Autoloading apparatus for tank cannon

Abstract

 An autoloader, capable of loading regardless of gun elevation, includes arcuate guide tracks, mounted for movement in azimuth with the gun and having a radius of curvature centered on the gun elevation axis, which serve to mount a trolley for guided movement between a lower magazine position and an upper gun loading position. A compact rammer, mounted by the trolley, extracts a shell from a magazine while in the trolley magazine position and controls the shell during transfer to the trolley gun loading position where the shell is rammed into the gun breech. In one disclosed embodiment, the guide tracks are mounted to a weapon pod of an exterior, turret mounted gun for movement in azimuth and elevation with the gun. In an alternative embodiment, the guide tracks are fixedly mounted in vertical orientation between the turret roof and the turret floor, and the rammer is pivotally mounted to the trolley to access shells from magazines variously located in the turret, the tank hull and the turret bustle.

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to armament systems and particularly to apparatus for automating the handling of large caliber ammunition for turret-mounted cannons carried by armored vehicles, such as tanks.

Background of the Invention

[0002] Considerable efforts by armament manufacturers throughout the world have been devoted to developing automated apparatus for handling ammunition for large field weapons. This is particularly so in the case of mobile direct-fire weapons carried by armored vehicles, such as tanks. Presently the tasks of withdrawing ammunition rounds or shells from magazine storage and loading them into the breech of a tank cannon are almost universally being accomplished manually. A person performing the duties of a gun loader is thus an essential member of a military tank crew. To accommodate his movement in retrieving shells from a magazine and ramming them into the cannon breech, considerable space must be allotted for these activities within the tank, more typically within the revolving gun turret of the tank. Adequate headroom should be provided so the gun loader can work standing up. Unfortunately, this increases the vertical profile of the tank and thus its size as a target to hostile fire. The turret must, therefore, be heavily armored to maximize tank and crew survivability against enemy fire. Of course, heavy armor plating adds tremendously to the weight of a tank, which then requires a larger power pack, drive train, and suspension.

[0003] The factors of greater overall profile and the consequences thereof, the elimination of a gun loader and the consequent space savings, and the prospect of higher firing rates have heretofore been the primary motivations for developing a satisfactory autoloader for tank cannons.

[0004] Of the numerous autoloaders seen in the prior art, most are highly complex, extraordinarily space-consuming, difficult to maintain and susceptible to frequent malfunction. Many of the existing designs require that the cannon return to a predetermined position, particularly in elevation, before automated loading can be effected. Thus, the cannon must be repeatedly removed from the target for reloading and returned for firing, a significant detriment to firing rate.

Summary of the Invention

[0005] In accordance with the present invention, there is provided improved apparatus for feeding and loading ammunition rounds or shells into a tank cannon without human intervention. The autoloader apparatus of the invention operates to retrieve cannon shells from a magazine, convey the shells to the cannon and ram them into the cannon breech, all on an automated basis. The autoloader is of an extremely compact construction to operate within an extraordinarily small space envelope. Positive control of each shell is maintained throughout the process to ensure reliable handling while the tank is travelling over rough terrain. The capability of loading the cannon regardless of its position in azimuth and elevation provides for a significant improvement in firing rate. Moreover, the autoloader of the present invention permits retrieval of a shell from a magazine with a previously loaded shell in the cannon breech and ready to fire, thus permitting the step of transferring a shell from the magazine to the cannon to be conducted at a reduced pace, thereby minimizing autoloader power requirements without jeopardizing firing rate.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0006] For a full understanding of the nature and objects of the invention, reference may be had to the following Detailed Description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view, partially broken away, of an armored vehicle equipped with an overhead gun served by automated ammunition loading apparatus constructed in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a simplified side elevational view, partially broken away, schematically illustrating in phantom the articulation of a shell achieved by the autoloading apparatus of FIGURE 1 during movement between an ammunition storage magazine and the gun;

FIGURE 3 is a simplified side elevational view illustrating the autoloading apparatus of FIGURE 1 in its latched magazine position;

FIGURE 4 is a simplified side elevational view illustrating the autoloading apparatus of FIGURE 1 in a position between the magazine and gun loading positions;

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary side elevational view illustrating the trolley and rammer in their relative positions when the autoloading apparatus of FIGURE 1 assumes its gun loading position;

FIGURE 6 is an rear end view, partially in section, of the rammer of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 7 is a perspective view of the rear stage of the rammer of FIGURE 6;

FIGURE 8 is a magnified perspective view of a portion of the rear rammer stage of FIGURE 7;

FIGURE 9 is a fragmentary plane view illustrating details of the forward stage of the rammer;

FIGURES 10 and 11 are fragmentary plan views in time line relation to illustrate the transfer of a shell from the rear to the forward rammer stages;

FIGURE 12 is a perspective view, partially broken away, of a military tank equipped with automated loading apparatus constructed in accordance with an alternative embodiment of the present invention;

FIGURE 13 is a side elevational view, partially broken away, of the autoloading apparatus of FIGURE 12;

FIGURE 14 is a plane view of the autoloading apparatus of FIGURE 12, seen in its cannon loading position;

FIGURE 15 is a side view similar to FIGURE 13 illustrating the capability of the autoloading apparatus of FIGURE 12 to access ammunition magazines located in rearward hull and turret bustle storage areas; and

FIGURES 16 and 17 are side views, partially in longitudinal section, of a rammer included in the autoloading apparatus of FIGURE 12 and illustrating respective retracted and extended conditions thereof.

[0007] Corresponding reference numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views of the drawings.

Detailed Description

[0008] The autoloading apparatus in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, generally indicated at 20 in FIGURE 1, is illustrated in its application to an armored vehicle or tank 22 having a revolving turret, generally indicated at 24, whose roof 26 is essentially flush with the tank deck 28. Supports 30, upstanding from the turret roof, mount, via trunnions 34, an overhead cannon or gun 32 for azimuthal movement with the turret and independent elevational movement about the trunnion axis. Affixed to the gun in enclosing relation with its breech end 36 is an armored weapon pod 38 having a chute 40 communicating the pod interior with the turret interior or basket through a turret opening 42 (FIGURE 2). Autoloader 20 includes a trolley 44 equipped to run in opposed, arcuate guide tracks 46 mounted to sidewalls of chute 40; the guide tracks having a constant radius of curvature centered on the gun elevation axis constituted by the trunnions. The trolley mounts a rammer 48 for engagingly controlling a shell 50 through a feedpath illustrated in FIGURE 2 during trolley movement along the guide tracks between a gun loading position illustrated in FIGURE 1 and a magazine position illustrated in FIGURE 3. In the gun loading position, the rammer is oriented to align the shell with the gun boreline so that it can be rammed into breech 36 by the rammer. In the magazine position releaseably fixed to the turret by a solenoid actuated latch 51 (FIGURE 4), the rammer is oriented to acquire control of and retrieve a shell from a rotating drum magazine 52 presented by a tilted up tube 54 when oriented in the twelve o'clock position by a suitable drive mechanism (not shown). The magazine is tied to the turret basket floor and thus moves with the gun and autoloader in azimuth.

[0009] FIGURE 3 illustrates that, while the autoloader is in its latched magazine position, changes in gun elevation do not affect the positional relationship of the autoloader and magazine; the guide tracks simply sweeping past the autoloader as the gun elevates and depresses. When the autoloader is latched to the weapon pod in its ramming position of FIGURE 1 by a solenoid actuated latch 53 (FIGURE 4), the trolley and rammer move with the gun in both azimuth and elevation. Intermediate these latched positions, the autoloader simply moves in the guide tracks as they follow changes in gun elevation. It will be noted that the length of the feed path varies with gun elevation. As is apparent from FIGURE 3, at zero elevation the feed path between the magazine and gun is significantly longer than at an elevated position, such as a plus 18° elevation. It is thus seen that autoloader 20 is capable of performing the steps of retrieving shells from magazine storage, feeding them to the gun and ramming them into the breech, all while the gun is at any elevation or while the gun is being elevated and depressed. Autoloader 20 is thus capable of a high firing rate.

[0010] To execute the maneuver illustrated in FIGURE 4 of articulating rammer 48 and its shell 50 out of the open upper end of chute 40 into ramming position within pod 38 aft of the gun breech consistent with the imposed space limitations, the rammer is pivotally mounted to trolley 44. Referring to FIGURE 5, the trolley mounts two opposed sets of three guide rollers 56a, 56b and 56c, which run in the two guide tracks 46. The pair of opposed rollers 56c are mounted on a cross shaft 57 which, as seen in FIGURE 4, serves as an axle pivotal mounting the rammer to the trolley. The rammer mounts a pair of opposed guide rollers 58 which also run in the guide tracks until the start of the pivot maneuver when they exit the upper ends of the tracks. One end of a trolley link 60 is pivotally connected to the trolley at 60a, while its other end is pivotally connected to one end of a rammer link 62. The pivotal connection of these two links also serves to mount a trolley cam roller 64 riding on a cam surface 66 provided by the inner wall of one of the guide tracks. The other end of link 62 is pivotally connected to a rammer control arm 68 provided as a rigid extension of the rammer.

[0011] FIGURE 5 shows trolley 44 in its gun loading position with rammer 48 pivoted away to its ramming position, it is seen that cam roller 64 has been diverted from cam surface 66 into a cam track 70 diverging inwardly away from one of the guide tracks 46. This is seen to articulate links 60 and 62 such as exert a moment on rammer control arm 68 to produce controlled pivoting motion of the rammer about cross shaft 57 in the illustrated clockwise direction. Note that rammer guide rollers 58 have exited the upper ends of the guide tracks to free the rammer for this pivoting motion progressively into its ramming position as cam roller 64 runs up in cam track 70.

[0012] To propel the trolley 44 along its guide tracks 46, an electric motor 74, mounted to the trolley frame as seen in FIGURE 1, drives a pair of output pinions 76 which engage sector gear 78 formed in the outer walls of the two guide tracks 46. These dual output pinions 76 are commonly driven by the motor in meshing engagement with the two guide track sector gears 78 to produce smooth, non-binding motion in the guide tracks. The output pinions are permitted to free-wheel when the trolley is latched in either of its magazine and gun loading positions to accommodate movements of the sector gear and guide tracks with elevational motion of the gun.

[0013] Rammer 48 includes, as seen in FIGURE 6, a generally tubular housing consisting of an upper half and a lower half united by bolts 99. The upper housing half is formed with lateral extensions 100 for mounting at their ends the rammer guide rollers 58 also seen in FIGURE 5, which run in guide tracks 46 prior to the rammer pivoting motion. The housing also mounts a pair of longitudinally spaced sprockets 102 about which an endless chain 104 is trained, as seen in FIGURE 9. An electric motor 106 (FIGURE 6), mounted by the rammer housing, drives the forward sprocket to power two rammer stages. The tubular portion 109 of the rammer housing is sized to receive a shell in close fitting relation to provide support and guidance therefor.

[0014] As seen in FIGURE 7, rammer 48 includes a rear rammer stage, generally indicated at 110, having a base 112 and a pair of forwardly extending rails 114a and 114b which are slidingly received in trackways 116 formed in lower housing half 98b (FIGURE 6). The base provides underlying support for the case rim of a shell and also serves as a ramming element propelling the shell toward the gun breech. As seen in FIGURE 8, adjacent the junction of rail 114b with base 112, an extractor pawl 118 is pivotally mounted with its tip 118a biased inwardly by a spring 120 to catch the front edge of the case rim 50a of a shell 50 residing in the tubular rammer housing. The case rim is thus captured between the pawl tip and base 112 to positively control the shell position during shell-feeding autoloader movement between its magazine and gun positions and rammer pivotal movement into its ramming position. As seen in FIGURE 7, an accelerator link 122 is pivotally mounted by a pin 123 to the forward end of rail 114b and is provided with a pair of notches 122a and 122b, the latter positioned when the link is swung away from rail 114b to pick up a drive pin 134 (FIGURE 9) carried by chain 104. As the drive pin moves with the inner chain run toward the rear sprocket, which occurs during trolley motion toward its gun loading position at a time when space is available in the chute and weapon pod, the rear rammer stage is driven rearwardly from its phantom line nested position in the rammer housing to its solid line extended position seen in FIGURE 5. Once the rear rammer stage reaches its full rearward extension, the rammer motion is halted with drive pin 134 still latched in the accelerator link notch 122b to await the call for a ramming stroke. The rear rammer extractor pawl 118 of FIGURE 8 ensures that the shell follows the rear rammer stage to its extended position.

[0015] The undersides of the rails are formed with rack gears 124 which mesh with spur gears 126 keyed to the ends of a cross shaft 128 journalled by the lower rammer housing half. Thus, driving power applied by chain 104 to stroke the rear rammer stage is distributed equally to the rails via these spur and rack gears to assure smooth, non-binding motion.

[0016] The forward rammer stage consists of a extractor pawl 130 and a rammer pawl 132 pivotally mounted by chain 104 in proximately spaced relation, as seen in FIGURE 9. These pawls are spring biased outwardly to position their tips in closely straddling relation with the case rim 50a of a shell 50 residing in the tubular rammer housing. When the chain is driven in the clockwise direction, such that its inner run proximate the shell is moving rearwardly (rightward in FIGURE 9), extractor pawl 130 swings around the forward sprocket 102 to catch the forward edge of the case rim and propel the shell rearwardly toward the rear rammer stage in its telescoped forward position. It will be appreciated that rammer pawl 132 is depressed by the shell rim as it swings around the forward sprocket in advance of the extractor pawl. This operation occurs when the autoloader is in its magazine position to retrieve a shell from magazine 52 as described in connection with FIGURE 3.

[0017] When chain 104 is driven in the opposite direction, such that its inner run is moving in the forward direction, extractor pawl 130 is depressed by the shell rim as it swings counterclockwise around the rear sprocket, clearing the way for rammer pawl 132 to catch the rear edge of the case rim and propel the shell forwardly. This action occurs during the forward stroke of the forward rammer stage, which is the second half of the ramming stroke to propel the shell into the gun breech; the forward stroke of the rear rammer constituting the first half of the ramming stroke. FIGURE 9 also shows the relationship of pawls 130 and 132 to the rear rammer stage drive pin 134 carried by chain 104.

[0018] The smooth transfer or handoff of the shell from the rear rammer stage to the forward rammer stage when the second half of the ramming stroke takes over from the first half is illustrated in FIGURES 10 and 11. At the moment forward rammer pawl 132 swings counterclockwise around the rear sprocket to take over forward driving engagement with the case rim 50a from base 112, the tip 118a of the rear extractor pawl is being swung away from the case rim by engagement of the rear extractor pawl with a cam surface 142 formed on the rammer housing 98. At the same time, drive pin 134 swings counterclockwise around the forward sprocket, bringing with it the accelerator link. The rear rammer stage is thus smoothly decelerated from the chain speed to a stop as drive pin disengages from accelerator link notch 122b.

[0019] The handoff of a shell from the forward rammer stage to the rear rammer stage during the magazine loading step is effected basically in a reverse manner. The drive pin picks up the accelerator link to accelerate the rear rammer stage up to chain speed. Upon achieving chain speed, which is slower than the chain speed during the ramming stroke, the rear extractor pawl is in position relative to the front edge of the case rim to take over shell retraction from the front extractor pawl as it starts around the rear sprocket and swings away from the case rim. Thus, the shell is smoothly handed off from the front rammer stage to the rear rammer stage to complete retrieval of a shell from the magazine. Typically, the rear rammer stage will only execute a partial rearward stroke sufficient to acquire positive control of the shell and to clear the shell from the tilted up magazine tube (FIGURE 3). This rearward stroke is completed when space becomes available during the shell transfer step.

[0020] When the shell is released by the ramming pawl of the front rammer stage to conclude the forward stroke of the rammer, the shell casing has sufficiently entered the gun bore to permit the shell to coast into its fully loaded position, in the process triggering the breech mechanism extractors to initiate breech closure. To ensure shell alignment as it coasts from the front rammer stage into the gun breech, the rammer incorporates a guide tongue 146 seen in FIGURE 5. The guide tongue is slidingly received in a keyway 148 formed in lower rammer housing half 98b (FIGURE 6). The underside of the guide tongue is machined to provide a rack gear 150. When the rammer is pivoted into its ramming position in reaction to cam roller 64 moving into cam track 70 (FIGURE 5), the swinging motion of a sector gear 164 drives the guide tongue forwardly to an extended position via an interconnecting gear train (not shown). When the rammer pivots back to its closed position with respect to the trolley as the autoloader departs its gun position, the sector gear swings in the opposite direction to retract the guide tongue to its telescoped, stowed position within the rammer housing. In addition to aligning a shell during the ramming step, the guide tongue serves to guide a previously committed shell as it is ejected back out to the first rammer stage. A buffer (not shown) is incorporated in the rammer to absorb the impact of the ejected shell and bring it to rest within the rammer tube. The rammer stages then operate in the same manner as when retrieving a shell from the magazine to position the shell on the rammer for movement back to the magazine. The rammer then executes a slow speed ramming stroke to return the shell to magazine storage.

[0021] In an alternative embodiment of the present invention, an autoloading apparatus, generally indicated at 210 in FIGURE 12, is illustrated in its application to an armored vehicle or tank 212 having an armored turret, generally indicated at 214, which is mounted to the tank deck 16 via bearings 217 for azimuthal revolving movement. The turret, in turn, mounts a cannon 218, via trunnions 220, for independent pivotal movement in elevation. Autoloading apparatus 210 is also mounted to the turret and contained by the turret basket 222. The autoloading apparatus includes a trolley 224 which is controlled in vertical movement by a pitch and roll guide track 226 and yaw guide track 228. As seen in FIGURE 13, these guide tracks are anchored at their lower ends to the basket floor 229 and at their upper ends to the turret roof 230. Guide track 226 includes a straight lower vertical section 226a which blends into an arcuate upper vertical section 226b. The arcuate section has a constant radius of curvature centered on the cannon elevation axis constituted by trunnions 220. Similarly, guide track 228 includes a straight lower vertical section 228a blending into an arcuate upper vertical section 228b whose constant radius of curvature is also centered on the cannon elevation axis.

[0022] As best seen in FIGURE 13, trolley 224 rotatably mounts a pair of vertically spaced rollers 232 at its forward end, which run in a channel-shaped guideway 234 of guide track 226 to control pitch motion of the trolley during its vertical movement. Just rearwardly of the rollers, the trolley mounts a pair of vertically spaced guide blocks 236 provided with grooves 237 to receive in close-fitting, sliding relation a continuous, rearwardly turned rim 238 (FIGURE 14) of track 226. The rim-engaging guide blocks preclude rolling motion of the trolley during vertical movement. To prevent yawing motion of the trolley, it is equipped at its rearward end with a single guide block 240 which is grooved at 241 to receive in close-fitting, sliding relation a forwardly turned flange 242 of guide track 228. To propel vertical movement of the trolley, an electric motor drive unit 244 is pivotally mounted to the basket floor 229 by a bracket 245. The drive unit turns an elongated ball screw 246 extending upwardly between guide tracks 226 and 228 to a free end terminating just short of the turret roof 230, as seen in FIGURES 12 and 13. Meshing with this ball screw is a ball nut 248 pivotally mounted to the trolley. From the description thus far, it is seen that bidirectional rotation of the ball screw by the motor drive unit propels the trolley up and down the guide tracks, with the ball screw swinging on its lower end pivotal mounting to the basket floor and the ball nut turning on its pivotal mounting to the trolley to accommodate articulation of the trolley as it moves along the straight and arcuate sections of the guide tracks.

[0023] Mounted to the trolley is a rammer 250 equipped to extract ammunition rounds from storage tubes 252 of a magazine, generally indicated at 254. The magazine includes a carousel conveyor (not shown) operating to bring a storage tube containing a selected ammunition round to a predetermined unloading position shown in FIGURE 13.

[0024] It will be appreciated that, by virtue of the arcuate guide track sections being located on respective radii with the cannon elevation axis, loading can be accomplished regardless of the angle in elevation or depression the cannon is positioned to. Moreover, the steps of retrieving an ammunition round from the magazine and transferring the round toward the cannon breech may be ongoing with the cannon at any position or while elevating or depressing. Note that the length of the round transfer path from magazine to cannon breech varies with cannon elevation. Thus, autoloader 210 has the same capabilities as autoloader 20 of FIGURE 1 to afford a dramatic increase in firing rate as compared to prior art autoloaders.

[0025] As illustrated in FIGURE 14, rammer 250 is rotatably mounted to trolley 224 by an axle indicated at 256. The trolley carriers a motor 258 which drives, via a pinion gear 259, a spur gear 260 affixed to the rammer in concentric relation with the axle to rotate the rammer end for end. This faculty enables the rammer to retrieve rounds from ammunition magazines 262 and 264 located in a hull storage area and a bustle storage area, respectively, as illustrated in FIGURE 15. To access magazine 262 in the hull storage area, trolley 224 is driven to a lower position with its rollers 232 in the portion of trackway 234 in straight section 226a, thus positioning the rammer in an essentially horizontal orientation. This trolley position may also be utilized to access turret magazine 254, if oriented horizontally rather than tilted downwardly as illustrated in FIGURE 13. It will be appreciated that, since hull storage magazine 262 does not revolve with the cannon, the turret will have to be located in a predetermined azimuth position to enable the rammer to retrieve rounds therefrom. This limitation, of course, does not apply when retrieving rounds from the turret and bustle magazines. A solenoid latch 266, seen in FIGURES 13 and 14, serves to releaseably lock the rammer to the trolley in requisite pitch position for ramming an ammunition round into the cannon breech and for extracting rounds from a magazine.

[0026] Rammer 250, as detailed in FIGURES 16 and 17, includes a housing generally indicated at 268 having an elongated rammer tube 270 for slidingly receiving an ammunition round in the form of a projectile 272 for cannon 218 configured as a liquid propellant gun. A rammer head 274 is also slidingly received in the rammer tube and is shown in its retracted position in FIGURE 16. The lower portion of the rammer tube opens into a trough in which are formed opposed guideways 278 for receiving laterally extending guides 280 of a slider generally indicated at 282. A pair of upstanding slider arms 284 carry between its upper ends a shaft 285 for journalling a sprocket 288. The lower portion of the slider is threaded to provide a ballnut 290 in meshing engagement with a ballscrew 292 extending through the trough and journalled at its forward end by bearing 294 mounted by the housing 268, as seen in FIGURES 16 and 17. An electric motor 296, carried by the rammer housing as seen in FIGURE 14, drives the ballscrew via a spur gear 298 keyed to its forward end to reciprocate slider 282 parallel to the axis of the rammer tube 270.

[0027] A stiff-backed chain 300 is pinned at its forward end to the housing, as indicated at 301, and extends rearwardly through the housing trough and around sprocket 288 to its rearward end pinned to rammer head 274, as indicated at 302. The portion of the chain in the trough is backed by an elongated channel-shaped support 304 mounted in the trough by pins 301 and 303 and extending between the slider arms. The characteristic of a stiff-backed chain is that its links will readily pivot in only one direction. Thus, chain 300 can pivot inwardly to train around sprocket 288, but will not sag outwardly. Thus, a linear section will remain stiff to serve as a linear drive element as long as it is backed against outward buckling movement.

[0028] As seen in FIGURE 16, a solenoid actuated gripper 306 is carried at the face of rammer head 274 for releaseably engaging a handling plug 308 provided at the tail end of the projectile 272. A cable 310 is threaded through stiff-backed chain 300 for electrically actuating gripper 306 to grip and release handling plug 308 as required.

[0029] From the foregoing description of rammer 250, it is seen that, with rammer head 274 in its retracted position of FIGURE 16, forward rotation of ball screw 292 by motor 296 propels slider 282 forwardly. The slider sprocket 288 rolls on the portion of chain 300 in trough 276, causing chain end 302 pinned to rammer head 274 to move forwardly away from the sprocket. Since the chain is backed by rammer tube 270, it remains stiff to propel the rammer head forwardly at twice the forward speed of the slider as the chain length between the sprocket and rammer head increases. FIGURE 17 shows slider 282 in its forwardmost position and rammer head 274 fully extended by stiff-backed chain 300 out of the forward end of rammer tube 270 and into breech 218a to load projectile 272 into the cannon. Gripper 306 is then released, and the ballscrew is driven in the reverse direction to draw the rammer back to its retracted position of FIGURE 16. Note that the rammer head has sufficient axial length to bridge the gap between the rammer tube and the breech bore and thus positive guidance of the rammer head during this transition is maintained. As the rammer head extends to its fully extended position to ram the projectile home, backing for the stiff-backed chain is provided by the breech bore.

[0030] To retrieve a projectile from a magazine storage tube 252, the rammer head is propelled forwardly out of the rammer tube and into the storage tube in the same manner as for a ramming stroke. The gripper 306 is actuated to grip the projectile handling plug 308, and the rammer head is drawn back to its position of FIGURE 16, pulling the projectile out of the storage tube and into the rammer tube where it is held under positive control during movement along the transfer path to the trolley loading position, as well as during end-for-end rotation of the rammer by motor 258 (FIGURE 14) after retrieval of a projectile from bustle and hull storage magazines. In the same manner that a projectile is retrieved from one of the various magazines and loaded into the cannon, the autoloading apparatus of the invention can be controlled to retrieve a committed, but unfired projectile from the cannon breech and return it to magazine storage.

[0031] It is from the foregoing that the objectives set forth, including those made apparent from the Detailed Description, are efficiently attained, and, since certain changes may be made in the construction set forth without departing from the scope of the present invention, it is intended that matters of detail be taken as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Claims

1. Automated apparatus for loading shells into the breech of a gun mounted by the revolving turret of an armored vehicle, said apparatus comprising, in combination:

A. a shell storage magazine mounted by the turret at a location beneath the gun breech;

B. a trolley;

C. a rammer mounted by said trolley and including means for gripping a shell;

D. a pair of arcuate guide tracks mounted for movement in azimuth with the gun and having a radius of curvature centered on the elevating axis of the gun, said guide tracks guiding said trolley during movement between a magazine position and a gun loading position, said rammer being activated with said trolley in such magazine position to extract a shell from said magazine with said gripping means and being activated with said trolley in said gun loading position to ram the shell into the gun breech with said gripping means, thereby to permit shell extraction from said magazine and shell ramming into the gun breech without regard to gun elevation.

2. The automated loading apparatus defined in Claim 1, wherein said guide tracks are mounted by structure movable in elevation with the gun.

3. The automated loading apparatus defined in Claim 2, which further includes means for latching said trolley to the turret while in said magazine position, thereby fixing the trolley position relative to said magazine despite movement of said guide tracks during elevating motion of the gun.

4. The automated loading apparatus defined in Claim 3, wherein said rammer is pivotally mounted to said trolley, said apparatus further includes means for pivoting said rammer relative to said trolley into a ramming position aligning a shell held by said gripping means with the gun boreline as said trolley achieves said gun loading position.

5. The automated loading apparatus defined in Claim 4, wherein said pivoting means includes a cam track commonly mounted with at least one of said guide tracks, and a cam roller running in said cam track and linked with said trolley and rammer.

6. The automated loading apparatus defined in Claim 5, which further includes an electric trolley motor carried by said trolley for propelling said trolley between said magazine and gun loading positions and an electric rammer motor carried by said rammer for activating said gripping means in extracting a shell from said magazine and ramming the shell into the gun breech.

7. The automated loading apparatus defined in Claim 1, which includes first and second arcuate guide tracks fixedly vertically mounted to said turret for controlling pitch, roll and yaw motions of said trolley during movement between said magazine and cannon loading positions.

8. The automated loading apparatus defined in Claim 7, wherein said rammer is pivotally mounted to said trolley, said apparatus further includes means for pivoting said rammer relative to said trolley into position to extract ammunition rounds from a storage magazine in at least one of rearward tank hull and turret bustle storage locations.

9. The automated loading apparatus defined in Claims 7 or 8, which further includes an electric trolley motor, an upright ballscrew pivotally mounted at a lower end to the turret floor, and a ballnut mounted by said trolley, whereby rotation of said ballscrew by said trolley motor propels said trolley between said magazine and gun loading positions.

10. The automated loading apparatus defined in Claim 9, wherein said first guide track includes a coextensive channel-shaped trackway and a coextensive rim, said trolley includes a pair of vertically spaced rollers running in said trackway to control pitching motion of said trolley and a pair of vertically spaced guide blocks having slots in which said rim is received to prevent rolling motion of said trolley, and said second guide track is located rearwardly of said first guide track and includes a coextensive flange, and said trolley further including at least one rearwardly located guide block having a slot in which said flange is received to prevent yawing motion of said trolley.

Drawing