Monopropellent grains

Claim 1

A MONOPROPELLENT GRAIN WHICH BURNS PROGRESSIVELY FROM ONE END WHICH DEFINES THE INITIAL IGNITION SURFACE, COMPRISING A SELF-OXIDANT MATRIX, THE COMBUSTION OF WHICH GENERATES PROPULSIVE GASES, SAID MATRIX BEING A SEMI-SOLID, THIXOTROPIC MASS HAVING A MINIMUM TENSILE STRENGTH OF ABOUT 0.03 P.S.I., AND BEING CAPABLE OF FLOW UNDER APPLIED PRESSURE AT AMBIENT TEMPERATURE, ITS MAXIMUM APPARENT VISCOSITY AT AMBIENT TEMPERATURE AS MEASURED BY ITS FLOW THROUGH A CIRCULAR TUBE BEING ABOUT 150,000 POISES, SAID MATRIX CONTAINING EMBEDDED THEREIN ELONGATED METAL HEAT CONDUCTOR MEANS, SAID METAL HEAT CONDUCTOR MEANS BEING POSITIONED SUBSTANTIALLY NORMAL TO THE PLANE OF SAID INITIAL IGNITION SURFACE AND BEING CONTINUOUSLY AND LONGITUDINALLY DISPOSED IN THE DIRECTION OF FLAME PROPAGATION OF THE GRAIN, SAID CONDUCTOR WITHIN THE BODY OF THE GRAIN HAVING A LENGTH OF AT LEAST ABOUT 0.2 INCH AND A MAXIMUM METAL THICKNESS OF ABOUT 0.05 INCH IN AT LEAST ONE TRANSVERSE DIRECTION, THE ENTIRE SURFACE OF SAID LENGTH OF SAID METAL HEAT CONDUCTOR MEANS LYING WITHIN THE BODY OF THE PROPELLENT GRAIN AND BEING IN INTIMATE, GAS-SEALING CONTACT WITH THE PROPELLENT MATRIX, THE BURNING SURFACE OF SAID GRAIN AFTER IGNITION REGENERATING PROGRESSIVELY ALONG SAID METAL HEAT CONDUCTOR AND, IN SO DOING, FORMING A RECESS WHICH IS SUBSTANTIALLY V-SHAPED IN AT LEAST ONE PLANE WITH SAID METAL HEAT CONDUCTOR AT THE APEX OF SAID RECESS, THEREBY FORMING A RECESSED SURFACE OF SUBSTANTIALLY LARGER SURFACE AREA THAN THAT OF A PLANE BURNING SURFACE, THE METAL HEAT CONDUCTOR MEANS THEREBY SERVING CONTROLLABLY TO INCREASE THE MASS BURNING RATE AND, THEREBY, THE MASS RATE OF GAS GENERATION OF SAID MONOPROPELLENT GRAIN.