EP1626241B1 - Ammunition magazine in particular for large caliber ammunition - Google Patents

Abstract

Munition magazine comprises a magazine frame (2) as support structure of the magazine with rails (9), a longitudinal support (10) and lateral covers (3) arranged on both sides of the magazine frame. The rails have units (12) on the rear end for connecting to a vehicle wall (13). Preferred Features: The magazine frame has bindings for fixing to the vehicle wall. A console (4) is provided on the covers on the lower part. A bullet compartment flap and a holder are arranged on the longitudinal support.

Description

From DE 197 38 418 A1 which forms a grandstand for claim 1, an ammunition magazine for mortar ammunition is known, which proposes to accommodate the ammunition space and mass saving by the fact that the individual projectile bodies are arranged with the aid of brackets on chain links of a back-rigid chain. These chain links themselves are slidably mounted in two rails. As is known, by storing the ammunition chain on rollers, which are usually smooth, high inertial forces are generated by the movement during acceleration and deceleration of the chain. Also, the ammunition chain itself can not be controlled manually by hand. In addition, the impulsive forces that occur (for example when driving or air transporting) can not be absorbed by the rollers. The permissible surface pressures can be exceeded.

Other magazines are DE 100 27 591 C2 and DE 195 14 780 A1 removable. These usually have too much weight. The DE 100 27 591 C1 also proposes, with the help of usable record - and mounting rails different types of ammunition and are removable and to make the magazine quickly and easily by means of multiple functions of the rails on the particular type of ammunition.

A training bullet also for large caliber practice cartridges is disclosed in DE 35 41 399 C3. This has a bullet-containing projectile casing. In the mouth hole a percussion fuse is arranged by mouth hole ring.

Based on this prior art, the invention has the object to show an ammunition magazine, which is constructed at least mass-saving.

The problem is solved by the features of claim 1.

Advantageous embodiments are contained in the subclaims.

The invention is based on the idea to carry out all modules of the magazine in lightweight construction. The magazine consists mainly of a magazine rack as a supporting structure and is preferably designed as a framework structure. Including a vehicle wall or wall / pan, roof as magazine walls can account for at least the rear but also upper magazine wall. The truss structure is preferably welded to the vehicle wall. This ensures the snapshot at the nodes with minimal deformation of the individual struts in all load directions. An additional rigidity of the magazine is achieved by means of laterally mounted lightweight walls as magazine walls. By using high strength fine grain steel (e.g., thin sheet between, for example, 2-4 mm), even a minimal distortion of the preferably laser welded "magazine" construction by heat will be avoided.

The magazine rack preferably consists of high-strength laser-welded assemblies as well as exchangeable assemblies which may be subject to greater wear. The guide or slide rails used in the magazine rack consist for example of C-profiles, whereby a holding of the ammunition chain in the Z - direction (up) is created. The rails can be screwed in. Side members take these slides for an ammunition chain. These modules are also integrated into the design in such a way that moments can be transmitted via their node connections to the functional modules.

This magazine rack has the advantage that the completion of the magazine can be done locally on / in the vehicle. This allows the ammunition magazine to be adapted to the vehicle's own construction.

The ammunition chain consists of multi-part chain links attached thereto or integrally formed with these projectile mounts, in the rear part by Bullet adapter can be added. The projectile supports and chain links are preferably made of investment casting and obtain their required strength and stiffness only after joining their individual elements. The integration of the adapter in the bullet holder allows different types of bullets, which differ in shape, size and mass as well as the center of gravity, to accommodate.

The holder is further designed so that the projectile is held in the region of the so-called pull-out groove and on the projectile casing in the axial direction. A release of the mouth hole head ring is therefore not possible.

The locking and control elements of the chain are designed so that they require only a minimum of installation space and mass. It is realized a manual release of the chain and manual clocking for further bullet removal with automatic collapse of the lock

The integration of plastic sliding elements on the chain links additionally reduces the mass and allows easy running of the ammunition chain in the guide rails. The tensile forces can be reduced to 15% of the total mass. The bearings are provided with preferably elastic form elements which, in order to avoid the introduction of high-frequency vibrations into the projectile, e.g. by the load on the vehicle during driving, serve.

A preferably textile handle on each 1st chain link allows manual insertion and removal of the ammunition chain.

A secure locking of the bullet chain in the magazine when introducing, deploying and clocking the ammunition chain is a great advantage of the present solution. By means of the manually operable and spring-loaded locking elements holding the ammunition chain is possible. The manual release of the ammunition chain and strokes for further bullet removal realizes easy handling of the bullet feed. Furthermore, a secure holding the ammunition chain in the magazine is guaranteed even with a malfunction of the locking elements. An additional Holding the chain in the magazine by means of floor flaps with unintentional release of the lock increases the security on the magazine.

With the aforementioned solution and the design measures it is achieved that the weight ratio magazine weight is changed to the mass of the projectile. This is due to the novel design, for example, 1.2 kg for the bracket against 15 kg bullet weight. The supporting effects between the chain links ensure that the loads of 2 chain link legs are absorbed.

The proposed magazine is intended for a 120 mm ammunition. It is understood that this construction is also applicable to other calibers and not limited to large caliber. The combination of lightweight magazine rack and lighter ammo chain makes the self-construction of the magazine easier. The fact that the chain can be unlocked or locked enables a loader to easily load and unload a bullet.

Reference to an embodiment with drawing, the invention will be explained in more detail.

Fig. 1

ein Magazin,

Fig. 2

Details des Magazins aus Fig. 1,

Fig. 3

den Längsträger aus Fig. 2,

Fig. 4

in einer Seitenansicht auszugsweise das mit Munition belegte Magazin,

Fig. 5

eine Geschosshalterung einer Munitionskette für die Munition,

Fig. 6

eine Kettenhälfte der Munitionskette,

Fig. 7

die Munitionskette mit Steuerbolzen,

Fig. 8a -d

einen skizzenhaften Ablauf der Munitionsentnahme.

It shows

Fig. 1

a magazine,

Fig. 2

Details of the magazine of Fig. 1,

Fig. 3

the side member of Fig. 2,

Fig. 4

in a side view extracts the ammunition occupied magazine,

Fig. 5

a bullet mount of an ammunition chain for the ammunition,

Fig. 6

one half of the chain of ammunition,

Fig. 7

the ammunition chain with control bolts,

Fig. 8a-d

a sketchy process of ammunition removal.

In Fig. 1, a designated with 1 ammunition magazine is sketchy and can be referred to as a tub magazine. It has a magazine rack 2 on which a lateral cover 3 is attached on both sides. At the covers 3, a console 4 is provided in this embodiment at the lower part, which has at least on the front console 4 preferably two upper brackets 5 for an unspecified additional magazine. With 7 geschoßreihen- or Geschoßfach- and flap locks (lock 7) per floor row or - fold 6 are marked. The projectile compartments 6 are bounded to the front by projectile compartment flaps 8.

The rails 9 have at the rear end connections or means 12 for connecting these rails 9 with the side wall 13 of a not shown vehicle / tank, etc. At the magazine rack 2 are more connections 14 for attachment, for example, provided on the roof of the vehicle.

3 shows one of the longitudinal members 10 with its attachments. Right and left of the longitudinal member holder 15 are preferably fastened by means of screwing, the other functional elements, such as parts of the latch 7, record. A pawl 16 serves as a control for a locking lever 34 for an ammunition or projectile chain 21 described in more detail later. The actuation of the pawl 16 takes place via a control bolt 31 on the projectile chain 21 (to be described). The projectile compartment flap 8 is mounted on an actuating linkage 18 and is locked by means of magazine latch locks 17. At 30, a lower lever is marked, whose function is described in more detail in connection with the bullet removal or bullet placement.

FIG. 4 shows in a detail view the occupancy of the projectile compartments 6 with ammunition 20 located in an ammunition chain 21 (not shown here). The ammunition chain 21 consists of several chain links 22 and floor brackets 27, which are connected to each other via eyelets 29. The ammunition chain 21 is arranged horizontally displaceable on the rails 9 of a plane in the direction of its longitudinal axis.

The back-end ammunition chain 21 shown in FIG. 5 consists, as already described, of interconnected chain links 22, to which the projectile supports 27 are fastened, which are centrally separable from one another. link 22 and bullet holder 27 may also be made in one piece. The shell-like separable projectile supports 27 have a projectile support adapter 23 in the rear part (shown in front in FIG. 5) of the projectile support 27. This makes it possible to record different projectiles 20 (ammunition), since the projectiles 20 are known to differ from each other in the rear area. On resting on the rails 9 part of the chain links 22 plastic surfaces 24 are provided which cause a mechanical damping and slidability to the frame 2, in particular to the rails 9. For damping to the bullet / cartridge 20 damping elements 25 (also on the adapter 23) front and rear can be attached.

6 shows one half of the projectile holder 27 with a sliding block or chain stopper 33 and the damping elements 25.

FIG. 7 shows the ammunition chain 21 with the control bolt 31.

Based on the essential elements, the mode of operation of the projectile removal as well as the placement in the magazine 1 will be explained in more detail with reference to FIGS. 8a-8d.

For the removal of a projectile 20 is usually right and left each of the magazine latch lock 17 is opened. By operation, the bullet compartment door 8 opens (not shown here) by about 30 ° and can then be rotated by 180 °, so that it can be supported for example on the underlying projectile compartment door 8. By pulling the Unterstellhebels 30 of the locking lever 34 is brought into a position which makes it possible to pull the projectile chain with control pin 31 from the magazine.
By pulling the Unterstellhebels 30 of the flap lock 7 by about 20 ° is pressed by spring force, the pawl 16 down and thus holds the lower lever 30 in a vertical position (not shown). With the located on the ammunition chain 21 handle (not shown) now the ammunition chain 21 can be pulled. About the chain link 22 located on the control pin 31, the pawl 16 is then raised at a run-out slope, not shown, wherein the lower lever 30 endeavors, in the starting position to go back. After the bullet center M is located approximately above the locking lever 34, the lower lever 30 moves to its original position. The control pin 31 of the projectile chain 21 lifts the same time over the inclined plane, the pawl 16 so that the locking lever 34 is returned by spring force back into the starting position. The ammunition chain 21 is stopped and held securely by means of the holding piece or chain stopper 33 located on the opposite projectile holder 27. The projectile chain 21 is now locked again. Now, the projectile 20 is rotated by opening the projectile holder 27 by 90 ° and is thus free from the usually sitting loaders. The projectile 20 can now be removed. For a further removal, the ammunition chain 21 is pulled again, whereby the above procedure is repeated.

Depending on the fire command the bullet / cartridge 20 is removed from the bullet holder 27 and brought in a known manner in the standby magazine, made the igniter setting or prepared the number of propellant charges.

The introduction of the ammunition 20 in the ammunition chain 21 runs approximately opposite to the ammunition removal. The projectile 20 is inserted into the opened projectile holder 27. By closing the projectile holder 27, it is possible to rotate the projectile 20 by 90 °. Thereafter, the chain 21 is inserted. The projectile 20 comes in the area of the locking lever 34 and moves it down. The control pin 31 reaches the front outlet slope of the pawl 16, which is raised, so that the Unterstellhebel 30 can move freely. The lower lever 30 returns to its original position, the retaining element 33 of the chain link 22 is moved over the resilient locking lever 16. By further insertion of the chain 21, either the complete ammunition chain 21 can now be introduced in one action or prepared for penetration of the next projectile 20 into the ammunition chain 21 by pulling it out onto the blocking lever 34.

In the fully inserted state, the ammunition chain 21 is clamped and even on the side of the charge protection via the locking lever 16, at the chain end by a damper, not shown. Subsequently, the bullet compartment door 8 is closed.

Even with unintentional actuation of the lower lever 30, the ammunition chain 21 is held on the closed floor flap 8.

Claims (15)

1. Ammunition magazine (1) for holding ammunition (20), in particular large-calibre ammunition, comprising a magazine frame (2) as the load-bearing structure of the magazine (1), having rails (9), at least one longitudinal support (10) and side covers (3) which are fitted to the magazine frame (2) on both sides, with at least the rails (9) having means (12) at the rear end for connection to a vehicle's own vehicle wall (13).
2. Ammunition magazine according to Claim 1, characterized in that the magazine frame (2) has links (14) for attachment to a vehicle's own vehicle wall (13).
3. Ammunition magazine according to Claim 1 or 2, characterized in that a bracket (4) is in each case provided on the covers (3) on the lower part.
4. Ammunition magazine according to Claim 3, characterized in that upper holders (5) for an additional magazine are provided on at least one of the brackets (4).
5. Ammunition magazine according to one of Claims 1 to 4, characterized in that a projectile compartment flap (8) and right and left holders (15) are fitted to the longitudinal support (10), with at least the right holder (15) holding a magazine flap lock (17).
6. Ammunition magazine according to Claim 5, characterized in that a blocking catch (16) is fitted to the left holder (15).
7. Ammunition magazine according to one of the abovementioned claims, characterized in that an ammunition chain (21) is guided such that it can be moved horizontally in the direction of its longitudinal axis on a plane, on at least two rails (9).
8. Ammunition magazine according to Claim 7, characterized in that the ammunition chain (21) has chain links (22) and projectile holders (27), in which case a projectile holder adaptor (23) can be added to the projectile holder (27) in the rear part.
9. Ammunition magazine according to Claim 7 or 8, characterized in that damping elements (25) are linked to the projectile holder (27), to be precise to the projectile holder adapter (23).
10. Ammunition magazine according to one of Claims 7 to 9, characterized in that the chain links (22) are provided with plastic surfaces (24).
11. Ammunition magazine according to one of Claims 1 to 10, characterized in that a projectile compartment and flap lock (7) as well as an ammunition chain lock are provided.
12. Ammunition magazine according to Claim 11, characterized in that the ammunition chain lock is essentially formed from the blocking catch (16), an attachment lever (30) for the blocking catch (16), a blocking lever (34) and a chain stopper (33), which is located on the projectile holder (27), interacting with the control bolt (31).
13. Ammunition magazine according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the magazine frame (2) is composed of a high-strength fine-grain steel, such as thin metal sheet.
14. Ammunition magazine according to Claim 13, characterized in that the thickness of the fine grain steel is between 2 and 4 mm.
15. Ammunition magazine according to one of Claims 1 to 14, characterized in that a vertical separation of 125 mm and a horizontal separation of 140 mm is provided from the projectile centre (M) to the projectile centre (M) for 120 mm ammunition (20).

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