US2311937A - Target practicing device - Google Patents

Description

Feb. 23, 1943.

L.. B. ELLIOT-r TARGET PRAGTICING DEVICE Feb. 23, 1943. v1 BQELLIOTT:

TARGET PRACTICING DEVICE Filed Dec.. 19l 1941 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 EZZz'o INVENTOR.

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Feb. 23, 1943. B. ELLIOTT TARGET PRACTICING DEVICE s `:sneaks-sheet s Filed Deo. 19, 1941 lloyd waz/ 1N VENT OR.

1//5 Arran/5)! Patented Feb. 23, 1943 UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE TARGET PRACTICING DEVICE Lloyd B. Elliott, Chicago, Ill.

Application December 19, 1941, Serial No. 423,570

(Cl. 124-l6) 11 Claims.

This invention relates to target practicing apparatus for directing projectiles at desired objectives and has for its principal object the provision of a shooting device which will be simple in construction, economical in manufacture and highly eicient in use.

Another object of this invention is the provision of a projectile impelling means which will force projectiles Vout of a gun in rapid-fire fashion.

It is another object of this invention to provide in devices for projecting objects in rapid succession a flexible guide means for directing such objects along a desired trajectory.

A further object of my invention is the provision in rapid-nre guns of an automatic timing device for feeding projectiles into the impelling means in synchronism with the impelling action thereof.

A still further object of my present invention is the provision in a gun having a freely floating aiming device for directing projectiles fed from a fixed impelling means a flexible `guidevvay for feeding such projectiles to the aiming device for emission therefrom along a predetermined trai jectory.

Other objects, advantages and novel aspects of the invention will appear in the following specication in view of the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. l is a side elevational view, partly in section, of a device embodying my present invention;

Fig. 2 is an elevational view opposite to that seen in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional detail view through an impelling .means forming a part of my invention as .seen substantially along line `3-.3 in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a skeletonized perspective view of the principal embodiments .of my invention;

Fig. 5 is a sectional detail view through the gun or aiming device vseen in .eleva-tion in Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is a sectional detail view of the gun as seen vsubstantially -along line BS in Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is an exploded perspective View of the gun mount and associated parts;

Fig. 8 isa skeleton-ized perspective view of 4projectile feeding and timing mechanism forming a part of my device; and

Fig. 9 is a side elevational view, partly in section, of the ball-feed device shown in Fig. 8 and a different position with respect thereto.

This invention provides certain improvements in shooting gallery equipment in the nature of rapid-fire guns and in the present embodiment is shown associated with a cabinet structure generally indicated at I9. Within this cabinet Ill is a chamber II housing the main workings of the device, there being a horizontal table I2 upon which is mounted a gun turret It.

The lcabinet Il) provides a front wall I4 upon which is mounted the conventional coin chute I5 which is released for sliding operation by the deposit of a coin to set into motion a springurged lever forming a part of a timing switch I6 Which is also of a well-known construction.

The switch IS is set to complete a circuit upon each inward movement of the coin slide I5 and to maintain such'circuit closed for a predetermined length of time so as to energize an elec- .tric motor Il in order to operate missile feeding and impelling means now to be explained.

A projectile impelling means is generally indicated at I8 and comprises a mounting panel I9 arranged in the chamber II adjacent the walls I2 and I4 thereof. A shaft 2i! is horizontally arranged on the panel I9 for rotative movement and carries on one side of the panel I9 (Fig. 2) a pulley 2l drivingly connected by a belt 22 with a Vpulley rotatably mounted on the shaft of the motor I'I. The opposite end of the shaft has af- Xed thereto a disc 23 proportionately larger in diameter than the pulley 2l A trough 24 is provided adjacent the disc 23 and is formed in the panel I9 so as to provide a declining feed trough 25 adapted to receive pellets or balls P from a -timing mechanism 26 (Fig. 9).

The impelling means I8 further includes a radially extending finger 2l mounted on the disc -2-3 for rotative movement therewith and so arranged as to travel in the trough 24 to displace balls P as they gravitate thereinto. The iinger 21 is pivotally mounted as at 2t on the disc 23 and is normally urged in a clockwise direction against a stop S by a spring 2%. The purpose of making the finger 21 free to move in anticlockwise direction is obvious since it provides for slippage in the event a ball or balls P become jammed in the trough 24 and thereby avoids injury to swiftly moving parts later to become more apparent.

In the normal operation of the present shooting gallery, the balls P are stored at the lower end of a ball return runway R situated within the cabinet I. Such spent balls lodge in a transverse `slot 30 on a ball elevating segment 3l pivotally mounted as at 32 in the walls of the slot adjacent the upper end of a conduit member 33. A belt and pulley power take-ofi 34 is drivingly connected to the shaft of the motor YII and terminates in a pulley 35 supported upon a shaft 36 within the chamber II. A cam 31 is mounted upon the shaft 36 and is disposed to engage a roller element 38 extending from the segment 3I such that as the motor is energized to rotate its shaft the cam 31 will rotate (clockwise, Fig. 4) to intermittently raise and lower the segment 3l, whereupon the balls P will be intermittently fed into the conduit 33 and there stored for use in accordance with the operation of the ball timing mechanism 26.

The timing mechanism 26 is disposed at the lower open end of the conduit 33 adjacent the upper end of the feed trough 25. Under normal circumstances the leading ball P will rest upon cate on the slot and pin mounting 64; it being noted that when the rocker arm 59 is in normal position the hammer clip 62 in its reciprocable movement will not engage the upper end of the lever 56 on the ball feed and timing mechanism 26. However, when the trigger 53 is pulled to close the switch 54, the solenoid 56 will be energized, thus pulling down on its armature and link 51 to rock the arm 59 counterclockwise (Fig. 2) against the action of the spring 6I whereupon the hammer 52 will assume the position shown in Fig. 8. The reciprocable movement of the rod 63 and clip 62 will now effect movement of the lever the floor of the trough 25 and will be restrained against gravitating movement by a pawl 39 pivf otally mounted as at 40 upon a plate 4I forming a support for the conduit 33 upon the panel I9. The pawl 39 is urged by a spring 42 in a clockwise direction, such spring 42 connecting to the pawl 39'on a laterally extending arm 43 and having anchorage as at 44 on the panel I9. The pawl 39 is held in a normal position against the action of the spring 42 Vby a stop member 45 adjustably mounted upon the plate 4|.

Means for displacing one ball at a time from beneath the pawl 39 includes a shutter or gate element 46 which is movable into and out of the trough 25. This element 46 is formed as a part of and extends laterally from an oscillating member 41 pivotally mounted on the panel I9 as at 48. A spring 49 urges the member 41 and gate 46 into a normal position so that the balls P are permitted to drop onto the oor of the trough 25 as aforesaid. Means for oscillating the member 41 comprises a lever 50 extending from the member 41 for movement therewith, there being a spring mount I associated therewith to take up or compensate any shock produced by a trip hammer 52 which is adapted to intermittently strike the lever 50.

This hammer 52 is controlled by the trigger element 53 of a gun 55 mounted upon the turret I3. The trigger 53 is normally out of engagement with a switch 54 and is arranged with respect toA the latter so that when the trigger is pulled, the switch 54 will close circuit to a solenoid 56. The solenoid 56 is i'ixed within the chamber II Ysu'ch'that when energized by closing of the circuit aforesaid, the armature A will be pulled down as will alink 51 connected to the armature.V The link 51 is pvotally connected as at 58 to a rocker arm 59 rockably mounted as at 60 on the panel I9 and urged in a clockwise direction by a spring 6I to normally raise the link 51 Vand armature of the solenoid 56.

I'he hammer 52 and means for actuating the latter are best illustrated in Fig. 2 and consist of a clip 62 extending laterally from a reciprocable rod 63 having a slot formed in Vone end thereof and mounted upon the rocker arm 59 by a pin 64 adjacent the connecting' pin 58 for the link 51. The opposite end of the reciprocable rod 63 is eccentrically mounted as at 65 on a gear element 66 floatingly mounted upon a fixed shaft 61 which is carried 'by the panel I9. The gear element 66 has its teeth in mesh with the teeth of a drive gear 68 fixedV upon the shaft 20 for rotation therewith.v The arrangement is such that when the motor I1 is energized as aforesaid to rotate the pulley'2l through the medium of the belt 22, the shaft and gear 68 will likewise rotate and so will the floating gear 66. By reason of the eccentric 65, the rod 63 will be caused to recipro- 50 and oscillating member 41 upon which it is carried to swing the latter upon its pivot mounting 48 into the position shown in Fig. 9.

Upon each movement of the oscillating member 41 into the position shown in Fig. 9, the lowermost ball of the balls P will be forced beyond the ball retaining pawl 39, the element 46 acting as a gate to block the remaining balls from gravitating toward the trough 25. The gears 68-66 are in a ratio such as to synchronize the feeding of balls into the trough 25--24 with the movement of the rotatable disc 23 and its ball engaging finger in its ball impelling action, whereby one ball is fed into position for impelling action for each revolution of the disc 23.

The ball impelling means I8 employs the principle of centrifugal force and is best illustrated in Figs. l to 5 inclusive. The disc y23 is rotated at a speed suiiicient to cause the ball positioned in the trough 24 to hug the floor of the trough which projects off on a tangent by means of a sweeping arcuated guideway 69 which terminates at the open end of the barrel of the gun 55. Thus, for each revolution of the disc 23 balls are flung in timed relation out of the barrel of the gun 55 in rapid-fire action, thus simulating a machine gun.

The gun 55 is mounted on the turret I3 and is free to swing from side to side rnd to be raised and lowered to give it a wide range of movement in order to permit a marksman to exercise control over the gun 55 and exhibit his riage 12 carries a trunnion 13 having a horizontal shaft 14 upon which is mounted the gun 55 for vertical swinging movement. Thus, the marksman is free to move the gun in any desired position within certain limits for aiming at targets (not shown).

The arcuate guideway 69 is of a novel construction in that it provides a flexible guideway between a fixed impelling means and a movable aiming means. The guideway 69 is constructed of any one of a number of well known materials which are flexible and pliableV and yet rigid enough to maintain a! substantial trough no matter how it is flexed. Bakelite has been found to be most desirable because of its smooth'and highly polished finish, which cuts downfrictional resistance and permits the balls thrown from the impelling means to travel at the highest rate of speed possible out of the gun barrel.

The guideway 69 comprises a pair of spaced wall members 15, fixedly attached to the panel I9 and extending up through the table I2 and the standard 18 and into a cylindrical portion 16 simulating a cooling chamber for the barrel of the gun. The upper ends 'l'l 'of the wall members are beveled and flt into alignment with `a beveled portion of fixed wall members 78 in the gun 55, which lead tothe open =end -of `the gun barrel. The floor proper-of this guideway 69 is a strip of Bakelite 'I9 bowed to form 4ari arcuate runway vhaving its lower end fixed to the Vpanel I9 in tangential alignment `with the trough 24 and its upper end fixed to the muzzle of the gun. The arrangement of the flexible lguideway is such that when the muzzle of the gun is swung in various directions, th'e -side walls 1B will be moved, thus flexing the spaced wall members 'l5 correspondingly to -any horizontal swing. Likewise, when the muzzle is raised and lowered the arc of the 4bowed strip T9 will be enlarged or decreased correspondingly (see Fig. l) to compensate for such movement.

In the present disclosure my invention Vis shown embodied in va complete circuitous unit in which a marksman fires the gun at objectives (not shown) and the projectiles gravitate back tothe feeding and timing device. By reason of the synchronism between the lball feed and the impelling means, regardless of the speed of the v motor, there will be vbut one ball delivered for each revolution or ball throwing action. Thus, there is no danger of several balls stacking up in the circuitous trough 24 thus slowing down the speed of the balls as they are ung by the force of the disc. Incidental to the rapid-fire action there is no operation of the feeding means other than when the trigger 53 is pulled, thus putting the shooting as well as the aiming under the complete control of the marksman.

While I have illustrated and described the preferred form of construction for carrying my invention into effect, this is capable of variation and modification Without departing from the spirit of the invention. I, therefore, do not wish to be limited to the precise details of construction set forth, but desire to avail myself of such variations and modifications as come within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. In a device of the class described including a gun, means mounting said gun for movement about a horizontal axis, said mounting means providing a trunnion for swinging said gun on a vertical axis, a ball impelling means arranged beneath said gun for impelling balls one at a time in the direction of said gun, and a pliable trough extending from said ball impelling means to the muzzle of said gun for conducting balls from the former to the latter.

2. In a device of the class described including a cabinet, an aiming device, means mounting the latter on said cabinet for movement relative thereto, a ball impelling means in said cabinet, a flexible ball runway extending from said impelling means to said aiming means, and means for feeding balls one at a time to said impelling means for movement by the latter Aalong said runway.

3. In a device of the class described including a cabinet, a gun turret on said cabinet, a gun including a barrel mounted on said turret for limited movement in a horizontal as well as a vertical direction, means for impelling balls from said gun by centrifugal force, said last named means including a rotatable disc arranged in said cabinet, a segmental trough adjacent said disc, means for feeding balls to said segmental trough, ball engaging means onv said disc and adapted to be moved-thereby through `said segmental trough, a flexible trough extending tangentially from said segmental trough into and through the barrel of said gun for directing impelled balls from the disc to the muzzle of the gun, and means for driving said-disc to urge said kballs out of said segmental trough by centrifugal force.

4. In a device of the class described including a cabinet, a gun turret on said cabinet, a gun including a barrel mounted on said turret for limited movement in a horizontal as well as a vertical direction, means for impelling balls from said gun by centrifugal force, said last named means including a rotatable disc arranged in said cabinet, a segmental trough adjacent said disc, means for feeding balls to said segmental trough, ball engaging means on said disc and adapted to be move-d thereby through said segmental trough,

a flexible trough extending tangentially from said segmental trough into and through the barrel of said gun for directing impelled balls from the disc to the muzzle of the gun, means for driving said disc to urge said balls out of Said segmental trough by centrifugal force, and means connecting said driving means with said ball feeding means to synchronize the feeding of the balls with the impelling of the same.

means between said impelling means and said aiming means whereby the latter may be moved into varied positions at the option of the marksman, and missile timing means between said storing means and said impelling means for feeding missiles one at a time to the latter.

6. In a shooting apparatus, an aiming device, meansfor storing missiles for gravitating movement, centrifugal impelling means adapted to receive said missiles from said storing means and to discharge said missiles one at a time through said aiming device, a flexible missile guiding means between said impelling means and said aiming means whereby the latter may be moved into varied positions at the option of the marksman, missile timing means between said storing means and said impelling means for feeding missiles one at a time to the latter, and means for synchronizing the timing means and said impelling means whereby one missile is fed to the latter for each operation thereof.

7. In a target practicing apparatus including a cabinet, a ball storage chamber in said cabinet, means for returning balls to said chamber, an aiming device mounted on said cabinet for swinging movement relative to the latter, ball impelling means for flinging balls out of said aiming device one at a time in rapid-fire action, said last named means including, in combination, a disc, means mounting the same in said cabinet for rotatable movement. an arcuate trough arranged to circumscribe said disc in part, means feeding said balls from the storage chamber to said arcuate trough, means on said disc extending into said trough, a resilient trough arranged to extend from said arcuate trough tothe muzzle of said aiming means and adapted to flex correspondingly with the aforesaid movement of the latter to direct balls in a trajectory in accordance with the position of said aiming means, and drive means for said disc.

8. In a target practicing apparatus including a cabinet, a ball storage chamber in said cabinet, means for returning balls to said chamber, an aiming device mounted on said cabinet for swinging movement relative to the latter, ball impelling means for flinging balls out of said aiming device one at a time in rapid-fire action, said last named means including, in combination, a disc, means mounting the same in said cabinet for rotatable movement, an arcuate trough arranged to circumscribe said disc in part, means feeding said balls from the storage chamber to said arcuate trough, means on said disc extending into said trough, a resilient trough arranged to extend from said arcuate trough to the muzzle of said aiming means and adapted to flex correspondingly with the aforesaid movement of the latter to direct balls in a trajectory in accordance with the position of said aiming means, drive means for said disc, and means -connecting said drive means and the means for feeding said balls whereby to time the feeding of balls relative to the impelling thereof.

9. In a device of the class described comprising a gun arranged to move in vertical and horizontal directions and including a Xed ball impelling means for urging balls in the direction of said gun, the combination therewith of a ilexible ball guiding means arranged between said impelling means and said gun, said ball guiding means including a pair of spaced resilient wall members having their lower ends Xed to said ball impelling means and their upper ends free to move with respect to said gun, and a resilient iloor for said runway disposed between said wall members and having its lower end xed to said ball impelling means and its opposite end iixed to the muz- Zle of said gun, whereby to direct balls emitting from said impelling means along a trajectory dependent upon the movement of said gun.

l0. In a target practicing apparatus, including a cabinet, a ball storage chamber in said cabinet, means for returning balls to said chamber, an aiming device mounted on said cabinet for swingingmovement relative to the latter, ball impelling means for flinging balls out of said aiming device one at a time in rapid-fire action, said last named means including, vin combination, a disc, means mounting the same in said cabinet for rotatable movement, an arcuate trough arranged to circumscribe said disc in part, means feeding said balls from the storage chamber to said arcuate trough, means on sai-d disc extending into said trough, a resilient trough arranged to extend from said arcuate trough to the muzzle of said aiming means and adapted to llex correspondingly with the aforesaid movement of the latter to direct balls in a trajectory in accordance with the position of said aiming means, and manual control means on said aiming device operatively associated with said ball feeding means for feeding balls as aforesaid at the option of the marksman.

l1. In a target practicing apparatus including a cabinet, a ball storage chamber in said cabinet, means for returning balls to said chamber, an aiming device mounted on said cabinet for swinging movement relative to the latter, ball impelling means for flinging balls out of said aiming device one at a time in rapid-fire action, said last named means including, in combination, a rotatable member, means mounting the latter for rotatable movement, drive means for said rotatable member, a ball runway extending from said ball storage chamber and about said rotatable member to the discharge end of said aiming device, ball engaging means on said rotatable member and adapted to extend into said ball runway for urging balls through the discharge end aforesaid by centrifugal force, ball feeding means in said runway at its juncture with said ball storage chamber for ejecting ,balls one at a time into said runway, and manual control means on said aiming device operatively associated with said ball feeding means for feeding balls as aforesaid at the option of the marksman,

LLOYD B. ELLIOTT.

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