GB1138286A - Round feeding mechanism for an automatic gun - Google Patents

Abstract

1,138,286. Automatic gun feeding mechanism. BOFORS A.B. 22 Feb., 1966 [10 March, 1965]. No. 7779/66. Heading F3C. A feeding mechanism is provided for a gun having at least one magazine mounted to one side of the barrel and comprising a plurality of vertical round compartments arranged sideby-side and each holding a stack of rounds (Figs. 1, 2, not shown). The feeding mechanism includes a stationary baseplate 4 on which is reciprocatably mounted a round feeder carrier 5. The carrier 5 is provided adjacent its longitudinal sides with two sets of feeder pawls 9 spring loaded by springs 11 to their raised position and connected together by shafts 10 and an axially displaceable rod 13. The carrier 5 is urged towards its discharging position, i.e. to the right in Fig. 3, by a feeder spring unit 15, the carrier being driven against this spring unit towards its rest position by an assembly consisting of a reciprocating cam slot bar 20 coupled to the recoiling mass of the gun and a link 21 pivoted at one end to the base-plate and carrying rollers 23, 25 co-operating with the carrier 5 and the cam bar respectively. The feeding mechanism is also provided with two rows 40, 40<SP>1</SP> of check pawls. Each row consists of a set of rearwardly facing check pawls 42 and forwardly facing check pawls 41 pivoted in the base-plate 4 and projecting downwardly from their pivots to co-operate with actuating bars 45, 44 respectively. The bar 44 is spring- loaded such that in the feeding of the rounds, the check pawls 41 are depressed against the spring loading. The rounds may thus be fed along the carrier 5, the pawls 41 reverting to their raised positions after the passage of a round such that a fed round cannot travel back with the carrier 5. The other check pawls 42 prevent the feeding of rounds until they are depressed and this is effected by a spring and lever assembly, the lever co-operating with part of the feeder spring unit 15 (Fig. 4, not shown). The feeder spring unit 15 may be actuated manually (Fig. 6, not shown). Further the feeder pawls 9 may be de-activated by a cam surface 67. The feeder mechanism is further provided with a plurality of guide levers 64 which co-operate with the rounds in the feeding operation. Each round compartment has a locking flap adjacent its lower end such that a round cannot leave a compartment until a space occurs between the open end of the compartment and the carrier 5 (Figs. 1, 2, not shown). The rounds are fed to a waiting position on a pair of flaps 6 and then fed downwardly on to a loading tray by means of a downfeeding mechanism such as that disclosed in Specification 1,073,613.