Thiokol Corporation

Morton Thiokol Inc.

Lawrence C Faupell

Steven R Wassom

Joseph J Kliger

Stanley H Cardall

Alan R Canfield

A system for providing pitch, yaw, and roll control during the flight of a rocket-propelled vehicle combines a vectorable nozzle with jet vanes. The vectorable nozzle provides yaw and pitch control, while the jet vanes provide roll control. Anti-rotation pins extend from the vehicle housing into longitudinal slots within the vectorable nozzle to allow vectoring movements and prevent rotation of the nozzle. The jet vanes are rotatably mounted on shafts within the nozzle exit cone to receive and guide combustion products passing through the nozzle. The jet vanes may be jettisoned after an initial high-angle-of-attack maneuver is completed and the vehicle gains speed, after which roll control is provided by aerodynamic fins. The jet vanes may also be formed of material which erodes after the initial maneuver, thereby reducing the loss of thrust caused by the jet vanes.

Vectorable nozzle having jet vanes

For providing controllable thrust reversal or thrust termination of a rocket motor, a U-band retaining the nozzle assembly to the motor case is broken. This allows the internal motor pressure to move the nozzle assembly backward from the motor case to create a circumferential opening therebetween, through which opening gases can be expelled outward and/or in the forward direction to terminate or reverse the thrust. When the U-band is broken, the high internal motor pressure may exert such a high force on the nozzle assembly as it is moved backward that the bolts or other means attaching the nozzle assembly to the rest of the missile may be broken and cause uneven gas expulstion. Uneven gas expulsion may cause undesirable changes in trajectory. By the use of honeycomb structures in association with the bolts or other attachment means, the energy exerted on the nozzle assembly is gradually absorbed, preventing breakage of the connecting parts. The gradual absorption of energy ensures that nozzle assembly will be moved backward evenly and not become cocked on the bolts or other connecting means, which is essential for proper thrust termination or thrust reversal.

Energy absorber for translating portions of rocket motor cases using

A tactical pulsed missile with a movable nozzle for thrust vector control and movable aerofins to provide greater maneuverability and flexibility. The first pulse is fired at launch and the later pulses are fired as needed whereby steerage may be provided by thrust vector control during the firing of the pulses. When none of the pulses are firing, steerage may be provided by the movable aerofins. The missile is provided with separate small electromechanical actuators for each of the aerofins and each of the movable nozzle axes which are preferably placed closely adjacent the respective aerofins and nozzle so that the weight and space of various linkages may be eliminated. The motors are provided with a source of high voltage so that their size may be reduced whereby they burn up when the high voltage is applied for a short period of time but not before their task has been achieved. The fin span is reduced to less than about four inches to enable the packaging of a greater number of such tactical missiles in the payload bay of an airplane. A flexible bearing may be provided between the nozzle and nozzle housing. An elastomeric material may be provided between and bonded to the nozzle and nozzle housing to prevent the ingestion of exhaust and debris into the space therebetween.

Reduced fin span thrust vector controlled pulsed tactical missile

A method of and apparatus for forming with a minimum of labor, by explosive forming means, an automatically extendible auxiliary nozzle member or exit cone for a rocket motor, the member having tapered sinusoidal flutes with the stresses and thicknesses thereof being uniform whereby, when deployed, the resulting form of cone can be predicted with accuracy, and stresses being created such as to build a spring bias therein so that the member is bistable, that is, stable in both the stowed position and in the deployed position.

Method for explosively forming an auxiliary exit cone for the nozzle of

An antirotation linkage that allows freedom of angular deflection in two coordinate directions of a first member, for example, a rocket motor nozzle, with respect to the primary axis of a second member, a rocket motor in which the nozzle is mounted for angular displacement of the thrust vector for steering control, but which restricts rotation of the first member about such primary axis.

Antirotation linkage for rocket motor nozzles and other mechanisms

A ball-and-socket, thrust nozzle for rockets has a movable member retained by a stationary member attachable to a rocket. The movable member includes a venturi throat and an expansion cone for the propulsive gases. At least one of the nozzle members has a spherical surface concentric about the center of rotation of the movable member. The other member bears against this spherical surface via a bearing seal in the form of a thin, narrow ring of lubricous material. The bearing seal is located in a position to support the axial blow-out load imposed by the propulsive gases. It is made of fibers of lubricous material, filled with a solid, lubricous resin; and it is bonded to a nozzle member either with the filler resin or with some other bonding agent. The side of the bearing seal that is bonded to the nozzle member may be reinforced with fibers having high tensile strength, woven into the lubricous fibers, or with a thin sheet of metal. The unbonded surface of the bearing seal is convex to minimize its area of contact with the other nozzle member, while having a relatively large bonding surface. The bearing seal functions as a low-friction bearing and also as a seal for containing the hot, erosive, propulsive gases of the rocket. In a preferred embodiment, the fibers of the bearing seal are radially oriented by filament winding. This increases its strength by maximizing the density of the fibers therein and by orienting them so that they are always substantially paralell to the major travel of the surface against which it bears. For the latter reason, the coefficient of friction is also lowered; because the moving surface always moves esentially along the fibers.

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North Logan, UT, United States of America

Lawrence C Faupell