Shock isolator

Abstract

"A vehicle and the ballistic shock isolator therefor including a turret, a sensor assembly and a shock isolator isolating the turret from the sensor switch and including upper and lower annular members, a plurality of leaves secured at opposing ends thereof to the annular members, each of the leaves having a corrugated bellows shaped portion in the form of an even number of similarly shaped portions, alternate ones of the similarly shaped portions having an open end in opposing directions, each of the leaves varying in thickness and width in a direction from the upper annular member to the lower annular member. The variation in width of the portion is alternately from wide to narrow and then from narrow to wide in a direction from the upper annular member to the lower annular member. Each of the leaves is composed of a metal having a yield strength which will not be exceeded by the maximum contemplated shock conditions and at least 150 KSI, the metal returning to its original shape after being subjected to shock. The metal is preferably 4000 series stainless steel. By use of the above described ballistic shock isolator, a tank may be subjected to a severe shock due to collision with a non-penetrating projectile with the CITV sensor assembly being capable of rapid repositioning to substantially identically return to its original position relative to the tank, thereby providing reliable boresight for use in connection with further tank deployment.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.