Importance

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Abstract

The projectile includes a preferably cylindrical body, with an outer preferably generally cylindrical shell disposed over a portion thereof, having a fixed end secured to the body and a rotatable opposite end. The shell bears a number of spaced fins simultaneously moveable between a closed low-profile position and a deployed flight-stabilizing position by rotating the rotatable shell end. Each fin has a pair of elongated plates hinged together at one end, and the fin plates are also hinged to the shell at opposite ends thereof. The plates are aligned in a direction diagonal to the longitudinal axis of the body, while the hinges are parallel to that axis. The projectile includes an impeller connected to the rotatable end of the shell for rotation thereof around the body's longitudinal axis. In the deployed position the fins are preferably dome-shaped with central air passageways, with the main plane of the plates parallel to the body longitudinal axis for minimum air drag and with the fins at about the same transverse position. The impeller may include a return spring, a releasable lock and/or a cowling keyed to a rotor and to the rotatable shell end.

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First Claim