US 4,065,206 AGranted

Ballistic protected periscope construction

AssigneeMiller-Holzwarth, Inc.

InventorGerald Tausch

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Abstract

A pair of transparent prismatic-shaped blocks are mounted within a protective housing which extends through an opening in an armored vehicle for safely viewing an exterior field of view from within the protected vehicle. Each of the blocks has a reflective surface and a viewing surface and are separated from each other by a void. The void is filled with an optical adhesive which remains soft and pliable and which bonds the pair of blocks together in this spaced relationship. The adhesive provides a shock isolation effect between the transparent block which is exposed to shock from enemy gunfire, etc., and the other block located within the vehicle. The cushioned adhesive-filled void reduces transmission of the shock waves between the blocks and prevents foreign objects from entering the void and distorting the optical viewing system. Alternately, the void may be filled with a laminate consisting of a plurality of layers of such cushioning adhesive and intervening transparent blocks or strips of solid material.

Claims6

Dependent claims

A periscope construction of the type having a protective housing and an optical system mounted within the housing, in which the optical system includes:

a. a first transparent block of material forming an object viewing section having an object viewing surface a first reflective surface and a first end surface;
b. a second transparent block of material forming an eyepiece viewing section having an eyepiece viewing surface, a second reflective surface, and a second end surface;
c. said first and second transparent blocks being mounted at generally opposite ends of the protective housing, with the first and second reflective surfaces and the object and eyepiece viewing surfaces being generally parallel with respect to each other, respectively, and forming a parallelogram in cross section;
d. the first and second end surfaces being spaced from each other and forming a void therebetween, said void being located within the protective housing and generally intermediate the reflective surfaces;
e. shock absorbing means mounted within and filling the void between the first and second end surfaces of the blocks to reduce the transmission of shock waves between said blocks when the first block is struck by a projectile;
and
f. said shock absorbing means including a layer of soft and pliable optical adhesive which bonds the blocks together and which remains in a soft, rubbery, heavy gelatin state.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.