US Government As Represented by the Secretary of the Army

Donald E Davis

David A Bittle

Roswell W Nourse

Sean A Hainze

Robert C Glover

The invention efficiently and effectively secures and releases a rail-launched missile. An asymmetrical secure-release wheel () is defined by several surfaces which extend radially outward from a pivot hole (K). The surfaces include a wheel unlatch surface (H), a wheel notch stop surface (D), a wheel detent surface (G), a clockwise stop surface (C) and a counterclockwise stop surface (B). The wheel () is rotatable within a wheel housing (). When a missile is loaded onto the launch rail, the middle shoe of the missile engages the detent surface (G) of the wheel. During missile launch, the plume of the missile moves a trigger () which pulls a connecting rod () aft which results in a wheel lock () being disengaged from the detent surface (G). A microswitch () provides a signal indicating whether the wheel () is in a latched or unlatched state.

Missile secure-release mechanism having wheel lock detent

Rocket Accuracy Improvement Device, when coupled between the warhead and motor of a typical free flight rocket, isolates the warhead from the rocket motor in the axis using a plurality of ball bearings and thereby enables the warhead to spin independently of the motor. The separation of the warhead from the motor allows the angular momentum of the warhead, which has reached its maximum spin rate by the time the motor burns out, to act gyroscopically to maintain the trajectory of the rocket even when the motor reverses its spin, thus achieving a much more predictable flight path for the rocket.

Growing community of inventors

Huntsville, AL, United States of America

Donald E Davis