United States Patent (19) 11 4,343,223 Hawke Et Al
United States Patent (19) 11 4,343,223 Hawke et al. 45) Aug. 10, 1982 54 MULTIPLESTAGE RAILGUN UCRL-52778, (7/6/79). Hawke. 75 Inventors: Ronald S. Hawke, Livermore; UCRL-82296, (10/2/79) Hawke et al. Jonathan K. Scudder, Pleasanton; Accel. Macropart, & Hypervel. EM Accelerator, Bar Kristian Aaland, Livermore, all of ber (3/72) Australian National Univ., Canberra ACT Calif. pp. 71,90–93. LA-8000-G (8/79) pp. 128, 135-137, 140, 144, 145 73) Assignee: The United States of America as (Marshall pp. 156-161 (Muller et al). represented by the United States Department of Energy, Washington, Primary Examiner-Sal Cangialosi D.C. Attorney, Agent, or Firm-L. E. Carnahan; Roger S. Gaither; Richard G. Besha . - (21) Appl. No.: 153,365 57 ABSTRACT 22 Filed: May 23, 1980 A multiple stage magnetic railgun accelerator (10) for 51) Int. Cl........................... F41F1/00; F41F 1/02; accelerating a projectile (15) by movement of a plasma F41F 7/00 arc (13) along the rails (11,12). The railgun (10) is di 52 U.S. Cl. ....................................... ... 89/8; 376/100; vided into a plurality of successive rail stages (10a-n) - 124/3 which are sequentially energized by separate energy 58) Field of Search .................... 89/8; 124/3; 310/12; sources (14a-n) as the projectile (15) moves through the 73/12; 376/100 bore (17) of the railgun (10). Propagation of energy from an energized rail stage back towards the breech 56) References Cited end (29) of the railgun (10) can be prevented by connec U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS tion of the energy sources (14a-n) to the rails (11,12) 2,783,684 3/1957 Yoler ...r.
[Show full text]