Linkless cartridge feed system

Claim 2

An ammunition storage and feed system for automatic guns having a cartridge-receiving opening which comprises: a rotatable member positioned adjacent the weapon, a plurality of circumferentially spaced axially extending radial chambers open to one end of the member in said member, said chambers receiving multi-cartridge ammunition clips, said open ends of said chambers selectively indexable to a position aligned with the cartridgereceiving opening in said gun, and actuatable cartridge moving means in said chambers moving cartridges stored in said chambers out of said drum and into the cartridge-receiving opening when actuated, said cartridge moving means including a plurality of spring-loaded feed pawls carried by a feed slide in said chamber, each chamber having an individual feed slide, at least one feed pawl on said feed slide for each of the cartridges received in the said multi-cartridge clips, said feed slide being axially movable in said chamber, and means for selectively moving said feed slide whereby the said feed pawls act against the said cartridges to move the said cartridges when the said feed slide is moved.

Claim 3

The system of claim 1 wherein spring-loaded stationary pawls are arranged in the said chamber opposite the said feed pawls adapted to prevent axial movement of cartridges stored in the said chambers in more than one direction.

Claim 4

The system of claim 2 comprising means for indicating the type of ammunition stored in said chambers and means for selectively indexing said rotatable member to align a given one of said open ends of said chambers in accordance with a desired type of ammunition.

Claim 5

A gun assembly comprising: an automatic gun having a reciprocating bolt which moves in recoil and counter-recoil, a cartridge-receiving opening adjacent said bolt, a rotatable drum having an end adjacent said cartridge-receiving opening, said drum having a plurality of axially extending radial chambers therein, said chambers open to said end, said chambers communicating with the periphery of said drum, each of said chambers adapted to receive a plurality of cartridges held in a multi-cartridge clip, each of said chambers having a reciprocally movable feed slide therein, movable towards and away from said end of said drum, spring-loaded feed pawls carried by said feed slide, said feed pawls adapted to move cartridges stored in said chamber towards said end and into a feeder-adapter adjacent said end said feeder-adapter positioned between said end and said cartridge-receiving opening, stationary spring-loaded pawls associated with each of said chambers effective to prevent movement of cartridges stored in said chambers away from said end, said drum rotatable to bring said chambers adjacent the said feeder-adapter one at a time, mechanism connecting to said reciprocating bolt to the said feed slide in the said chamber adjacent the said feeder-adapter, said mechanism effective to transfer the recoil motion of the said bolt to the said feed slide to move the said feed slide towards and away from the said end, and said feeder-adapter effective to force cartridges inserted therein by the said feed pawls into the said cartridge-receiving opening and to prevent re-entry into the said drum of cartridges in the cartridges in the cartridge-receiving opening.

Claim 6

A gun assembly comprising: an automatic gun having a reciprocating bolt which moves in recoil and counter-recoil, a cartridge-receiving opening adjacent said bolt, a rotatable drum having an end adjacent said cartridge-receiving opening, said drum having a plurality of axially extending radial chambers therein, said chambers open to said end, said chambers communicating with the periphery of said drum, each of said chambers adapted to receive a plurality of cartridges held in a multi-cartridge clip, each of said chambers having a reciprocally movable feed slide therein, movable towards and away from said end of said drum, spring-loaded feed pawls carried by said feed slide, said feed pawls adapted to move cartridges stored in said chamber towards said end and into a feeder-adapter adjacent said end said feeder-adapter positioned between said end and said cartridge-receiving opening, stationary spring-loaded pawls associated with each of said chambers effective to prevent movement of cartridges stored in said chambers away from said end, said drum rotatable to bring said chambers adjacent the said feeder-adapter one at a time, mechanism connecting to said reciprocating bolt to the said feed slide in the said chamber adjacent the said feeder-adapter, said mechanism effective to transfer the recoil motion of the said bolt to the said feed slide to move the said feed slide towards and away from the said end, and said feeder-adapter effective to force cartridges inserted therein by the said feed pawls into the said cartridge-receiving opening and to prevent re-entry into the said drum of cartridges in the cartridges in the cartridge-receiving opening.

Claim 7

An ammunition storage and feeding system for automatic guns having a pair of opposed cartridge-receiving openings, comprising: first and second housings mounted on opposite sides of a gun adjacent respective ones of the cartridge-receiving openings, first and second cylinders rotatably mounted within respective ones of said First and second housings, each of said housings having an end wall adjacent an end of the corresponding cylinder and having a radially extending opening therein adjacent the corresponding cartridge-receiving opening, radial chambers extending axially in each of said cylinders, said chambers spaced around the entire circumference of said cylinders, said chambers open to the circumference and to said end of said cylinders for receiving a plurality of cartridges stored in each of said chambers and retained in clips common to the cartridges of the individual chambers, means for stripping the cartridges one at a time from a clip in a chamber of a cylinder aligned with the corresponding radially extending opening, means for rotating said first and second cylinders out of phase so that only the chambers of one of said cylinders at a time is aligned with its corresponding radially extending opening, and means for changing the phase relationship between said first and second cylinders to selectively feed ammunition from said first and second cylinders.

Claim 8

An ammunition storage and feeding system for automatic guns having a pair of opposed cartridge-receiving openings, comprising: first and second housings mounted on opposite sides of a gun adjacent respective ones of the cartridge-receiving openings, first and second cylinders rotatably mounted within respective ones of said First and second housings, each of said housings having an end wall adjacent an end of the corresponding cylinder and having a radially extending opening therein adjacent the corresponding cartridge-receiving opening, radial chambers extending axially in each of said cylinders, said chambers spaced around the entire circumference of said cylinders, said chambers open to the circumference and to said end of said cylinders for receiving a plurality of cartridges stored in each of said chambers and retained in clips common to the cartridges of the individual chambers, means for stripping the cartridges one at a time from a clip in a chamber of a cylinder aligned with the corresponding radially extending opening, means for rotating said first and second cylinders out of phase so that only the chambers of one of said cylinders at a time is aligned with its corresponding radially extending opening, and means for changing the phase relationship between said first and second cylinders to selectively feed ammunition from said first and second cylinders.

Claim 9

A gun assembly having an automatic recoiling bolt mechanism gun with a cartridge-receiving opening in at least one side of the gun, at least one drum having an end positioned adjacent said side, an opening in said end communicating to said cartridge-receiving opening, said drum having a revolvable member therein, said member having a plurality of axially extending radial chambers therein, said chambers open to said end, each of said chambers adapted to receive a plurality of cartridges retained in a multi-cartridge clip, means for stripping said cartridges in one of said chambers from said clip one at a time out of said member through said opening in said end and into the cartridge-receiving opening, means for intermittently selectively rotating said member to bring said chambers one at a time adjacent the said opening in the said end, indicating means for indicating which of said chambers is adjacent the said opening, selecting means for selectingly moving any one of said chambers adjacent the said opening whereby the said chambers may be filled with differing types of ammunition and selectively moved adjacent the said opening to initiate firing of a desired ammunition type.

Claim 10

A gun assembly having an automatic recoiling bolt mechanism gun with a cartridge-receiving opening in at least one side of the gun, at least one drum having an end positioned adjacent said side, an opening in said end communicating to said cartridge-receiving opening, said drum having a revolvable member therein, said member having a plurality of axially extending radial chambers therein, said chambers open to said end, each of said chambers adapted to receive a plurality of cartridges retained in a multi-cartridge clip, means for stripping said cartridges in one of said chambers from said clip one at a time out of said member through said opening in said end and into the cartridge-receiving opening, means for intermittently selectively rotating said member to bring said chambers one at a time adjacent the said opening in the said end, indicating means for indicating which of said chambers is adjacent the said opening, selecting means for selectingly moving any one of said chambers adjacent the said opening whereby the said chambers may be filled with differing types of ammunition and selectively moved adjacent the said opening to initiate firing of a desired ammunition type.

Claim 11

The gun assembly of claim 6 including an axially extending opening in said drum circumferentially spaced from the said opening in the said end, said axially extending opening dimensioned with respect to the said radial chambers to allow loading of said clips into said chamber and removal of empty clips therefrom, additional indicating means for indicating which of said chambers are adjacent the said axially extending opening and additional means for selectively indexing one at a time any one of said chambers adjacent the said axial extending opening.

Claim 12

A gun assembly comprising a recoiling bolt mechanism gun, said gun having at least one cartridge-receiving opening therein, a drum having an end wall adjacent said opening, a plurality of radially extending axial chambers circumferentially spaced around said drum, said chambers receiving multi-cartridge ammunition clips, means for rotating said drum, said chambers rotatable one at a time to a position adjacent said cartridge-receiving opening, means for stripping clip held cartridges from said one chamber into said opening, a reloading station for said drum circumferentially spaced from said cartridge-receiving opening, means for indicating which one of said chambers is adjacent said cartridge-receiving opening, a second means for indicating which one of said chambers is adjacent said reloading station, and a third means for selectively moving any selected one of said chambers adjacent either the cartridge-receiving opening or the reloading station.

Claim 13

A gun assembly comprising a recoiling bolt mechanism gun, said gun having at least one cartridge-receiving opening therein, a drum having an end wall adjacent said opening, a plurality of radially extending axial chambers circumferentially spaced around said drum, said chambers receiving multi-cartridge ammunition clips, means for rotating said drum, said chambers rotatable one at a time to a position adjacent said cartridge-receiving opening, means for stripping clip held cartridges from said one chamber into said opening, a reloading station for said drum circumferentially spaced from said cartridge-receiving opening, means for indicating which one of said chambers is adjacent said cartridge-receiving opening, a second means for indicating which one of said chambers is adjacent said reloading station, and a third means for selectively moving any selected one of said chambers adjacent either the cartridge-receiving opening or the reloading station.

Claim 14

The gun assembly of claim 8 including means for sequentially rotating the said drum to bring successive chambers adjacent the said cartridge-receiving opening when the last cartridge stored in the predecessor chamber has been stripped into the said cartridge-receiving opening.

Claim 15

The gun assembly of claim 9 wherein the means for indicating includes a plurality of illuminated switching means, one of said illuminated switching means associated with each one of said chambers, said switching means illuminated to indicate which one of said chambers is adjacent the cartridge-receiving opening and said switching means actuatable to actuate the said means for selectively moving.

Claim 16

The assembly of claim 10 wherein the said illuminated switching means includes a plurality of color differentiated illuminatable indicia, one of said indicia indicating which of said chambers is positioned adjacent the cartridge-receiving opening and another of said indicia indicating the cartridge filled status of the chamber.

Claim 17

The weapon system of claim 9 including automatic means for indicating the quantity of ammunition stored in the said chambers.

Claim 18

An automatic gun assembly comprising: an automatic gun having a cartridge-receiving opening, a cartridge storing chamber positioned adjacent to said opening, said chamber movable, said chamber containing a plurality of cartridge-receiving storage sections therein, each of said sections receiving a plurality of cartridges held in a single clip, means for stripping said cartridges from said clips one at a time from a given chamber and feeding said stripped cartridge to said cartridge receiving opening, at least three different types of cartridges stored in different sections, means for selecting one of said sections to be indexed to a stripping position adjacent the cartridge-receiving opening, means for indexing said selected section to said position, means for indicating which of said sections has cartridges stored therein, and means for indicating which type of cartridge is stored in which section.

Claim 19

An automatic gun assembly comprising: an automatic gun having a cartridge-receiving opening, a cartridge storing chamber positioned adjacent to said opening, said chamber movable, said chamber containing a plurality of cartridge-receiving storage sections therein, each of said sections receiving a plurality of cartridges held in a single clip, means for stripping said cartridges from said clips one at a time from a given chamber and feeding said stripped cartridge to said cartridge receiving opening, at least three different types of cartridges stored in different sections, means for selecting one of said sections to be indexed to a stripping position adjacent the cartridge-receiving opening, means for indexing said selected section to said position, means for indicating which of said sections has cartridges stored therein, and means for indicating which type of cartridge is stored in which section.

Claim 20

The gun of claim 13 including additional means for indicating the total number of cartridges stored in the said storage container, said additional means functioning to keep a running total during operation.

Claim 21

The gun of claim 14 including a loading position for each of said sections, the said loading position spaced from the stripping position and means for indexing any one of said sections to said loading position selectively.