US2415144A - Rounds feeding device - Google Patents

Description

Feb. 4, 1947.

D. w. MOLINS ROUNDS FEEDING DEVICE Filed June 10(1944 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 at/0 w m ROUNDS FEEDING DEVICE Filed June 10, 1944 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 AMw-ML Imam. inc-4...,

Feb. 4, 1947. p, w, ouNs 2,415,144

ROUNDS FEEQING DEVICE Filed June 10, 1944 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 I I ,f nv'enz'o 's I 0M4 m BY TTo RIVE'Y Patented Feb. 4, 1947 UNITED ROUNDS FEEDING DEVKCE.

Application June 10, 1944, Serial No. 539,737 In Great Britain June 1'7, 1943 1 Claim. (01. 89-34) This invention concerns improvements in or relating to ordnance.

The invention is concerned with ordnance having a receiver for rounds, and in which a row of rounds placed in the receiver is arranged to be fed transversely to the length of the rounds along a fixed path and having a presser device arranged to be movable in the direction of feed to feed the rounds along the fixed path, and to be capable of being withdrawn behind a row of further rounds subsequently placed in said receiver. For convenience, such ordnance will be referred to herein as an automatic gun.

When operating an automatic gun it is sometimes desired that the rounds should be fed continously, and to maintain a continuous feed it is necessary that while the rounds placed in the receiver are being fed along the fixed path by the presser-member, a further row of rounds should be inserted into the receiver, so that when the presser-device is withdrawn it may immediately begin to feed such further row of rounds. It is also desirable that such further row of rounds inserted into the receiver should be kept as close as possible to the row of rounds being fed, so that when the presser-device is withdrawn there may be as small a gap as possible between the two rows of rounds. It is an object of this invention to provide means whereby the presserdevice may be withdrawn without substantially enlarging such small gap between the two rows of rounds.

According to the present invention there is provided an automatic gun wherein the presserdevice has pivoted thereon a round engaging pawl which is spring-urged to move against a stop and into the said fixed path for the rounds at a position in advance of its pivot, whereby on withdrawal of the presser-device the pawl can ride over rounds located behind it and snap back when behind the last round in the receiver and wherein there is provided a catch device (e. g. spring-urged catches) at the entrance of the receiver to prevent displacement of rounds as the pawl is withdrawn. The pawl may be curved, its convex surface being arranged to engage a round to feed it through the receiver.

Feeding mechanism constructed in accordance with the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of an automatic gun embodying the invention.

Figure 2 is a plan view of parts of the ammunition receiver thereof showing the invention in more detail.

Figure 3 is a front elevation of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a side elevation of the round engaging pawl shown in Figure 3.

Referring to Figure 1, the gun as illustrated is,

apart from the features appertaining to the in-' vention and described below, identical with that described and shown in the specification of copending United States patent application Serial No. 488,454, filed May 25, 194:3, and only those parts necessary for the proper understanding of the present invention will be referred to herein and these parts bear the same references as in the specification referred to.

The receiver 20 for rounds comprises a number of upper and lower guide plates, the latter shown at I02 and I86 in Figs. 2 and 3, arranged to receive between them a single row of rounds R lying side by side with their axes substantially parallel to the barrel 2 of the gun, said plates forming a fixed path for said rounds. At one end of this receiver, towards which the rounds are to be moved, further mechanism, of which the principal feature is a rammer l2, is arranged to act on a round arriving thereat in order to feed it into the breech.

A presser arm 2| pivoted at one end at H]? is disposed above the receiver, and is linked to a spring barrel device H3 in such a way as to be spring-urged to swing on its pivot across the receiver in the direction in which rounds therein are to be moved that is as indicated by the arrow A in the various views. A handle 250 is provided on the presser-arm so that it may conveniently be withdrawn manually towards that end of the receiver into which the rounds are placed.

The presser arm carries at its free end a curved pawl 25! which extends downwardly into the path of the rounds in the receiver and replaces the roller N8 of the aforesaid specification. This pawl is pivotally mounted on a cylindrical extension l2l at the end of the presser arm. A torsion spring I22 surrounding the cylindrical part of the presser arm is arranged to press the pawl downwardly about its pivot. On the cylindrical part of the presser-arm there is fixed a collar I23 which has a dog formed thereon, which dog engages with a second similarly shaped dog 252 on the pivoted head I26 to which the pawl is fixed. Engagement of these two dogs limits the downward movement of the pawl to a position at which it is capable of engaging a round. Upward movement of the pawl about its pivot is similarly limited, but the pawl is capable of being raised 3 by the thumb piece 25iA (Figs. 3 and 4), against the pressure of the torsion spring, out of the path followed by the rounds being moved through the receiver whereby the pawl 25I may be moved in either direction to the rear of or ahead of the rounds.

The curved pawl is so mounted on the presserarm that it extends away from the presser arm in the direction in which the rounds are to be moved through the receiver, and so that a part of its convex surface is arranged to press against a round so as to push it through the receiver. Thus the pawl enters the fixed path for the rounds at a position in advance of its pivot so that when the presser arm is withdrawn the pawl will swing up against its spring by engagement with any rounds which may have been placed behind it in the receiver, and so ride over such rounds. When the presser has been withdrawn behind the last round the pawl will snap back again into the fixed path and be ready to press the last round when the presser arm is released.

In order to prevent the rounds subsequently placed in the receiver from being pushed back when the presser arm is withdrawn, a spring catch device is provided at that end of the receiver at which the rounds are inserted. The device comprises two pivoted catches 253 urged by torsion springs 254 to project into the path of the rounds and to yield against spring pressure as a round is pushed past the catches and then to spring back into position. The catches are mounted on the lower rails I02 and I06 respectively of the receiver.

The operation of the feeding mechanism is as follows: the presser arm is withdrawn by hand and a row of rounds is placed in the receiver with the axes of the rounds substantially parallel to the barrel of the gun, The presser arm is then released, and the convex surface of the curved pawl engages and is pressed against the last round in the row. Thus, by reason of the spring pressure exerted by the spring barrel device H3 on the presser arm, the whole row of rounds in the receiver is urged towards that end of the receiver from which the rounds are to be taken away from the receiver and fed to the gun.

In order to maintain a continuous feed of rounds to the gun, further rounds are placed in the receiver, behind the curved pawl, whil the rounds originally placed in the receiver are being successively fed to the gun. In this way it is possible to arrange that the receiver is kept constantly filled, but of course the rounds which are put into the receiver behind the curved pawl must be moved through the receiver by hand. The shape of the curved pawl permits the leading round placed behind it in the receiver to be accommodated inside its curve so that the distance between the last of the rounds being pushed by the pawl, and the leading one of the rounds pushed in by hand behind the pawl, is very little, see Figure 4.

It will be appreciated that while the pawl is in engagement with, and pressed against, the last of a row of rounds in the receiver, it is in its lowermost position, being held against any further downward swinging movement by the arrangement of dogs described above.

When all, or nearly all, of the rounds originally placed in the receiver have been moved through the receiver and fed to the gun, the presser arm is manually withdrawn, and the rounds subsequently placed behind the pawl are manually held against backward movement. If, however, the rounds subsequently placed behind the pawl are sufficient in number substantially to fill the receiver, backward movement of the rounds is prevented by the pivoted catches mentioned above, and in that case it will not be necessary to hold the rounds manually. Owing to its shape the curved pawl is able to ride up over the cylindrical surface of the round behind it when the presser arm is withdrawn, and it trips over the upper surfaces of the row of rounds which have been placed behind it in the receiver, until the presser arm has been sumciently withdrawn, whereupon the pawl snaps down behind the last of the rounds in the receiver. When the presser arm is released the pawl will be pressed into engagement with the last of the row of rounds in the receiver, and the whole row will thus be urged through the receiver.

It will be appreciated that owing to the shape of the curved pawl it is able to swing upwardly from between two rounds without any great displacement of either of said rounds.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

In an automatic gun the combination of a round receiver in which rounds are fed along a fixed path, a presser-device movable in both directions along said path for feeding said rounds through the receiver, said presser-device including a round-engaging pawl pivoted on an axis lying outside of said fixed path, said pawl being bent to provide a convex forward portion normally entering said fixed path and engaging the convex surface of a round for feeding the same forwardly in the receiver, said pawl having a concave rear surface so shaped as to fit over and accommodate a round behind the pawl, a spring cooperating with said pawl and normally urging the same into said fixed path at a position in advance of its pivot, a stop for limiting the movement of said pawl in the direction in which it is urged by said spring, said pawl being pivotable about said axis against the pressure of said spring so as to ride over rounds behind it when the presser-device is moved rearwardly with respect to the direction of feed of said rounds and then snap behind rearwardly disposed rounds in the receiver, and catch means at the entrance to the receiver so constructed and arranged as to prevent displacement of such rearwardly disposed rounds when the presser-device is moved rearwardly.

DESMOND WALTER, MOLINS.

REFERENCES The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 896,453 Mangle Aug. 18, 1908 807,790 Taylor Dec. 19, 1905 1,303,407 Smith May 13, 1919 2,360,035 Birkigt Oct. 10, 1944 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 2,624 British 1892 $49,943 British July '7, 1936

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