Royal Ordnance Plc

Martin Edwy Buttolph

David John James

William A Mraz

Michael J Farney

A recoil system for field-type guns automatically adjusts the recoil distance of the barrel according to the angle of elevation of the gun barrel relative to the ground. The system includes a recoil cylinder in fixed relationship to the gun barrel and a piston rod operably connected to a two-art piston valve within the cylinder. The rotational position of one of the valve parts is controlled by the angular position of the piston rod about its axis and the rotation position of the second valve part is controlled by its axial piston within the recoil cylinder bore. Fluid flow orifi are defined between the first and second valve part, the area of the orifi being determined by the rotational positions of the two valve parts relative to each other. As barrel elevation is increased, the piston rod is rotated via a camming device which is itself moved by a tooth riding in a non-axial and non-linear slot in the camming device. The higher the barrel elevation, the smaller the orifi area defined between the two valve parts and the shorter the recoil distance allowed before fluid flow is terminated and barrel recoil arrested.

Recoil system

A gun system comprising a recoiling cannon assembly, a stationary carriage having a cradle, and a campath and cam follower mechanism for moveably mounting the cannon assembly on the cradle for travel along a two-stage curvilinear recoil path. The first stage has a linear portion shaped to maintain prefiring orientation, and a curved portion with a decreasing radius of curvature in the direction of travel (i.e., recoil) to accelerate the cannon assembly upwards. The second stage, which may be straight or have a curved configuration different from that of the first stage, causes the cannon assembly's upward motion to be decelerated in a controlled manner. A recoil buffer assembly has deceleration characteristics matched in a predetermined relationship to the configuration of the curvilinear path, so that the instantaneous stabilizing moment of the reaction to the upward force of the recoiling cannon assembly and the moment of the static weight of the gun system. The campath mechanism can be mounted on the cannon assembly or on the cradle, with the cam follower mechanism correspondingly mounted on the cradle or cannon mechanism respectively.

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Newport, VT, United States of America

Martin Edwy Buttolph