MXPA03010773A

MXPA03010773A - Barrel assembly with tubular projectiles for firearms.

Info

Publication number: MXPA03010773A
Application number: MXPA03010773A
Authority: MX
Inventors: Michael O Dwyer James
Original assignee: Metal Storm Ltd
Priority date: 2001-05-25
Filing date: 2002-03-11
Publication date: 2005-04-19
Also published as: KR20040044181A; EP1390685A4; CN1527930A; US20040231219A1; CA2448269A1; WO2002097357A1; ZA200309157B; RU2336488C2; JP2004526937A; AUPR528001A0; BR0210084A; IL159029A0; RU2003136146A; EP1390685A1

Abstract

A barrel assembly (10) for munitions and firearms, said barrel assembly including a barrel (12) having a muzzle with a plurality of tubular rounds (11) stacked axially within the barrel together with discrete selectively ignitable propellant charges (15). The rounds (11) suitably include tubular bodies (13a, 13b, 13c, 13d) and closure means (14a, 14b, 14c, 14d) interposed between the tubular rounds for effecting both an operative barrel closure between the tubular rounds (11) and operative sealing engagement with the barrel (12). The propellant charges (15) are contained within each round (11) and selectively ignitable (15a) for propelling an adjacent leading round (13a) and associated closure means (14a) through the muzzle of the barrel.

Description

CANYON UNIT WITH PROJECTILE BLADES FOR FIREARMS FIELD OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to ammunition and firearms. The invention has a particular, but not exclusive, application for a barrel unit having a plurality of round rods stacked axially within a barrel together with driving loads that can be selectively and discontinuously ignited to drive the rods in sequentially through the muzzle. The cannon units will be referred to hereinafter as "of the type described." BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to cannon units for ammunition and firearms, in particular of the type described, such as those illustrated in previous International Patent Applications Nos. PCT / AU94 / 00124 and PCT / AU96 / 00459 filed by the current inventor. While tubular round rods are known in certain limited applications, such as supersonic projectiles, the applicant is not aware of any suitable tubular rods to be stacked inside a barrel with selectively ignitable driving loads and in particular no rounds tubular suitable for barrel units of the type described.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION It is desirable to provide gun units for ammunition and firearms controlled in electronic form, in particular of the type described, which can be adapted to fire round rods of tubular type, and to provide round rods for such purpose. According to one aspect, this invention provides a barrel unit of the type described and includes: a barrel having a mouth a plurality of tubular round bars stacked axially within the barrel and arranged for a sealing engagement operative with the barrel; a closing means interposed between the tubular round bars to effect an operative barrel closure between the tubular round bars; and a driving load that can be selectively ignited with each round bar and ignited to drive an adjacent guide bar and an associated closing means through the muzzle. Preferably the tubular rods are stacked in an abutting relationship, although they can be separated by the projection loads. It is also preferred that each round bar includes a tubular body with a closure means associated with at least its outlet end.

The closing means can also act to close the guide end of the round exit bar. Alternatively, the separate closure means can be used for the guide and exit ends of each round bar, as long as the closure for the guide end is inactive after the load is turned on therein to allow the combustion effects and push the round guide bar from the barrel. The closure means can be arranged to discard the tubular body or can be fixed to the guide tubular body. The round bars can be configured to have desired discharge characteristics due to their aerodynamic shape. The shape of the inner face of the tubular body, when used with a waste closure means, can act to maintain an axial alignment of the round bar with the discharge path. Alternatively, a weight can be placed on the tubular body whereby one end is heavier than the other end. The closure means is a suitable closure wall member sandwiched between the adjacent portions of the tubular body. Each closing wall member may extend towards the barrel and engage so that it can be sealed therewith. Alternatively, the tubular round bars may have complementary portions of the outer end wall, which abut or extend closely adjacent each other, and with the closing wall member sandwiched between the inner end wall portions. .

In the above arrangement, the closing wall member may be sandwiched between the end faces of the adjacent tubular round bars. The closing wall member may be of a shape which does not deform under operating conditions. Alternatively, the peripheral portion of the closure wall member may be formed so as to be distributed outwardly between the adjacent tubular round bars within the sealing engagement operative with the barrel by axial compression applied by means of the end faces. For low pressure applications, such deformation is not necessary to effect a hermetic seal coupling with the barrel. The end faces of the adjacent tubular round bars may extend radially of the barrel or the end faces of the adjacent tubular bars may be formed to engage the complementary surfaces wedged on the peripheral portion of the sandwich wall member. The tubular bodies of the adjacent rods can overlap each other to provide a telescopic coupling between adjacent rods. For this purpose the round bars may include outer end wall portions which overlap the inner end wall portions of the adjacent bar and the closing wall members may be sandwiched between the complementary inner end wall faces of the bars round telescopic.

In case it is desired that the telescopic portions of the adjacent rods include a thin wall portion which can be expanded outwardly within the sealing coupling with either the adjacent telescopic round bar portion so as to avoid leakage of the projection load inside the cannon or fly inside it by the adjacent projection load. Alternatively, the outward expansion may be of the outer telescopic portion so as to improve the sealing engagement of the round bar to be fired and the barrel. Each sandwich closing wall member can also be arranged to react to the projection loading pressure against its guide face to seal against the end face of the round exit bar and prevent it from flying by igniting the charge contained in the adjacent exit round bar. Such a reaction seal can occur between the end-to-end face portions of the round bars and / or between the round guide bar and the closing wall member. The lighting of the projection loads may be as described in previous international applications. For this purpose, each projection load that can be selectively ignited may include an electrically driven load connected to a pair of spaced annular contacts extending around the round bar and contacting the respective electrical contacts projecting to each other. through the barrel and that are associated in an appropriate manner with the electronic control means. The closure means may be integrated with the round bars and may include wall segments which can be moved, or a wall which can be expanded forwardly from a closed position to an open position and an essentially barrel shaped position. When the wall segments are in a closed position, they can react to ignite a guide projection load. In another aspect, the invention is supported on a round bar for firing from the barrel unit of a munition or firearm, the round bar includes: a tubular body with open end adapted to be loaded into a barrel of the barrel unit and for a sealing engagement operative with the barrel; a closure wall member adapted to be interposed between the tubular body and the tubular body of an adjacent round bar for effecting a barrel closure operative between the round bars; and a driving load that can be selectively ignited within the tubular body of the adjacent round bar, which driving load can be ignited to drive the tubular body of the round bar through the bore of the barrel.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In order that this invention can be more easily understood and for practical purposes, reference is now made to the attached drawings which illustrate the typical embodiments of this invention and wherein: Figures 1A a 1D illustrate in diagrammatic form, in section, a form of the invention and its mode of operation, Figures 2A to 2D illustrate in diagrammatic form, in section, another embodiment of the invention and its mode of operation; Figure 3 is a perspective view illustrating a round bar of the embodiment illustrated in Figures 2A to 2D; Figure 4 illustrates in diagram form, in section, another form of the invention; and Figure 5 illustrates in diagrammatic form, in section, also another form of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION In the embodiment illustrated in Figures 1A to 1D, the barrel unit 10 has a plurality of round bars 11 stacked in an axial to butt relationship within the barrel 12 and which is adapted to be electrically or electrically tripped. otherwise in sequence, as illustrated in the foregoing international applications of the inventor or as otherwise known in the art. Each round bar 11 comprises a tubular body 13 associated with a barrel closing member 14 disposed between the tubular bodies 13a, 13b, 13c and 13d and spaced from each other, and with a driving load 15 arranged behind a closing member 14.

The driving load 15a is supported, for example, inside a tubular output body 13b between the respective barrel closing members 14a and 14b. In the embodiment another driving load 15d is contained in a rear extension 16 of the barrel unit 10 to drive the tubular body 13d last behind. It can be seen in Figure 1A that the annular guide end 18 of each body 13 extends inward and backward to form a conical end face 19. The partly conical end face cooperates with a partly conical face 22 formed around the outer peripheral outlet portion of the barrel closing member 14, as shown in Figure 1B. A complementary conical guide face 23 is associated with a return face 24 so as to provide a recess 25 which receives the complementary formed end wall 26 of each tubular body 13. It can be seen that the end walls 26 return inward, while the rest of the tubular body 13 is of a constant tubular section, although if desired it can be formed to provide a Venturi shape through the body 13. As illustrated in FIG. Figure 1B, the return wall portion 26 is captured by the closure member 24 upon firing the barrel guide body 13. As illustrated in Figure 1C, the closure member 14 can be discarded from the tubular body 13 during discharge, as a result of the rotation of the body 13 due to the groove provided in the barrel 12 or it can remain inside the body 13 when firing , as illustrated in Figure 1D. For this purpose, the closure member 14 can be secured to the body 13 by means of screwing, bolting, gluing, die-casting or as otherwise required. During use, barrel unit 10 is stacked with bars 11 round in which an empty tubular body 13a is the guide projectile. When the guide thrust load 15a is ignited in the next adjacent body 13b, the resulting gas pressure influences act on the guide end and exit closure members 14a, 14b, by enclosing the ignited load. The action of the gas pressure causes the guide closing member 14a of the barrel 12 to be urged together with the guide body 13a. At the same time, the gas pressures force the output closing member 14b into an axial compression with the output body 13b, which results in a radial expansion of the conical end face 19 of the output body. This arrangement presses the annular guide end 18 of the outlet body 13b into a sealing coupling with the barrel 12 and presses the closure member 14b into a sealing coupling with the partly conical end face 19, making sure that there is no leakage of combustion gases in the driving load of the next output load 15b. In the embodiment of the barrel unit illustrated in Figures 2A and 2D, each round bar 30 has a tubular body portion 31 provided with outwardly converging wall segments 33 which either abut or overlap to form the respective closures. for the tubular body 31. These segments 33 provide a portion 35 of center surface which abuts reciprocally when the round rods 30 are arranged along the length of a barrel 36. The preferred shape of the wall segments 33 is a pair of opposite segments as is illustrated in Figure 3, disposed between the body extensions 38 having end walls 39 which are butted when they are disposed in the barrel 36. The guide segments 33 open to extend adjacent to the barrel 36 after the ignition of the driving load 37 contained within the round bar 30. The ignition of the driving load also drives the round guide bar 30, shown partially in Figure 2-A. This action provides the next round bar 30 with an essentially tubular body 31 in the barrel, whose body is closed only at its rear end by means of the outlet closing segments 33 which diverge back to provide a surface portion 35 , as shown in Figure 2B. The surface portion 35 abuts the surface portion 35 formed at the front of the segments 33 that diverge forward from the next adjacent round exit bar 30. When the driving load 37 in the next adjacent round bar 30 is turned on, its guide segments 33 are opened to place the pressure of the combustion gases coming into contact with the exit faces of the segments 33 at their outlet end. of the guide body 31 and in this way the body is driven from the barrel 36. In this action, the next body is ready to fire. Alternatively, the segments may be a plurality of essentially triangular segments with their bases arranged around the periphery of the body 31 and extended inwards to form a pyramid-shaped closure. If desired, the outlet closing segments 33 can be coupled to the tubular body 31 by means of an articulation means 32, the segments of which are opened after leaving the barrel due to the air pressure passing through the body 31. tubular, as illustrated in Figure 2D. If desired, these segments 33 may be provided with loads or other projectiles to stabilize the load of the body 31 or cause it to rotate as required. It can be seen from the above explanation that the high pressure resulting from the burn of the driving load which drives the guide body 31 acts on the rear section of the round exit bar, presses it against the trailing edge of the next bar and seals it to protect it against an explosion ignition of the driving load in the next round bar, thus ensuring consistent operation of the firearm at a desired firing rate. In operation, the barrel closing members 14 can be free floating and behave as a waste section, separated by the rotation of the tubular round bar in case of firing from a fluted barrel, or separated by the air pressure during load. With the section discarded, the round bar improves its aerodynamic performance for relatively large proportion couplings, such as those needed to fire from an aircraft or when used to engage incoming missiles in areas such as self-defense ships. However, in certain applications, there is the advantage in securing the closure members 14 to the tubular body 31. For example, closed round bars can be fired from multiple cannons against a buried earth mine. Such a round bar then acts to draw earth into the body 31 and carry it away from the location of the mine. Such an effect would be in addition to the usual discomfort of the earth due to the kinetic impact of the round bar on the ground. By firing multiple rounds from multiple cannons, the potential is thus provided to provide an improved means to expose and / or neutralize mines buried in the ground. The round bars make contact with each other while they are stacked in a barrel and can be effectively located in their planned position. In effect, the round bars use a cartridge box which functions at the same time as a projectile by itself. In the barrel unit 40 illustrated in Figure 4, the barrel 41 is shown in separate section at its guiding end or mouth, so that only the two last round bars 42 and 43 of the rear are shown., and a round guide bar (not shown) that has just been fired from the barrel. It can be seen that in this embodiment the round bars 42 and 43 are telescopic, with the outer end portion 44 of the round exit bar 43 extending around the inner portion 45 of the exit end of the intermediate round bar 42, all the end face portions are partially conical and the respective complementary end face portions 46 and 47 terminate adjacent to each other, and the end face inner portions 48 and 49 terminate in a spaced relation to each other and to each other. an abutting relationship with the closing wall member 50. The closure wall member includes a peripheral portion 52 which also has a conical end face 54. In this embodiment, the telescopic wall portions 44 and 45 are relatively large and are formed as a closed fit, one inside the other. During use during unloading of the round guide bar (not shown), the pressure of the driving load acts against the closing wall member 50 of the intermediate round bar 42 which contains the ignited load. This drives the end face 54 of the wall member 50 against the complementary end face inner portion 49 of the round exit bar 43. During the exit of the round guide bar, the pressure thus acts on the guide ends 47, 49 of the round exit bar 43 and forces the intermediate projectile 42 outwards and backwards to press the exit face 46 into the interior. of the outer guide face 47 and make a seal between them. The outward pressure also expands the guide end 51 of the outer guide end portion 44 of the output round bar 43 for engagement with the barrel 41. The inner faces 48, 49 are also press-fitted by a sealing coupling with the peripheral portion 52 of the closing wall member 50, which prevents the driving load for the round exit bar 43 from exploding by ignition. Further, the pressure of the driving load tends to expand the inner portion of the exit end of the intermediate round bar 43 within the sealing engagement with the outer portion 44 of the leading end of the round exit bar 43 so as to reduce any leakage in the barrel 41. As illustrated, a load 55 is located within each load 56 that can be selectively ignited and is connected to the positive and negative slip ring type contacts 57, 58 spaced along the periphery outside of bars 42, 43 round. The barrel 41 is provided with correspondingly located spring contacts 53, 59 protruding into the barrel to make contact with the respective contact rings 57, 58. Appropriate electronic controls are provided to drive the load and turn on the booster loads 56. These peripheral contacts 57, 58 can be used suitably in all the round bars illustrated as those shown in Figure 3. The cannon unit 60 illustrated in Figure 5 is similar to the embodiment illustrated in Figure 4, difference lies in that the round bars 61 are in reverse and in the portion 63 of the annular skirt provided in the barrel 64. That is, in the embodiment of Figure 4, the round bars 42, 43 have an inner wall which is reduced backward, while the inner wall 62 of the round bars 61 have a constant diameter across most of their length and then expand outwards. It is expected that this arrangement will provide a more aerodynamic configuration, but with a less effective seal than the one in Figure 4.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICATION The barrel unit and the round tubular rods of this invention can be used in small arms, but it can be anticipated that they are more suitable for bullets of 20mm diameter or more. It can be seen that each barrel closure can cooperate with the annular guide end of the adjacent tubular round bar, either by forcing the annular end outwardly into contact with the barrel hole and pressurizing a barrel lock into the barrel coupling. sealed with the barrel or the annular guide end, or by causing the closure member to be pressurized by a closed sealing contact with the tapered part inner end of the tubular round bar and without a significant expansion of the guide end which is coupled with the barrel. This press-in action can be carried out by keeping the shoe angles relatively steep, by providing a stop on the guide end which stops the backward movement of the closure at a point where the seal between the closure was made and the tubular round bar, but before the radial expansion of the guide end of the tubular round bar occurs. Alternatively, the guide end can be formed sufficiently strong to withstand an outward widening under the influence of the shim action created by the propulsive force of a guide bar. Such sealing action is more suitable for low velocity and low pressure gun applications. While illustrating the round bars stacked and provided in place in a barrel, the round bars can be individually provided to a weapon from an external magazine by means of a conventional means. For this purpose each round bar may include the closure wall suitably secured to the exit end of the round bar and a block closure or its like to secure the driving load in the round bar. The cannon units of this invention using open tubular round bars can also be useful for firing from underwater locations, for example from ships, submarines or on hidden land surfaces penetrating defense facilities. For example, submarines can use such cannon units for self-defense for underwater mine destruction or against torpedoes or for missile activities. It is understood that the foregoing description of the invention was provided only as a means of illustrative example thereof and that the modifications and variations thereto are obvious to those skilled in the art and that are considered to be within the broad scope and spirit of the invention. the invention as set out in the following claims.

Claims

CLAIMS 1.- A cannon unit for ammunition and firearms, the cannon unit characterized because it includes: a cannon that has a mouth; a plurality of tubular round bars stacked axially within the barrel and arranged for a sealing engagement operative with the barrel; a closing means interposed between the tubular round bars to effect an operative barrel closure between the tubular round bars; a driving load that can be selectively ignited within each round bar and that can be ignited to drive an adjacent tubular round bar guide and an associated closing means through the muzzle.
2. The barrel unit in accordance with the claim 1, characterized in that the tubular round bar has an open end tubular body portion and the closing means is a closing wall member sandwiched between adjacent portions of tubular body.
3. The barrel unit in accordance with the claim 2, characterized in that each closing wall member extends to contact the bore of the barrel and effect a sealing engagement operative with the barrel.
The barrel unit according to claim 3, characterized in that the closing wall member is sandwiched between the end faces of the adjacent tubular round bars and the peripheral portion of the closing wall member is distributed outwardly between the end walls. adjacent tubular rods in a sealing engagement operative with the barrel by means of axial compression applied by the end faces.
The barrel unit according to claim 3 or claim 4, characterized in that the end faces of the adjacent tubular round bars extend radially of the barrel.
6. The barrel unit in accordance with the claim 3 or claim 4, characterized in that the end faces of the adjacent tubular round bars are formed to engage the respective complementary shoe surfaces on the peripheral portion of the sandwich closure member.
The barrel unit according to claim 2, characterized in that the tubular round bars have complementary outer end wall portions which abut or extend almost adjacent to each other and wherein the closing wall member is sandwich between the inner end wall portions.
The barrel unit according to claim 7, characterized in that the end faces of the adjacent tubular round bars extend radially and / or obliquely from the barrel axis.
9. The barrel unit according to claim 7 or claim 8, characterized in that the external end wall portions and the internal end wall portions are axially spaced from each other, so as to provide a telescopic coupling between the two. adjacent round bars.
10. The barrel unit according to claim 9, characterized in that the telescopic portions of the adjacent round bars include a thin wall portion that can be expanded outward to form a sealing coupling with either the adjacent telescopic bar portion or with the cannon.
The barrel unit according to any of claims 7 to 10, characterized in that each walled closing wall member reacts to drive a loading pressure against its guide face and to provide an ignition seal for bursting of the load. contained in the adjacent round bar of output.
12. The barrel unit according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that each selectively ignitable driving load includes a load that is electrically actuated connected to a pair of separate annular contacts extended around the round bar and that makes contact with the respective electrical contacts and protruding through the barrel.
13. The barrel unit according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the tubular round bar has a tubular body portion provided with wall segments converging outwards, which converge to form respective closures for the tubular body.
14. The barrel unit in accordance with the claim 13, characterized in that each round bar with the exception of the round guide bar in the barrel, contains a driving load and the round guide bar is driven from the barrel after the ignition of the driving load in the next round bar.
15. The barrel unit in accordance with the claim 14, characterized in that the pressure resulting from the ignition of the driving load opens the wall segments at the guide end of the round exit bar.
16. A round bar for firing from the barrel unit of an ammunition or firearm, the round bar characterized in that it includes: an open-end tubular body adapted to be loaded into a barrel of the barrel unit and for a coupling of operating seal with the barrel; a closure wall member adapted to be interposed between the tubular body and an adjacent round bar for effecting a barrel closure operative between the round bars; and a driving load that can be selectively ignited within the tubular body of the adjacent round bar, which driving load can be ignited to drive the tubular body through the muzzle.
The round bar according to claim 16, characterized in that the closing wall member is sandwiched between the end faces of the adjacent round bars and a peripheral portion of the closing wall member is distributed outwardly between the round bars adjacent to form a sealing engagement operative with the barrel by means of axial compression applied by the end faces.
18. The round bar according to claim 17, characterized in that the end faces of the adjacent tubular round bars are formed to engage the respective complementary col- lar surfaces on the peripheral portion of the sandwich closure wall member.
19. The round bar according to claim 17 or claim 18, characterized in that the tubular body has end faces adapted for a telescopic coupling with the adjacent round bars.
20. The round bar according to claim 16, characterized in that the closing wall members are adapted to abut against the closing wall members provided on the adjacent round bars when they are loaded into the barrel.