Military equipment comprising a turret carrying an external large caliber gun
AssigneeHispano Suiza
InventorRaoul H. Dumez
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A turret assembly, particularly for an armoured vehicle, comprises a rotating turret provided with side members projecting upwardly. The side members straddle a large caliber gun and include bearing means defining an elevation axis for the gun. The gun has a shield which cooperates with the side members to define a protective passage for a gun loading conveyor. The conveyor is adapted to carry shells one at a time from a loading station inside the turret to a location inside the shield. Each shell in turn is rammed into the gun after it has been carried by the conveyor into the shield.
Claims11
Military equipment comprising:
- a turret mounted on a mount for rotation about a substantially vertical axis;
- a pair of side members secured to said turret and projecting upwardly therefrom;
- bearing means carried by said side members and defining an elevation axis transverse to said vertical axis;
- a main gun of a caliber greater than that suitable for belt feed of ammunition and located out of and above said turret, carried by said bearing means and provided with a separate shield unitarily connected to said gun, said bearing means cooperating with the shield of the gun to define a protected passage;
- and a gun loading system, at least a portion of which is located in said protected passage, arranged to carry one round of ammunition at a time from a predetermined location inside the turret and to insert said round into a firing chamber of said gun, said loading system being arranged to accomodate the variations in elevation, the shield of said gun including a front wall located on one side of the gun in which there is provided an opening for said loading system whose angular extent is sufficient to allow loading in the whole range of elevation aiming of the gun.
A turret assembly for an armoured land vehicle comprising:
- a turret mounted on said vehicle for rotation about a substantially vertical axis and arranged to accommodate crew members,
- means inside the turret for storing individual rounds of ammunition of a predetermined caliber at a plurality of locations reachable by one of the crew members,
- a loading station inside the turret reachable by said one of the crew members for receiving said individual rounds one at a time,
- a gun of said caliber located out of and above said turret and of a type having a breech for shot by shot loading with said rounds of ammunition,
- a shield for said gun separate from said turret, enclosing said breech and securely connected to said gun,
- a pair of side members securely connected to said turret, projecting upwardly from said turret and defining bearing means supporting said shield and gun for rotation about an elevation axis transverse to said vertical axis and rearwardly thereof, said side members being constructed and arranged to define in cooperation with said shield a protected passage from said loading station to the inside of said shield,
- and a gun loading system including a chain conveyor extending along said protected passage and arranged to supply rounds of ammunition one at a time to the breech of the gun from said loading station, said chain conveyor being arranged to accommodate the elevation variations of the gun, the shield of said gun including a front wall located on one side of the gun in which there is provided an opening for said loading system whose angular extent is sufficient to allow loading in the whole range of elevation aiming of the gun.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.