Thiokol Corporation

James R Thurston

Gary V Adams

Roy T Minert

George A Berkley

Cliff Kinkade

Garage door screen

A manually rotatable cylindrical valve member forms a physical barrier in a 'safe' position between a firing pin-primer charge and pyrotechnic flare ignition material. The valving member has a passage through it that, in the 'armed' position, is in alignment with the firing pin-primer charge and the flare ignition material. An axial force on the valving member along with a rotational force is required for adjustment between the safe and armed positions and vice versa. Gas venting of the primer, upon accidental or inadvertent firing of the primer, prevents flare ignition when the valving member is in the safe position.

Flare manual safety device

The forward end of a rocket motor is attached, by a threaded adapter, to a cylindrical housing that is in turn attached to an elongated tube, the opposite end of which is fitted with a releasable nose cone. The elongated tube is filled with a series of bombs. Each bomb is a conical, shaped charge equipped at one end with a parachute protected by a split, conical, plastic shield loosely held together by a band and a pronged clip--all of which is seated in the conical recess of an adjacent bomb. A conical partition separates the tube from the housing; and the main parachute is attached in the housing. An acceleration actuated fuse in the adapter ignites a time delay charge, which ignites an explosive charge that when exploded forces a piston against the housing, so that it separates the housing and tube from the adapter and rocket. The piston is attached to the outer end of the main parachute, so that, as the piston is exposed at high velocity to the atmosphere, it becomes a means for deploying the main parachute. A perforated plate, packaged between the explosive charge and the piston, is attached by cable to the adapter and becomes a drogue to alter the trajectory of the spent rocket on its separation from the projectile.

Growing community of inventors

Brigham City, UT, United States of America

James R Thurston