Ford Aerospace & Communications Corporation

US Government as Represented by the Secretary of the Army

Ford Motor Company Limited

William R Bains

Calhoun W Sumrall

An opening in the nose of a missile allows entry of ram air during missile flight to a central chamber. Oppositely oriented steering jets are innerconnected with the aft end of the central chamber. A diverting mechanism is located between the central chamber and each of the steering jets to allow either one or none of the steering jets to provide correctional steering forces when desired. The rotatable diverting mechanism is pneumatically driven by ram air communicated to an actuation chamber located aft of the valve and controlled by electrically energized solenoids.

Pneumatically actuated ram air steering system for a guided missile

A guidance system for small spinning projectiles which is mechanically simple, has low power requirements, uses relatively unsophisticated electronics, and is capable of withstanding large gas pressures and accelerations. The system uses a one-piece fin assembly which is de-spun so that its guidance fins maintain a constant attitude with respect to the ground. The guidance fins and their hub can be nutated simultaneously and independently in two orthogonal planes by pivoting and translating a single control rod. The hub cooperates with the projectile body to reduce its base drag and thereby extend its range.

Guided projectile flight control fin system

An opening in the nose of a missile allows entry of ram air during missile flight to a central chamber. Oppositely oriented steering jets are interconnected with the aft end of the central chamber and escaping ram air provides lateral steering thrust forces. A movable diverting means controls the direction that the escaping ram air is diverted and thereby controls the steering forces.

Ram air steering system for a guided missile

This specification discloses an ammunition round and a method of firing the ammunition round. Consecutive and reproducible firing of a primer charge and a main propellant charge is accomplished as a result of the physical movement of a divider physically separating the primer charge from the main charge. Firing of the primer charge causes movement of the divider, initiates movement of a projectile within the ammunition round, and, when the combustion gases of the primer charge are in communication with the main propellant charge, causes firing of the main propellant charge. The divider is retained within the ammunition round by a ring which limits movement of the divider.

Ammunition round with retained piston

An externally powered twin-barrel shuttle gun which has a shuttle having two firing chambers. The shuttle linearly moves between two positions so that the firing chambers are alternately fed a round of ammunition and discharged. The feed system has a pair of augers, each with a helical groove therein which receives a round of ammunition which obtains a dwell position on the zero pitched section of the grooves. A ramming system rams a round of ammunition to the firing chamber aligned therewith and simultaneously ejects any spent cartridge through a forward aperture in the housing. The spent cartridge is frictionally engaged by an axially aligned acceleration belt which quickly withdraws the spent cartridge from the firing chamber and accelerates it onto a deflection cam.

Externally powered gun loading and ejection system

A cartridge ejector for a recoil-operated gun. In prior art guns of the ril-operated type if the gun fails to fire the lack of recoil force prevents the gun from continuing to fire. To allieviate this situation a manually-controlled charging mechanism is operated to draw the bolt carrier back to the full recoil position. Under the present invention the charging mechanism is augmented by a spring-urged piston that propels a special striker arm against the ejector rod carried by the bolt assembly. The ejector rod forcibly impacts the base of the ufired cartridge to eject it from the gun.

Cartridge ejector

A safety mechanism for locking the bolt carrier of an automatic gun against ovement in the counter recoil direction. The mechanism includes a swingable arm structure movable into the path of the gun trigger, and a back-up pawl structure engageable with the bolt carrier in the event of trigger malfunction or sear malfunction.

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Lake Elsinore, CA, United States of America

William R Bains