Portable ammunition handling and loading system
AssigneeWayne H. Coloney Co., Inc.
InventorStephen F. Pollock
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A manually portable ammunition handling and loading system for delivering live rounds of large caliber ammunition from an ammunition supply belt to an automatic weapons system such as those carried by military aircraft, and which simultaneously collects expended shell casings and unfired rounds from the weapons system. The portable loading system is selectively mounted on an ammunition supply container and a spent round collection container and serves to feed belt carried ammunition from the supply container to the weapons system and to discharge the same belt carrying shell casings and unfired rounds received from the weapons system into the collection container.
Claims12
An apparatus for transferring large caliber ammunition stored in tubular members of an ammunition belt from a supply container to an armament system and simultaneously delivering shells and unfired rounds of ammunition from the armament system to a collection container comprising a housing, means for mounting said housing on the supply and collection containers, a drum means rotatably mounted within said housing, a plurality of fixed and radially spaced cradle members carried by said drum means adjacent one end thereof, a supply interface having conveying means to draw the ammunition belt from the supply container and guide the tubular members of the ammunition belt toward said fixed cradle members of said drum, a plurality of shuttle means carried by said drum means and being longitudinally movable relative thereto between said fixed cradle members and the opposite end of said drum means, each of said shuttle means having ammunition engaging and support means so that said shuttle means can engage a round of ammunition carried within the tubular members of the ammunition belt and transfer the same therefrom towards said opposite end of said drum means remote from the ammunition belt as said drum means is rotated, a gun interface adjacent said opposite end of said transfer drum, said gun interface having first and second transfer means, said first transfer means having means for engaging rounds of ammunition carried by said shuttles and for transferring said rounds to a conveyor means extending from adjacent said gun interface to the armament system, said second transfer means being vertically spaced from said first transfer means and having means for receiving shells and unfired rounds of ammunition passing from the armament system through the conveyor means and transferring such shells and unfired rounds to said shuttle means, a discharge interface remote from said gun interface and in vertically spaced relationship to said supply interface, a reorientation chute means extending from adjacent said discharge interface outwardly of said housing and longitudinally of said drum means, said discharge interface having means to guide the ammunition belt from said drum means into said reorientation chute means so that the ammunition belt is shifted longitudinally with respect to said drum means outwardly of said housing and guide means for guiding said ammunition belt from said reorientation chute means into the collection container.
A manually portable system for transferring large caliber ammunition stored in tubular members of an ammunition belt from a supply container to an armament system and simultaneously delivering shells and unfired rounds of ammunition from the armament system to a collection container comprising a housing, means for mounting said housing on the supply and collection containers, rotatable drum means mounted within said housing and having first and second ends, feed means for pulling the ammunition belt from the supply container and directing the belt to said first end of said drum means, means associated with said drum means for limiting the longitudinal movement of said ammunition belt relative to said drum means within said housing, transfer means carried by said drum means for extracting the ammunition from the tubular members and moving the ammunition longitudinally along and relative to said drum means toward said second end thereof as said drum is rotated, exchange means mounted adjacent to said second end of said drum means, conveyor means extending from said exchange means to the armament system, said exchange means having a first engaging means for removing rounds of ammunition being moved relative to said drum means adjacent said second end thereof and transferring the ammunition to said conveyor means and second engaging means for receiving shells and unfired rounds of ammunition from said conveyor means and transferring such shells and unfired ammunition to said transfer means of said drum, said transfer means conveying the shells and unfired rounds of ammunition into the tubular members of the ammunition belt, pickoff means mounted adjacent said drum means, guide means mounted exteriorally of said housing adjacent said pickoff means and extending longitudinally of said drum means, said pickoff means removing the ammunition belt from said drum means and introducing the ammunition belt to said guide means, and discharge means for discharging the ammunition belt from said guide means into the collection container.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.