Truck cabin armor

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to methods and means for protection of vehicles from landmine blasts, in particular to protection of a truck's cabin by an armored protective shield above the front wheel.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Military operations require different types of land vehicles, including trucks. All types of land vehicles may encounter at least three types of explosives: anti-tank mines, anti-personnel mines and shrapnel mines. These mines may be detonated by the pressure of the wheels of the vehicle rolling over them, or by remote detonation. The anti-tank and anti-personnel mines generally rely on pure blast pressure for destructive incapacitating effect. The shrapnel mines, on the other hand, have a lower blast pressure than that characteristic of the anti-tank mines. The shrapnel mines rely primarily on hundreds of flying shrapnel fragments for incapacitation effect. Thus, the underbody of military land vehicles should be protected from both pure blast pressure and flying shrapnel fragments to minimize damage to and deformation of the passenger compartment of the vehicle and thereby minimize the potential for injury to the vehicle occupants. The trucks, as manufactured, do not have the armor or structure to protect occupants from mine blasts.

Several armoring systems have been developed for protecting an unarmored vehicle. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,663,520 describes a system for protecting a passenger compartment of a High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) from forces arising from a mine activated by a wheel. The system includes an underbody protective plate structure covering areas of a forward portion of the passenger compartment and a shield structure fabricated on the protective plate structure in front of lower-forward walls of the forward portion. In addition, reinforcing plates extend adjacent the side walls of the forward portion and are connected to the protective plate structure.

Another known system used with trucks is to mount protective structures to the chassis of the vehicle shielding partially the bottom of the cabin facing the front wheels. As shown in FIG. 1, protective shields 1 are mounted to strong chassis members 2 running under the cabin 3 of the truck by means of suitable braces or consoles 4.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a method for protection of a truck's cabin from land-mine blast occurring under one of front wheels of the truck. The truck has a rigid chassis framework including a plurality of members of which at least one has a portion close to truck's periphery in front or behind the front wheels. The method includes:

• • providing a protective shield formed to fit between the cabin and one of the front wheels;
  • providing a means for mounting the protective shield to that portion of the chassis member; and
  • mounting the protective shield to the portion of the chassis member so as to position the shield between the cabin and the front wheel.

Preferably, the portion of the chassis member is accessible from outside the truck and the mounting is performed without dismantling the truck body, inclining the truck or lifting the truck above the ground.

Preferably, the protective shield is mounted to a chassis member transverse to the truck chassis, for example a bumper of the truck, having a portion formed as a free beam-like end for said mounting.

Preferably, the means for mounting allows multiple mounting and dismounting of the protective shield to the portion of the chassis member.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an assembly for protection of a truck's cabin from land-mine blast. The assembly comprises:

• • a protective shield formed to fit between the cabin and a front wheel;
  • a mounting means adapted for firm mounting to said portion of the chassis member; and
  • a cantilever with a first end connected firmly to the protective shield and a second end connected firmly to the mounting means, the cantilever being formed so as to position the shield between the cabin and the front wheel when the mounting means is mounted to said portion of the chassis member.

Preferably, the mounting means comprises two braces with matching flanges, a first of the two braces being permanently connected to the cantilever. The braces are formed to fit on said portion of the chassis member and to hold firmly thereon when the flanges are tightened to each other, e.g. by bolts and nuts.

The two braces may be permanently connected by a joint so as to allow fitting the braces on the portion of the chassis member and/or removing the braces from the chassis member when the flanges are not tightened to each other.

Preferably, the two braces are Ω (omega)-shaped and constitute two peripheral halves of a split box while the joint is a deformable plate constituting a bottom of the split box.

The chassis member may be a transverse beam with a free (cantilever) end, e.g. the bumper of the truck, and said split box is formed so as to fit on the free end.

The method and the assembly of the present invention offer major advantages in protection of non-armored trucks from land-mine and similar blasts:

• • The protective shield assembly may be mounted on and dismounted from the truck without lifting the truck off the ground or inclining or capsizing it;
  • The mounting procedure does not require any mechanical operations like drilling, cutting or welding on the truck body or chassis;
  • The mounting procedure does not require dismantling of the truck body or chassis;
  • The mounting and dismounting of the protective shield assembly may be carried out in the field.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to understand the invention and to see how it may be carried out in practice, a preferred embodiment will now be described, by way of non-limiting example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a scheme of a truck with protective shields above the front wheels mounted according to prior art methods.

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of a truck with a protective shield mounted according to the method of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective outside-back view of the assembly of the present invention; and

FIG. 4 is a perspective inside-frontal view of the assembly in FIG. 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

With reference to FIG. 2, there is shown an assembly 10 for protection of a truck's cabin 3 from land-mine blast. The assembly 10 comprises a protective shield 12, a cantilever joint 14 and a coupling 16. The coupling 16 is mounted on a free end of the bumper 18 ahead of truck's front wheel 20. The bumper 18 is part of the truck chassis (not shown).

With reference to FIGS. 3 and 4, the protective shield 12 has a horizontal part 22 disposed above the wheel 20, an internal sloping part 24 and a rear sloping part 26. The shield is shaped to fit in the space between the wheel 20 and the cabin bottom, in dependence of the specific shape and disposition of the cabin relative to the wheel 20. The shield serves as blast deflector and protection against shrapnel fragments originating from a blast occurring under the wheel. The shield is made of armored plates which may include armor steel sheets, Kevlar layers, ceramics, void spaces, etc. and other designs know per se in the art.

The cantilever joint 14 comprises two parallel beams 30, with perpendicular brackets 32 welded to one end of the beams 30. The brackets 32 have oval eyes 34 for bolt-and-nut mounting to the shield 12. Alternatively, other methods known in the art may be used for mounting the armor shield to the cantilever joint 14.

The coupling 16 comprises two Ω (omega)-shaped braces 40 and 42 with flanges 44 and a plate 46 connecting the two braces. One of the braces, 42, is welded to the beams 30. The coupling 16 thus constitutes a split box with braces 40 and 42 as sides and plate 46 as bottom, which is suitably shaped to fit over the end of the bumper 18 by sliding therealong. The coupling 16 is fixed firmly on the bumper 18 by passing bolts 48 through openings 52 in the flanges 44 and tightening them by nuts. It will be appreciated that the braces 40, 42 may be tightened to the bumper 18 due to the elasticity of the plate 46. Alternatively, a hinge or another joint may be used instead of the plate 46, to hold the two braces in place before tightening the bolts.

It will be appreciated that the protective assembly 10 may be mounted on the bumper using drilled openings or welding but the inventive design allows mounting and dismounting from the truck in the field, without any metalworking operations like drilling, milling, cutting or welding on the truck body or chassis.

Although a description of specific embodiments has been presented, it is contemplated that various changes could be made without deviating from the scope of the present invention. For example, the cantilever joint and the coupling may be designed in a different way; another accessible member of the chassis may be used for mounting the assembly, etc.