Rheinmetall Gmbh

Gert Winkler

Erich Zielinski

Wilfried Becker

Josef Metz

Adolf Nordmann

Herbert Lipp

Adolf P Bierwirth

Erich Zielinksi

A magazine arrangement for a tank turret having a crew chamber and, a tubular weapon, particularly a howitzer, in its front portion, and two magazine units in its rear portion, with the two magazine units being disposed respectively to the right and left of the bore axis of the tubular weapon, and with one magazine unit accommodating propelling charges and the other magazine unit accommodating projectiles. To ensure manual supply of the propelling charges from a storage position secured with respect to the crew chamber, the magazine units receive the propelling charges and projectiles in a position transverse to the bore axis of the tubular weapon and with the projectiles having their tips facing inwardly, and the magazine unit for the propelling charges is enclosed in a chamber having armored walls such that those of the armored walls of the chamber which face the crew chamber are armored more strongly than the exterior walls of the chamber, and the front wall of the chamber facing the crew chamber is provided with a door.

Magazine arrangement for a tank

A loading device for a tubular weapon includes two adjacent belt magazines; a separate loading tray cooperating with each magazine and being arranged for pivotal motion about 90.degree. from a cartridge-receiving position into a loading position in alignment with the tubular weapon; a common partition wall forming part of the two magazines and being arranged between the discharge sides of the magazines and the tubular weapon; at least one partition door provided in the partition wall; separate drive chains supported along the discharge side of each magazine and being connected to a respective loading tray for displacing the loading tray; a separate linear guide being in guiding engagement with each loading tray; and a separate curved guide extending generally along the discharge side of the respective magazine and being bent theretoward. The linear guide and the curved guide together guiding the respective loading tray from one of its positions to the other of its positions when displaced by the drive chain.

Loading device for a tubular weapon

A weapon arrangement for a gun barrel adapted to fire a projectile the propellant charge of which is loaded separately from the projectile in to the loading chamber of the gun barrel. Such projectiles have a long range and can be fired at a rapid firing sequence. The wedge breech block is slidably movable mounted in a mating slit of the bottom member at an angle of about 65.degree. with respect to the vertical plane. The mating slit is open towards the rear. A loading tray is pivotally mounted on an extension of the cradle which extends parallel to the gun barrel axis. The loading tray pivots laterally from an inoperative position to a loading position in which it is in alignment with the gun barrel axis so that a projectile from an ammunition magazine can be fed via two ammunition feed chains to the loading tray. A transfer arm is pivotally mounted about the trunion axis of the gun barrel and serves to transfer the projectile from the feed chains to the loading tray.

Weapon arrangement

A weapons system including a mortar and a vehicle. The vehicle has a body including a side wall having an opening and a region constructed for receiving the mortar. The mortar includes a dividable tube having a lower tube section and a mechanism for pivotally mounting the lower tube section for movement about an essentially horizontal axis to a loading position in which it is aligned with the opening in the side wall for breech loading of the mortar. A mounting device is connected with the vehicle for mounting the mortar for movement between a traveling position in which the mortar is positioned to travel with the vehicle and a firing position in which the mortar is positioned to fire a projectile. The traveling position is delimited by the region provided in the side wall for receiving the mortar and the firing position is located on the ground in the vicinity of the vehicle.

Armor car-mounted mortar

A piston cylinder unit of an upwardly swinging pinile mounting necessary for the adjustment of the muzzle height of the gun barrel of a battle tank contains a bracking mechanism which becomes effective at firing at each upwardly swingable setting of the gun barrel. In this way it is possible to utilize the swinging motion of a gun mount arm carrying a gun barrel for the recoil energy release of the gun barrel. The barrel recoil energy of the gun barrel, and of the masses recoiling at the same time with the gun barrel, is thereby energy dissipatingly absorbed at the barrel recoil, after completing the free-running switching operation d of a known barrel recoil brake mechanism within a barrel recoil path c, jointly formed out of the recoil ranges a and b, on the one hand, by way of the piston cylinder unit over the gun mount arm swung back by an angle .alpha. corresponding to the barrel recoil range a and on the other hand by way of a cradle fixed backwardly moving recoil brake mechanism by a comparably short range b. In this way known gun barrels, installed in tank turrets as well as short stroke recoil brake mechanism with a free run, are installable, while sparing weight and manfacturing effort, whereby, nevertheless, the long recoil path for the braking of the gun barrel while not endangering the stability of the tank vehicle is guaranteed with muzzle heights greater than 4 m.

Upwardly swinging pinile mounting for a gun barrel for a combat vehicle

A weapons system including a mortar and a vehicle. The vehicle has a body including a side wall having a region constructed for receiving the mortar. A mounting device is connected with the vehicle for mounting the mortar for movement between a traveling position in which the mortar is positioned to travel with the vehicle and a firing position in which the mortar is positioned to fire a projectile. The traveling position is delimited by the region provided in the side wall for receiving the mortar and the firing position is located on the ground in the vicinity of the vehicle.

A muzzle loading mortar constructed for mounting on a protected enclosure, for example, an armored vehicle. The mortar includes a mortar tube having an open end for receiving and discharging a projectile, and mounting means, including a tube cradle connected with a recoil-return means, are provided for mounting the tube on the enclosure. The recoil-return means includes a hydraulic member which cooperates with a spring for reducing the forces introduced into the enclosure during development of a shot from the mortar. A loading means is mounted for relative movement between the open end of the tube and the protected enclosure for muzzle loading the open end of the tube with a projectile. The loading means can be operated from within the protected enclosure to load a projectile into the mortar tube.

A combination recuperator and gun barrel recoil brake form a single constructional unit assembly. This assembly includes a storage cylinder in which a recoil (brake) cylinder is mounted by means of a separating piston which forms part of the recoil cylinder and which is slidably disposed in the storage cylinder. A recoil piston is slidably disposed in the recoil cylinder and is operatively connected via a piston rod to the gun barrel. A guide bushing is mounted in the rear end wall of the storage cylinder and forms an axial guide for the piston rod of the recoil piston. The outer surface of the guide bushing forms together with the inner wall surface of the recoil cylinder and the internal bore of the separating piston a first passage for permitting a controlled flow of the pressurized liquid between the pressurized liquid chamber in the storage cylinder and the interior of the recoil cylinder. The outer contour of the guide bushing, the inner contours of the recoil cylinder and internal bore of the separating piston are so constructed and arranged that the pressurized liquid is acting on the recoil piston during recoil to firstly, until shortly after the projectile has exited from the gun barrel, only slightly or not at all throttle the flow therethrough, whereby only a reduced or no braking force is applied to the gun barrel, and thereafter the first passage steadily shrinks in size so that an increasing braking force is applied to the gun barrel.

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Meerbusch, Germany

Gert Winkler