GB1605393A - Improvements relating to missiles - Google Patents

Description

(54) IMPROVEMENTS RELATING TO MISSILES (71)We, SHORT BROTHERS & BR< HARLAND LIMITED, a Northern Ireland Company, of Airport Road, Belfast, Northern Ireland, do hereby declare the invention, for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us and the method by which it is to be performed to be particularly described in and by the following statement: The present invention relates to missiles and other moving bodies and is particularly though not exclusively concerned with an anti-aircraft missile as described in our copending British Patent Application No. 7298/63, Specification No. 1605400.

In the aforesaid copending Patent Application, there is described a missile in which the nose portion is rotatably mounted in bearings on the forward end of a cylindrical main body portion of the missile for rotation about the longitudinal axis of the missile and is provided with a pair of aileron control surfaces and a pair of elevator control surfaces pivotally mounted on the nose portion, and a remote control system is employed by means of which an operator at a ground station can bring the nose portion of the missile to a preselected roll attitude by appropriate operation of the control surfaces and subject the missile to a lateral steering thrust by appropriate operation of the elevator control surfaces.

It has been considered advantageous to mount a proximity fuse in the forward end of the nose portion of the above described missile but it has been found that this would add considerably to the weight of the rotating nose portion which is required to be brought rapidly to a required roll attitude and it is an object of the present invention to provide a missile which does not suffer from the above mentioned disadvantage.

According to the present invention, there is provided a missile or other moving body the nose of which is formed by a forward nose portion and a rear nose portion, the rear nose portion being arranged for rotation about a main body portion and being provided with means for rotating it and bringing it to any one of a number of preselected positions in relation to a datum and for exerting a thrust thereon away from the axis of rotation to produce a steering effect on the missile or body, and the forward nose portion being mounted on the rear nose portion for free rotation about the same rotary axis as the rear nose portion.

One embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawing in which: Fig. 1 is a schematic perspective view of the missile according to the invention, and, Fig. 2 is a part sectional side elevation of the forward portion of the missile shown in Fig. 1.

Referring first to Fig. 1 a missile 11 comprises a cylindrical main body portion 12, rear nose portion 13 rotatably mounted on the forward end of the main body portion for rotation about the longitudinal axis of the missile, a forward nose portion on 131 rotatably .mounted on the forward end of the rear nose portion 13 for rotation about the longitudinal axis of the missile, and a tail portion 14 carrying fixed body stablising fins 15 and being fixedly mounted on the main body portion 12. The rear nose portion 13 includes a pair of elevator control surfaces 16 and 17 and a pair of aileron control surfaces 18 and 19.

Referring now to Fig. 2 the rear nose portion 13 is rotatably mounted in bearings 20 on the forward end of the main body portion 12 and houses a free gyroscope 21 which is arranged to generate an electrical signal representative of the roll attitude of the rear nose portion 13. The forward nose portion 131 is arranged to house a proximity fuse and is rotatably mounted in bearings 201 on the forward end of the rear nose portion 13, the arrangement being such that the forward nose portion 131 is free to rotate independently of the rear nose portion 13 which in turin is free to rotate independently of the main body portion 12.

As fully described in our copending British patent Application No. 7298/62 (Specification No. 1605400) the elevator control surfaces 16 and 17 are rotatably mounted in bearings 22 for rotation about a common lateral axis and the inner ends of the shafts supporting the control surfaces 16 and 17 are provided with eccentrically mounted pins 23 and 24 which engage in a peripheral groove in the head of a push rod 25 which extends into the rear nose portion 13 from the main body portion 12.

Within the body portion 12 the push rod 25 is formed with a diaphragm 26 which serves as an arrnature cooperating with a pair of solenoid coils 27 and 28, the arrangement being such that upon energisation of the coils 27 and 28 in one sense the push rod 25 is moved forward into the nose portion, acting on the eccentric pins 23 and 24 and serving to bring the elevator control surfaces 16 and 17 to a deflected position, and upon energisation of the coils in the opposite sense the push rod is moved to a retracted position causing the elevator control surfaces 16 and 17 to move to a deflected position, and upon energisation of the coils in the opposite sense the push rod is moved to aretracted position causing the elevator control surfaces 16 and 17 to move to a deflected position in the opposite sense.

The aileron control surfaces 18 and 19 are controlled by a push rod 29 within which the push rod 25 is slidably mounted, and the push rod 29 is controlled in the same manner as the push rod 25 by the action of a pair of solenoid coils 30 and 31 acting on a diaphragm 32 formed on the push rod 29, with the exception that the eccentric pins carried on the supporting shafts for the aileron control surfaces 18 and 19 are so arranged that the two control surfaces 18 and 19 move in opposite senses to deflected positions in response to either a forward or rearward movement of the push rod 29.

As described in our copending Patent Application signals for controlling the operation of the elevator and aileron control surfaces are transmitted from a ground station and received by a receiver mounted in the main body portion 12 of the missile 11, and these signals are, together with the signal generated by the gyroscope 21, employed to control the operation of switches for altemately energising the coils 27, 28, 30 and 31 and the control is made such that the aileron control surfaces 18 and 19 are operated to bring the rotatable rear nose portion 13 to a predetermined roll attitude in space and the elevator control surfaces 16 and 17 are operated to produce a lateral steering thrust on the missile.

It will be appreciated that as the forward nose portion 131 of the missile is freely rotatable on the rear nose portion 13, the latter can be arranged to have little inertia and respond rapidly to actuation of the aileron control surfaces 18 and 19 and come quickly to the required roll attitude.

The forward nose portion 131 being free from the rear nose portion 13 may then be employed to house equipment of considerable weight and in the present embodiment of this invention a proximity fuse is mounted therein.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS:- 1. A missile or other moving body the nose of which is formed by a forward nose portion and a rear nose portion, the rear nose portion being arranged for rotation about a main body portion of the missile and being provided with means for rotating it and bringing it to any one of a number of preselected positions in relation to a datum and for exerting a thrust thereon away from the axis of rotation to produce a steering effect on the missile or body, and the forward nose portion being mounted on the rear nose portion for free rotation about the same rotary axis as the rear nose portion.

2. A missile according to Claim 1 wherein the rear nose portion is rotatably mounted on the forward end of the main body portion of the missile for rotation about the longitudinal axis of the missile and wherein the forward nose portion is rotatably mounted on the forward end of the rear nose portion for rotation about the longitudinal axis of the missile.

3. A missile according to claim 2 wherein said means for rotating the rear nose portion and for exerting said thrust thereon comprises a pair of aileron control surfaces and a pair of elevator control surfaces pivotally mounted on the said rear nose portion, and a remote control system by means of which an operator at a ground station can bring the rear nose portion to a preselected roll attitude by appropriate operation of the aileron control surfaces and then subject to the missile to a lateral steering thrust by appropriate operation of the elevator control surfaces.

4. A missile according to any of the preceding claims wherein the forward nose portion of the missile houses a proximity fuse.

5. A missile substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawing.

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims (5)

1. **WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **.

   27 and 28, the arrangement being such that upon energisation of the coils 27 and 28 in one sense the push rod 25 is moved forward into the nose portion, acting on the eccentric pins 23 and 24 and serving to bring the elevator control surfaces 16 and 17 to a deflected position, and upon energisation of the coils in the opposite sense the push rod is moved to a retracted position causing the elevator control surfaces 16 and 17 to move to a deflected position, and upon energisation of the coils in the opposite sense the push rod is moved to aretracted position causing the elevator control surfaces 16 and 17 to move to a deflected position in the opposite sense.

   The aileron control surfaces 18 and 19 are controlled by a push rod 29 within which the push rod 25 is slidably mounted, and the push rod 29 is controlled in the same manner as the push rod 25 by the action of a pair of solenoid coils 30 and 31 acting on a diaphragm 32 formed on the push rod 29, with the exception that the eccentric pins carried on the supporting shafts for the aileron control surfaces 18 and 19 are so arranged that the two control surfaces 18 and 19 move in opposite senses to deflected positions in response to either a forward or rearward movement of the push rod 29.

   As described in our copending Patent Application signals for controlling the operation of the elevator and aileron control surfaces are transmitted from a ground station and received by a receiver mounted in the main body portion 12 of the missile 11, and these signals are, together with the signal generated by the gyroscope 21, employed to control the operation of switches for altemately energising the coils 27, 28, 30 and 31 and the control is made such that the aileron control surfaces 18 and 19 are operated to bring the rotatable rear nose portion 13 to a predetermined roll attitude in space and the elevator control surfaces 16 and 17 are operated to produce a lateral steering thrust on the missile.

   It will be appreciated that as the forward nose portion 131 of the missile is freely rotatable on the rear nose portion 13, the latter can be arranged to have little inertia and respond rapidly to actuation of the aileron control surfaces 18 and 19 and come quickly to the required roll attitude.

   The forward nose portion 131 being free from the rear nose portion 13 may then be employed to house equipment of considerable weight and in the present embodiment of this invention a proximity fuse is mounted therein.

   WHAT WE CLAIM IS:- 1. A missile or other moving body the nose of which is formed by a forward nose portion and a rear nose portion, the rear nose portion being arranged for rotation about a main body portion of the missile and being provided with means for rotating it and bringing it to any one of a number of preselected positions in relation to a datum and for exerting a thrust thereon away from the axis of rotation to produce a steering effect on the missile or body, and the forward nose portion being mounted on the rear nose portion for free rotation about the same rotary axis as the rear nose portion.
2. 2. A missile according to Claim 1 wherein the rear nose portion is rotatably mounted on the forward end of the main body portion of the missile for rotation about the longitudinal axis of the missile and wherein the forward nose portion is rotatably mounted on the forward end of the rear nose portion for rotation about the longitudinal axis of the missile.
3. 3. A missile according to claim 2 wherein said means for rotating the rear nose portion and for exerting said thrust thereon comprises a pair of aileron control surfaces and a pair of elevator control surfaces pivotally mounted on the said rear nose portion, and a remote control system by means of which an operator at a ground station can bring the rear nose portion to a preselected roll attitude by appropriate operation of the aileron control surfaces and then subject to the missile to a lateral steering thrust by appropriate operation of the elevator control surfaces.
4. 4. A missile according to any of the preceding claims wherein the forward nose portion of the missile houses a proximity fuse.
5. 5. A missile substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawing.