Two stage shell feeding apparatus with shell feeding path control

Shell feeding apparatus for an automatic gun having shell supply means for containing shells to be fed and a gas operated bolt operative for axially reciprocating past a shell pick up position and picking up shells therefrom on forward bolt travel for loading into a gun firing chamber, the apparatus comprising:

• (a) a first stage shell feeding rotor having surface regions defining a plurality of peripheral shell holding cavities equally spaced around the rotor;
• (b) means for rotatably mounting the rotor between the shell supply means and the shell pick up position for enabling transfer of shells from the supply means into the shell pick up position, said mounting means positioning the rotor relative to the supply means and the pick up position for causing, when any one of the rotor cavities is indexed into the shell pick up position, another rotor cavity to be indexed into shell receiving relationship with the supply means;
• (c) first stage actuation means for causing, as the bolt is moving rearwardly after the gun is fired, partial undirectional rotation of the rotor a single cavity position to index a rotor cavity holding a shell into the shell pick up position for enabling pick up of the shell by the bolt on forward bolt travel, and simultaneously to index a next adjacent empty cavity into shell receiving relationship with the supply means;
• (d) second stage feeding means for transferring shells from the shell supply means into the rotor;
• (e) second stage actuation means, responsive to firing of the gun, for actuating said second stage feeding means to cause, after the first stage actuation means has rotatably indexed the rotor and before a next firing of the gun, transferring of a shell from the shell supply means into the empty rotor cavity indexed therewith;
• and,
• (f) sensing means for sensing no shell in the rotor cavity indexed into the shell pick up position and no shell in a next to the last shell position, relative to shell transferring to the rotor, in the shell supply means and for providing an electrical signal adapted for initiating searing up of the bolt at a searing up position rearwardly of the pick up position the next time the bolt is in said searing up position, in response to sensing that the shell pick up position and the next to the last shell position are simultaneously empty of shells, the rotor being thereby caused to have shells in both the cavity indexed into the shell pick up position and in the next adjacent cavity indexed in shell receiving relationship with the shell supply means when the bolt is seared up and ready for a next firing.

Shell feeding apparatus, for a gun having shell supply means for containing shells to be fed into the gun and a bolt operative for axially reciprocating past a shell pick up position and picking up shells therefrom on forward bolt travel for loading into a gun firing chamber, the apparatus comprising:

• (a) a first stage shell feeding rotor having surface regions defining a plurality of peripheral shell holding cavities, the cavities being spaced apart around the rotor;
• (b) means for rotatably mounting the rotor for enabling transfer thereby of shells from the supply means into the shell pick up position, said mounting means including a rotor shaft on which the rotor is rotatably mounted for positioning the rotor relative to the shell supply means and the shell pick up position for causing, when any one of the rotor cavities is indexed into the shell pick up position, another one of the rotor cavities to be positioned in shell receiving relationship with the supply means;
• (c) first stage actuating means operated by pressurized gases caused by firing of the gun, for causing, as the bolt moves rearwardly after the gun is fired, partial rotation of the rotor to index a rotor cavity holding a shell into the shell pick up position to enable picking up of the shell by the bolt on forward bolt travel, and simultaneously to index an empty cavity into shell receiving relationship with the supply means;
• (d) second stage shell feeding means, operated by pressurized gases caused by firing of the gun, for causing, after the first stage actuating means has rotatably indexed the rotor and before a next firing of the gun, transfer of a shell from the shell supply means into the empty rotor cavity indexed therewith;
• (e) anti-surge means for locking the rotor against rotational movement during shell transferring of a shell from the supply means into said empty rotor cavity by the second stage feeding means,
• said anti-surge means being axially slidably and non-rotatably mounted on said rotor shaft;
• and,
• (f) means for causing unlocking between the rotor and the anti-surge means before subsequent partial rotation of the rotor by the first stage feeding means in response to a next firing of the gun,
• said unlocking means including ratchet means being disposed between the rotor and anti-surge means and being responsive to initial rotation of the rotor shaft for pushing the anti-surge means out of locking engagement with the rotor, thereby unlocking the rotor for shell indexing rotation thereof by the rotor shaft.

Shell feeding apparatus, for a gun having shell supply means for containing shells to be fed into the gun and a bolt operative for axially reciprocating past a shell pick up position and picking up shells therefrom on forward bolt travel for loading into a gun firing chamber, the apparatus comprising:

• (a) a first stage shell feeding rotor having surface regions, defining a plurality of peripheral shell holding cavities, the cavities being spaced apart around the rotor;
• (b) means for rotatably mounting the rotor for enabling transfer thereby of shells from the supply means into the shell pick up position, said mounting means positioning the rotor relative to the shell supply means and the shell pick up position for causing, when any one of the rotor cavities is indexed into the shell pick up position, another one of the rotor cavities to be positioned in shell receiving relationship with the supply means;
• said mounting means including a rotor shaft mounted for bidirectional rotation, the rotor being rotatably mounted on said shaft, said mounting means further including means for limiting rotor rotation on said shaft to a single shell indexing direction and including ratchet means for interconnecting the rotor to the rotor shaft for enabling shell indexing rotation of the rotor by the rotor shaft;
• (c) first stage actuating means operated by pressurized gases caused by firing of the gun, for causing, as the bolt moves rearwardly after the gun is fired, partial rotation of the rotor to index a rotor cavity holding a shell into the shell pick up position to enable picking up of the shell by the bolt on forward bolt travel, and simultaneously to index an empty cavity into shell receiving relationship with the supply means;
• and
• (d) second stage shell feeding means, operated by pressurized gases caused by firing of the gun, for causing, after the first stage actuating means has rotatably indexed the rotor and before a next firing of the gun, transfer of a shell from the shell supply means into the empty rotor cavity indexed therewith.

Shell feeding apparatus, for a gun having shell supply means for containing shells to be fed into the gun and a bolt operative for axially reciprocating past a shell pick up position and picking up shells therefrom on forward bolt travel for loading into a gun firing chamber, the apparatus comprising:

• (a) a first stage shell feeding rotor having surface regions defining a plurality of peripheral shell holding cavities, the cavities being spaced apart around the rotor;
• (b) means for rotatably mounting the rotor for enabling transfer thereby of shells from the supply means into the shell pick up position, said mounting means positioning the rotor relative to the shell supply means and the shell pick up position for causing, when any one of the rotor cavities is indexed into the shell pick up position, another one of the rotor cavities to be positioned in shell receiving relationship with the supply means;
• (c) first stage actuating means operated by pressurized gases caused by firing of the gun, for causing, as the bolt moves rearwardly after the gun is fired, partial rotation of the rotor to index a rotor cavity holding a shell into the shell pick up position to enable picking up of the shell by the bolt on forward bolt travel, and simultaneously to index an empty cavity into shell receiving relationship with the supply means;
• (d) second stage shell feeding means, operated by pressurized gases caused by firing of the gun, for causing, after the first stage actuating means has rotatably indexed the rotor and before a next firing of the gun, transfer of a shell from the shell supply means into the empty rotor cavity indexed therewith;
• and,
• (e) shell accelerating means responsive to the bolt on forward travel thereof for causing acceleration of a shell in the shell pick up position prior to engagement between the bolt and said shell, forces of impact between the bolt and the shell and possibility of shell impact damage being thereby substantially reduced over those occurring without the accelerating means.

Shell feeding apparatus for a gun having shell supply means for containing shells to be fed into the gun and a bolt operative for axially reciprocating past a shell pick up position which is offset from a barrel bore axis and picking up shells therefrom on forward bolt travel for loading into a gun firing chamber, the apparatus comprising:

• (a) a first stage shell feeding rotor having surface regions defining a plurality of peripheral shell holding cavities, the cavities being equally spaced apart around the rotor;
• (b) means for rotatably mounting the rotor for transferring shells from the shell supply means to the shell pick up position, said mounting means positioning the rotor relative to the shell supply means and the pick up position for causing, when any one of the rotor cavities is indexed into the shell pick up position, another one of the rotor cavities to be positioned in shell receiving relationship with the supply means;
• (c) shell retaining means mounted intermediate the rotor and the gun adjacent to the shell pick up position for retaining in the rotor a shell contained in whichever rotor cavity is indexed into the shell pick up position, said retaining means permitting forward extraction of the shell from said indexed cavity by the bolt on forward travel thereof past the shell pick up position, said rotor surface regions defining the shell holding cavities and said shell retaining means both having shell engaging surface regions cooperatively configured for providing controlled forward and inward shell feeding movement as a shell picked up from the cavity indexed into the shell pick up position is driven by the bolt towards the firing chamber;
• (d) first stage actuating means, operated by firing of the gun, for causing, as the bolt moves rearwardly after the gun is fired, partial rotation of the rotor to index a rotor cavity holding a shell into the shell pick up position and to simultaneously index an empty cavity into shell receiving relationship with the supply means;
• (e) second stage feeding means for transferring shells from the shell supply means into the rotor;
• (f) second stage actuating means, responsive to firing of the gun, for actuating said second stage feeding means to cause, after the first stage actuating means has rotatably indexed the rotor and before a next firing of the gun, transferring of a shell from the shell supply means into the empty rotor cavity indexed therewith;
• and
• (g) shell accelerating means responsive to the bolt on forward travel thereof for causing acceleration of a shell in the shell pick up position prior to engagement between the bolt and said shell, forces of impact between the bolt and the shell and possibility of shell impact damage being thereby substantially reduced over those occurring without the accelerating means.

Shell feeding apparatus, for an automatic gun having a shell supply means for containing shells to be fed into the gun and a bolt operative for axially reciprocating past a shell pick up position and picking up shells therefrom on forward bolt travel for loading into a gun firing chamber, the apparatus comprising:

• (a) first stage shell feeding means for transferring shells from the shell supply means to the shell pick up position, said first stage feeding means including a shell rotor rotatably mounted on an axial rotor shaft, said shell rotor having surface regions defining a plurality of equally spaced apart, peripheral shell holding cavities;
• (b) means for bidirectionally rotatably mounting the rotor shaft between the shell supply means and the shell pick up position, said mounting means positioning the shell rotor means relative to the shell supply means and the pick up position for causing, when any one of the rotor cavities is indexed into the shell pick up position, another one of the rotor cavities to be positioned in shell receiving relationship with the supply means;
• (c) first stage actuating means, operated by pressurized gases caused by firing the gun, for causing, as the bolt is moving rearwardly after the gun is fired, partial rotation of the rotor to index a rotor cavity holding a shell into the shell pick up position to enable picking up of the shell by the bolt on forward bolt travel, and to simultaneously index an empty cavity into shell receiving relationship with the supply means;
• said first stage actuating means including a first crankarm fixed to a first end of the rotor shaft, a gas cylinder having a piston connected to said crankarm for causing pivotal crankarm movement in response to piston movement and means for supplying pressurized gas from the gun barrel to the cylinder;
• (d) second stage feeding means, operated by pressurized gases caused by firing of the gun, for causing, after the first stage feeding means has rotatably indexed the rotor and before a next firing of the gun, transfer of a shell from the shell supply means into the empty rotor cavity indexed therewith, said second stage feeding means including spring loaded shell advancing means connected to the shell supply means;
• (e) second stage actuating means for actuating said second stage feeding means, including a second crankarm fixed to a second end of the rotor shaft and means for interconnecting the second crankarm with the shell advancing means to enable compressing of springs in the shell advancing means in response to pivotal movement of the second crankarm;
• (f) racheting means interconnecting the rotor with the rotor shaft for limiting rotational movement of the rotor to a single rotational direction, thereby enabling return rotation of the rotor shaft without rotational movement of the rotor;
• and
• (g) shell accelerating means responsive to the bolt on forward travel thereof for causing acceleration of a shell in the shell pick up position prior to engagement between the bolt and said shell, forces of impact between the bolt and the shell and possibility of shell impact damage being thereby substantially reduced over those occurring without the accelerating means.

Shell feeding apparatus, for an automatic gun having shell supply means for containing shells to be fed and a gas operated bolt operative for axially reciprocating past a shell pick up position and picking up shells therefrom on forward bolt travel for loading into a gun firing chamber, the apparatus comprising:

• (a) a first stage shell feeding rotor having surface regions defining a plurality of peripheral shell holding cavities equally spaced around the rotor;
• (b) means for rotatably mounting the rotor between the shell supply means and the shell pick up position for enabling transfer of shells from the supply means into the shell pick up position, said mounting means positioning the rotor relative to the supply means and the pick up position for causing, when any one of the rotor cavities is indexed into the shell pick up position, another rotor cavity to be indexed into shell receiving relationship with the supply means;
• (c) first stage actuating means for causing, as the bolt is moving rearwardly after the gun is fired, partial undirectional rotation of the rotor a single cavity position to index a rotor cavity holding a shell into the shell pick up position for enabling pick up of the shell by the bolt on forward bolt travel, and simultaneously to index a next adjacent empty cavity into shell receiving relationship with the supply means;
• (d) second stage shell feeding means for transferring shells from the shell supply means into the rotor;
• (e) second stage actuating means, responsive to firing of the gun, for actuating said second stage feeding means to cause, after the first stage actuating means has rotatably indexed the rotor and before a next firing of the gun, transferring of a shell from the shell supply means into the empty rotor cavity indexed therewith;
• (f) sensing means for sensing no shell in the rotor cavity indexed into the shell pick up position and no shell in a next to the last shell position, relative to shell transferring to the rotor, in the shell supply means, and for providing an electrical signal adapted for initiating searing up of the bolt at a searing up position rearwardly of the pick up position the next time the bolt is in said searing up position, in response to sensing that the shell pick up position and the next to the last shell position are simultaneously empty of shells, the rotor being thereby caused to have shells in both the cavity indexed into the shell pick up position and in the next adjacent cavity indexed in shell receiving relationship with the shell supply means when the bolt is seared up and ready for a next firing;
• and
• (g) shell accelerating means responsive to the bolt on forward travel thereof for causing acceleration of a shell in the shell pick up position prior to engagement between the bolt and said shell, forces of impact between the bolt and the shell and possibility of shell impact damage thereby substantially reduced over those occurring without the accelerating means.

Shell feeding apparatus for a high rate of fire automatic cannon, said cannon having a bolt operative for axially reciprocating past a loaded shell pick up position which is offset from the barrel bore axis of the cannon, to sequentially pick up shells therefrom on forward bolt travel for sequentially loading the same into a cannon firing chamber, said shell feeding apparatus comprising:

• (a) a shell feeding rotor having surface regions defining a plurality of peripheral shell holding cavities, the cavities being spaced apart around the rotor;
• (b) shell supply means for supplying shells, as free shells, to the rotor;
• (c) means rotatably mounting the rotor for enabling transfer of free shells from the supply means into the shell pick up position, said mounting means positioning the rotor relative to the shell supply means and the shell pick up position for causing, when any of the rotor cavities is indexed into the shell pick up position, another one of the rotor cavities to be positioned in shell receiving relationship with the supply means;
• (d) a relatively fast actuating means for partially rotating the rotor to index a rotor cavity holding a free shell into the shell pick up position upon firing of the cannon and prior to the recoiling bolt moving rearwardly of the shell pick up position, said fast actuating means being operated by pressurized gases caused by firing of the cannon;
• and,
• (e) a relatively slow shell feeding means for advancing a plurality of shells in the supply means toward the rotor and for transferring a free shell from the supply means into the empty rotor cavity indexed with the supply means, after said actuating means has rotatably indexed the rotor and before the next shell is fired.