US2422898A

US2422898A - Cartridge feed belt for machine guns

Info

Publication number: US2422898A
Application number: US498291A
Authority: US
Inventors: James A Hendley
Original assignee: Russell Manufacturing Co
Current assignee: Russell Manufacturing Co
Priority date: 1943-08-12
Filing date: 1943-08-12
Publication date: 1947-06-24
Anticipated expiration: 1964-06-24

Description

June 24, 1947. J,- A HENDLEY 2,422,898

CARTRIDGE FEED-BELT FOR MACHINE GUNS Filed Aug. l2, 1943 2 Sheets-Sheet l June 24, 1947. l A, HENDLEY CARTRIDGE FEED-BELT FOR MACHINE GUNS Filed Aug. 12, 194:5`

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented June 24, 1947 UNS James-A.1Hendley, Middletown, Conn.; assignorv to The Russell Manufacturing Company, Middletown,Conn., a corporation-ofV Connecticut Application August 172, 1943, serieuse. 198;291

Arcana; (cree- 35.)

rThis invention relatesto improvements in cartridgel feed-'belts 'for machine guns.

Oneobject of this invention is to provide an improvedcartridge'feed-beltunit so that a plurality o'such units can be readily connected together by cartridges,`

Another object of this invention is to provide an improved process .of makingthe foregoing cartridge feed-belt unit.

With the above and other objects in View, as Willappear .to vthose skilled in the art from the .present disclosure, this .invention includes all features in the said disclosure-which are. novel overthe Aprior' art.

In thefaccompanying drawings, in which certain waysof carrying out the invention are shown forillustrative purposes:

Fig. .1 is-an elevational view of a cartridge feed-.belt made in accordance with the present invention and illustrating cartridges in some of the pockets thereof;

2;isan .enlarged sectional View on the line 2-2of Fig. 1;

F-ig..3.is'an enlarged sectional view on the line 3;.-3 oflFg. 1';

4 is vanenlarged elevational View of one ofthe'feed-belt units shown in Fig. 1;

iFig.5 is .an edge view of Fig. 4;

Fig. '6 is..a.fragmental'view similartoFig. 210i a modified. construction;

vFig. '7 is an elevational View.' of a woven cartridge-feed-b'elt blank from which the unit-in Fig'..4 isi made;

Fig. 8' isfafront edgeview of Fig. 7;

Fig. v-9 iis a view .similar to Fig. 7 Yafter the blank of Figp'l has had plastic applied to such p'ortionsrthereof as are-to be cut away to form thennit show-nfin 4, and with broken-line indicationsas' to Where the cuts are made to producethe-unit of Fig. 4, and with a broken-line outline lof a-pocketeforming ngerin a pocket;

vFigpl'll isa, longer 'section of a Woven cartridge feed-belt blank similar to Fig. 7; and

11l is a viewsimilar to Fig.10 after plastic has 'been applied along `the entire belt-blank 0f`Fig. l10'and with' broken-line indications indicating the lines of cut by'which'a plurality of units each similar tothe unitshown in Figs. 4 and' 5 isproduced, but having plastic along the entire'surface instead of along only part of the surfaceas shown` in'Fig. 4.

fIn the description and claims, the various parts and steps are identified by specific names for convenience; but they are intended to be as gene'ricin their application as the prior art willjpermit. V'In carrying out 'theinvention'in the particu# lar Wayillustrated in Figs. '1 to9 of the draw# ings,v the cartridge feed-belt 2U is formed ofy a group or plurality of successive feedbelt units f2 2 l`. Each .unit-'2 lgshown inz-t'he drawing is formed from fa blank :'22 shown in Figs. .7 and.8 and which has twogpliesrof'fabric-M and 24-.and-is made in-any suitable -way-as, forfexample, in accordancewith'my Patent No. 2,061,0'72fgranted on Novemberf17.,:1936.

In Vmaking lavcartridge feed-belt .unitf'Zl ,like thatzshownxin:Figs.f4.andn5 from the blank122 shown in yFigsn'l and-8, plastic is rfirstappliedto the'two fendeportions '-25 and 26 :as 4shown .by stippling' on Fig. Y9,- after Whichpcrtionsare cut away asfl indicated -by'broken lines,1toleave'the centralftongueloop-Z'l (Fig. '4) .at one end. .-of the blank :and the spaced-.apartx tongue-loopsfZfand ZS'With a strap-portion f30 connect-ing-theouter endsof the-spaced-apart tongue-loops 28-and 29 together.

In making `a :.Woven fabric cartridge feed-.belt for machine. guns; the various pockets :3 l thereof are made of a carefully-.predetermined Asize so that when a cartridge is:forcedf- -into a pocket, the cartridge lwill be grippedvwithfa .predetermined lstrong gripzthat willbevproper'to hold itin place and .yet Willypermit the .extractory of the mechanism. of the machine gun-to properly-extractpthe cartridge from .the belt. yInfapplying plastic-to the end portions of thebelt-section or blank-'or'.unit the; plast-ic is' applied to-opposite outsidejfaces of lthe plies in any. suitable Way. But in applying plastic to the woven fabricma'-V terial, .the plastic gets lbetween fthe various strandswandbetweenthe; bers of thestr-andsy and thereby interferes with the normal stretching abilityk of ta1pocket to which plastic: hasI been ap plied.. Therefore in order that such plastictreatedipockets or the .tongue-loops 21,128 .and 29made from such pocketsiandiwhich 'are Yto be utilized ltoconnect twounits together byenrieans of ;inserting Aa cartridge 'through overlapped tongue'eloops, may :be large. enough to properly receive cartridges, `it is necessary to'prestretch or rpreform such pockets-during lthe application of` theiplastic tothe` fabric. `T-his can be done by. forcibly inserting' :avpocket-forming linger -32 into each of the en'dz-.pocket'sofga blanklto'which plastic iszto be applied 'as is' illustrated invbrokenline outline at the ,rightehand Nvend of Fig Plastic can then be rappliedfin. any: suitalclleV way as, .for example, by applying suitably heated thermoplastic material by .any suit'able'means. Ortheplastic material can befforined as alsolution fby means of vafsolvent ina Well-known-W'ay and applied onlfas bylbrushinglor otherwise Vand permitting' the solvent* toV evaporate out to' leave theplastic in place. v-Tlie'plastic usedwilliprei erably'be such'as haspliability when cold lso that'V the; parts 'ftlle beltv tol Willichv it' is v-applied still'willretain Yconsiderable plia-bility a-ndil'exiu bility'. vBut theplasticfmay have suiiicientffor-ming -characteristicsso-that such 'pockets as have been stretched and have had plastic applied the loops at the rightand left-hand ends of Fig. 5.

After the forming fingers32 have been removed and the plastic has acquired its final solid vcon-` f dition, the belt-blank 22 such, for example, as is v illustrated in Fig. 9 will have portions cutaway byy dies or otherwise to leave thetongue-

loops

21, 28 and 29 as illustrated in Fig. 4.

Instead of applying plastic onlyto such pockets as are to be formed into the tongue-loops at the opposite ends of the belt-unit, the plastic can be applied along the entirer length of both opposite faces of a belt-blank instead of merely on opposite faces of the end-pockets of a belt-blank. In this case, however, in order to avoid rthe needy of` any pre-stretching device such as 32- illustrated in Fig. 9, which would need to be inserted into each of the pockets throughout the length ofthe belt or belt-blank, the pockets can be woven sufficiently larger than they would otherwise be Woven andthe plastic can'be applied upon the opposite faces of the belt-blank Without having any formingor stretching-fingers therein, since, inasmuch as the pockets will be woven somewhat larger inthis case thanwould ordinarily be true',fit is f not necessary that the pockets stretch so much upon the insertion of the cartridges, and therefore the pockets can be ofk just such size that the plastic on being applied to the opposite faces of the belt yjust bring abouty suflicient interference the desired proper degree.

35V In applying plastic along the entire length of w f both faces of a belt-blank 33 such as illustrated i in Fig.' 10, the plastic 34 is applied thereon throughout as illustrated in Fig. l1 by the stippled f showing over the entire surface thereof, and then the belt is cut up into units or sections having tongue-loops at the opposite ends of each unit or section in a similar manner as that illustrated in Fig. 4, as is indicated by the broken lines on Fig; l1.

Where belt-units are made with a small number of complete pockets therein, such, for example, as from one on up to possibly twenty-five or more, upon such belts being lled with cartridges and having each central tongue-loop overlap and extend between the spaced-apart tongue-loops of an adjacent similar feed-belt unit and the overlapping tongue-loops connected by a cartridgeA extending through all three of them, a cartridge feed-belt for machine guns can be formed of beltunits which will be dispersible upon passing through the machine gun. In other words, as the machine gun is fired and the belt Passes out the far end of the feed-mechanism, the units of the belt become successively disconnected as each cartridge is pulled out from overlapping tongueloops which hold each two adjacent feed-belt units together, thus permitting the outermost unit to fall away as is particularly useful upon airplanes. vFor many other uses such, for example, as in tanks, upon ships, and in fixed locations on land, longer belt-units can be used. Each unit, for example may have a length up to one or two hundred cartridges or more. Thus where a` gunner has red all except, say, ten cartridges of a belt-unit, and he desires to be prepared for continuously firing arlarge number of cartridges at the next 'need for firing, itis merely necessary to connect the tongue-loop or tonguewith the complemental tongue-loops or tongueloop of the front end of another belt-unit that is all filled with cartridges, yso that the gunner can have available more than one hundred cartridges for the next emergency.

The'inventi'on may be carried out in other speciiic Ways than that herein set forth without departing from the spirit and essentialr charactern comprising: a feed-belt unit formed of two-plies 'of yWoven; fabrcancl havingk at least one flexible complete` cartridge-receiving pocket and a cenf tral tongue-loop at one end andspaced-apart. tongue-loops at rthe other end with a strap-portion connecting the outer ends yof said spacedloops of an adjacent similar feed-belt unit and mentioned feed-belt unitbeing constructed and arranged to be similarly connected to 4the *centrall tongue-loop of another similar feed-beltunit, and each ysaid tongue-loop being flexible. and formed as an integral part of said feed-beltunit and of portions of said two plies of woven fabric ofsubstantially equal length.

2.1Acartridge feed-belt unit for machineguns comprising: a fabric feed-belt unit `formed of two plies of wovenfabric and having at least one exible complete cartridge-receiving pocket and a flexible plastic-treated central tongue-loop at one end and flexible plastic-treated,spaced-apart tongue-loops at the other end with a l,strapportion connecting the outer endsof said spacedapart tongue-loops together; the central tongueloop being constructed and arranged to overlap and extend between the spaced-apart tongue-loops of an adjacent similar feed-belt unit and have a cartridge extend through the said overlapped loops to connectsaid two units together; and the spaced-apart tongue-loops of said first-mentioned feed-belt unit being constructed and arrangedto be similarly connected to the central tongue-loop of another similar feed-belt unit, and each said tongue-loop being flexible and formed as an integral part of said feed-belt unit and of portions of said two plies of woven fabric of substantially equal length. A Y

3. The process of making cartridge feed-belt units for machine guns comprising: making a machine gun feed-belt unit blank formed of two plies of woven fabric and having la plurality of cartridge-receiving pockets, and from which can be cut at least one feed-belt unit having at least one flexible complete cartridge-receiving pocket and a central tongue-loop at one end and spacedapart tongue-loops at the other end with a strap-` portion connecting the outer ends of said spacedapart tongue-loops together, and the central tongue-loop being constructed and arranged to overlap and extend between the spaced-apart tongue-loops of an adjacent similar feed-beltunit and have a cartridge extend through said overlapped loops to connect said units together, and

loops at the rear end of the belt-'unit in the gun, 715 the y spaced-apart tongue-leerte of said firstmentioned feed-belt unit being constructed and arranged to be similarly connected to the central tongue-loop of another similar feed-belt unit; and cutting at least one feed-belt unit from said blank by cutting away opposite end portions of a pocket at one end to leave the central portion of said pocket to form said central tongue-loop, and by cutting away the central portion of a pocket at the other end to leave spaced-apart opposite end portions of said pocket to form said spacedapart tongue-loops with a strap-portion connecting the outer ends of said spaced-apart tongueloops together, each said tongue-loop being flexible and formed of portions of said two plies of woven fabric of substantially equal length.

4. The process of making cartridge feed-belt units for machine guns comprising: making a fabric machine gun feed-belt unit blank formed of two plies of woven fabric and having a plurality of cartridge-receiving pockets; and from which can be cut at least one feed-belt unit having at least one exible complete cartridgereceiving pocket and a central tongue-loop at one end and spaced-apart tongue-loops at the other end with a strap-portion connecting the outer ends of said spaced-apart tongue-loops together, and the central tongue-loop being constructed and arranged to overlap and extend between the spaced-apart tongue-loops of an adjacent similar feed-belt unit and have a cartridge extend through said overlapped loops to connect said units together, and the spaced-apart tongue-loops of said rst-mentioned feed-belt unit being conform said central tongue-loop, and by cutting away the central portion of a pocket at the other end to leave spaced-apart opposite end portions of said pocket to form said spaced-apart tongueloops with a strap-portion connecting the outer ends of said spaced-apart tongue-loops together, each said tongue-loop being flexible and formed of portions of said two plies of Woven fabric of substantially equal length.

JAMES A. HENDLEY.

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

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,337,971 Watkins Apr. 20, 1920 2,210,170 Harwood Aug. 6, 1940 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 598,511 France Jan. 27, 1927 334,596 Germany Mar. 15, 1921