Cartridge-Chargers for Machine-Gun Feeders
Year: 1886

page_text: I, LUCIEN FREDERICK BRUCE of Springfield Hampden County & State of
Massachusetts, United States, mechanical engineer do hereby declare the nature
of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to improvements in Cartridge-Chargers for Machine-Gun
Feeders, the object being to provide improved devices for placing cartridges one
by 'one in magazine-feeders for machine guns of the Gatling-Gun class, from which
they are delivered to the gun to be fired.
In the drawing forming part of this specification, Figure 1, is a perspective view
partly in section and showing a portion of the outer' cases broken away, of a
gun-feeder and a cartridge-charger therefor; the latter being constructed according
to my invention; said Figure showing the charger and the feeder in operative
positions, and a number of cartridges in the positions they occupy in being
conveyed into the feeeder, as hereinafter set forth. Figure 2 is a front elevation
of the cartridge-charger, and shows also a portion of the side of the said feeder.
Figure 3, is a perspective view of that portion of the periphery of the gun-feeder
in which is the opening through which cartridges are introduced, but showing the
cartridge-guiding grooves in its side-walls inclined in the opposite direction to
those shown in Figure 1. Figure 4, is a front view of a cartridge-guiding device
employed in removing cartridges from the usual packing boxes and conducting
them into the cartridge-charger. Figure 5, is a perspective view of an eccentric
bushing which is employed in the manipulation of the feeder while the latter is
being charged, as hereinafter described. Figure 6, is a perspective view of the
cartridge-stop devices which are applied to the charger.
In the drawing, A, indicates a suitable upright frame to the side of which the
cartridge charger B, is secured, and having thereon a cylindrical stud D, on which
the gun-feeder E, is hung and supported while it is receiving the cartridges from
the charger, in the position shown in Figure 1. It will be observed that the
stud D, is of smaller diameter than a central transverse hole through the feeder E,
the end of which is indicated by the circular line 5, Figure 1. The hollow

page_text: bushing F, provided with the handle, a, fits the said hole in the feeder within
line 5, and also the stud D, on which it freely turns.
The said eccentric bushing F, is used in conjunction with the feeder E, and the
stud D, for the purpose of elevating the feeder to its proper place beneath the
charger when about to be filled with cartridges (as in Figure 1,) and for lowering
it away from the charger when filled, both of which operations are effected by
turning said bushing on the stud D, the feeder ordinarily being first placed on the
stud and the bushing then is placed on the latter with its thick side down, after
which, by turning the bushing by its handle, a, the feeder is elevated to the
position shown, and brought into connection with the charger as hereinafter
described. After the feeder E, is filled with cartridges, turning thick side of
bushing F, downward causes it to drop away from the charger and it is then
removed from stud D, for use on a gun.
The feeder E, is a well known device for holding a quantity of cartridges and
delivering them to a machine-gun, actuated by a moving part of the latter after
having been applied thereto.
Said feeder consists of two disk-shaped metallic side-plates b, b each secured on
a tubular center heretofore referred to as receiving the bushing F, a band, c,
through which is an opening as shown in Figure 3, being secured around the
border of said plates, thereby forming a short cylindrical box. Said plates b, b,
have on their inner opposite sides a series of spiral grooves o, extending from the
periphery thereof nearly to said tubular center, the said grooves having an inclined
cartridge-entrance, o¹, at the opening on the border of the feeder as shown in
Figure 3.
Said spiral grooves on the plates b, b, are formed by securing suitable metallic
strips thereto by their edges or in any other suitable manner, the width of said
grooves being sufficient to allow the head and the ball-end of a cartridge (when
held in the position shown in Figure 1,) to move freely therein, following said
grooves, inwardly and outwardly.
Motion is given to said cartridges whereby they are caused to follow the
grooves, o, in the feeder as aforesaid, by a wheel having arms, d, arranged in pairs,
and secured to a suitable hub on said tubular center in the feeder. Said arms
radiate from said hub between the plates b, b, as shown, and each pair is sufficiently
separated from the other to allow a cartridge to pass there between as shown in
Figure 1. It is seen therefore, that a cartridge dropped into the inclined
entrance, o to the grooves, o, in the sides of the feeder E, and falling between the
pairs of the arms, d, is, by the rotary motion of said arms, forced to follow the
spiral grooves to their termination near the center of the feeder, and by reversing
the motion of said arms the cartridge is forced out of the feeder.
Heretofore said feeder has been charged by picking up one cartridge at a time,
dropping it into the feeder, and turning said arms sufficiently to carry said
cartridge away from the entrance, o¹ and repeating said operation until the feeder
was filled. Said means of charging the feeder are inadequate to the requirements
of a machine gun, which uses the contents of said feeder in much less time that is
required to fill it, and to obviate said inconvenience and to provide means for
charging said feeder rapidly and accurately the within described improvements
are provided.
The cartridge-charger by which cartridges are carried one by one into the
feeder E, and by which the aforesaid armed wheel in the latter is rotated to cause
the said cartridges to take their proper places in the feeder, is constructed as
follows:
Within a suitable cylindrical mettallic case is mounted in proper bearings the
shaft, e, which is rotated by the crank, f.
On the said shaft, e, are fixed two separated, circular mettallic plates n, n, having
the notches or recesses v, in their borders, in coinciding positions. Said plates are
sufficiently separated to allow the ends of the arms, d, of the feeder to pass up
between them as shown.

page_text: Between the plates n, n, on shaft, e, is fixed the disk w, having projecting from
its periphery the long and short teeth, respectively, x, and z, the said parts n n,
fixed on the shaft c, constituting the charger-wheel. Above the said charger-wheel,
and suitably secured to said case, is a wheel-case y, of oblong form having an
opening through it which constitutes the mouth of the charger and in which is
hung the winged cartridge-governing wheel k, which rotates therein at a suitable
distance from the curved inner wall, s, to permit a cartridge to pass between the
latter and the wheel in the position shown in Figure 1. The inner wall of the
wheel case, y, opposite the wall, 8, is recessed and at each end of the recess is
formed an inclined table, m, and said wheel rotates between said inclined parts of
the wheel casc, projecting a little beyond the edges of said parts. The upper side
of the wheel-case, y, is provided with an up-standing lip, i, (see Figure 2) and is
otherwise properly formed to receive the foot, J, of the cartridge-guide or feeder h,
Figure 4, the latter being secured to the lip i, of the wheel-case by the thumb-
screw 6.
To provide means for preventing the rotation of the said cartridge-carrying
wheel of the charger by the weight of the cartridges in the latter when the filled
feeder E, is removed from under the charger; and for allowing the cartridges to
resume their movement towards the feeder when another is placed under the
charger, the stop-devices illustrated in Figures 2 and 6, are aplied to the latter,
and are constructed and operate as follows: A shaft, 20, is hung in suitable
bearings 21, on the side of the charger-case near its lower end. Two arms 22, are
fixed on said shaft which project therefrom through said case (as shown in dotted
lines in Figure 2,) and on one of said arms, or attached to the shaft, as may be
preferred, is an outwardly reaching arm 23. A coiled spring. is attached to
shaft 20, and its free end is adapted to bear against the side of the charger-case
to rock said shaft in one direction. Thus, when the feeder E, is applied under the
charger to be filled the border of its case strikes the end of arm 21, as in Figure 2,
swinging it upward, rocking shaft 20, and throwing the ends of the arms 22, which
reach under the lower cartridge in the charger-wheel, downward and letting the
latter revolve and drop the cartridges into the feeder, but when the latter becomes
full and is removed from under arın 21, spring 24, rocks shaft 20, thereby throwing
the arms 22, upward again under the lower cartridge in the charger and stopping
the flow of cartridges therefrom.
The said cartridge-guide consists of the single grooved conductor 7, connecting
with the foot, J, and having therein the usual grooves in which the flanges of the
heads of the cartridges engage as they slide down, as hereinafter described. The
upper end of the conductor 7, is provided with an enlarged portion or plate 80, on
which is pivoted the double-grooved conductor 78 having two grooves, 8, of like
form to that in said conductor 7, whose lower ends, one after the other, are
capable of being swung over the upper end of the groove in conductor 7.
The conductor 78, is adapted to receive at once, a certain number of cartridges
from a box, in which they are packed with their heads or flanges outward, by
engaging the latter with the grooves 8, in said conductor, and then drawing the
box away from the cartridges, leaving the latter hanging on the conductor, and
such as are in one of the grooves S, which communicates with the groove 7, below
will at once drop into the latter and from thence they will move into the said
mouth of the charger B, and immediately that the groove in conductor 78, which
is in line with conductor 7, is emptied, the weight of the cartridges in the second
groove of the upper conductor will cause the latter to swing and bring the
cartridges in the said second groove over the end of conductor 7, letting them drop
into the latter, and so, as often as the two grooves of the conductor 78 are supplied
with cartridges, each groove will be emtied into conductor 7, one after the other,
as above described.
The above-described cartridge-conductor is only one of several devices which may
be employed to present the cartridges one by one to the mouth of the charger B,
the latter being adapted to operate in connection with any conductor which is

page_text: capable of presenting the cartridges to the mouth of the charger so that they will
fall lengthwise on the wheel K.
The operation of the within described improvements is as follows:
Cartridges being delivered to the mouth of the charger B, as above set forth,
fall first on to the inclined part; m, at each end of the wheel K, and thence they
roll or slide against the latter which turns and allows the cartridge to pass between
the wall, s, and the wheel the latter meanwhile holding the cartridge in a hori-
zontal position and preventing its ball-end from dropping first.
The shaft, e, is turned by the crank, f, rotating the aforesaid charger-wheel.
If the border of the plates, n, between the notches v, be passing under the
cartridge the latter will be held up on said border until the notches or recesses v,
pass under it (the charger-wheel rotating in the direction indicated by the arrow)
when the cartridge will drop into one of said recesses and be carried around within
the case of the charger towards the feeder E, and having arrived over the inclined
entrance, o, to the spiral grooves in the feeder it will drop into the latter between
the arms d. Meanwhile the teeth, x, of the disk, w, engage with the cross-bars, 10,
between the arms d, and cause the wheel within the feeder E, to rotate continuously
with the action of wheel w, thereby producing a constant movement of cartridges
through the charger B, into the feeder E, and causing the latter's arms, d, to be
rotated and carry said cartridges into said grooves in the feeder as above-described.
The short teeth z, on the toothed-disk w, between the long teeth a, are provided
to prevent the wheel in the feeder when over-loaded on one side, from turning out
of place relative to the charger-wheel, for the bars 10, between the arms d of the
feeder wheel will strike said short teeth when said disk is inclined so to turn or
run ahead by overloading as aforesaid. Said short teeth also aid in causing the
charger-wheel and the feeder-wheel to come to proper relative positions when
brought together, by preventing undue movement of the former before it commences
to drop cartridges into the feeder, said short teeth coming in contact with bars 10,
and effecting said result.
If desired, the conductor h, or other device having the same function may be
dispensed with, and the cartridges be dropped one by one into the mouth of the
charger while the operator turns crank f, with the other hand, and in this way
the feeder E, may be filled with cartridges much more rapidly than by the afore-
said means heretofore employed.
.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:
1. The within described cartridge charging devices for machine-gun feeders,
consisting of a rotating wheel substantially as described enclosed in a suitable
cylindrical case and having recesses in its periphery for the reception of cartridges,
combined with the winged wheel K, the wheel-case, y, having the inclined table m,
at the end of said wheel K, and a suitable cartridge conductor for delivering
cartridges to the said charging devices through the mouth thereof, substantially as
set forth.
2. The cartridge-charger consisting of a rotating charger-wheel substantially as
described enclosed in a suitable cylindrical case and having recesses in its periphery
for the reception of cartridges, a toothed disk attached to said wheel, the wheel-
case y, attached to said cylindrical case above the charger-wheel and having the
inclined table, m, and the winged wheel K, hung in said case y, combined with the
feeder E provided with the internal wheel engaging with said toothed disk,
substantially as set forth.
3. In combination, the feeder E, the charger-wheel and its enclosing case, the
rock-shaft 20, supported on the latter, the arms 22, and 23, fixed on said shaft, the
former reaching into said case, and the spring 24, substantially as set forth.
4. A cartridge-charger for machine-gun feeders consisting of a rotating wheel
substantially as described enclosed in a suitable cylindrical case and having

page_text: recesses in its periphery for the reception of cartridges, combined with the winged
wheel K, and the wheel-case y, having the inclined table m, at the end of said
wheel K, substantially as set forth.
5. In combination, the frame A, having the stud D, thereon, the charger B,
secured to said frame, the feeder E, and the eccentric bushing F, substantially as
set forth.