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US 6,263,776 B1Granted
Aircraft support plank mounted 30 mm machine gun
AssigneePaul H. Sanderson
InventorCharles E. Rostocil
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A machine gun, representatively a 30 mm machine gun, is mounted on an outer end portion of a support plank structure projecting out of the cabin area of a helicopter using a roller cradle assembly secured to the outer plank end. A variety of structural improvements are incorporated into the machine gun to (1) reduce its mechanical complexity, (2) reduce its firing recoil to make the gun more suitable for light aircraft mounting, and to improve the gun's firing controllability and accuracy, and (3) to make the gun easily and quickly field strippable, for cleaning, inspection and repair purposes, without requiring the services of a highly skilled armament mechanic or taking the gun to a specialized repair facility.
Claims12
Machine gun apparatus comprising:
- an outer body having an exterior wall;
- a barrel carried by said outer body and extending forwardly and rearwardly along a firing axis;
- an operating structure carried within said outer body for driven movement relative thereto cyclically in forward and rearward directions;
- feed apparatus operative to position successive cartridges from an ammunition belt for retrieval and chambering in said barrel for firing therein, said outer body being forwardly and rearwardly movable relative to said feed apparatus;
- ammunition handling apparatus, carried within said outer body and being drivable by said operating structure, for delivering cartridges from said feed apparatus to said barrel for firing therein, and then extracting and ejecting the spent casings of the fired cartridges;
- firing apparatus for firing each chambered cartridge, the firing of each cartridge causing a rearward recoil movement and subsequent forward counter-recoil movement of said outer body relative to said feed apparatus;
- and
- cooperatively engaged first and second structures respectively disposed on said outer body and said feed apparatus for operating said feed apparatus in response to forward and rearward movement of said outer body relative to said feed apparatus,
- said first structure including a cam slot formed in said exterior wall of said outer body, and
- said second structure including a cam follower structure slidingly and drivably received in said cam slot.
7 more elements
Machine gun apparatus comprising:
- a body;
- a barrel carried by said body and extending forwardly and rearwardly along a firing axis;
- an operating structure carried by said body for driven movement relative thereto cyclically in forward and rearward directions;
- feed apparatus operative to position successive cartridges from an ammunition belt for retrieval and chambering in said barrel for firing therein, said body being forwardly and rearwardly movable relative to said feed apparatus;
- ammunition handling apparatus, carried by said body and being drivable by said operating structure, for delivering cartridges from said feed apparatus to said barrel for firing therein, and then extracting and ejecting the spent casings of the fired cartridges;
- firing apparatus for firing each chambered cartridge, the firing of each cartridge causing a rearward recoil movement and subsequent forward counter-recoil movement of said body relative to said feed apparatus;
- and
- cooperatively engaged first and second structures respectively disposed on said body and said feed apparatus for operating said feed apparatus in response to forward and rearward movement of said body relative to said feed apparatus,
- said feed apparatus including a sprocket structure rotationally driven during operation of said feed apparatus to sequentially engage and deliver successive cartridges in an ammunition belt to said ammunition handling apparatus,
- said feed apparatus further including:
- a drive shaft longitudinally extending parallel to said barrel, said sprocket structure being coaxially locked to said drive shaft for conjoint rotation therewith, and being slidable along its length between front and rear limit positions, and
- a spring structure carried by said drive shaft and resiliently biasing said sprocket structure toward said rear limit position thereof.
9 more elements
Machine gun apparatus comprising:
- a body;
- a barrel carried by said body and extending forwardly and rearwardly along a firing axis;
- an operating structure carried by said body for driven movement relative thereto cyclically in forward and rearward directions;
- feed apparatus operative to position successive cartridges from an ammunition belt for retrieval and chambering in said barrel for firing therein, said body being forwardly and rearwardly movable relative to said feed apparatus;
- ammunition handling apparatus, carried by said body and being drivable by said operating structure, for delivering cartridges from said feed apparatus to said barrel for firing therein, and then extracting and ejecting the spent casings of the fired cartridges;
- firing apparatus for firing each chambered cartridge, the firing of each cartridge causing a rearward recoil movement and subsequent forward counter-recoil movement of said body relative to said feed apparatus;
- and
- cooperatively engaged first and second structures respectively disposed on said body and said feed apparatus for operating said feed apparatus in response to forward and rearward movement of said body relative to said feed apparatus,
- said feed apparatus including a sprocket structure rotationally driven during operation of said feed apparatus to sequentially engage and deliver successive cartridges in an ammunition belt to said ammunition handling apparatus,
- said feed apparatus further including a drive shaft drivingly coupled to said sprocket structure, a rotatable feed member, and a ratcheted gear structure coupled between said drive shaft and said rotatable feed member, said ratcheted gear structure being back-indexable, without rotationally driving said drive shaft, in response to rotation of said feed member in a first direction, and operable to rotationally drive said drive shaft when said feed member is rotated in a second direction opposite from said first direction.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.