Loading mechanism for suspended loop ammunition

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11747103-B2
Application number	US-202117759860-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 25, 2021
Priority date	Mar 6, 2020
Publication date	Sep 5, 2023
Grant date	Sep 5, 2023

Abstract

A mechanism for loading suspended loops of linked ammunition onto rails of an ammunition magazine includes a guideway and a carriage. The guideway has cam surfaces and cam slots each extending vertically from a lower portion of the guideway and curving near an upper portion of the guideway toward the rails at a loading end of the magazine. The carriage includes a support block slidably received by the guideway and a tandem bucket mounted on the support block by a linkage. The tandem bucket includes inner and outer followers engaging the cam surfaces and cam slots. The tandem bucket is horizontal and may be loaded with two adjacent rounds of a belt of linked ammunition when the carriage is at a lowered position. The carriage may then be raised manually, wherein the tandem bucket is articulated by camming engagement of the followers to a vertical orientation to deposit one of the two rounds onto the magazine rails with the other round and trailing rounds suspended therefrom.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A loading mechanism for loading a belt of linked ammunition into a magazine having a pair of spaced-apart rails, the loading mechanism comprising:
a guideway; and
a carriage movable along the guideway between a lowered position and a raised position, the carriage including an articulated tandem bucket having a pair of cradles arranged to support two adjacent rounds of the belt of linked ammunition;
wherein the tandem bucket is engaged by the guideway such that the pair of cradles are in a horizontal orientation when the carriage is in the lowered position and the pair of cradles are in a vertical orientation when the carriage is in the raised position.

2. The loading mechanism of claim 1 , wherein the guideway includes a cam surface and a cam slot each extending vertically from a lower portion of the guideway and curving near an upper portion of the guideway toward the rails at a loading end of the magazine.

3. The loading mechanism of claim 2 , wherein the carriage comprises a support block slidably received by the guideway, the tandem bucket is mounted on the support block by a linkage, and the tandem bucket includes an inner follower engaging the cam surface of the guideway and an outer follower engaging the cam slot of the guideway.

4. The loading mechanism of claim 3 , wherein the carriage further comprises a handle fixed to the support block, such that the carriage is manually movable via the handle.

5. The loading mechanism of claim 3 , wherein the carriage further comprises a pair of guide rollers arranged on the support block and received by the cam slot of the guideway, such that vertical displacement of the support block is guided by the pair of guide rollers.

6. The loading mechanism of claim 1 , wherein each of the cradles is bifurcated by a central gap through which the belt of linked ammunition is passed.

7. The loading mechanism of claim 1 , further comprising an anti-backdrive device arranged to prevent the two adjacent rounds from returning with the carriage from the raised position back to the lowered position.

8. The loading mechanism according to claim 7 , wherein the anti-backdrive device comprises:
an axle mounted to rotate about a transverse axis relative to the guideway;
a gate member extending radially from the axle, wherein the axle and the gate member rotate about the transverse axis between a blocking position and a passage position; and
a torsion spring which urges the axle toward the blocking position;
wherein the gate member is rotatable against the bias of the torsion spring to the passage position when the gate member is engaged by one round of the two adjacent rounds as the carriage is moved from the lowered position to the raised position such that the one round passes through the anti-backdrive device for deposit onto the pair of spaced apart rails, and wherein the gate member returns to the blocking position with the bias of the torsion spring as the carriage is moved from the raised position toward the lowered position such that the one round is blocked from a return passage through the anti-backdrive device.

9. The loading mechanism of claim 1 , further comprising a latch which releasably mates with a latch receptacle provided at a loading end of the magazine.

10. A method of loading a belt of linked ammunition into a magazine having a pair of spaced-apart rails, the method comprising:
A) providing a loading mechanism comprising:
a guideway; and
a carriage movable along the guideway between a lowered position and a raised position, the carriage including an articulated tandem bucket having a pair of cradles arranged to support two adjacent rounds of the belt of linked ammunition;

B) loading two adjacent rounds of ammunition into the pair of cradles when the carriage is in the lowered position; and
C) moving the carriage from the lowered position to the raised position to deposit one round of the two adjacent rounds of the belt of linked ammunition onto the pair of spaced-apart rails with the other round and trailing rounds suspended from the one round.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the tandem bucket is engaged by the guideway such that the pair of cradles pivot from a relatively horizontal orientation to a relatively vertical orientation as the carriage approaches the raised position.

12. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
D) moving the carriage from the raised position to the lowered position; and
E) repeating steps B through D to load additional rounds of the belt of linked ammunition into the magazine.

Assignees

• Moog Inc

Inventors

• Mueller Frank R
• Quinn Brian J

Classifications

• F41A9/86 Primary

  Feeding belted ammunition into magazines · CPC title

• F41A9/34 Primary

  from magazines (magazines for belted ammunition per se F41A9/79) · CPC title