the firing pin mechanism forwardly into releasable engagement with the sear (not shown) and subsequently out of the way of such firing-pin mechanism when released by operating lever 36 or solenoid 38 to fire the chambered cartridge.

In the event firing pin mechanism 24 does not fire the chambered cartridge, the operator, standing on the right side of-breech ring 12, pulls rearwardly on finger gripping portion 78, recocking the firing pin mechanism as hereinbefore described. It is evident that if the operators fingers should inadvertently slip from finger gripping portion 78 before firing pin mechanism 24 is latched by the sear and the accidentally released firing pin mechanism goes forward and fires the chambered cartridge, the operators hand or arm would receive little if any harm from-the recoiling parts as they would be traveling rearwardly also, following through in the direction of applied force.

It is, therefore, evident that there is herein provided a cocking mechanism which is novel in structure, which provides a stronger breechblock by being accommodated therein in a cylindrical opening and which reduces operational hazards to the operator.

Although a particular embodiment of the invention has been described in detail herein, it is evident that many variations may be devised within the spirit and scope thereof and the following claims are intended to include such variations.

We claim:

1. In a cannon, a breech ring, a breechblock mounted for slidable movement in said breech ring, a firing pin mounted in said breechblock for sliding linear movement, a cooking lever mounted to said breech for pivotal movement, a cylindrical shaft for rotatingly translating said pivotal movement of said cocking lever to said linear movement of said firing pin, and a cam portion in said breech ring cooperable with said cocking lever for pivoting said cocking lever during sliding movement of said breechblock.

2. In a cannon having a breech ring with an attached tube, a breechblock mounted for slidable movement in the breech ring, said breechblock being provided with a cylindrical hole aligned with the tube and a bore normal thereto, a firing pin having an annular flange mounted for linear sliding movement in said hole, a cylindrical shaft mounted for rotary movement in said bore, a cocking lever mounted to said breechblock for pivotal movement responsive to said slidable movement of said breechblock, a first cam means for translating said pivotal movement of said cocking lever to said rotary movement of said shaft, and a second cam means for translating said rotary movement of said shaft to said linear movement of said firing pin.

3. In a cannon having a breech ring With a tube attached, a breechblock mounted in the breech ring for sliding movement between a loading position and a blocking position, said breechblock being provided with a cylindrical hole aligned with the tube and a bore normal thereto, a firing pin having an annular flange mounted in said hole for sliding linear movement between a cock position and a fire position, resilient means for biasing said firing pin to said fire position, a cylindrical shaft mounted for rotary movement in said bore, a cocking lever mounted to said breechblock for pivotal movement responsive to said sliding movement of said breechblock, cam means for translating said pivotal movement of said cocking lever to said rotary movement of said shaft, a stud extending eccentrically from said shaft for engagement with said flange to cam said firing pin to said cock position in response to rotation of said shaft, and a spring for rotating said shaft to bias said stud away from said flange.

4. In a cannon having a breech ring with a tube attached, a breechblock mounted in the breech ring for sliding movement between a loading position and a blocking position, said breechblock being provided with a cylindrical hole aligned with the tube and a bore normal thereto, a firing pin having an annular flange mounted in said hole for sliding linear movement between a cock position and a fire position, resilient means for biasing said firing pin to said fire position, a cylindrical shaft mounted for rotary movement in said bore, a cocking lever mounted to said breechblock for pivotal movement responsive to said sliding movement of said breechblock, cam means for translating said pivotal movement of said cocking lever to said rotary movement of said shaft, a stud extending eccentrically from said shaft for engagement with said flange to cam said firing pin to said cock positionin response to rotation of said shaft, and a torsional coil spring mounted in said bore around said shaft, said spring having one end anchored in a hole in said shaft and another end anchored in said breechblock for rotating said shaft to bias said stud away from said flange.

5. In a cannon having a breech ring with a tube attached, a breechblock mounted in an opening in the breech ring for slidable movement between a loading and a blocking position, said breechblock being provided with a cylindrical hole aligned with the tube and a bore normal thereto, a firing pin having an annular flange mounted in said hole for sliding movement between a cock and a fire position, a cylindrical shaft mounted for rotary movement in said bore, a stud extending eccentrically from one end of said shaft for cooperation with said flange to cam said firing pin to said cock position, a cam portion extending from said opening in the breech ring, a cocking lever pivotally mounted to said breechblock for engageable cooperation with said cam portion when said breechblock moves away from said blocking position to pivot said cocking lever, cam means for translating pivotal movement of said cocking lever to said rotary movement of said shaft for actuation of said firing pin to said cock position by said stud, and spring means for rotating said shaft against the direction of applied force of said cocking lever.

6. In a cannon having a breech ring with a tube attached, a breechblock mounted in an opening having a front wall in the breech ring for slidable movement between a loading and a blocking position, said breechblock being provided with a cylindrical hole aligned with the tube and a bore normal thereto, a firing pin having an annular flange mounted in said hole for sliding movement between a cock and a fire position, a cylindrical shaft mounted for rotary movement in said bore, a stud extend ing eccentrically from one end of said shaft for coopera tion with said flange to cam said firing pin to said cock position, a cocking lever provided with a cylindrical axle portion and integral upper and lower arm portions extending diametrically therefrom, said axle portion being rotatably received in a well in one side of said breechblock, said lower arm portion being cammingly cooperable with a lug extending eccentrically from said shaft for rotation thereof to move said stud aginst said flange when said upper portion is pivoted rearwardly, a cam portion extending upwardly and forwardly from said front wall of said opening, said cam portion being cooperable with said upper arm portion for rearward actuation thereof when said breechblock is in initial portion of travel away from said blocking position, said upper arm portion slidably cooperating with said front wall for holding said upper arm portion rearwardly, handle means extending from said upper portion for manual operation of said cocking lever, and a coiled torsional spring mounted in said bore around said shaft and interposed between said breechblock and said shaft for rotation thereof to release said stud from said flange of said firing pin.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,072,456 Hermsdorf Sept. 9, 1913

Images