EP0095195B1 - Device for feeding ammunition to an automatic gun - Google Patents

Abstract

1. Device for feeding ammunition (6, 7) to an automatic weapon (1) that pivots about a horizontal axis (9) in a gun mount of an armoured vehicle or a like weapon carrier, especially to a machine cannon for a cartridge caliber of up to 40 mm, having a feed shaft (2, 3) leading from a cartridge magazine (4, 5) to the weapon, wherein the magazine (4, 5), feed shaft and weapon pivot together with the gun mount about the gun mount's vertical axis, characterized by an endless feed belt (15, 16) made from flexible-elastic material turning from the magazine (4, 5) through the feed shaft (2, 3) to the breechblock (12) and back again to the magazine (4, 5), which feed belt in its entirety can be driven intermittently or continually by a power source (7) being independent from the weapon (1), said feed belt having a plurality of flexible-elastic cartridge holders (18, 19) along one side thereof, a first turn-around disposed in the area of the magazine (4, 5) and a second turn-around (20, 21) near the breechblock (12), by which turn-arounds the cartridge holders (18, 19) can be bent open in a reversible manner so that the cartridge (6a, 7a) abutting against holding lips (22, 23) or the like being disposed in front of the breechblock (12) can be introduced into the chamber of the weapon (1) by the driver (24) of the breechblock (12).

Description

The invention relates to a device for supplying ammunition to a machine gun movable in a carriage of an armored vehicle or the like about a horizontal axis with the assistance of a flexible belt, in particular to a machine gun for a cartridge caliber of up to 40 mm, with a from a cartridge magazine to the weapon leading feed shaft, the magazine, feed shaft and weapon can be rotated together with the mount around its vertical axis.

In the mountings of vehicles, ships and aircraft, e.g. B. in armored turrets of armored vehicles machine guns are usually fed with taped ammunition, unless they are loaded by flat magazines, some of which work without belt members. Ammunition belts have been known for a long time. Despite different constructions, they always have a belt made of metal, in particular steel links, for receiving the cartridges, which are held and transported in the belt. Belt links that only connect to form a belt when the cartridges are inserted are already known. Since the respective cartridge is pushed out of the belt into the chamber of the weapon when the shot is fired, the associated belt member falls off, which is therefore lost in these so-called decay belts.

Depending on the type of weapon and the installation situation, the belt, and thus the cartridges in the belt, for machine guns are either taken care of by the weapon itself or by driven conveyors, with the extent of the required transport forces generally deciding whether the weapon can fetch its ammunition on its own or needs support from a funding agency.

A device of the type mentioned at the beginning (armored personnel carrier Marder) is known, in which the ammunition strapped by means of a decay belt is located in zigzag positions in a box magazine arranged below the machine cannon. in which a supply for a burst of fire can be arranged in at least one hanging loop. The arrangement has been made so that the machine gun or the like is able to automatically pull the belt with the cartridges from the loop supply during the burst of fire. Since the feed shaft cannot follow the elevation movements of the machine cannon, a guide element which can be changed with regard to its length, torsion and bend is provided in this design between the upper end of the feed shaft and the breech block of the weapon. Furthermore, if two types of cartridges, which can optionally be closed with two belts, are available, a special, complex double belt feeder is required.

It has now been found that, with increasing belt tensile forces, the weapons are overwhelmed by the greater length of the cartridge belt to be used or the greater cartridge weights, and as a result tend to be more likely to malfunction. Furthermore, the belt links themselves are often a cause of malfunction. Further disadvantages of the belt links of a decay belt that are consuming themselves are the large space requirement of the stored ammunition, the costs of the belt links used only once, and the special work involved in filling the belt.

In order to reduce the belt costs, a magazine arranged on the weapon with an encircling, endless belt has already been used, from which the cartridges are combed out by means of cams and transported further by means of star wheels (DE-B-2 839 839). However, this does not change the remaining disadvantages already mentioned.

Furthermore, from DE-C-300 800 a box magazine, which is arranged on a machine gun and is open at the bottom and contains cartridges, with an endless belt running underneath it, which has grooves corresponding to the cartridge shape and intended for receiving the cartridges and by means of a machine gun guidance is running. Different elevation positions and swivel positions of the machine gun relative to the box magazine are not provided, especially since such are not required in the case of a rigidly installed aircraft machine gun.

Finally, DE-A-2822168 has also disclosed the conveyance of cartridges by means of an endless link chain to a gun based on the Gatling principle, the chain being loaded and unloaded from a drum magazine via a star wheel mechanism. A twisting of the chain is not intended, as there is no lack of different elevation positions of the gun relative to the chain.

The object on which the invention is based is seen in creating a device of the type mentioned at the outset which, while avoiding the disadvantages mentioned, completely dispenses with a decay belt with belt members which are used up and used only once, ie. H. no belt is required in the respective magazine, and is nevertheless able to feed the weapon even more reliably with ammunition.

This object is achieved in that the belt is an endless and at least limited twistable conveyor belt that runs from the magazine through the feed shaft to the closure piece and back to the magazine, which belt can be driven intermittently or continuously by a power source that is independent of the weapon and along his one side has cartridge receptacles, and that a first deflection is provided in the area of the magazine and a second deflection near the closure piece, in such a way that the holding lips or the like in front of the closure piece in front of the closure piece can be removed from the cartridge receptacle by the catch of the closure piece and into the chamber the weapon is insertable.

The conveyor belt takes the cartridges from the magazine at its reversing point assigned to the magazine and conveys them to the closure piece, it being able to run over rollers and reversing wheels and, due to its flexibility and twistability, for example also to follow the guide through the likewise flexible guide element, the torsion and bend of the weapon or machine gun also change as the elevation of the weapon changes, provided that such a guide element is required in individual cases. Such a guide element is known, is manufactured by Nobels Industries Inc., St. Paul / Minnesota, U.S.A. and can also be changed in length if necessary. The extent of the possible change results from the length and thus the number of individual, mutually displaceable members of this known guide element.

The advantages of the invention consist primarily in the fact that the ammunition arranged in the magazine or in the magazines can be stored without belts, that the ammunition or cartridges from the respective magazine are automatically taken up by the conveyor belt and that the work of refilling one Belt does not apply. Furthermore, since a decay belt with individual, lost belt members is no longer available, the costs in this regard are no longer incurred. For a given volume of a magazine, a larger number of cartridges can be stored in it than would be the case if a decay belt were used. Furthermore, the susceptibility to failure caused by decay belt members has been eliminated.

According to the conveyor belt must be flexible and twistable or twistable, as well as endless. These properties can be achieved in different ways. The conveyor belt is advantageously a belt made of rubber-elastic material with inserts made of metal or textiles. In a preferred embodiment, rubber material is used, optionally with inlays made of one or more fabrics or braids, for example made of textile fibers. The inlays give the material the required tensile strength and stability, while the rubber provides the rubber-elastic properties, whereby the inlays allow a certain stretch of the conveyor belts also in length. The cartridge holders can be molded into the material as soon as the conveyor belt is manufactured.

The conveyor belt is expediently a toothed belt, which is driven by at least one toothed wheel. Such a positive drive is particularly reliable.

The cartridge receptacles of the conveyor belt consist of essentially semicircular grooves, which are arranged parallel to one another transversely to the longitudinal axis of the conveyor belt and whose diameter is equal to or smaller than the diameter of the cartridge cases. This ensures a reliable, firm, yet detachable fit of the cartridges in the grooves of the conveyor belt. The cartridge receptacles are expediently arranged on the outside and the teeth on the inside of the rotating conveyor belt designed as a toothed belt. This design enables the grooves to be bent open inevitably at the reversal points, in such a way that the sleeves of the cartridges can be inserted or pushed out particularly easily. For each shot, a cartridge is again picked up from the magazine by the cartridge receptacles of the conveyor belt run back empty to the magazine and can be conveyed to the weapon.

The rubber-elastic material can also be a plastic. In addition, the belt can also be produced from a large number of identical metal segments or belt members which are articulated to one another in such a way that the required flexibility and torsionability are ensured. Each segment or belt member has an arcuate recess for receiving a cartridge, for example in the form of a correspondingly bent sheet metal part. It is understood that the belt according to the invention can never be a decay belt.

It is particularly advantageous that two conveyor belts can be provided, each of which rotates from an associated magazine through a feed shaft to the closure piece and back to the respective magazine, the two deflections being arranged parallel to one another on a support upstream of the closure piece, which in the The level of the two deflections can be shifted to two functional positions in such a way that the driver of the closure piece can come to rest either on the cartridge offered by one or on the offered cartridge of the other conveyor belt. This configuration ensures simple switching of the weapon to two different types of ammunition, for example explosive ammunition on the one hand and armor-piercing ammunition on the other. To do this, the support must only be moved to one of its two end positions. Furthermore, a middle position of the support can be defined, in which the driver cannot attack any of the cartridges offered and which therefore represents a safety position. Finally, the double belt feeder, which is otherwise always required when using two types of ammunition, can be dispensed with, which advantageously increases the installation length for a flexible guide element of the type mentioned above if the end of the feed chute is arranged at a fixed distance, if such for the reasons already mentioned is required. When the weapon is lifted, this reduces the specific load on the flexible guide element (angle per unit length) and the conveyor belts guided therein. In a preferred embodiment, the toothed belt has, in cross section, two flat guide seams on its two sides and, centrally, a thickened region which has the cartridge receptacles on its outside and the teeth on its inside. The guide hems are particularly useful where there are bends between the magazine and the closure piece on the way of the conveyor or toothed belt. Each run of a toothed belt between the magazine and the deflection preferably has at least one bending region, in which the toothed belt is guided on the top and / or bottom of its guide seams by means of roller bearings which are preferably mounted in an oscillating manner.

The length of the cartridge receptacles suitably corresponds essentially to the width of the conventional belts, in particular disintegration belts.

The invention and its advantageous embodiments are explained below with reference to an embodiment shown in the drawing.

• Figur 1 eine Seitenansicht einer Ausführungsform mit zwei Zahnriemen zur Förderung von zwei unterschiedlichen Patronensorten in einem axialen Schnitt ;
• Figur 1a einen Ausschnitt aus Fig. 1 in der jeweils der anderen Munition zugeordneten Funktionsstellung des Umschaltsupports ;
• Figur 2 einen Ausschnitt aus Fig. 1 in vergrößertem Maßstab ;
• Figur 3 einen Schnitt längs der Linie 111-111 in Fig. 2 ;
• Figur 4 einen Schnitt längs der Linie IV-IV in Fig. 2 ;
• Figur 5 eine von der erfindungsgemäßen Vorrichtung gespeiste Maschinenwaffe in Horizontalage und schaubildlicher Ansicht, wobei das elastische Führungselement aus Gründen der Übersichtlichkeit weggelassen worden ist ;
• Figur 5a eine Ansicht der Maschinenwaffe nach Fig. 5 in steiler Elevationslage ;
• Figur 6 eine Ansicht eines möglichen Förderantriebs des Zahnriemens, teilweise geschnitten.

It shows :

• Figure 1 is a side view of an embodiment with two toothed belts for conveying two different types of cartridges in an axial section;
• FIG. 1a shows a detail from FIG. 1 in the functional position of the switch support assigned to the other ammunition;
• Figure 2 shows a detail of Figure 1 on an enlarged scale;
• 3 shows a section along the line 111-111 in Fig. 2;
• Figure 4 is a section along the line IV-IV in Fig. 2;
• 5 shows a machine gun fed by the device according to the invention in a horizontal position and a diagrammatic view, the elastic guide element having been omitted for reasons of clarity;
• Figure 5a is a view of the machine gun of Figure 5 in a steep elevation.
• Figure 6 is a view of a possible conveyor drive of the toothed belt, partially sectioned.

In the embodiment of the device according to the invention for feeding ammunition to a machine gun 1, two feed shafts 2 and 3 are provided, each of which leads from a magazine 4 or 5 to the gun 1. The magazine 4 is a ring magazine with, for example, explosive cartridges 6, while the magazine 5 is a box magazine with armor-piercing ammunition 7.

The magazines 4 and 5, the feed chutes 2 and 3 and the weapon 1 can be rotated about its vertical axis 8 together with an armored turret, not shown. The weapon 1 itself is movable about a horizontal axis 9 with respect to its elevation.

Between the upper ends 10 and 11 of the feed shafts 2 and 3 and the breech 12 of the weapon 1 there is in each case a guide element 14 or 14 'which consists of a plurality of individual elements 13 which are displaceable relative to one another and which can be changed with regard to its length, torsion and curvature. provided, which enables an elevation of the weapon.

There is an endless conveyor belt 15 and 16 of flexible material provided from the magazine 4, 5 through the feed shaft 2, 3 and the guide element 14, 14 'through to the closure piece 12 and back again to the magazine 4, 5 Entirely drivable intermittently or continuously from a power source 17 that is independent of the weapon 1, for example an electric motor as shown in FIG. 6, or a hydraulic drive (not shown). Each conveyor belt 15 or 16 has flexible-elastic cartridge receptacles 18, 19 along one side thereof. Furthermore, a deflection 20, 21 is arranged near the closure piece 12, through which the cartridge receptacles 18, 19 can be bent open in a reversible manner (FIG. 2) in such a way that the holding lips 22, 23 or the like in front of the closure piece 12 present cartridge 6a or 7a from the driver 24 of the breech 12 in the chamber, not shown, of the weapon 1 can be inserted in a known manner. The two deflections 20, 21 are arranged parallel to each other on a support 25 upstream of the closure piece 12, which is displaceable in the plane of the two deflections 20, 21 in the direction of the double arrow A to two sides in two functional positions, such that the driver 24 of the Breech piece 12 can come to rest either on the next cartridge 7a of one or on the next cartridge 6a of the other conveyor belt 16 or 15. In the position shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the weapon 1 shoots armor-piercing cartridges 7 from the magazine 5. In the position shown in FIG. 1a, however, the support 25 is in its upper end position or functional position, in which the weapon 1 fires the explosive ammunition 6 from the ring magazine 4, which on the one hand results from the relative position of the ammunition to the driver 24 on the one hand and the different functional positions of the support drawn with dashed and dashed lines on the other hand.

The respective flexible conveyor belt 15, 16 consists of rubber-elastic material with inserts made of metal or textiles. The material can be Neoprene @ and the inlays can be one or more fabrics that are not shown in detail. In the preferred embodiment shown, the conveyor belts are toothed belts, which are driven by at least one gear wheel. In the case of the toothed belt 15, this gear sits behind the bevel gear 26, in the case of the toothed belt 16 behind the bevel gear 27 of the one driven by the electric motor 17, which is explained in more detail below Gearbox. Both gears engaging in the teeth 28 of the respective toothed belts 15 and 16 (FIG. 2) are therefore not visible.

The cartridge receptacles 18, 19 of the conveyor belts 15, 16 consist of essentially semicircular grooves 28 and 29, which are arranged parallel to one another transversely to the longitudinal axis of the conveyor belts 15, 16 and whose radius of curvature is equal to or less than the radius of curvature of the cartridge cases in the gripped area. The cartridge receptacles are thus able, with their finger-like projections 30, to enclose a substantial area of the wall of the cartridge cases firmly, but elastically or resiliently, and thus also to hold them in the area of bends as can be seen from the left part of FIG. 2 . The cartridge receptacles 18, 19 are expediently arranged on the outside and the teeth 28 on the inside of the rotating toothed belts 15, i6, these sides being defined by the direction of rotation.

As can be seen from FIG. 1, cartridges 6, 7 are again picked up from the magazines 4, 5 by the cartridge receptacles 18, 19 of the runs of the conveyor toothed belts 15, 16 returning empty to the magazines 4, 5 and conveyed to the weapon 1. The transfer from the magazines 4, 5 to the toothed belt 15, 16 takes place either by means of a chain conveyor 31, which cooperates with a star wheel 32, which sits on an axis 33 with the toothed wheel 15, not shown, driving the toothed belt 15, or with the aid of the individual shafts 34 of the box magazine 5 pressure pieces 35 which press the cartridges 7 down into the cartridge receptacles 19 of the toothed belt 16.

The toothed belts 15, 16 have two flat guide seams 36 and 37 or 38 and 39 in cross section on both sides, as well as a central, thickened area 40 or 40 ', the cartridge receptacles 18 and 19 on its outside and on its inside has teeth 56 (Figs. 3 and 4). The width X of the cartridge receptacles 18, 19 essentially corresponds to the width of a conventional decay belt. Since FIG. 3 shows the area of the reversal points 20 and 21, the elements 13 of the flexible guide element 14 'are also visible, which has been omitted in FIGS. 5 and 5a for the sake of clarity. Furthermore, the reversing wheel 41 rotating clockwise according to arrow B for the toothed belt 15 and the corresponding reversing wheel 42 rotating counterclockwise in the direction of the arrow C, which are respectively seated on axes 43 and 44, can also be removed. The toothed belt 16 in particular clearly shows how the guide seams 38 and 39 slide on the inside of the elements 13 towards the reversing wheel 42. Corresponding to the position of the cut 111-111, the same runs in the area of the reversing wheel 41 of the lower toothed belt 15 in FIGS. 2 and 3, in such a way that the toothed belt 15 has already left the elements 13 of the guide element 14 which can be changed according to torsion and bending.

As can be seen particularly clearly from FIG. 2, each strand of a toothed belt 15, 16 between the respective magazine 4, 5 and the deflection 20, 21 has at least one bending region 45, 46, in which the respective toothed belt 15, 16 on the The top and / or bottom of its guide hems 36, 37 and 38, 39 is guided by means of roller bearings 47, 48, 49 and 50, which are preferably oscillating. This ensures a low-friction and uniform guidance of the toothed belts 15, 16 even at the reversal points 45 and 46. When the toothed belt 15 conveys the cartridges 7 from the ring magazine 4, it passes through a deflection roller 54 which, in the manner indicated by dashed lines, at 55 is provided with depressions corresponding to the finger-like projections 30 of the toothed belt 15, in such a way that not only a frictional but also a form-fitting drive of the deflection roller 54 takes place through the toothed belt 16.

6 shows an example of an embodiment of a possible drive for the toothed belts 15, 16, a gear transmission being shown for reasons of clarity and being driven by an electric motor 17. On the shaft 51 of this electric motor 17 there is a sliding pinion 52 which is displaceable in the direction of the double arrow D and which, in the position shown in solid lines, engages on the one hand with the drive of the bevel gear 26 for the toothed belt 15 and on the other hand with the drive 53 for the ring magazine 4 is, while it meshes with a drive for the bevel gear 27, which is assigned to the drive of the toothed belt 16, in the case of a shift upwards into the position shown in broken lines.

The ring magazine 4 is only shown in cross section, but it can be easily recognized that it is arranged concentrically around the vertical axis of rotation 8 of the armored turret not shown and containing the weapon 1.

• Von dem Antrieb, entweder dem in Fig. 6 gezeigten Elektromotor 17 nebst Getriebe oder vorzugsweise einem hydraulischen Motor, wird der jeweilige Zahnriemen 15 oder 16 angetrieben. bis die jeweils vorderste Patrone 6a oder 7a an den Haltelippen 22 oder 23 anliegt. Im Falle eines hydraulischen Antriebs bleibt der Zahnriemen einfach stehen, da der von den Haltelippen ausgeübte Widerstand die Größe des Drehmoments des nicht gezeigten Hydraulikmotors überschreitet. Bei dem Antrieb gemäß Fig. 6 können gegebenenfalls die Haltelippen 22 bzw. 23 geringfügig schwenkbar sein und dabei einen Ein- und Ausschalter betätigen.

The function of the device according to the invention is as follows:

• The respective toothed belt 15 or 16 is driven by the drive, either the electric motor 17 shown in FIG. 6 together with the transmission or preferably a hydraulic motor. until the foremost cartridge 6a or 7a abuts the holding lips 22 or 23. In the case of a hydraulic drive, the toothed belt simply stops because the resistance exerted by the retaining lips exceeds the size of the torque of the hydraulic motor, not shown. In the drive according to FIG. 6, the holding lips 22 or 23 can optionally be pivoted slightly and thereby actuate an on and off switch.

During the firing process, the driver 24 or the breech of the weapon breech 12 pushes the respective cartridge 6a or 7a out of the holding lips 22 or 23 into the cartridge chamber of the weapon, not shown. Through this the next cartridge is created in such a way that the toothed belt under the action of the hydraulic drive jumps forward by one division, the next cartridge 6 or 7 being brought into the extended position on the holding lips 22 or 23. In the case of a burst of fire consisting of several shots, i.e. continuous fire with a cadence of, for example, 800 to 1,000 shots per minute, corresponding to 15 to 16 shots per second, the purely theoretical, progressively progressive timing belt movement becomes a continuous process. The belt section that respectively returns after the deflection rollers 41 and 42, or the respectively returning strand, is empty and therefore moves outside the flexible guide element consisting of the elements 13 that are movable against one another and nevertheless held against one another. As already explained, this returning belt section is guided in particular on bends by rollers. In the area leading downwards, this belt section also runs in a guide shaft. Both such guide shafts and the feed shafts 2 and 3 serve not only to protect the toothed belt and possibly the cartridges carried by it, but also to guide it and prevent vibrations.

The flexibility and elasticity of the toothed belt helps to even out the acceleration or deceleration forces that may occur, especially since it can be bent, twisted, lengthened or shortened within predetermined tolerances, without the reliability of the cartridge supply to the weapon 1 being impaired thereby.

It is pointed out that, for reasons of clarity, a distance between the walls of the feed chutes 2, 3 and the cartridges 6, 7 is shown in the drawings, which in reality, however, needs to be minimal in order to ensure a perfect passage of the cartridge-loaded belts and on the other hand to prevent lurching or other resonance phenomena. A relatively small distance between the opposite wall and the cartridges picked up by the belt is particularly important in the region of the first deflection, namely where the star wheel 32 removes the cartridges 6 from the ring magazine 4, the cartridges naturally having play in the star wheel and also the cartridge receptacles 18, 19 are bent open and take the cartridges with them but are not yet able to hold them. The opposite, curved wall thus holds the respective cartridge in the relevant recess of the star wheel or the toothed belt during the rotation of the star wheel 32 or the movement of the rotating toothed belt 15, so that the respective rear flanks can take the cartridge with them until the cartridge is fixed sits in the respective recess or cartridge receptacle 18.

Claims (14)

1. Device for feeding ammunition to an automatic weapon that pivots about a horizontal axis in a gun mount of an armoured vehicle or a like weapon carrier by the aid of a flexible belt, especially to a machine cannon for a cartridge caliber of up to 40 mm, having a feed shaft leading from a cartridge magazine to the weapon, wherein the magazine, feed shaft and weapon pivot together with the gun mount about the gun mount's vertical axis, characterized in that the belt is an endless feed belt (15, 16) being able to twist at least limitedly and turning from the magazine (4, 5) through the feed shaft (2, 3) to the breechblock (12) and back again to the magazine (4, 5), which feed belt in its entirety can be driven intermittently or continually by a power source (17) being independent from the weapon (1), said feed belt having cartridge holders (18, 19) along one side thereof, and that a first turn-around disposed in the area of the magazine (4, 5) and a second turn-around (20, 21) near the breechblock (12) are provided so that the cartridge (6a, 7a) abutting against holding lips (22, 23) or the like being disposed in front of the breechblock (12) can be taken from the cartridge holder and introduced into the chamber of the weapon (1) by the driver (24) of the breechblock (12).

2. Device in accordance with claim 1, characterized in that the feed belt (15, 16) is comprised of rubber-elastic material with inlays of textile fibers.

3. Device in accordance with claim 2, characterized in that the material is caoutchouc and the inlays or plies, respectively, consist of one or more woven fabrics, nets, or knitted fabrics, and that the cartridge holders are molded into said material.

4. Device in accordance with claims 2 or 3, characterized in that the feed belt (15, 16) is a toothed belt driven by at least one toothed wheel.

5. Device in accordance with claims 2, 3 or 4, characterized in that the cartridge holders (18, 19) of the feed belt (15, 16) consist of essentially semi-cylindrical recesses (28, 29) oriented transverse to the longitudinal axis of the feed belt (15, 16) and parallel to each other, the radius of curvature of said cartridge holders being equal to or less than that of the cartridge cases.

6. Device in accordance with claims 4 and 5, characterized in that the cartridge holders (18, 19) are positioned on the outside and the teeth (56) on the inside of the continuous toothed belt (15, 16).

7. Device in accordance with one of the preceding claims, characterized in that by the cartridge holders (28, 29) of the portion of the feed belt (15, 16) that returns empty to the magazine (4, 5) cartridges (6, 7) from the magazine (4, 5) are receivable anew and feedable to the weapon (1).

8. Device in accordance with claim 1, characterized in that two feed belts (15, 16) are provided, each of which running from an associated magazine (4, 5) through a feed shaft (2, 3) and a flexible guide element (14, 14') to the breechblock (12) and back again to its associated magazine (4, 5), both turn-arounds (20, 21) being arranged 'parallel to each other at a support (25) positioned in front of the breechblock (12), said support being movable to two sides into two functional positions in the plane of both turn-arounds (20, 21) in such a way that the driver (24) of the breechblock (12) is brought to abutment at either a cartridge (7a) presented by the one or at a cartridge (6a) presented by the other feed belt (16, 15).

9. Device in accordance with claim 4, characterized in that the toothed belt (15, 16) in cross- section has flat guide edges (36, 37 or 38, 39, resp.) on each side and a centrally disposed thickened area (40, 41) with the cartridge holders (18, 19) on its outer side and the teeth (56) on its inner side.

10. Device in accordance with claim 9, characterized in that each portion of a toothed belt (15, 16) between the magazine (4, 5) and the turn-around (20, 21) has at least one area of deflection (45, 46) in which the toothed belt (15, 16) is guided at the upper and/or lower sides of its guide edges (36, 37 or 38, 39, resp.) by means of roller ways (47, 48, 49, 50) which are mounted preferably in a pendulating manner.

11. Device in accordance with claims 5 or 6, characterized in that the width of the cartridge holders (18, 19) corresponds essentially to the width of a conventional disintegrating belt.

12. Device in accordance with claim 1, characterized in that the drive (power source 17) of the feed belt (15, 16) being independent from the weapon attacks at the first turn-around of the belt in the area of the respective magazine (4, 5).

13. Device in accordance with claims 4 and 12. characterized in that the drive of the feed belt (15, 16) has a toothed wheel forming the first turn-around respectively.

14. Device in accordance with claim 13, characterized in that the toothed wheel is arranged on the same axis (33) with a star wheel (32) taking over the cartridges (6).

Images