Automatic shell feeding attachment for a reloading machine

The present invention provides a retrofitting shell feeding attachment for shotgun shell reloading machines. The invention includes a declined tray held by a forked tray support, a funnel tube member leading from a discharge port located in the tray, and a feed tube leading from the funnel tube member and into a plunger block device. The plunger block device uses a linkage mechanism joined to a shell sliding member to automatically translate the vertical reciprocating motion of a plate member on the machine into sequential horizontal motions for sliding the shells discharging from the feed tube into proper loading position underneath the plate member.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates generally to automatic reloading machines or presses 
for refurbishing and recharging spent shotgun shells, and more 
particularly, to a shell feeding attachment for use therewith. 
BACKGROUND AND PRIOR ART OF THE INVENTION 
Their is an increasing tendency among shotgun users to recover their spent 
shells and reload them on their own. To a large degree, the reasoning 
behind this propensity to self load old shells is simply financial, as the 
cost of reloading spent shells is roughly half the cost of a new shell and 
as a shell can often be retired approximately ten or more times. However, 
many shot gun enthusiasts also feel a certain internal gratification from 
reloading their own shells. While some will insist that the specific 
powder charge and shot count ratios available with self loading techniques 
and apparatus are more suitable to individual shooters, mostly all will 
confess that the very act of reloading a shotgun shell seems like a 
sportsman type of feat in and of itself. 
The actual reloading of a spent shotgun shell or casing is a rather tedious 
process which entails numerous steps. These include resizing the brass or 
steel base portion of the shell so that it fits properly into the magazine 
chamber of a shotgun, discharging the old primer, inserting a new primer, 
filling the shell with a powder charge, lightly pressurizing the powder 
with a wad packing, filling the shell with a desired shot count, and 
crimping the top portion of the shell. 
In order to facilitate this reloading process, numerous machines which 
provide varying degrees of automation have been invented. Often times, 
these shell reloading machines have been modified with various types of 
attachments to provide improved means for discharging the shot or powder 
to the shells, for feeding the primers to the shells, or for placing the 
shells in the machine. The Ponsness U.S. Pat. No. 3,320,848 disclose a 
primer cap feeder for a shell reloading machine, comprising, a cap holder 
tilted to gravity feed the primer caps, a chute communicating with the cap 
holder, and a cap feeder block. A pusher device which removes a spent 
primer cap and opens a slot for reception of the leading primer cap in the 
chute is also included as part of the Ponsness disclosure. 
In his U.S. Pat. No. 3,610,090, Corcoran teaches a casing feeding apparatus 
for a reloading press having a stationary tool-holding head at the top of 
a central column and a coaxial work-holding slide carrying a turntable for 
properly and successively positioning casings underneath the tools 
positioned in the stationary head. The casing feed mechanism includes a 
feed tube having a throat which holds a number of casings in an end-to-end 
array. Upon movement of the work-holding slide, a spring-loaded plunger 
and detent ball mechanism releases to allow the lowest casing to gravity 
discharge into loading position on the turntable. 
A problem with shell feeding devices which require placement of the casings 
or shells down through a feed tube, as does the Corcoran invention, is 
that the amount of shells which can be stacked one on top of the other in 
the tube is limited, and that operation of the reloading machine will 
cease when the relatively small supply of casings in the tube is 
exhausted. Furthermore, having to individually place the casings in the 
feed tube is a time consuming process that minimizes the benefit of the 
having the feeding device in the first place. 
In response to this problem, a number of shell hopper devices in which a 
large number of spent casings may be placed before being automatically 
introduced in the proper orientation into a vertically oriented feed tube 
have been invented. The U.S. Pat. No. 3,659,492 issued to Fullmer teaches 
such an attachment. The Fullmer device includes an open, cylindrical, and 
inclined top hopper having a discharge port in the highest point of its 
lower base portion which leads to a substantially vertical feed tube. 
Shells are introduced into the discharge port by a rotatable plate 
disposed within the hopper and turned by a motor, the action of which is 
automatically interrupted when too many shells accumulate in the feed 
tube. 
The Meacham U.S. Pat. No. 4,158,321 describes another casing feeder which 
comprises a hopper mounted to a loading tube by means of a depending 
sleeve and support cone. In the center of its base, the hopper has an 
opening slightly larger than a casing rim so that, since the center of 
gravity of a horizontally positioned shell is very close to its rim, the 
shells will tip into the opening rim-end first. The tube and hopper are 
maintained in an upright alignment by a tube support collar which is 
connected to one of the reciprocating links of the shell reloader. The 
vibration of the machine travels through the linkage and agitates the 
hopper so as to cause the shells to migrate toward the central opening. 
Another hopper attachment for a reloading machine which properly feeds the 
shells rim-end first into a feed tube as a result of the rim being the 
heavier of the two ends is the subject of the Ransom U.S. Pat. No. 
4,455,915. The Ransom hopper has curved interior surfaces which downwardly 
converge at a feed opening leading below to a vertical feed tube. A 
transverse bar extending across the hopper and directly over the feed 
opening prevents shells from dropping open-end first through the feed 
opening and into the feed tube. 
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,651,619 issued to Voecks discloses a shotgun shell 
reloader device having a hopper into which spent shells are oriented and 
stacked, and a carousel reel for serial transport of the casings to a 
dispenser/trip mechanism where they are individually released for 
convenient manual removal of the shells from the dispenser. The Voecks 
device is not intended to be an attachment for a shell reloading machine, 
but rather, an auxiliary tool to provide a steady supply of shells for the 
easy grasping of a reloading machine operator. 
In the art of shotgun shell reloading apparatus, there exists a species of 
machine that requires spent shells to be fed underneath a sliding plate 
member carrying a turntable, and not on the top thereof. In this type of 
machine, the sliding plate member moves by means of a linkage mechanism in 
an up-and-down reciprocating motion. During its downward stroke, the 
sliding plate member covers and entraps a spent shotgun shell through an 
opening and places it in the turntable for successive operations that are 
to be performed as the machine proceeds. Consequently, the Corcoran 
invention is not suitable for use with this type of machine, as the 
Corcoran feed tube device is designed to release shell casings vertically 
on to the top portion of a turntable or shell holding device. Similarly, 
the Fullmer, Meacham, and Ransom casing hopper attachments disclose no way 
of feeding the shells underneath a turntable device, since this type of 
positioning requires lateral movement of the shell from the bottom of the 
feed tube to the proper location underneath the sliding plate member. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
This invention is concerned with a casing feed attachment device which is 
capable of successively feeding spent shotgun shells into the type of 
machine described above. More specifically, the feed device has been 
designed to fit machines designated under the 800 and 900 series and 
manufactured by the Ponsness/Warren Company, a reloading machine company 
based in Rathdrum, Id. 
Although the 800 and 900 series machines manufactured by Ponsness/Warren 
provide a high degree of automation in reloading spent shells, there is no 
available attachment for automatically feeding casings underneath the 
sliding plate member and into the machine. For the machines which rely on 
manual lever actuation, placing the shells underneath the sliding plate 
before pulling the lever becomes an extremely time consuming and 
cumbersome process. One must pull the lever, reload a casing, pull the 
lever, and so on. The same applies, although to a lesser extent, to 
machines that have been retrofitted with an optional hydraulic drive 
system. In this latter case, the operation of the machine by means of a 
foot controlled valve must still be interrupted so that spent casings may 
be manually fed into the machine. 
The present invention accomplishes automatic feeding of the shells into the 
machine via a hopper tray supported by a stand, a funnel member leading 
from an opening in the hopper to a vertically oriented feed tube, and a 
unique plunger device disposed at the lower end of the feed tube. The 
plunger device includes a sliding member having a concave engaging end and 
a linkage mechanism which translates the vertical motion of the sliding 
plate member of the machine into a horizontal motion sufficient to 
laterally slide a shotgun shell underneath the sliding plate member and 
into its proper loading position in the machine. Means are also provided 
to mount the plunger device, the tray stand, and the feed tube. 
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION 
It is an object of this invention to provide a novel shell feeding device 
for attachment to a shotgun shell reloading machine. 
Another object of this invention is to provide a shell feeding device which 
includes a declined tray hopper, a funnel tube leading from the tray 
hopper, a feed tube leading from the funnel tube, and a plunger block 
disposed at the lower end of the feed tube. 
Yet another object of this invention is to provide a shotgun shell feeding 
device wherein feeding action of the shells resting on the declined tray 
hopper occurs as a result of the vibration causes by the action of the 
machine. 
To provide a shell feeding attachment for shotgun shell reloading machines 
which includes a plunger block member having a linkage mechanism which 
uses the vertical motion of the reloading machine to produce a horizontal 
sliding motion for feeding spent shells into the machine is another object 
of this invention. 
To provide a shell feeding attachment having a plunger block mechanism 
which includes a sliding member having a shell engaging end curved to 
match the contour of the lower rim portion of a shotgun shell is yet 
another object of this invention. 
And to provide a novel shell feeding device that will increase the 
productivity and efficiency of the shotgun shell reloading process is 
still another object of this invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION 
Referring now to FIGS. 1 to 12C of the drawings, there is shown the 
preferred embodiment of an automatic shotgun shell feeding device for a 
reloading machine 20. The standard reloading machine 20 to which the 
present invention is applicable includes a base frame 22, an upper 
stationary plate 24 supported by vertical shafts 28, and a lower sliding 
plate 26 which supports an indexed turntable 40. On the reloading machine 
20 pictured, the lower sliding plate 26 is forced to move up and down 
along vertical shafts 28 by means of a hydraulic drive system which 
includes two hydraulic cylinders 30 bolted to the upper stationary plate 
24 and a number of hydraulic hoses 32. The hydraulic pump and actuation 
mechanism are not shown. A shot tube 34 and a powder charge tube 36 are 
positioned on top of the upper stationary plate 24 in order to 
automatically feed their contents in measured amounts through the shell 
tools 42. An automatic primer feeder assembly 38 is included as part of 
the reloading machine 20. 
In operation, the reloading machine 20 lowers the lower sliding plate 26 
over a spent shotgun shell in order to force it into the turntable 40, 
indexes the turntable 40 one turn, and raises the lower sliding plate 26 
into the shell tools 42. By repeating this process, the reloading machine 
20 successively performs resizing, depriming, repriming, powder filling, 
pressurizing, shot filling, crimping, and ejecting operations to the spent 
shotgun shells in turn as they rotate with the turntable 40 and engage 
themselves with the shell tools 42 on the upstroke of the lower sliding 
plate 26. 
Until now, spent shotgun shells had to be individually hand fed into their 
proper position underneath the lower sliding plate 26 and onto a shaft 
member 134 surrounded by a spring 136. Naturally, this process caused 
unavoidable delays and interruptions in the operation of the reloading 
machine 20 as the operator struggled to properly place the spent shells 
while monitoring the other systems of the machine. The present shell 
feeding attachment seeks to eliminate these problems by providing an 
automated and continuous means of feeding the shells into the machine 20. 
As seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, the shell feeding device attaches in four main 
sections: a tray hopper 44, a tray support 46, a feed tube 50, and a 
plunger block 52. The tray support 46 is made from a metal such as steel 
and is mounted to the upper stationary plate 24 with a bolt 54. For 
convenience in attaching the tray support 46, the bolt 54 used is the same 
as that which stabilizes the right hydraulic cylinder 30. The tray hopper 
44 is made from a rigid plastic material, and is preferably transparent so 
that the machine operator may view how the shells are feeding as he or she 
continues to run the reloading machine 20. The tray hopper 44 rests on the 
tray support 46 in a declined orientation so that any shell contained 
within slides downward and passes through a discharge port 47 located at 
the lowest point of the tray hopper 44. Connected to the discharge port 47 
is a funnel tube member 48 which joins into the feed tube 50 for assisting 
the descending shells in aligning as they enter the feed tube 50. 
The feed tube 50 is supported by a clamp and bracket assembly 56 joined to 
the upper stationary plate 24 with a bolt 57. At the lower rear portion of 
the feed tube 50, there is a vertically oriented cylindrical slot 58 which 
receives a vertical guide shaft 64 running off of a plunger block cover 
60. The plunger block cover 60 wraps around the rear and part of the upper 
side of the plunger block 52, and is connected thereon with two screws 62. 
A stabilizing stud 70 threaded into the bottom side of the plunger block 
52 extends downward through an opening in a stabilizing bracket 66 
attached to the machine 20 with two screws 68, and thereby helps to 
stabilize the rear end of the plunger block assembly 52 during operation 
of the reloading machine 20. 
FIG. 2 shows the shell feeding device detached from the reloading machine 
20. As more clearly seen in this figure, the tray support 46 includes a 
vertical bar member 75 joined to an inclined bar member 73. At the lower 
base portion of the vertical bar member 75, there is a flange member 77 
having an aperture for bolting to the reloading machine 20. At the upper 
portion of the inclined bar member 73, there is a fork support member 74 
which rotates with a shaft 76 about the opening provided in a nut 72. Two 
vertical bracing members 78 extend upward from the fork support member 74 
to restrain the tray hopper 44 from falling off of the tray support 46 on 
either side. 
The feed tube 50, which leads directly from the funnel tube member 48, has 
a lower elongate opening 80 through which a shotgun shell may slide 
laterally away from the primary longitudinal axis of the feed tube 50. The 
feed tube 50 is supported by the clamp and bracket assembly 56, and 
stabilized at its lower end by the insertion of the guide shaft 64 into 
its cylindrical slot 58. 
Attached to the plunger block 52 is an L-shaped plunger block cover 60 
having a guide shaft 64 which penetrates the cylindrical slot 58 provided 
in the feed tube 50. A stabilizing stud 70 threaded into the bottom 
portion of the plunger block 52 rides in an opening 130 provided in the 
stabilizing bracket 66 and prevents rear sway of the plunger block 52 
during operation. 
The linkage mechanism which operates on the plunger block 52 translates the 
vertical motion of the lower sliding plate 26 of the machine 20 into a 
horizontal motion which slides spent shells into proper position within 
the machine 20. This linkage mechanism includes a control rod 82 having an 
enlarged upper end 90 which attaches to a control plate 94 by means of a 
throttle ball mechanism 92. The control plate 94 is mounted with screws to 
the lower sliding plate 26 of the reloading machine 20 so that, when the 
lower sliding plate 26 is rising or falling, the throttle ball mechanism 
92 translates the vertical motion of the plate 26 into a tensile or 
compressive force along the longitudinal axis of the control rod 82. 
The middle portion of the control rod 82 includes two shaft collars 84 
which., from top shaft collar 84 to bottom, are placed around a spring 86, 
a washer 88, and a control link 96. The control rod 82 is free to slide 
through the upper opening 112 provided in the control link 96 to the limit 
imposed by the washer 88, spring 86, and shaft collar 84 combination at 
one end, and by the lower shaft collar 84 at the other end. 
A control arm 98 is pivotally mounted to a nut and bolt arrangement 104 at 
the bottom of the plunger block 52, and again pivotally joined to a second 
opening 114 provided in the control link 96 via a nut and bolt connection 
102. A screw 100 passes through a slot 108 along the upper portion of the 
control arm 98, through a horizontal slot 110 along the plunger block 52, 
and into the side of a shell sliding member 106 arranged to slide back and 
forth horizontally within the plunger block 52. 
Detailed views of the plunger block 52 and component parts are given in 
FIGS. 3A through 10C. FIGS. 3A and 3B illustrate the control link 96 from 
two views. While the control rod 82 slides through the upper opening 112 
provided in the control link 96, a nut and bolt combination 102 pivotally 
join the control link 96 to the control arm 98 through lower opening 114. 
FIG. 4 shows the control rod 82 and related parts in an exploded view. At 
one end of the control rod 82, the enlarged upper end 90 joins to the 
control plate 94 which attaches to the lower sliding plate 26 of the 
machine 20. At the other end, two shaft collars 84 enclose the spring 86, 
washer 88, and control link 96 along the middle section of the control rod 
82. 
FIGS. 5A and 5B show two different views of the control arm 98. The control 
arm 98 has a slot 108 for receiving the screw 100, a middle aperture 115 
for receiving the nut and bolt combination 102 which pivotally connects it 
to the control link 96, and a lower aperture 116 for a pivotal mounting to 
the lower portion of the plunger block 52 with nut and bolt combination 
104. FIG. 6 shows the stabilizer stud 70, while FIG. 7 shows the plunger 
block cover 60. 
FIGS. 8A through 8D depict the shell sliding member 106, one of the most 
significant features of this invention. The shell sliding member 106 has 
both a curved shell engaging end 118 which conforms to the curved contour 
of an upright shotgun shell and a lower curved notch 120 which conforms to 
the curved lip on the lower metal rim portion of the same. These features 
allow the shell sliding member 106 to consistently slide a shotgun shell 
along the plunger block 52 and into proper position within the reloading 
machine 20. 
The plunger block 52, with virtually no constituent parts, is shown clearly 
in FIGS. 9A and 9B. FIG. 9A shows the horizontal slot 110 through which 
the screw 100 that taps into the shell sliding member 106 passes and 
slides during operation of the machine 20. The top view presented in FIG. 
9B illustrates the sliding pathway 126 along which the shell sliding 
member 106 slides within the plunger block 52. The shells which gravity 
fall in the feed tube 50 individually land on the sliding pathway 126 next 
to a side-wall having a curved contour 128, thereby assuring proper and 
upright positioning of the shells as they are each pushed by the shell 
sliding member 106 into a counter-sunk, cylindrical bore 122 in the front 
end of the plunger block 52. As the shell being slid into the cylindrical 
bore 122 sinks toward the counter-sunk ledge, it lands on a shaft member 
134 which penetrates a steel bushing 124 pressed into the cylindrical bore 
122. It is important to note that the shaft member 134 is responsible for 
stabilizing the front end of the plunger block 52 during operation of the 
machine 20. Also, the positioning of the shell onto the shaft member 134 
is the final location that a shell will take before entering the first 
reconstructive stage as it becomes lodged in the lower sliding plate 26 
upon its downward stroke. 
FIGS. 10A through 10C show the stabilizer bracket 66 complete with mounting 
holes 132 and a circular opening 130. The mounting holes 132 accept screws 
68 for rigid attachment of the bracket 66 to the reloading machine 20, and 
the circular opening 130 is fitted to slidingly receive the stabilizing 
stud 70 protruding from the plunger block 52. 
The feeding operation of the device is sequentially depicted in FIGS. 11 
through 12C. Referring to FIG. 11, a number of spent shotgun shells have 
been placed in the tray hopper 44 open-end up, or rim-end down. The 
decline of the tray 44, together with the vibration produced by the 
reloading machine 20, causes the shells to migrate toward the discharge 
port 47, down through the funnel tube 48, and into the feed tube 50 where 
they will accumulate one on top of the other. The shells will remain 
upright as they slide into the discharge port 47 due to the low center of 
gravity of the spent, vertically oriented shells. In other words, the 
heavy metal rim-ends of the shells will keep them from tipping and falling 
over as they enter the discharge port 47, thus assuring consistent 
open-end up shell stacking within the feed tube 50. For illustrative 
purposes, consider three shells as they enter the discharge port 47: shell 
138 having entered the funnel tube followed by shell 140 just having 
fallen into the discharge port 47, followed by shell 142 ready to slide 
down into the discharge port 47. 
The shells drop through the feed tube 50 and onto the plunger block 52. As 
depicted in FIG. 12A, shell 138 has been pushed by shell sliding member 
106 into the cylindrical bore 122 in the front section of the plunger 
block 52. In this position, shell 138 rests on the top surface of the 
shaft member 134 which is surrounded, up until the bottom surface of the 
plunger block 52, by a resilient spring 136. Shell 142 rests on top of 
shell 140, which sits on the shell sliding member 106. The lower sliding 
plate 26 of the machine 20 is in the peak of its upward stroke. 
As seen in FIG. 12B, the lower sliding plate 26 carrying the turntable 40 
has come into its downward stroke and pushed the control rod 82 into 
compression. The control rod 82, having slid a distance through the 
control link 96, forces the shell sliding member 106 to slide back into 
the plunger block 52 in order to allow shell 140 to drop into the curved 
shell engaging end 118 provided on its front portion. Meanwhile, the lower 
sliding plate 26 has come into contact with the front end of the plunger 
block 52 and forced it down against spring 136 a certain distance. Notice 
the travel of the stabilizing stud 70 through the stabilizer plate 66 and 
the movement of the vertical guide shaft 64 through the cylindrical slot 
58. During this motion, the shaft member 134 pushes against the bottom 
surface of shell 138 and lodges it into the turntable 40 through the lower 
sliding plate 26. 
In FIG. 12C, the lower sliding plate 26 has resumed its upstroke and pulled 
the control rod 82 into tension, thus pushing shell 140 via the shell 
sliding member 106 into proper loading position in the cylindrical bore 
122. Note how shell 142 is now allowed to drop onto the top surface of the 
shell sliding member 106 and will drop in front of the curved shell 
engaging end 118 upon the next downstroke of the lower sliding plate 26. 
The action of the spring 136 forces the entire plunger block 52 back up 
and into its former position. 
It should be clear that the present invention is not limited to the 
previous descriptions and drawings which merely illustrate the preferred 
embodiment thereof. Slight departures may be made within the scope of the 
invention. Accordingly, the present invention is meant to embrace any and 
all equivalent apparatus as well as all design alterations as set forth in 
the appended claims.