Claims
- 1. A support and alignment assembly for use on a moving vehicle having a fixed receiver mounted thereon, the assembly comprising:a loading tray for supporting an object receivable by said receiver; a storage structure for supporting said loading tray; mounts resiliently connecting said storage structure to the vehicle; indicator means on the receiver, said indicator means comprises markings on the receiver; at least one sensor on said tray for reading a position of said indicator means, said sensor being adapted to send a signal indicative of a position of said tray, and thereby an object on said tray, relative to said indicator means, and thereby the receiver; a control device adapted to receive said sensor signal and compute movement of said tray necessary to align the object with the receiver, said control device being adapted to send corrective signals; and alignment means mounted on said storage structure for receiving said corrective signals and for moving said tray to bring the object in said tray into alignment with the receiver.
- 2. The support and alignment assembly in accordance with claim 1 wherein said loading tray is movable on said storage structure to align the object with the receiver.
- 3. The support and alignment assembly in accordance with claim 1 wherein said indicator means comprises electromagnetic emitters.
- 4. The support and alignment assembly in accordance with claim 1 wherein said indicator means further comprises markings on said loader tray.
- 5. The support and alignment assembly in accordance with claim 3 wherein said indicator means further comprises electromagnetic emitters on said loading tray.
- 6. The support and alignment assembly in accordance with claim 1 wherein said at least one sensor is an electromagnetic sensor.
- 7. The support and alignment assembly in accordance with claim 3 wherein said at least one sensor is an electromagnetic sensor.
- 8. The support and alignment assembly in accordance with claim 1 wherein said indicator means comprises a portion of the receiver and said sensor comprises an electromagnetic sensor adapted to read a position of said portion.
- 9. The support and alignment assembly in accordance with claim 1 wherein said alignment means comprises motor means for moving the object into axial alignment with the receiver in response to said corrective signals of said control device.
- 10. The support and alignment assembly in accordance with claim 1 wherein said vehicle comprises a submarine.
- 11. The support and alignment assembly in accordance with claim 10 wherein:said receiver comprises a missile launch tube; and said object comprises a missile.
- 12. The support and alignment assembly in accordance with claim 11 wherein:the missile comprises a torpedo; and the missile launch tube comprises a torpedo tube.
CROSS REFERENCE TO OTHER PATENT APPLICATIONS
This application is a division of patent application Ser. No. 09/090,222, filed May 22, 1998 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,330,866 issued Dec. 18, 2001.
STATEMENT OF GOVERNMENT INTEREST
The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government of the United States of America for Governmental purposes without the payment of any royalties thereon or therefor.
US Referenced Citations (17)