USA as Represented by Secretary of the Navy

James M Douglas

Norman Czajkowski

Thomas A Cammack

William J Donahue

A fail-safe projectile fuze safety-and-arming mechanism comprises a rotor ving thereon an explosive train component, said rotor having its mass center on the projectile spin axis. Fixedly secured to the rotor is a pinion whih engages first and second drive gears provided with clearance spaces on the circumference thereof, wherein a plurality of gear teeth have face dimensions less than the thickness of the gears. The mass centers of the drive gears are offset from the geometric centers thereof. Engagement is continuous between each of the drive gears but, because of the clearance spaces, is intermittent between the drive gears and the pinion. Rotation of the rotor is controlled by the position and dimensions of the clearance spaces. A locking ball positioned in a raceway between the rotor and the housing of the device prevents undesired movement of the rotor. For a selected projectile launcher and a selected elevation angle of launch, a constant, predetermined arming distance is achieved with the present arming mechanism irrespective of the linear velocity of the projectile.

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Silver Spring, MD, United States of America

James M Douglas