US710324A - Bandoleer or cartridge-belt. - Google Patents

Description

Patented Sept. 30, I902.

J. HYLABIJ. BANDOLEERDBDABTBIDGE BELT.

(Applicatioh'flled Oct. 29, 1900.)

2 Sheets-Sheet 2,

( No Model.)

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' wzwea I %A9 Q /J Jgemz NITED STATES ATENT OFFICE.

JOHN HYLARD, OF ST. KILDA, VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA, ASSIGNOR TO FRED- ERIC GODFREY HUGHES, OF MELBOURNE, VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA.

BANDOLEER OR CARTRIDGE-BELT.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent N0. 710,324, dated September 30, 1902.

Application filed October 29, 1900. Serial No. 34,823- (No model.)

T at whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN HYLARD, gentleman, asubject of the Queen of Great Britain, residing at No. 2Q Acland street, St. Kilda,

5 in the State of Victoria, Australia, have invented an Improved Bandoleer or Cartridge- Belt for Carrying Ammunition for Magazine- Rifies and other Small-Arms, of which the following is a specification. V

This invention has been devised in order to facilitate the loading of magazine-rifles and other small-arms by providing a bandoleer or cartridge-belt which will carry the cartridges in a convenient manner and enable 1 5 he required numbersay five, forinstance to be fed direct from said bandoleer into the magazine instead of singly or from clips or carriers taken from the pouch and held in the hand, both of which methods obviously oocupy considerable time, apartfrom the extra cost of the independent clips, which are usually thrown away or lost, and apart also from the liability of mounted troops to drop their cartridges or packed clips, and thereby lose ammunition.

The essential feature of this invention consists in the combination, with a belt, of a series of containers or clips secured thereto, each adapted to hold the cartridges required to load the rifle or other small-arm in such a manner that the whole of said cartridges can be simultaneously pressed directly from the bandoleer into the magazine of said rifle or other small-arm. If, for instance, the rifle in general use is a five-loader, then the said containers or clips will be of such dimensions as to enable them to receive five cartridges. The container or clip is of simple construction and may be fashioned out of a plate of sheet steel or other suitable metal or material. It is bent round at its front and rear ends, so as to form guides or retaining-channels,in which the bullet and breech end of the five or other desired number of cartridges rest. The container or clip is arranged at an inclinethat is, it is lower at its forward than at its rearward en d-in order to adapt it to the shape of the cartridges and the manner in which they lie one on the other. The

front end of the container or clip is covered over at the top, while the lower end of the plate, which is bent over and forms the side of the frontguide or channel, is so constructed as to form V a retaining-spring of sufficient strength to prevent the bullet ends of the cartridges falling out of the clip, without, however, interfering with the rifleman pressing the whole of the cartridges down simultaneously into the magazine of his rifle. Similarly the rear end of the clip is also constructed to retain the breech end of the cartridges within the clip under ordinary circumstances. This. construction retains the cartridges in position at each end, as will be readily understood from theaccompanyingdrawings, in which Figure 1 is a representation of a soldier in the act of loading his rifle. Fig. l is a similar view illustrating the use of a flap to cover some of the containers or clips. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of part of a bandoleer constructed according to this invention, and Fig.

3 is a front elevation of same. Fig. lis a detail horizontal section. Figs. 5 and 6 are vertical transverse sections on lines A A B B, Fig. 3, while Fig. 7 is a transverse section of the bandoleer, showing a slight modification in the construction thereof.

The same letters of reference indicate the same parts inall the figures.

The belt a of the bandoleer is made of leather or other suitable material and is shaped so that it will fit across the shoulders of the soldier in theordinary manner, as illustrated in Fig. 1. Instead, however, of being made with a series of pouches to contain the cartridges to load the magazine of the rifle or instead of being made with a number of separate loops or clips for each individual cartridge it is provided with a number of separate containers or clips I), each adapted to hold the requisite number of cartridges to fullyload the magazine. In the instanceillustrated in the drawings this number is five; but it will be obvious that the same principle 5 of construction can be used for a greater ora lesser number, if desired.

The container or clip itself may be made of sheet metal, as indicated at I), while the ends 0 and (Z, respectively, may be constructed out too of the same sheet and be bent, as illustrated, so as to retain the front and rear ends of the set of cartridges. The upper end of the front part of the container may. be closed over, as

illustrated at e, while the rear end is open at the top and is bent slightly inward, as shown at f, to prevent the breech ends of the cartridges from being jerked out of the container or clip, without, however, interfering with the cartridges being placed in the container from the top. This is an important feature of the container, as it enables a soldier to refill his bandoleer from his ammunition-pouch or other supply with but little loss of time or inconvenience,and thus enables him to always keep his bandoleer fully charged and ready for use. The lower parts of each of these endscdareconstructed so as toforminwardlyprojecting springs g, which while being sufficiently strong to support the weight of the cartridges under ordinary circumstances will enable the rifleman to readily press the cartridges out of the clips into the breech or magazine of his rifle.

The lower ends of the containers or clips are made of a size and shape adapted to fit into the breech of the rifle and have downwardly-projecting, lugs z to guide the lower end of the container into the breech or magazinc, and, if preferred, the container may be secured to the belt at each end by rivets or otherwise instead of being secured thereto through the central part of the back or base of the container, in which case said central part may be cut away, the effect being to reduce the weight of the container.

By supporting the cartridges at each end they will not be liable to catch in articles of clothing, for instance, and they will be less liable to jam while being pressed out into the breech.

In practice it has been found that with this improved bandoleer the operation of loading can be performed very expeditiously, so that the magazine of the rifle can be refilled with but very little loss of time. In fact, in practiceit has been found that three seconds arev sufficient under ordinary circumstances to perform this operation.

A narrow flap of material may be sewed or otherwise fastened to the tunic, so as to serve asa screen or cover for the bandoleer,said flap being cut away where the containers or clips come into the loading position, as illustrated in Fig. 1.

It will of course be obvious that the improved bandoleer above described can be used in connection with the loading of magazine small-arms of nearly every description and can be adapted to different kinds of cartridges. It dispenses with the necessity for using a separate loose clip for each group or set of cartridges, as is required with the system of clip-loading used in connection with the well-known Mauser rifle, and thus effects a considerable saving in the cost of supplying ammunition to troops on active service in addition to materially increasing the efficiency of such troops by enabling them to reload their rifles to their full capacity with much less loss of time than is required where loose clips are used.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention and in what manner the sameis to be performed, I declare that what I claim is- A belt having secured thereto throughout its length, a series of cartridge-containers, each of said containers consisting of a plate forming a rear wall and having its upper edge extending downwardly at an inclination and a portion of its lower edge at each end extending inwardly and upwardly at an inclination, said upwardly and inwardly inclined portions of the lower edge terminating in the remaining portion of the lower edge which extends at an inclination, said plate having a portion at one end bent upon itself to form a flat side wall and a flat front wall, the edges of said front wall extending at an inclination toward each other, the lower portion of said front wall slitted to form a spring-clip adjacent to the lower portion of the fiat side wall, said plate further bent upon itself at its other end to form a curvilinear side wall and a fiat front wall, means integral with the top of the said front wall, curvilinear side wall and said plate for closing the space formed at the top of the front wall, curvilinear side wall and plate, the lower portion of said last-mentioned front wall slitted to form a spring-clip adjacent to the lower portion of the curvilinear side wall, said front walls arranged a suitable distance from and disengaging each other, substantially as herein shown and described.

JOHN HYLARD.

Witnesses:

EDWARD WATERS, EDW'ARD WATERS, Jr.

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