GB679269A - Improvements in and relating to the projection of projectiles - Google Patents

Abstract

679,269. Ordnance; projectiles. MINISTER OF SUPPLY. Nov. 28, 1950. [Nov. 28, 1949] No. 30398/49. Classes 9 (i) and 92 (ii). Projectiles are fired at high velocity by apparatus comprising a chamber of unvarying capacity, the chamber being sealed from the barrel bore by the projectile which is temporarily restrained from passage along the bore, and means being provided for supplying the chamber with a precompressed gas and for increasing the pressure of the gas when in the chamber by heating alone, or by heating and the development of additional gas. In the construction shown in Fig. 2 the barrel 9 screwed into a member 8 which screws into a main steel body 1. A second member 4 screwed into the body 1 is spaced from the member 8 to form a cylindrical chamber 3 which houses a cordite charge 5 and a resistance wire 6. Between the barrel and the chamber there are arranged a frangible support 12 for the projectile 11, copper packing 13, and a high tensile steel insert 14. In operation a gas, such as hydrogen, under pressure is introduced into the chamber 3 through a valve 18 in the member 4, and the charge 5 is then fired by a current passing through a lead 7 and the resistance 6. The consequential high increase in pressure causes the projectile 11 to overcome the resistance of the thin supporting section 12a of the support 12 and to pass down the barrel. The expansion of the gas may alternatively be effected by heating alone. In a modification, Fig. 3, the rear end of the projectile is formed with a flange 19 which ruptures at 19a when high pressure exists in the chamber 3, thus enabling the projectile proper to be fired through the barrel.