Ammunition belt link
AssigneeBAE SYSTEMS plc
InventorsJoshua Matthew Stubbs, Nathan William Rowe
Life of this patent
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Abstract
According to the present invention, there is provided an ammunition belt link comprising, a sprung wire, said sprung wire arranged to form a first receiving portion suitable for retaining a first ammunition cartridge, a second receiving portion suitable for retaining a second ammunition cartridge, a spacer between said first receiving and second receiving portions, an ammunition cartridge locator aide, said locator aid locates in an ejector groove of a received cartridge and, the wire ammunition belt link further comprising a support surface suitable for retaining the first and/or second ammunition cartridge.
Claims18
A wire ammunition belt link comprising:
- a unitary continuous piece of sprung wire, said unitary continuous piece of sprung wire arranged to form
- a first receiving portion suitable for retaining a first ammunition cartridge,
- a second receiving portion suitable for retaining a second ammunition cartridge,
- a spacer between said first receiving and second receiving portions, and
- an ammunition cartridge locator aide, said locator aid locates in an ejector groove of a received cartridge;
- and
- a support surface arranged within the first receiving portion or the second receiving portion, wherein the first receiving portion or the second receiving portion comprises a first arm and a second arm spaced from the first arm along a first direction, and wherein the support surface extends an entire distance between the first arm and the second arm along the first direction,
- wherein the sprung wire forms a frame abutting outer edges of the support surface.
A method of manufacturing a wire ammunition belt link, the method comprising:
- bending a unitary continuous length of sprung wire by a wire forming machine to create first and second receiving portions, a spacer, and an ammunition cartridge locator aide, the first receiving portion having first and second arms spaced in a first direction and suitable for retaining a first ammunition cartridge, the second receiving portion having first and second arms spaced in the first direction and suitable for retaining a second ammunition cartridge, the spacer between said first and second receiving portions, and the ammunition cartridge locator aide configured to locate in an ejector groove of a received cartridge;
- and
- forming a support surface that extends an entire distance between the first arm and the second arm along the first direction of said first receiving portion,
- wherein the sprung wire forms a frame abutting outer edges of the support surface.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.