Minefield clearing apparatus
AssigneeIsrael Aircraft Industries Ltd.
InventorsSimcha Bar-Nefy, Michael V. Tiomkin
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Mine clearing equipment mountable on a vehicle. Two plow sections arranged one above the other in hinged engagement are included in apparatus which mounts on a frame and by which mines are raised and shunted aside. The frame in turn is mountable onto the vehicle in raised or lowered orientation. In the frame raised position, the plow sections are in folded engagement. The raising and shunting aside apparatus is angularly oriented with a forward edge adjacent the vehicle interior and a rearward edge adjacent the vehicle side edge. A chain is attached to the forward edges and plow sections in tension when the plow sections are lowered into their operating orientations to define mine barriers.
Claims4
Apparatus for clearing mines comprising:
- a frame mountable onto a tank for selectable positioning in a raised or lowered orientation;
- apparatus mounted onto said frame for raising and shunting aside mines including a plow portion and a plurality of vertically disposed blades which during operation are disposed below the ground surface and are operative to raise mines buried in the ground, said blades having the tendency to dig deeper and deeper into the ground surface unless restrained;
- a gliding surface supporting said frame in its lowered orientation, for operation of said plow portion and disposition of said blades below the ground surface, said gliding surface being disposed rearwardly of said plow portion and plurality of blades;
- hydraulic positioning means for governing the orientation of said gliding surface relative to said frame;
- and
- a ground surface sensor mounted on said tank and providing control instructions to said hydraulic positioning means for maintaining the blades at a predetermined operating depth relative to the ground surface.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.