Weapon with next round select feed system

An improvement in a gun driven by a source of external power, and having a firing mechanism and an ammunition feeder, said feeder having a sprocket, said feeder for handing-off ammunition of at least two types to said firing mechanism within said gun, said improvement comprising:

• means for stopping said sprocket prior to handing-off one of said types of ammunition to said firing mechanism;
• and
• means for accelerating said sprocket to quickly hand-off a selected type of ammunition to said firing mechanism after selection of said type has been made, activation of said means for accelerating being delayed in time until hand-off of said type of said ammunition to said firing mechanism is just possible in a given time period required for such accelerated hand-off,
• whereby commitment of a type of ammunition to be handed-off to said firing mechanism is postponed well beyond the time at which said firing mechanism begins to be configured to accept said ammunition and then handing-off is accelerated after selection is made.

An externally powered gun mechanism capable of a high rate of fire comprising:

• a supporting receiver structure carrying at least one gun barrel in fixed stationary relation to the supporting receiver structure;
• at least one driven bolt assembly movable in reciprocating motion towards and away from the associated gun barrel;
• at least one drive chain drive assembly mounted on said supporting structure and continuously operating during a firing cycle to advance the cooperating bolt assembly through a cycle of feeding, ramming, firing, extracting, and ejecting;
• a driven rotor assembly cooperating to feed rounds to said bolt assembly and for ejecting the spent casing;
• a driven sprocket assembly cooperating to selectively hand-off one of at least two types of rounds to said feeder assembly;
• and
• means forming a power transmission system for driving said chain drive assembly and for driving said sprocket and rotor assembly in periodic oscillation in synchronism with said chain drive assembly to hand-off said rounds from said sprocket assembly to said rotor assembly at the last possible moment at which said round can be accepted by said rotor assembly;
• wherein said chain drive assembly including means driven along a predetermined path of travel which includes portions defining the timing and sequence of the cycle of feeding, ramming, firing, extracting and ejecting;
• means to support and to drive said chain through a predetermined path of movement, and
• said means driven along said predetermined path of travel being carried by said chain member to advance said bolt assembly towards and away from said barrel;
• said means which are driven along said predetermined path being operative to effect reciprocation of said bolt assembly.

The method of controlling the sequence and timing of an externally powered weapon wherein said sequence includes the operations of ramming, firing, extracting and loading, and wherein said weapon includes a barrel, a bolt assembly and a feed assembly, the method comprising the steps of:

• providing a control assembly including a driven member;
• continuously advancing said driven member along a predetermined generally rectangular path of travel in one direction;
• said path of travel including portions defining the sequence and time of the operations of ramming, firing, extracting and loading;
• maintaining said bolt assembly in contact with said continuously advancing driven member throughout said sequence;
• said bolt assembly in driving contact with said driven member being stationary during loading and firing operations while said driven member is continuously advanced along said predetermined path of travel;
• selecting a round for firing among at least two types of rounds;
• handing-off the selected round to a rotor assembly for subsequent indexing of said round to said bolt assembly, said round being handed-off at the last possible moment said rotor assembly may accept a round to allow maximum delay in selecting said round;
• sequentially indexing said round to said bolt assembly during the loading operation as controlled by the relative position of said driven member along the path of travel;
• and
• the rate of travel and the length of the path of travel of said driven member determining the time interval of each of said operations.

A gun comprising:

• a housing;
• a single gun barrel having a longitudinal axis and disposed within said housing;
• a single gun bolt disposed within said housing and journaled for reciprocation along said longitudinal axis;
• an operating mechanism for said gun bolt;
• means for feeding rounds of ammunition to and from said gun bolt;
• and
• coupling means for interengaging said operating mechanism and said feeding means;
• wherein said feeding means comprises:
• first transfer means, driven at a nonuniform and periodic rotational velocity by said coupling means, for advancing and accepting a train of rounds of ammunition at a substantially uniform rate, and
• second transfer means, driven at an intermittent angular velocity by said coupling means, for receiving a round of ammunition from said first transfer means and for translating said round transversely to said longitudinal axis to the face of the gun bolt said coupling means driving said first transfer means of said feeding means to delay transfer of each said round from said first to said second transfer means.

An ammunition feeder for a gun having a longitudinally reciprocating gun bolt, including:

• first transfer means, driven at a substantially non-uniform and periodic rotational velocity, for accepting and advancing a train of rounds of ammunition at a substantially uniform rate;
• second transfer means, driven at an intermittent rotational velocity, for initially receiving a round of ammunition from said first transfer means and for transversely translating such round to the face of the gun bolt of the gun and for subsequently ejecting such round after firing from the face of the gun bolt;
• and
• drive means directly coupled both to said first transfer means and to said second transfer means for positively driving said first transfer means and said second transfer means, said drive means driving said first and second transfer means to delay transfer of each said round from said first transfer means to said second transfer means.

An ammunition feeder for a gun having a longitudinally reciprocating gun bolt, including:

• housing means;
• first rotating sprocket means, disposed in said housing means, and driven at a nonuniform and periodic rotational velocity, for accepting and advancing a train of rounds of ammunition at a substantially uniform rate;
• and
• second rotating sprocket means, disposed in said housing means, and driven at an intermittent rotational velocity for initially receiving a round of ammunition from said first sprocket means and for transversely translating such round to the face of the gun bolt of the gun and for subsequently ejecting such round after firing from the face of the gun bolt said first sprocket means handing-off each round to said second sprocket means, and
• means for driving said first sprocket means to delay handing-off each round from said first sprocket means to said second sprocket means for a predetermined interval.