Ammunition storage system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10753693-B2
Application number	US-201816230679-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 21, 2018
Priority date	Oct 21, 2014
Publication date	Aug 25, 2020
Grant date	Aug 25, 2020

Abstract

Ammunition containers are reloadable from within an armored vehicle to supply a remote weapon system mounted externally on the vehicle. The ammunition containers are designed to be fixedly mounted within an internal compartment of a weapon turret. In a first embodiment, at least one guide wall defines a spiral guide path for an ammunition belt, and a rotatable sprocket enables the belt to be loaded into the guide path. In a second embodiment, an ammunition clamp holds a round of ammunition, and the clamp is rotatable to wind the ammunition belt about the clamp's axis of rotation. A third embodiment has a guide sprocket and an adjacent peg to facilitate reloading an ammunition belt in horizontal layers. A fourth embodiment includes a pair of spaced support rails for hanging an ammunition belt in vertical columns, wherein rear ends of the rails may be located outside the container for easier loading.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An ammunition container for storing a belt of linked ammunition, the ammunition container comprising:
a pair of transversely spaced side walls defining an internal space between the pair of side walls;
at least one bridge member connecting the pair of side walls;
the pair of side walls defining a rear opening and a bottom opening continuous with the rear opening, the rear and bottom openings allowing access to the internal space between the pair of side walls; and
a pair of longitudinal support rails respectively mounted to an inner surface of a corresponding one of the pair of side walls, each of the pair of support rails including a front end and a rear end, wherein each of the pair of support rails extends through the rear opening such that the rear end of each support rail is located outside of the internal space.

2. An ammunition container for storing a belt of linked ammunition, the ammunition container comprising:
a pair of transversely spaced side walls defining an internal space between the pair of side walls;
at least one bridge member connecting the pair of side walls;
the pair of side walls defining a rear opening and a bottom opening continuous with the rear opening, the rear and bottom openings allowing access to the internal space between the pair of side walls; and
a pair of longitudinal support rails respectively mounted to an inner surface of a corresponding one of the pair of side walls, each of the pair of support rails including a front end and a rear end;
wherein the at least one bridge member includes a front bridge member.

3. An ammunition container for storing a belt of linked ammunition, the ammunition container comprising:
a pair of transversely spaced side walls defining an internal space between the pair of side walls;
at least one bridge member connecting the pair of side walls;
the pair of side walls defining a rear opening and a bottom opening continuous with the rear opening, the rear and bottom openings allowing access to the internal space between the pair of side walls; and
a pair of longitudinal support rails respectively mounted to an inner surface of a corresponding one of the pair of side walls, each of the pair of support rails including a front end and a rear end;
wherein the at least one bridge member includes a first top bridge member and a second top bridge member.

4. The ammunition container according to claim 3 , wherein each of the first top bridge member and the second top bridge member includes at least one fastener hole for use in mounting the ammunition container to overhead structure.

5. An ammunition container for storing a belt of linked ammunition, the ammunition container comprising:
a pair of transversely spaced side walls defining an internal space between the pair of side walls;
at least one bridge member connecting the pair of side walls;
the pair of side walls defining a rear opening and a bottom opening continuous with the rear opening, the rear and bottom openings allowing access to the internal space between the pair of side walls;
a pair of longitudinal support rails respectively mounted to an inner surface of a corresponding one of the pair of side walls, each of the pair of support rails including a front end and a rear end; and
a removable pin extending transversely through aligned holes in the pair of side walls near a top rear corner of the ammunition container.

6. An ammunition container for storing a belt of linked ammunition, the ammunition container comprising:
a pair of transversely spaced side walls defining an internal space between the pair of side walls;
at least one bridge member connecting the pair of side walls;
the pair of side walls defining a rear opening and a bottom opening continuous with the rear opening, the rear and bottom openings allowing access to the internal space between the pair of side walls; and
a pair of longitudinal support rails respectively mounted to an inner surface of a corresponding one of the pair of side walls, each of the pair of support rails including a front end and a rear end, wherein one of the pair of support rails has an upwardly facing support surface that is raised relative to an upwardly facing support surface of the other support rail.

Assignees

• Moog Inc

Inventors

• Lung Kevin
• Hayes Steven W
• Martinez Matthew
• Rhodes David
• Mueller Frank

Classifications

• F41A9/86

  Feeding belted ammunition into magazines · CPC title

• F41A9/30 Primary

  Sprocket-type belt transporters · CPC title