US723719A - Mechanism for feeding cartridges into machine-guns. - Google Patents

Description

N6. 723,719. PATENTED MAR. 24, 1903.

T. K. NORTH. MECHANISM FOR FEEDING CARTRIDGES INTO MACHINE GUNS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 5, 1902.

1 N0 MODEL. 3 SHEETS-SHEET l;

PATENTED MAR. 24, 1903.

T. K. NORTH. MECHANISM FOR FEEDING CARTRIDGES INTO MACHINE GUNS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 5, 1902.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2 N0 MODEL.

Illllllllll Zl/i m 866663 QC: Q% I PATENTED MAR. 24, 1903.

T. K. NORTH. MECHANISM FOR FEEDING CARTRIDGES INTO MAOHINEGUNS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 5, 1902.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

HO MODEL.

.UNITE 'ra rns Fries.

ATENT V THOMAS K. NORTH, or WESTMINSTER, ENGLAND.

MECHANISM FOR FEEDING GARTFIDGES'INTOMACHINE -G'UNS.

SPECIFICATION forming part .of Letters Fatent No. 723,719, dated March 24, 1903. Application filed September 5, 1902. Serial No. 122,238. (lie model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be itknown that I, THOMAS KEPPEL NORTH, a citizen of England, residing at 34 Victoria street, Westminster, in the county of London, England, have invented a certain new and useful Improved Mechanism for Feeding Cartridges int-o Machine-Guns and for Like Purposes, (for which I have applied for a patent in Great Britain, dated February 14, 1902, No.

3,822,) of which the following is a specification.

'My invention relates to an improved construction of that kind of feed mechanism for feeding cartridges into machine-guns and for like purposes in which the cartridges or other objects to be fed are contained in spiral or helical grooves or channels within a drum or cylindrical chamber, in which grooves the cartridges, &c., are caused to travel gradually forward, so as to be brought consecutively in front of a discharge-opening through which they are delivered into the gun, &c.

According to my present invention I construct such mechanism as follows: Within a rotatable outer drum or cylinder is a'stationary cylinder having a deep helical blade of slow pitch formed around it extending to near the' inner periphery of the outer drum, the spaces between the convolutions of the'blade constituting a continuous helical channel of a width corresponding to the diameter of the cartridges and of a' depth somewhat greater than the length of these. On the inner periphery of the outer drum are formed grooves or projections ru ning parallel, or nearly so, with the longitu inal axis of the drum and adapted to receive and hold between them the heads of the cartridges or other objects. From this construction it will be seen that'if theeutire stationary helical channel be filled with cartridges projecting radially into it from the longitudinal grooves of the drum in which their heads are engaged then on rotating the drum it will be made to carry all the cartridges around with it by means of their heads and will thereby cause them to travel slowly forward in the helical channel, while at the same time their heads will slide forward in an axial direction, each cartridge being thus successively brought beforesa discharge-opening.

Although I prefer to make the channel containing the cartridges of helical form, as described,i t is obvious that it need not constitute a true helix, but may be of any approximate form. 7 i

On the accompanying drawings is shown the construction of the above-described mechanism which I prefer to employ applied by way of example to a gun with automatic breech action.

Figure 1 shows anelevation of the outer side of the feed-drum, partly in section. Fig. 2 shows a side elevation of the drum with a cross-section of the breech of the gun to which it is attached. side of the drum next the gun. Fig. 4 is a transverse section through the drum and side elevation of the helical blade, and Fig. 5 is a sectional detail;

From a disk at, adapted to be held stationary against the side of the gun, as wili be presently described, projects a cylinder b, on which is fixed or formed a helical blade 0 of slow pitch, soar-ranged that its inner end terminates at the discharge-opening d' in the disk at. The helical blade is of' such a diame Fig.' 3 is an elevation of the ter that the depth of the helical channel formed thereby shall somewhat exceed the length of that-cartridges e to'be fed into the gun. Inclosing the helical blade 01 is a cylindrical casing or drum composed, first,"'o the cylindrical part f, of such a diameter as to project over the periphery of the disk a; secondly, a disk g, to which f is fixed byscrews, as shown, or by other suitable means, and, thirdly, a central cylindrical axis h, formed inone with g and fitting rotatably within the cylinder b, in which position the drumis secured by a screw-nut 11, screwed onto the projecting end of h, the end of the cylinder be-' ing recessed to contain the nut, as .shown.

On the inner periphery of cylinder fare formed a number of grooves j, arranged parallel, or nearly so, with the axis andformed so as to receive and hold the rimmed bases of the cartridges e, so as to hold these with their bodies situated in radial positions in the helical groove formed by the blade 0, as shown,

From this arrangement it will be- 'seenthat, assuming the drum to be charged with cartridges and the disk a, with cylinder- 1) and helical blade 0, to beheld stationary,

at Fig. 1.

while the drum f q h is made to revolve with a step-by-step motion, the grooves j in carrying around the cartridges will cause these to advance in the helical channel in the direc-' tion toward thedischarge-opeuingd, through which they will consequently. pass consecutively into'the chamber of the gun, a guidepiece is being fixed to the helix for guiding the cartridges from the latter tothedischargeopening.

' 'The attachment of the drum to the side of the gun is effected by means of an undercut tongue Z,'-projecting from the plate a, which is slid into a corresponding groove 'm, on the side of the gun,

'lhe st-ep-hy-step rotary motion of thedrum for feeding forward the cartridges can be effected in various ways, according to the arrangement of. the guns breech action. In the arrangement shown'at Figs. land 2 the drum f has a series of tel h or notches naronnd its periphery, corresponding in n umber to-the number of cartridges 6 contained in one con- 'volution ofthe helix 0, with which teeth or notches is engaged a spring-pawl 0, pivotedto a lever, 12, turning on a pivot-pin q, fixed to the side of tihegun; 'Ihislever has agroove' '1', preferably of the' 'curved'for-m shown, in

which isengaged a-stud s,projecting.from' the bar t, connected to the breech-block a, which stud.consequently travels through a straight path from left to-right when the *hre,ech-..holt is slid backward after firing.

-When the breech-bolt is closed, the stud 8 being then at the left-hand end of groove'r, the lever 1'0, with its pawl 0, will be in the raised positionshown in dot-and-dash lines,

the pawl beingengagedin oneof the notches of the drum. As'the breech-bolt recedes after firing the studs will move the lever'downward into the position shown in fulllines, and

the pawl'o will conse uently turn the feed- :drum in the'd'irection-of the arrow through a distance equal to the distance apart of the notches, and consequently of the cartridges, thereby bringinga fresh cartridgein front of the dischargeopening d, whence it passes into the gun.

The groove'r .ot the lever is by preference formed curved, asshown, in order toetr'ect the rotation of the drum with a gradually-accelerated motion at the beginning and witha gradually-retarded,motionat the end. h

It will be'obvio'us' that instead of arranging the drum-feed mechanism in the vertical position, as described, it might be arranged ina horizontal position on the top of thegun, so its to feed the cartridges downward into the atter.

A record may be kept of the number of cartridges in the drum by marking on its periphery a; number of divisions corresponding to the number of its grooves, while on the plate 'of the-inner cylinder is fixed a pointer, past which the numbered divisions travel, so that as the number of cartridges in each groove is known the number discharged can be easily ascertained by counting the complete revolu- Lions of the drum, or the drum may by its rotation :impart. motion to any suitable counter device attached to the mechanism.

. For filling the mechanism with cartridges,in the first instance it is detached from the gun or machine and one of the peripheral grooves of the drum having been brought before the discharge-openings cartridge is inserted with its head engaged in the groove. The drum -is then turned one step in thecontrary direction to its'feed-motion, whereby t-he'cartridgc is carried into the mouth of the helical channel. A second cartridge is then in- 8:

vtroduced intothe' nex't groove that presents itself, andthe drum is again turned one step, and so on, the cartridges being by this means carried backward in the channel until the drum is full, or a separate filling-opening might beprovided in outer closed face of the drum, through which the cartridges would be inserted in the same manner as above described, the drum being, however, in this 'case turned in the forward direction for filling it.

As before stated, theblade 0' need not necessarily constitute a true helix. For example, it might be of the modified form shown at Fig. 6, where the several convolutions-o are for the inostpa rt formed at right angles 5 to the axis and onlycommunicate wit-beach other by a more or less quick bend at o Also 'the grooves in the drum need not be absolutely parallel to the axis so long as they are in a longitudinal direction.

Having thus described the nature of this invention and the-best means I know or carrying the same into practical effect I claim 1. Automatic feed apparatus for cartridges and other objects consisting of a rotatable o drum having on its inner periphery longitudinal grooves or projections adapted to hold the rimmed bases of cartridges or other ob- 'jects so that these shall be carried around with the drum while they are free to slide in r: the axial direction relatively thereto, and a deep groove of helical or equivalent form stationary within the drum, adapted to contain the bodies of the cartridges carried by the V 'said drum, so that by the rotation of the latn ter the cartridges or other objects are made to travel in said groove toward a dischargeopening, substantially as described.

' 2, Automatic feed apparatus for cartridges and other' objects consisting of a rotatable w drum closed at one end and open at the other and having on its inner periphery longitudinal grooves or projections adapted to hold the rimmed bases of cartridges or other obadapted to receive the bodies of the cartridges held by the drum so that on the rotation of the latter the cartridges are made to travel in said groove toward a discharge-opening in the stationary plate, substantially as described.

3. Automatic feed apparatus for cartridges and other objects consisting of a drum rotatable on a central axis having on itsinner pero riphery longitudinal grooves or projections adapted to hold the rimmed bases of cartridges or other objects, so that these shall be carried around with the drum, a ring of teeth or notches on the outer periphery of said :5 drum, a pawl device engaged with said teeth or notches and adapted to be moved to and fro by suitable reciprocating mechanism so as to impart a step-by-step rotary motion to the drum, and a deep groove of helical or equivalent form stationary within the drum,

adapted to contain the bodies of the cartridges carried by said drum so that by the rotation of the latter the cartridges are made to travel in said groove toward a discharge- ;5 opening, substantially as described.

4. Automatic feed apparatus for cartridges and other objects consisting of a drum rotatable on a central axis having on its inner periphery longitudinal grooves or projections adapted to hold the rimmed bases of cartridges or other objects so that these shall be carried around with the drum, a ring of teeth or notches on the outer periphery of said drum, a plate adapted to be held by a stationary object and having a tubular axis pro jecting therefrom on which the drum can rotate, a leverfulcrumed on a fixed pivot and adapted to receive a to-and-fro motion by a r reciprocating part of the machine to which the feed apparatus is attached and carrying "a spring-pawl that is engaged with the teeth or notches of the drum, so thatthe motion of saidlever and pawl in one direction effects the rotation of the drum through the distance for bringing a cartridge in front of the discharge-opening, substantially as described. I

5. In an automatic feed apparatus for cartridges and other objects, the combination of a disk a adapted to be attached to the gun or other object which is to be supplied thereby,

andhaving a central tubular projection b, a helical blade 0 forming a helical channel for containing the cartridges or other objects, said blade being carried by projection b, a discharge-opening d for the issue of the objects from the helical channel, a drum f g having a central axis h rotatably mounted in

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