Explosive apparatus

Claim 2

A weapon as defined in claim 1 wherein said casing comprises a frangible housing around said first layer of explosives surrounding said fuel; and means imbedded in said housing for forming shrapnel upon detonation of the weapon.

Claim 3

A weapon as defined in claim 1 further comprising: a frangible tube on the axis of said body of fuel; and a thermite-type mixture in said frangible tube for igniting said fuel.

Claim 4

An explosive apparatus comprising in combination: a casing having a longitudinal axis of symmetry; means for exploding the apparatus with the longitudinal axis of symmetry oriented in a substantially vertical direction; a body of disseminatable material substantially completely filling said casing and radially disposed about the longitudinal axis thereof; a relatively thin layer of high explosive radially surrounding said body of material about the longitudinal axis and within said casing for sending a converging shock wave through said body of material and effecting implosive dissemination thereof in a substantially horizontal direction; a second relatively thin layer of high explosive on the bottom end of said body of material transverse to said longitudinal axis for simultaneously sending a second shock wave therethrough in a substantially vertical direction, said shock waves interacting on said body of disseminatable material to produce a flat cone-shaped cloud thereof; and a third relatively thin layer of high explosive on the upper end of said body of material for simultaneously sending a third shock wave therethrough opposed to said second shock wave, said second layer of explosive having a greater power than said third layer of explosive for effecting a net longitudinal dissemination greater in an upward direction than in a downward direction.

Claim 5

In an aerial bomb or similar weapon adapted to be delivered to a target with a substantial downward vertical velocity substantially along an axis of the bomb including a casing, a body of fuel within the casing, a first relatively thin layer of high explosive radially surrounding the fuel about said axis for sending a converging shock wave through the fuel and effecting implosive dissemination thereof primarily horizontally from the weapon, the improvement comprising: means for simultaneously effecting a partial upward dissemination of the fuel from the weapon comprising a second layer of high explosive at the lower end of the first layer, said second layer of explosive being very thin compared with the length of fuel in said weapon and extending substantially transverse to said axis; a third layer of high explosive at the upper end of the first layer for effecting downward dissemination of the fuel, said third layer having less power than said second layer, and means for detonating said layers of explosive substantially simultaneously, whereby a net upward dissemination is imparted to said fuel for counteracting the downward vertical velocity and producing a flat pancake-shaped cloud of fuel.