US2445640A - Smoke, signal, or illuminating flare - Google Patents

Description

July 20, 1948.

C. D. SCHERMULY ET AL SMOKE, SIGNAL 6R ILLUMINATING FLARE Filed June 13, 1944 3 II I //v VE/VTORS.

By Mel) af/omeys Patented July 20, 1948 rear orri ce SMOKE, R niLUMmAT'INa FLARE ConradDavid' Schermuly, Alfred James sauermuIy, and Charles Schernflily, Parkgate, New

digate, England Application: June- 13, 1944, Serial No. 540,692 In Great Britain, November 12,1943

This invention relates to smoke, signal or illuminating flares for use at sea and hereinafter referred to as flare devices, and has for its principal object to provide an improved flare device which is simple in construction and operation.

According to the present invention a flare device comprises a casing, a buoyancy chamber secured to said casing, a rocket, a head secured to said rocket and containing a flare candle and candle igniting means, said rocket and head being carried in said casing, and means associated with said casing for igniting said rocket.

The flare candle may be attached to a parachute, the candle and parachute being packed in a case secured to the head of the rocket.

The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawing which shows, mainly in section a flare device according to this invention, but the invention is not limited to the specific embodiment shown.

A metal casing l has at one end a safety cap I screwed on to a screwthreaded extension 4. The casing I5 contains a plug 6, for example of wood or plastics, provided with central recesses 5 and 9 and an annular recess 1. The recess 5 contains a friction igniter 3 adapted to be actuated by pulling a wire '2, and also a screw-up paper 5a which holds in place a charge of combustible powder 5b which communicates with a delay fuze 8 wrapped round the plug 6 within the annular recess l, which fuze communicates at its other end with the recess 9 containing a burster 9a. Secured to the face of the plug 6 and covering the recess 9 is a disc of paper l0. Positioned over the paper disc Ill is a wooden disc I! having a central aperture H.

The casing l5 contains a rocket I1 carrying a head l9 containing a flare candle and an attached parachute 30. The rocket I! has a sliding tail portion 14 of the kind described in the co-pending United States Patent No. 2,409,904, issued October 22, 1946. The tail portion [4 is capable of sliding rearwardly on the rocket Il until the band l6 abuts against a flange l3 at the rear end of the rocket. The casing I5 is closed by a wooden plug 22 and the rocket I1 is held in position in the casing I5 by means of a wooden disc 2!} and a millboard or like spacer tube 2|. A buoyancy chamber I8 is secured around the casing [5, for example by soldering or welding.

In operation, the safety cap I is unscrewed and the igniter 3 is operated by pulling the wire 2. The flare device is then thrown into the sea where 2 Claims. (01. 102-4)- owing to the" buoyancy chamber it it will float the correct way up the plug 22 above the water level". After the ignitr 3 has been actuated, the power 5b in the recess 5 burns and ignites the delay fuze 8. The delay fuze allows time for the device to be thrown into the sea and for the device to attain a vertical position before the rocket is fired.

When the delay fuze 8 has burnt through, it ignites the burster charge 9a in the recess 9 and this fires the rocket IT. The rocket I1 ejects the disc 20, spacer 2| and plug 22 and propels itself into the air. As the rocket starts its flight, the sliding tail l4 remains stationary until the band it engages the flange l3, after which the tail l4 remains in its correct position for steadying the flight of the rocket l1. When the rocket has nearly reached the top of its trajectory, it ignites a burster charge 18a in the head 19 and this charge ignites the flare candle 25 and ejects it from the head I 9, thus allowing the parachute 36 attached to the candle to open and support the candle.

From the above description it will be seen that the flare device is eminently suitable for use at sea; for example it has been found that rafts or the like have been passed at sea by rescue craft, due to the fact that the rafts are low in the water and, even when provided with handheld flares, are still not easily discernible in rough seas. With a flare device according to the present invention, however, those on the raft merely have to remove the cap I, pull the wire 2: and throw the complete flare device into the sea..

The flare candle ejected from the rocket head is: will burn for a considerable time at an appreci able height, thus giving the approximate posi-- tion of the raft, and being visible for a consider-- able distance. Should the raft be upset, the flare device will not be lost because the buoyancy chamber will keep it afloat until it can be recovered.

The flare candle may be a smoke candle, illu minating candle or signal star or stars.

What we claim is:

1. A flare device comprising a casing, a rocket Within said casing, a head secured to said rocket, a removable closure at the end of the casing adjacent said head, an apertured disc in said casing below said rocket, a burster charge in said casing below said disc, means for igniting said burster charge whereby said burster charge explodes and causes said rocket to force off said removable closure and at the same time ignites said rocket, and a buoyancy chamber secured to said casing, said buoyancy chamber being constructed and arranged to float said casing in water with said removable closure upwardly directed.

2. A flare device comprising a casing, a rocket within said casing, a head secured to said rocket, a removable closure at the end of the casing adjacent said head, an apertured disc in said casing below said rocket, a burster charge in said casing below said disc, a delay fuze having one end in contact with said burster charge, means for igniting the other end of said delay fuze, said burster charge being adapted, upon ignition, to explode and cause said rocket to force off said removable closure and at the same time ignite said rocket, and a buoyancy chamber secured to said casing, said buoyancy chamber being constructed and arranged to float said casing in water with said removable closure upwardly directed.

CONRAD DAVID SCHERMULY. ALFRED JAMES SCHIERMULY. CHARLES SCHERMULY.

REFERENCES crrEn The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 24,468 Lanergan June 21, 1859 376,375 Fletcher Jan. 10, 1888 1,299,217 Pain Apr. 1, 1919 1,567,267 Hitt Dec. 29, 1925 2,035,185 Nichols Mar. 24, 1936 2,344,957 Anzalone Mar. 28, 1944 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 465,867 France Feb. 17, 1914 474,163 Germany May 6, 1929 502,678 France Feb. 26, 1920 611,843 Germany Apr. 6, 1935

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