Armored vehicle with rotatable swing-away turret

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The present invention has as an object to provide an armored vehicle with a turret which is not only rotatably but also pivotably mounted on the vehicle so that it can be swung or pivoted eccentrically from its operative position out of the way to permit opening of an access hatch on the vehicle body for maintenance and then returned to its rotatable position.
The present invention has as another object to provide an armored vehicle with such a swing-away turret which does not have to be removed from the vehicle to expose the access hatch for maintenance access and the pivoting of which does not require disengagement of rotational mounting of the turret.
The present invention has as still another object to provide an armored vehicle with such a swing-away turret which can be pivoted out of the way for maintenance and returned to its normal operation position manually or by light equipment such as a rope, pry bar, winch or pulley, especially under field conditions.
The present invention contemplates an armored vehicle with a swing-away turret which is rotatably mounted to the vehicle and which also is pivotally mounted to the vehicle body by pivotal means so that the turret can be pivoted or swung eccentrically from its operative position to an outboard position to expose a vehicle body access hatch for maintenance and then returned to its operative position for rotation.
In a typical working embodiment of the invention, the armored vehicle includes a turret having a turret body which is mounted on the vehicle by means of an annular turret support member.
The turret support member is mounted on the vehicle in a releasable operative position with the turret body rotatable thereon.
During maintenance, the operative position of the turret support member can be released to allow pivoting of the support member and turret body thereon relative to the vehicle body about a pivot axis substantially parallel to the rotational axis of the turret body.
Preferably, a plurality of releasable connector means are provided between the vehicle body and turret support member