Magnavox Government and Industrial Electronics Company

Robert L Barker

James R Toone

Sonobuoy parachute shroud line ends are retained by a cup mounted in and adjacent one end of the sonobuoy outer casing. A heavy ejection spring is beneath the cup for forcibly ejecting the cup outwardly from the one end of the casing. The cup is retained in the casing against the spring force by a pair of partially overlapping elongated plates each having one end releasably inserted in a circumferential slot in the outer casing, the slots being adjacent the casing one end and diametrically opposed. The upper plate is in retentive contact near the other of its ends by a first retainer rod pivoted at one of its ends to the cup bottom surface. The first rod contacts the upper plate near the pivoted rod end and is in retentive contact near its other end with a second retainer rod pivoted at one of its ends to the cup bottom surface. The second rod contacts near its pivoted end the first rod and is in retentive contact at its other end with a one shot spring motor driven pin. The location of the points of contact between the plates, the upper plate and the first rod, the first and second rods and the pin and the second rod provide lever arms that result in a very high mechanical advantage between the retaining force of the pin on the second rod and the ejection spring force. Upon ejection, the cup, parachute, and shroud lines are ejected and other sonobuoy components are released from the outer casing.

Sonobuoy retaining and release apparatus

A sonobuoy float canister is releasably latched to a wound cable pack container. The cable is attached at its upper end to the canister and at its lower end to a lower sonobuoy component. A rotor latches the canister and container together in one rotative position so that the cable is not unwound or payed out to provide a first or shallow depth deployment of the lower component. In a second rotative position of the rotor the canister and container are unlatched from one another and the cable is positively restrained after a predetermined partial payout to provide a medium depth deployment of the lower component. In a third rotative position of the rotor the positive restraint of cable payout is removed and the canister and container are unlatched so that the cable is fully payed out to provide for full depth deployment of the underwater component.

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Ossian, IN, United States of America

Robert L Barker