Indexing helical magazine
AssigneeHelitek
InventorJames C. David
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An indexing helical magazine for use with delicate projectiles, such as pellets and paint balls. The magazine has a housing with a helical rib extending partially into the housing. A carrier for the projectiles is rotatably coupled within the housing and guides the projectiles along the helical rib. An end cap coupled to the housing feeds the projectiles from the housing into the gun. A ratchet coupled to the drive member rotates the drive member via interaction with a camming member. The indexing magazine may also include a loading member for disengaging the ratchet and the carrier so that projectiles can be loaded into the carrier. Finally, the magazine may also include a stop member for preventing reverse rotation of the carrier.
Claims24
An indexing magazine for storing and dispensing projectiles to a gun, comprising:
- a housing having a first end, a second end, a passageway extending from said first end to said second end along a longitudinal axis, a helical member extending partially from said first end to said second end into said passageway and an end cap at said first end;
- a drive member rotatably coupled within said housing and having a plurality of projections for guiding the projectiles along said helical member;
- a release member coupled to said second end of said housing and to said drive member for feeding the projectiles from said housing into the gun;
- a rotating member coupled to said drive member such that when said rotating member is rotated in a first direction it positively rotates said drive member but does not rotate said drive member when said rotating member is rotated in a second direction;
- and
- a camming member slidably coupled to said rotating member and movable between a first position and a second position,
- said rotating member slidably engaging said camming member as said camming member moves from its said first position to its said second position and rotating in said second direction;
- said rotating member slidably engaging said camming member as said camming member moves from its said second position to its said first position and rotating in said first direction, thereby rotating said drive member and dispensing one of the projectiles.
An indexing helical magazine for a pellet gun, comprising:
- a housing having a first end, a second end, a passageway extending from said first end to said second end along a longitudinal axis, and a helical member extending partially from said first end to said second end into said passageway;
- a carrier rotatably coupled within said housing and having a plurality of flutes extending therefrom for guiding the pellets along said helical member;
- a release member coupled to said second end of said housing and to said carrier for feeding the pellets from said housing into the gun;
- a stop member extending into said housing from said release member having a biasing surface extending angularly to said longitudinal axis and a stop surface extending parallel to said longitudinal axis;
- a loading member coupled to said first end of said housing;
- a ratchet member coupled to said loading member for rotating said carrier;
- and
- a camming member slidably coupled to said ratchet member and movable between a first position and a second position and having a first end portion extending parallel to said longitudinal axis, a center portion extending angularly to said longitudinal axis and a second end portion extending parallel to said longitudinal axis,
- said ratchet member having a first abutment surface extending parallel to said longitudinal axis and a first inclined surface extending angularly to said longitudinal axis,
- said ratchet member slidably engaging said camming member as said camming member moves from its said first position to its said second position, said center portion rotating said ratchet member in a first direction with said first inclined surface of said ratchet member engaging said adjacent flute and sliding over said adjacent flute at said first end and said stop surface of said stop member engaging said adjacent flute at said second end and preventing said carrier from rotating,
- said ratchet member slidably engaging said camming member as said camming member moves from its said second position to its said first position, said center portion rotating said ratchet member in a second direction with said first abutment surface of said ratchet member engaging said flute and rotating said carrier and said biasing surface of said stop member sliding over said flute at said second end,
- said loading member releasably engaging said ratchet member from said carrier such that the pellets can be loaded into said carrier when said loading member is disengaged from said ratchet member.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.