PERFECCIONAMIENTOS EN MECANISMOS DE SERVICIO PARA INTERCO- NECTARSE CON UN SISTEMA DE LANZAMIENTO VERTICAL DE MISILES

摘要

One type of shipboard weapon system includes a vertical launch system for a number of guided missiles each of which is positioned in a housing in an array of missile housings. The missiles may be stowed in missile cannisters within each housing and the housings are sunk into the ship's deck so that the tops of the housings extend only a short distance above the deck surface. A service mechanism is provided for loading and unloading the missile cannisters from the housings and for transporting the missile cannisters between the housings and a set of missile supporting chocks located at the edge of the array of housings. The service mechanism has a base assembly which rides on a set of parallel tracks spanning the housing array. A carriage assembly is mounted for movement along the base assembly in a direction normal to the tracks. A portion of the carriage assembly is disposed for 360 DEG rotation about a vertical axis. A cradle elevator is mounted for movement on vertically running tracks on the rotatable portion of the carriage assembly. A cradle is adapted to engage and hold a missile cannister and is rotatably mounted on the cradle elevator to dispose the missile cannister with its long axis in either a vertical or a horizontal position. The cradle includes a hoist pawl which is adapted to engage one end of the missile cannister to raise or lower the cannister in the cradle when the long axis is disposed vertically. The base assembly is hinged intermediate its ends so that when the vertical launching system is not being serviced the carriage assembly may be positioned adjacent to one end of the base assembly and the other end of the base assembly may be folded upwards to lie alongside the carriage assembly. With the cradle elevator lowered and the cradle disposed in a vertical condition the portion of the base assembly underlying the carriage assembly is secured to an elevator which reaches up to the deck level. The elevator may thereafter be lowered to bring the service mechanism in a stowed configuration within the volume defined by three of the missile housings.