Cadillac Gage Company

Ex-cell-o Gmbh

Cadillac Gage Textron Inc.

Theodore A Jackson

Irving Appelblatt

James D Crabtree

Peter Krawiecki

As applied to mounting a mortar in a combat vehicle, the mounting structure includes a weapon carriage supported on a support frame having one end hingedly mounted to the vehicle floor and another end releasably latched to cross-pins on the vehicle floor. The support frame includes a central pivot shaft and a peripheral roller track while the carriage includes a hollow hub receiving the pivot shaft and retractable spring biased ball rollers in rolling engagement on the track during rotation of the carriage for weapon repositioning. A spur gear is carried on the carriage and rotated by a hand crank and meshes with a stationary gear on the support frame to rotate the carriage about the pivot shaft. A clamping collar is provided on the pivot shaft to engage and force the carriage against the support frame with the ball rollers retracted to releasably lock the position of the weapon. The mortar mount is advantageous for its capability to absorb a greater portion of the mortar recoil energy, lessening the portion required to be absorbed by the vehicle suspension system.

Weapon mount useful for combat vehicle

As applied to mounting a mortar in a combat vehicle, the mounting structure includes a weapon carriage supported on a support frame having one end hingedly mounted to the vehicle floor and another end releasably latched to cross-pins on the vehicle floor. The support frame includes a central pivot shaft and a peripheral roller track while the carriage includes a hollow hub receiving the pivot shaft and retractible spring biased ball rollers in rolling engagement on the track during rotation of the carriage for weapon repositioning. A spur gear is carried on the carriage and rotated by a hand crank and meshes with a stationary gear on the supprt frawme to rotate the carriage about the pivot shaft. A clamping collar is provided on the pivot shaft to engage and force the carriage against the support frame with the ball rollers retracted to releasably lock the position of the weapon. A shock absorbing mechanism is carried on the carriage and includes a slide adapted to releasably hold the trunnion pins of the recoil end of the mortar and having multiple shafts affixed at one end thereto and slidably received at the other end in bushings in the carriage. The shafts space the slide from the carriage and a shock absorber is positioned in the space between the slide and carriage to absorb a portion of the mortar recoil energy as the slide moves toward the carriage as guided by the multiple shafts. The trunnion pins of the elevating mechanism of the mortar are releasably held by a fixed support on the carriage. The mortar mount is advantageous for its capability to absorb a greater portion of the mortar recoil energy, lessening the portion required to be absorbed by the vehicle suspension system.

A turret is mounted on an armored vehicle in rotating and pivotal fashion to allow the turret to be pivoted eccentrically from its operative position laterally out of the way without disturbing rotational engagement to expose an access hatch on the vehicle body for maintenance inside the vehicle. Removal of the turret from the vehicle is not required. After maintenance, the turret can be swung back to its original operative position for rotation on the vehicle. An operator's cage is attached to the turret and is specially configured such that the turret can be swung out of the way a sufficient amount without the cage hitting interior vehicle components.

Armored vehicle with rotatable swing-away turret

A gun sight positioning mechanism includes a slip clutch coupled sight slide that enables gun sight optics to be adjusted to extended firing ranges independently of gun inclination; a first range indicator fixed on the gun sight is associated with the sight slide to indicate the 'range of target' and coincident adjustment of gun sight optics and a second range indicator is movably fixed to a gun elevating trunnion to serve as a memory of gun inclination so that a gunner will be able to remember to move (if required) the gun following manipulation of the sight slide to a different 'range of target' position.

Gun sight range extender

A seat carriage is moveable vertically relative to a vertical support member by a first guide roller thereon located behind the support member and second guide roller thereon located in front of the support member diagonally below the first roller and by a constant load type spring secured on the support member and secured to the seat carriage to bias it upwardly when the carriage is unlocked from its adjusted position. The seat carriage can be easily locked or unlocked relative to an adjusted position by a toggle actuated spring-biased pin thereon engaged in one of several height adjustment apertures on the support member.

Adjustable height seat apparatus for combat vehicle

The weapon charger for a combat vehicle includes a charger slide means in the weapon mantlet adapted to slide to a rearward position to engage and cock the weapon sear block and to a forward position to disengage from the sear block. The charger slide means is slid by means of a chain means connected thereto extending through the mantlet into the turret of the vehicle and driven by a hand crank actuated spur gear inside the turret. The crank is rotated clockwise to pull the charger slide means rearwardly to cock the sear block. A return spring means attached to the charger slide means pulls same to its forward position when the crank means is rotated counterclockwise.

Weapon charger

A suspension system for wheeled vehicles, particularly adapted to extended travel suspension systems for armored wheeled vehicles in which each of the front and rear vehicle wheel assemblies is mounted on a trailing arm suspension. The front suspension system includes an axle housing supported at either outboard end by a bell crank assembly, each including a trailing arm pivotally mounted to the axle housing at one end and at the other to a pivotal support on the vehicle hull or frame with a second shorter crank arm acting on a coil spring to resist arm motion by compression of the spring. Within each coil spring is disposed a stack of rubber bumper elements compressed with the spring while a pair of rubber bushings is provided at each pivot point of each of the trailing arms, the damping action of the stack bumpers and bushings performing a shock absorbing function. The rubber bushings also act as torsional springs and to accommodate limited tilting motion of the axle housing. The trailing arms each are inclined inwardly to closely position the coil springs, which extend generally horizontally within the nose of the vehicle hull to minimize the overhead clearance required and provide ready access to the coil springs. An independent trailing arm suspension supports the rear wheels, with a bell crank assembly compressing respective coil springs with driving power delivered by means of universal joints from a fixed differential gear unit.

Suspension system for wheeled vehicles

Apparatus (14) for storing and feeding an ammunition belt (16) is disclosed as including a storage compartment (22) for the belt which is adapted to feed an automatic gun upon belt movement through the compartment in a feed direction. Dividers (24) are spaced along the feed direction and are mounted, preferably on the compartment floor (28), for movement between first positions extending across the feed direction and second positions extending along the feed direction. In the first positions, the dividers allow storage of the ammunition belt in a serpentine configuration. Movement of the dividers to the second positions allows the ammunition belt to pass thereby upon movement to the gun. Each divider is mounted by a pivotal support (26) having a detent which initially locates the divider in the first position thereof during loading of the belt and which allows subsequent movement to the second position thereof after closing of a compartment closure. The preferred construction of the dividers includes a shaft (40) with a blade (38) secured thereto and the preferred construction of the pivotal supports includes a pair of bearings that receive shaft ends which extend from the divider blade. Spring clips (62) facilitate movement of the ammunition belt over the bearings.

Storage and feeding apparatus for ammunition belts

An auxiliary firing mechanism (26) used to actuate a tripper for a gun trigger includes a remote actuator (28) connected to the tripper by an elongated connector such as a cable (30) that is moved by the cooperable action of a control member (68) and a rotatably and axially movable actuator member (74) of the actuator. Camming surfaces (90,92) of the control member and the actuator member of the actuator move the control member from a first position to a second position against a spring bias (76) thereof in order to actuate the tripper and thereby trip the gun trigger whereupon the camming surface (92) of the actuator member moves out of engagement with the camming surface (90) of the control member in order to allow the control member to be moved back to the first position by its spring bias. Axial and rotational movement of the actuator member then again engages the camming surfaces of the control and actuator members in preparation for another actuation of the tripper. A manually movable lever (94) which preferably has a foot pedal (96) rotates the actuator member to provide the tripper actuation.

Auxiliary firing mechanism

A gun sight positioning mechanism (22) disclosed includes a parallelogram linkage for moving a gun sight positioning shaft angularly with a trunnion shaft (32) on which a gun is supported and has a slip clutch (44) that connects the linkage to one of the shafts so that the sight can be aimed downwardly at the target area while the gun remains aimed upwardly along the projectile path. Preferably, the slip clutch connects the linkage to the gun sight positioning shaft and includes a stop (56) that allows the sight to be aimed upwardly back into alignment with the gun after viewing the impact. First and second links (46,52) of the linkage are respectively connected to the trunnion and sight positioning shafts and interconnected by a connecting link (54) whose length is adjustable to insure the proper angular movement of each shaft with the other. A mount of the slip clutch has a flanged end secured to the sight positioning shaft and a distal end on which a handle (58) is secured to provide the pivoting of the sight shaft independently of the gun. A spring washer of the clutch biases a brake member thereof against the second link which is thereby engaged with the flanged end of the mount to provide the slip clutch action.

Gun sight positioning mechanism

A wiper drive assembly (20) disclosed is particularly adaptable for use with angularly skewed vision blocks (22) of an armored car. A hollow guide (28) of the assembly includes elongated first and second guide portions (30,32) that are adapted to extend alongside the vision blocks and which receive respective first and second wiper supports (70,104). Each wiper support has an extension that projects through a slot in the associated guide portion so as to allow mounting of the arm of an associated wiper (24,26). One of the wiper supports has its extension provided with a slidable connection (86) to a continuous drive loop which is preferably in the form of a chain (34) received by a pair of sprocket type sheaves (36,38). Driving of one of the sheaves moves the chain so as to drive the first wiper support (70) in a reciprocal manner. An elongated connector of the drive assembly is preferably embodied by a wire (118) that extends between the first and second wiper supports within the guide portions in a guided relationship so as to move the second wiper support (104) along with the first wiper support in a reciprocal manner.

Wiper drive assembly

Combined armored vehicle and turret

A hatch for an armored vehicle having a viewing block integral therewith to be moved with the hatch as the hatch is opened and closed. The hatch is mounted for guided movement on a downwardly sloping surface of the armored vehicle so as to move down and away from the hatch opening to allow viewing from the hatch opening downwardly over the opened hatch. The open and closing guides include a three-point roller guide rail support configured to allow the weight of the hatch to be carried by the rollers after an initial upward movement of the hatch from compressive engagement with a peripheral seal installed about vehicle openings and thence slid downwardly on the guide rails away from the opening. The three-point roller guide rail support provides for effective guidance of the hatch movement throughout its range of opening and closing movements and includes two support arms secured to the hatch interior and extending into the hatch opening carrying two of the rollers and a third roller mounted to a hatch exterior surface guided in a guide rail mounted on the surface of the vehicle. A locking pin arrangement is provided to secure the hatch in the open and closed position, while clamping hooks are utilized to hold the hatch down securely on the peripheral seal. The hatch design is particularly adapted to cover the vehicle driver's station with a two-position driver seat utilized for viewing either through the viewing blocks with the hatch closed or at a higher point with the driver's head positioned through the hatch opening.

Hatch for armored vehicles

An armored wheeled vehicle configured for maximum resistance to penetration by frontally directed weapons fire while affording excellent visibility at the driver station and an extended field of fire for the weapon observation station, having an armored hull with an extended upper oblique frontal surface, sloping to a point rearward of the midpoint of the vehicle. The driver station is located approximately at the midpoint of the vehicle with the sloping frontal surface affording good visibility for the driver and includes a driver's hatch positioned over a driver station hull opening, the hatch adapted to be moved down and forwardly to provide an unobstructed driver view. The armament observation station is located to the rear and above the driver station, while the vehicle power plant is located along side the driver station. The front suspension includes a trailing arm type suspension minimizing the hull depth at the front wheels to allow the oblique frontal surface to be extended. The front wheel assemblies are disposed within wheel wells recessed within each side of the hull and covered by displaceable fairing panels which are normally disposed and overlie the wheel wells to provide an upper surface in conformity with the frontal surface of the hull.

Growing community of inventors

Utica, MI, United States of America

Theodore A Jackson