Patents by Inventor William Donnally

William Donnally has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 4289960
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for detecting the impact of munitions in a predefined arget region during weapons training. The apparatus includes a plurality of photo-detectors (12), each of which has a predetermined field of view in the horizontal plane, the target range being defined by the logical union of these fields of view. The impact of a munition within or without the target area causes a signal to be transmitted (14) to a receiving location which is proximate the gun site. At the receiving location (21), the incoming signals from the plurality of sensors are subjected to logical operations (24) which indicate to the operator of the gun whether or not the projectile impacted within or without the target area, or to the left or to the right of the target area. In addition, a running total (79) is kept of the number of successful impacts.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 3, 1979
    Date of Patent: September 15, 1981
    Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army
    Inventors: Chester L. Smith, William Donnally
  • Patent number: 4280355
    Abstract: The present invention discloses an in-flight testing of projectile and mor fuzes. A microminiature electronic circuitry in a cartridge form is designed to attach to any of the large caliber shell or mortar fuzes. The test-cartridge is a recoverable, reusable, high-g hardened device. The system for sampling and recording projectile fuzes during a period of target impact comprises: a power supply; a timing and control logic unit; an accelerometer; an amplitude encoder; a shift register; and an interface connector to transform stored information of the fuze functioning characteristics to a ground station readout unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 1980
    Date of Patent: July 28, 1981
    Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army
    Inventors: William Donnally, Chester L. Smith
  • Patent number: 4253192
    Abstract: A telemetric system has a conductive coil positioned adjacent to a muzzle. burst of transducer data is electromagnetically relayed to the conductive coil from a missile after it is fired. This conductive coil has longitudinally spaced windings distributed alongside the trajectory of the missile. The effective length of the conductive coil is at least in the order of magnitude of the distance traveled by the missile while the burst of transducer data is being transmitted. Data thus received can be utilized to drive recorders or similar equipment. The missile has on its outside an associated missile coil for transmitting the burst of transducer data. The coil is driven by a modulated carrier. This modulation is provided by a delay device that is driven by a transducer. This arrangement allows transmission of data corresponding to an operating parameter of the missile after a predetermined delay.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 1979
    Date of Patent: February 24, 1981
    Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army
    Inventors: William Donnally, David N. Everswick
  • Patent number: 4214231
    Abstract: There is disclosed an improved electronic system for measuring in-bore teetry information for tube-fired munitions where high frequency transmission is desired to telemeter several frequency channels. The system includes a subsystem for sensing acceleration located inside a tube-fired projectile; a subsystem for conditioning and filtering a signal input; a subsystem for converting analog data by use of a Delta-Modulation method; a subsystem for binary recirculation, the same accomplishing repetition of measurement of the in-bore information; a binary shift register for conveying input digital data to a ground station facility through a transmission link; and a recording means placed in a ground station facility to accomplish storing, displaying and recording in-bore information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 1979
    Date of Patent: July 22, 1980
    Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army
    Inventor: William Donnally
  • Patent number: 4205283
    Abstract: An analog signal is processed through a lowpass filter and then regularly mpled at different sample times by a plurality of charge coupled devices. The outputs of the charge coupled devices are then summed and applied to a second lowpass filter which acts to produce a reconstructed and delayed version of the original analog signal. With this arrangement the time delay associated with each charge cell of the charge coupled devices is a whole number multiple of the effective sampling period of the system, and significant decreases in charge transfer distortion are achieved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 1978
    Date of Patent: May 27, 1980
    Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army
    Inventor: William Donnally, Jr.