US528095A - Shell-feeding mechanism for cartridge-loading machines - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet- 1.

' O. S. HISEY. SHELL FEEDING MECHANISM FOR CARTRIDGE LOADING MACHINES. No. 528,095, Patented O0t.'23, 1894.

affozneqo THE "cams Pnzns co. PNOTO-LITHLL. WASNINGTON, o. c.

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. O. S. HISEY.

SHELL FEEDING MECHANISM FOR CARTRIDGE IYOADING MACHINES.

Patented O0 t.'23,1894.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES S. HISEY, OF AURQRA, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR TO ELLIOTT S. RICE.

OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

SHELLFEEDING' MECHANISM FOR CARTRIDGE-LOADING MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 528,095, dated October 23, 1894.

Application filed March 19, 18 94- Serial No. 504,186. (No model-l To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES S. HISEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Aurora, in the county of Dearb'orn and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Shell-Feeding Mechanism for Cartridge-Loading Machines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,

clear, and exact description of theinvention,-

IO such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in cartridge loading machinery and it consists in an improved device for feeding empty cartridge shells into the shell feeding tubes which are used in connection with all automatic cartridge loading machines, which will hereinafter be fully described, and particu- 2o larly pointed out in the claims.

In automatic cartridge loading machines, by the operation of which a number of shells are loaded each minute, it is necessary to provide some means for automatically feeding the shells into the shell feeding tubes provided with such machines, as such feeding tubes must always be provided with empty shells so that the shell carrier will be properly supplied, and not only is placing 0 the shells into the feeding tubes by hand laborious,in that it requires constant attention, but there is alikelihood for mistake presented in hand feeding which is not found when the feeding is accomplished by automatic means.

5 In automatic machines which have been devised for accomplishing the feeding and delivery of empty cartridge shells into the shell feeding tubes of cartridge loading machines,

it is common to make use of a rotating endno less belt to carry the shells from ahopper in which a number of shells are placed, to the mouthof the shell-feeding tube. Through suitable appliances, shells are deposited at a predetermined rate upon the surface of said 5 belt, and the belt is so arranged in connection with the shell-feeding tube, that the shells which fall from said belt into the mouth of the said tube, always fallwith theirbutt ends downward, thus insuring theirbeingin proper position to receive every load. The chief diificulty, which is met with in the use of such automatic shell carrier devices, has been to provide means for removing the so called riders or extra shells, which are carried along by the belt on top of other shells, and 5 which, unless removed, are apt to clog the shell-feeding tube.

My invention consists in a new device which I have constructed for accomplishing the removal of these riders. I make use of a reciprocating brush operating crosswise of the endless rotating belt, and sufficiently removed from its surface so that the ends of the bristles of the brush are just high enough from the surface of the belt not to interfere with a single line of shells carried on said belt. This brush in its reciprocating movement acts to sweep off any riders which may be carried up the surface of thebelt by other shells, and on the returnmovemeut of 7c the brush to deposit the rider shell, which has been pushed up into its bristles, upon the moving surface of the belt, the construction of the brush being such as to permit this action to take place. I shall describe in" connection witnthis brush, the machine on which I use it, in order that its mode ofoperation may be fully understood. Ido not limit .myself to its use on cartridge loading machines, bnt may use itin connection with any other form of carrier belt.

My invention is fully described in the drawings accompanying and forming apart of this application, in which the same reference numerals refer .to the same or corresponding parts, and in which- Figure 1 is a side view of my feeding device, partly in section. Fig. 2 is a .top plan view of such device. Fig. 3 is a section of Fig. 1, taken on the line a: w, and looking in go the direction of the arrow. Fig.4 is a detail perspective view of the reciprocatingbrush.

Referring to the drawings, 1 is the endless rotating b'elt upon the surface of which are carried the empty cartridge shells. It passes 5 at one end over the wheel 2 on the power shaft of the machine 3, upon which isinounted the driving wheel, and at its other end over the pulleys 4 and 5, which are journaled in the standard 6. This belt-is of a width not too much exceeding that of a single cartridge shell, and the daring projecting flanges of the piece 7, which extends the whole length of the belt, form as it were, sides between which the belt runs. Directly over the end of the belt passing around the pulley 2 is supported a hopper 8, into which shells are discharged .by the endless belt 9, which carries the shells up, by means of a series ofpins formed at regular intervals onits surface, from a neighboring hopper 10, into which the shells are dumped promiscuously. This belt runs over the two wheels 11 and 12, and it is caused to rotate by reason of the wheel 11, which is the lower of the two wheels over which it runs, be-

ing formed with a worm gear, which engages with a corresponding gear upon the power shaft. I Inthismanner the ratio of speed between the two traveling belts can be adj usted at will. It is desirable that belt 9 have a much slower speed of rotation than the main belt 1, as it is always an object in such devices as the present one not to deliverthe shells into the hopper through which the main belt runs any faster than they are therewanted. The relatively broad surface of the belt 9 permits a number of shells to be carried up at the same time by the pins formed on the surface of the same. To prevent shells from d-rppping out through the opening formed at the bottom of the hopper through which the belt 9 runs during the interval between the passage of the series of teeth projecting from the surface of the belt, projecting pins are formed on the edge of this opening which extend nearly to the surface of the belt 9, and intermesh with the teeth formed on the same, thus effectually preventing shells from dropping from the hopper.

The shells which are carried up by the belt 9 are deposited in the hopper through which the belt 1 passes, fall upon its surface and travel along with the belt.. Due to the butt end being heavier, most of the shells travel with'their butt ends foremost. It might happen that one shell would fall on top of another and he carried with it' in this position, and to pfevent these riders from clogging the mouth of the shell feeding tube, I provide a reciprocating brush 15, situated somewhere along the upward travel of the belt, which acts to sweep off any such riders, as it is supported by the brackets 16 above the surface of the belt only sutficiently far to permit a. single shell to pass, and at the return movement of the brush to deposit the shell, which .had been pushed up into its bristles, upon the moving surface of the belt, the conkeyed thereon the pulley 20, rotated by the belt 21. In this manner a reciprocating movement is provided for the=brush 15, which may be made of any desired rapidity by varying the ratio of the pulley wheels by which its operation is caused.

The single shells passing from under the reciprocating brush are carried down to the end of the belt. Their momentum causesthem to tend to continue orrin a straight line, but if the butt end of the shell is foremost,its

weight causes it to fall, at once into the flaring mouth of the feeding tube 25, and if its open end is foremost, the shell flies onward until the said open nd has passed the mouth of the feeding tube, when the weight of the butt end causes the shell to drop as before into the feeding tube. No matter in what position the shell advances along the surface of the rotating belt 1, it thus falls into the shell feeding tube 25 with its butt end downward, the desired position.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination with ahopper, a trough having inclined sides, an endless rotating belt moving in the bottom of the trough, and ashell feeding tube, of a reciprocating brush, operating cross-wise of the belt, but sufficiently removed from the surface thereof to brush away the rider shells, and replace them on the belt at the next reciprocation,

and means for operating the same, substantially as described.

2. The combination-with a hopper, an endless rotating belt, and a feeding tube, of a brush acting across the face of thebelt and having a lug formed on one end, and a rotating shaft, having a cam groove formed thereon in which the said lug works, for-imparting a reciprocating movement to said brush, substantiaily as described.

In testimony whereof Iaflix my signature'in presence of two witnesses. v

CHARLES S. H'ISEY.

Witnesses:

J. Lows: WHITE, JOSEPH D. W001).

ICC

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