Gun

June 4, 1935.

D. A. GURNEY ET AL

2,003,290

GUN

Filed May 2, 1933

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ATTORNEY

Patented June 4, 1935

2,003,290

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE

2,003,290

-'.ί.···:.·. . GUN

Dayton A. Gurney, Caro, Mich., and Thomas A. Conlon, Silver Spring, Md.

Application May 2,1933, Serial No. 669,000

Claim. (CL 42—2) (Granted under the act of March 3, 1883, as amended April 30, 1928; 370 O. G. 757)

The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes, without the payment to us of any royalty thereon.

This invention relates to a method of and apparatus for controlling the range of a gun.

The principal object of the present invention is the establishment of a method and the provision of means whereby the energy generated by the propelling gases at the moment of explosion or the distance traveled by the projectile while acted upon by said gases, may be controlled in such a manner that with the same propelling charge different ranges may be attained which are a predetermined fraction of the range of a piece of standard artillery.

The gun is designed as a simple and inexpensive sub-caliber weapon having particular application in training students in the conduct of artillery firing, especially artillery employing separate loading ammunition where the weight of the propellant charge provides the muzzle velocity for the different zones of fire.

More specifically the invention consists in applying an adapter to the muzzle of a short barrel on a small caliber gun in such a way that the guns of a battery may be calibrated and arranging for the provision of an adjustable expansion chamber in the adapter or an adjustable length of travel of the projectile in the barrel.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention resides in the novel arrangement and combination of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of the invention herein disclosed may be made within the scope of what is claimed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

A practical embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a view partly in side elevation and partly in longitudinal section showing the improved gun loaded and ready to fire.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of a fragment of the gun.

Fig. 3 is a view in elevation of a group of sleeves.

Fig. 4 is a view of a group of sleeves of a modified form.

Figs. 5 and 6 are detail sectional views on the respective lines of Fig. 1, and

Fig. 7 is a detail of a modification shown in longitudinal section.

Referring to the drawing by numerals of ref erencs, there is shown a gun consisting generally of a stock 5, a lock 6, a barrel Ί and a cylindrical adapter 8 mounted on the muzzle of the barrel by means of the threaded attachment 9. The stock, lock and barrel shown in the drawing are 5 from a commercially obtainable .22 caliber rifle, modified by cutting off the front portion of the barrel and providing the threads 9. The bore 10 of the barrel constitutes a combustion chamber for the blank cartridge 11 which is to supply 10 the propellant gases.

The adapter 8 provides an expansion chamber for the propellant gases as well as a chamber for the projectile 12 which is a metal ball. The bore of the adapter is preferably greater than the out- 15 side of the muzzle of the barrel so that the adapter may be threadedly adjusted on the barrel. A sleeve 13 adapted to seat the projectile 12 has a sliding flt in the adapter and seats on the annular shoulder 14 of the adapter. The internal ₂o diameter of the sleeve is in excess of the external diameter of the barrel and accordingly may overlie the barrel when the adapter is 'moved rearwardly in adjustment from the position shown in Fig. 1. 25

As indicated in Fig. 3 a set of the sleeves 13 is provided for the gun. For convenience the sleeves are inscribed with range data or, when the gun is to be used to simulate howitzer flring with separate loading ammunition, with data con- ₃₀cerning zones of fire. Since the projectile 12 is seated in the front end of the sleeve the various sleeves serve to establish expansion chambers of varying volume. The longest sleeve gives the least range and the shortest sleeve gives the greatest range. ³⁵

Another way of accomplishing the same purpose is shown in Fig. 4 where the sleeves i3a are of the same length but have bores of varying diameter.

The adapter is held in position of adjustment ⁴⁰on the barrel by means of a plunger 15 arranged to enter a slot or groove 16 in the adapter. The plunger is mounted in a casing Π fixed on the barrel and is normally held in position to engage the adapter by means of a spring 18 con- ⁴⁵fined between the rear end 19 of the casing and a collar 20 on the plunger. As seen in Fig. 2 a range scale 2 i is inscribed on the adapter and is readable against the end of the plunger. In em- go ploying the gun for teaching or demonstrating artillery firing the ballistic or other corrections may be accounted for in terms of range by effecting an adjustment of the adapter on the barrel. When a number of guns are employed in Simula- 55

2,003,280 tton &lt;rf a battery oi artillery, variations in the performance of the guns may be corrected by adjustment of the adapters.

When the gun is fired the sleeve in the adapter 5 is not disturbed and remains in place.

In the modification shown in Fig. 7 the sleeve 13b is secured on the muzzle end of the barrel 7 and the adapter 8 is adjustably mounted on the sleeve so that, by adjusting the adapter, the dis10 tance traveled by the projectile within the adapter will be varied thereby regulating the range.