(under subclass 374) Subject matter including means in or on the missile or payload to cause a separation of one or more parts of the missile or payload after a launch.
(1) Note. This subclass includes the means for: (a) separating a booster motor from a sustainer motor; (b) separating or projecting a means enclosed within the missile from the missile; (c) severing the missile to lose aerodynamic stability for range safety considerations, and the like. Specially excluded as a separation means is the explosion of the warhead. Such subject matter is classified in this class, subclass 374.
(2) Note. This subclass includes a specific releasable joint or connecting means, used to temporarily secure two stages of a missile together, claimed in combination with structure of a missile which is unique to a missile. For example, a joint or connecting means joining two stages of a missile claimed as having a fin, rocket motor, propellent charge, aerodynamically shaped surface, etc., is classified in this subclass. However, a releasable joint or connecting means claimed in combination with a nominal missile or a joint or connecting means claimed in combination with conventional elements of the missile nominally recited (i.e., launcher, booster, sustainer, nose cone, warhead, etc.) is excluded from this class and is classified in either Class 285, Pipe Joints or Couplings, or Class 403, Joints and Connections, appropriate subclasses.
SEE OR SEARCH THIS CLASS, SUBCLASS:
340, for a parachute flare ejecting means.
351, for means to separate or eject a firework or toy from the combustible reaction motor casing.
357, for miscellaneous firework ejecting means.
489, for separation of nested shells. SEE OR SEARCH CLASS
52, Static Structures (e.g., Buildings),
98, for means to sever a frangible missile casing.
60, Power Plants,
225, for the separation of plural reaction motors.
244, Aeronautics,
54, for the separation of a power plant from an aircraft; and subclasses 138+ for the separation of a safety lowering means from an aircraft.
285, Pipe Joints or Couplings, appropriate subclasses for releasable connections between tubular members, in general, which may be connections between stages of a missile.
403, Joints and Connections, appropriate subclasses for releasable connections between stages of a missile; particularly
11+, for means facilitating disconnection of the members.
