Rheinmetall Gmbh

Hans Hulsewis

Josef Metz

Walter Sauerwald

Adolf-Peter Bierwirth

A gun includes a barrel arranged to execute a recoil and a counterrecoil after a shot is fired; a trunnion about which the barrel is pivotal in a vertical plane to assume an index position and firing positions situated at an angle to the index position; a case ejector for ejecting a case from the barrel during counterrecoil; and a counterrecoil blocking device for interrupting the counterrecoil as long as the barrel is in a firing position other than the index position and for allowing the counterrecoil to resume when the barrel assumes the index position, whereby case ejection by the case ejector is effected in the index position.

Counterrecoil blocking device

A hydraulic recoil brake for damping both recoil and counterrecoil of a gun barrel when used with a pneumatic recuperator on the breech ring for the gun barrel. The brake has an axially extending brake cylinder fixed to the breech ring in which are disposed a fixed fluid stream control rod, and a brake piston reciprocally axially movable relative to the control rod for resisting a flow of hydraulic fluid in said brake cylinder therepast during recoil. A piston ring which is axially reciprocally displaceable on the break piston between a first and second positions is engaged by a compression spring which elastically urges the piston ring to the second position after recoil. Brake pressure from the hydraulic fluid urges the piston ring into the first position against the force of the spring during a recoil. The piston ring has an axial bore which damps the counterrecoil by resisting a flow of hydraulic fluid therepast when the piston ring is in the second position. A face of the brake piston abuts an end of the bore to render it ineffective for damping when the piston ring is in the first position. The piston ring additionally serves to render damping by the control rod ineffective during counterrecoil by blocking connecting channels formed in the brake piston which connects brake chamber formed between the inner surface of the brake cylinder and the brake piston, and a throttle chamber between the piston rod of the brake piston and the control rod.

Gun barrel recoil brake with throttled counterrecoil

A turret gun assembly includes a turret, a gun having a barrel being adjustable in inclination about a trunnion axis, a magazine for accommodating rounds of ammunition, and a loading device for advancing rounds of ammunition from the magazine into a position behind the barrel in a longitudinal alignment therewith. The improvement wherein the loading device has a cam drive having a cam track mounted at an ammunition discharge location of the magazine and a follower guided in the cam track; a transfer arm mounted for pivotal motion about the trunnion axis; an ammunition-gripping holding clamp articulated to the transfer arm by a hinge connection and being arranged for gripping said ammunition. The transfer arm is rotated about the trunnion axis for causing the follower--which is coupled to the holding clamp--to slide within the cam track to rotate the holding clamp and the round of ammunition about the hinge connection and to simultaneously swing the holding clamp and the ammunition gripped thereby, about the trunnion axis to position the gripped ammunition into longitudinal alignment with the barrel.

Growing community of inventors

Ratingen, Germany

Hans Hulsewis