| 摘要 |
1,248,784. Hypervelocity guns; cartridges. TRW Inc. 3 Sept., 1968 [31 Aug., 1967], No. 41911/68. Headings F3A and F3C. A hypervelocity gun for firing primary ammunition rounds 32 each containing a propellant 38 and a piston 36 and secondary ammunition rounds 40 each containing only a projectile, comprises a barrel 12 having a bore 14 and breech means, e.g. two breech mechanisms 16, 18, for transporting the primary rounds 32 in succession to a primary firing position at the breech end of the barrel 12 and the secondary ammunition rounds 40 in succession to a secondary firing position forwardly of the breech end of the barrel, the rounds 32, 40 in their respective firing positions being co-axial with the bore of the barrel. A pressurizing means, e.g. a pressure vessel 68, is provided for introducing gas under pressure into the bore 14 between the firing positions. When the gun is loaded the projectile 44 of the secondary ammunition round is yieldably restrained by a sleeve 46 which abuts the barrel at the forward end of the secondary breech mechanism 18 so that, on firing of the primary ammunition round 32 by an electrical firing means 50, the gas introduced between the firing positions is further compressed by passage of the piston 36 through the bore of the barrel until the projectile is squeezed through the bore of the sleeve 46 to be urged outwardly of the barrel, the piston being then retained in the secondary firing position. Although the weapon may have any kind of primary and secondary breech mechanisms, i.e. that is both the same kind or they may be different, the breech mechanisms 16, 18 shown are rotatable cylinders having open chambers, the open chambers passing through infeed, firing and ejection stations. The chambers are fed from hoppers (Fig. 1, not shown) and the cylinders are driven by a motor 58 through a Geneva mechanism so that the chambers are halted in their stations (Fig. 5, not shown). Cam operated switches control the gas release into the bore of the barrel and the firing of the primary ammunition round (Fig. 5). The gun shown has a single, fixed barrel, but a group of rotatable barrels may be used. Different ammunition as disclosed in Specifications 1,247,871 and 1,247,872 may be used as the primary ammunition. |
