GB490221A - Cartridge-feed mechanism for automatic firearms - Google Patents

Abstract

490,221. Automatic guns. S O C . D'EXPLOITATION D'INVENTIONS MECANIQUES. Feb. 10, 1937, No. 3945. Convention date, Feb. 17, 1936. [Class 92 (ii)] A feed mechanism for automatic firearms comprises a drum which is rotated step-by-step to feed a cartridge belt or holder to means adapted to strip the cartridges from the belt and to feed them to a shoot leading to the loading mechanism of the gun, the drum being wound by an external source of power entirely independent of the movements of the gun. According to one construction, the drum 1, Fig. 1, is driven by a spring motor 29, the spring of which is maintained in tension by an electric motor which functions when the tension becomes lower than a predetermined value. A rod 30 pivoted to the crank of the spring motor is connected to one end of a pivoted lever 9. A rod 8b connected to this lever is secured to an externally screw - threaded sleeve slidably mounted on a fixed spindle 6 and engaging with an internally screw-threaded bushing 7 also mounted on the spindle. The reciprocating movements of the sleeve, effected by the lever 9, thus tend to impart a rotational movement to the bushing and, by means of pawls 4, 5, the bushing imparts a step-by-step rotary movement to the drum. The upper end of the lever 9 engages in a slot of a shackle 19 integral with a plunger 20 which is urged by springs 21 towards a stripping device 14. The latter has a shaft 23 which engages in an endless slot of rectangular contour formed in a fixed frame A and which is engaged by the forked end of a lever 15 pivoted to a block 17 slidably mounted on the frame. The pivoting movements of the lever and the sliding movements of the block are effected by the plunger 20 and the arrangement is such that the cartridges 11a are stripped from the belt 11 and urged longitudinally along slots 1a in the drum'to the entrance of the shoot 12, through which they are urged by the drum to the loading mechanism of the firearm. In a modification, Fig. 3, the drum 33 is urged constantly in a clockwise direction to feed the cartridges 54 to the shoot 36. The cartridge belt comprises a number of links, each having a tongue 51, and a spur 53 adapted to engage with a perforation 52 in an adjacent link. The cartridges are gripped by claws 50 and, when in position, serve to maintain the spurs in engagement with the perforations. When the drum rotates, the cartridges are stripped by an inclined surface 35 and fed to the shoot. The Specification as open to inspection under Sect. 91 describes also a construction in which an endless-conveyer belt is employed to feed the cartridges, one at a time, to an oscillating member which conveys them to the shoot leading to the loading mechanism. A construction of shoot is also described for feeding the cartridges to two similar coupled firearms. This subject-matter does not appear in the Specification as accepted.