Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Sent., 1891-Accepted, 7th Nov., 1891
ILLIAM
HILLIPS LHOMPSON
Foreign Patent Solicitors, 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, & 6 Bank Street,
Manchester, both in the County of Lancaster & 323 High Holborn in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this inven-
ion 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 machines for automatically loading
cartridge shells with powder and shot, as hereinafter particularly described and
claimed.
In the accompanying drawings of the device,
Figure 1 is a side elevation:
Figure 2 an end elevation:
Figure 3 a horizontal partial section on line - of Figure 1:
Figures 4 and 5 details of the cartridge shell hopper:
Figure 6 a detail of the cartridge shell magazine on line y-y of Figure 3:
Figure 7 a sectional detail of the loading mechanism on line - of Figure 3:
Figure 8 a detail of the cartridge shell clutch:
Figure 9 a detail plan view and partial section of the cartridge wheel:
Figures 10 and 11 respectively details of its locking and turning mechanisms:
Figures 12, 13 and 14 details of the wad hopper:
Figures 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19 details of the shell crimping mechanism, and
Figures 20, 21, 22, 23 and 24 are other minor details.
In the drawings, 2 represents the frame of the machine, 3 the drive shaft, + the
loose driving drum, 5 its clutch, 6 a spiral spring secured at one end to the clutch
and at the lower end in the groove 7 of the shaft, 8 the spring adjusting collar, 9 a
right angled slot in the clutch, and 10 a pin secured to the shaft and passing
through the slot so as to lock the clutch when thrown out of gear, and turned upon
the shaft by the torsion of the spring, 11 is the crank wheel of the driving shaft,
13 its crank pin, 15 the rod connecting it to the pivoted lever 17, and 19 the rod
connecting the lever to the cross head 21. 23 and 25 are sprockets upon the crank
wheel, 27 a belt running from the sprocket 23 to the sprocket 29 of the shaft 31,
and 30 is a similar belt connecting the shaft 31 to the sprocket 34 of the shaft 36.
The belt 37 connects the sprocket 25 with the sprocket 33 of the transverse
shaft 35, which is fitted with a double drum 39 carrying belts 41 and 43 for driving
the brush rolls of the wad hopper. 47 is the cartridge wheel having the shell
openings 49 for carrying the shells to the loading mechanism. The wheel is turned
by means of a dog 55, connected by the link 53 to the pivoted lever 51, and turning
on the arbor 61 of the cartridge wheel. The dog is constructed with a knife
joint 63 and engages notches 65 in the periphery of the wheel, the stop 67 holding
the knife joint rigid with a forward movement, but allowing the joint to bend and
carry the dog out of the notches with a reverse movement, while a pin 69 entering
the slot 71 of the radius arm 59 limits the bend of the joint. The lever 51 is
operated to turn the cartridge wheel by means of anti-friction rolls 75 and 77,
arranged upon the crosshead, engaging a double bend 73 of the lever as the cross-
head is reciprocated. 79 is the cartridge hopper having an inclined bottom. and a
sliding gate 81 which closes the slot 82, and has fingers 83 to engage a shell in the
Price 1

page_text: hopper and force it through the slot as the gate opens. The gate is operated by
means of a link 87 connecting it to the pivoted lever 85, which is fitted with an
anti-friction roll 89 bearing upon the crosshead. 93 is a feed bar arranged in a
longitudinal slot 95 in the bottom of the hopper, and connected by toggle joints 97
to the frame 99; the link 101 connecting the joints to the operating lever 103.
With the forward movement of the link, a pin 109 in the feed bar is lifted and the
pin carried over the block 105, the reverse movement of the link carrying it down-
ward, under the block and between it and a spring 107, thus giving a four fold
movement of the feed bar. The lever 103 is operated from the crosshead by means
of anti-friction rolls on the crosshead, in the same manner as the lever 51. 111 is
a cartridge tube connected to the hopper by a chute 113, which has a central
longitudinal ridge 115 and grooves 116 on either side of the ridge by means of
which the heavier cap end of shells delivered from the hopper, tilts downward and
turns the shells into the groove beneath with cap end forward. 117 is a shell
carriage pivoted at 123 to the frame of the machine, and adapted to receive a shell
from the tube and to deliver it to the clutch 125, which is located immediately under
the cartridge wheel, and with which the cartridge openings successively register. A
lip 127 on the carriage closes the opening of the tube when the carriage is turned from
it. The plunger 129 forms the bottom of the socket 119 in the carriage, the depth of
the socket being adjusted by means of a screw 121. The clutch 125 is provided withia
fixed jaw 131, and a pivoted jaw 133, held normally clo: ed by means of a spring 135.
The space between the jaws is made slightly funnel shaped from beneath to admit the
shell when forced upward. The plunger has an arm 137 connected to the sliding
rod 139, which is fitted with the adjustable nut 141 adapted to be engaged by the
lug 143 of the crosshead in its upward movement, and having a projection 145 to
be engaged by the crosshead in its downward movement. The reciprocating
movement of the rod 139 thus serves to rock the carriage on its pirot and to
reciprocate the plunger in the carriage. The plunger is held from moving upward
until the carriage has been turned beneath the clutch by the spur 149 of the
pivoted lever 147 held in engagement with the plunger by the spring 151. When
the carriage reaches its vertical position, the lever 147 strikes the stop 153, and is
turned on its pivot to disengage the spur from the plunger. The cartridge wheel
is locked cach step by the bolt 157, having the spring 159, engaging a socket 161
in the rim of the wheel. The bolt is disengaged from the wheel by means of the
lever 163, which has a pivoted cam 165, supported horizontally by the spring 167
against the stop 169, in position to be struck by the plate 171 of the crosshead
in its upward movement, and throwing the lever outward, but turns on its pivot
when struck by the crosshead in its downward movement without throwing
the lever.
Immediately above the cartridge wheel is the loading shelf 173 having an
opening 175 fitted with a wad starter 177, with which the openings in the wheel
successively register. 179 is a reciprocating charging block resting upon the shelf
immediately underneath a cover 181, which has openings 183 and 185 registering
respectively with the openings 175 and a powder or shot tube 193. An opening 187
in the block, of the capacity of a charge, registers in one position with the
opening 175, and in the other with the opening 185. The block has a flange
extension 189 with a wad opening 191 which registers in one position of the
block with a wad tube 195, and in the other position with the opening 175.
197 is a wad hopper arranged above and connecting with the tube 195, in
which are loosely placed wads 199: 201 is a reciprocating wad carrier having
a. series of openings 203 of size to receive each a single wad, and successively
registering with the opening of the wad tube. 205 are cylindrical brushes covered
by the hood 209, connected by gear wheels 207 and driven by the belt +1, to brush
the loose wads back from the opening of the wad tube, and insure the filling of the
openings in the carrier. The wad carrier is reciprocated by means of the pitman 211,
pivoted to the lug 213 and to the crank pin 38 of the wheel 39. The charger
block is reciprocated by means of the pivoted lever 215, which has a double

page_text: bend 217 engaged by antifriction rolls in the crosshead, and operated in the same.
manner as the lever 51, whereby the block alternately receives and delivers to the
opening 175 a charge, and a wad to cover the same. A rod 218, supported on the
crosshead, is arranged directly above the opening 175 and carries a plunger 219,
which by the downward movement of the crosshead is thrust through the opening 175
to drive the wad into the shell. 221 is a shelf underneath the loading shell and
cartridge wheel, on which the shell rests when carried forward by the wheel from
the clutch 125. 223 is a sliding rod having a foot 225 resting in a socket in the
shelf 2:1 underneath the opening 175. A spring 227 upon the rod bearing upon
its fixed support 229, and having the adjusting nut 231, tends to lift the rod and
to thrust a shell resting upon the foot into the opening 175, the rod being forced
downward again by the wad plunger, and locked by a pivoted dog 233 engaging a
stop 235 as thrown forward by its spring 237, the crosshead in its upward movement
striking the bevelled surface 239 of the dog and disengaging it from the stop 225
and releasing the spring 227.
The described loading mechanism is in duplicate for the simultaneous loading of
powder and shot into separate shells, the shot loading mechanism being one step
in advance of the other. A crimping mechanism is one step in advance of the shot
loading mechanism, and comprises a clutch and extractor 241, having a circular
socket 243 with narrowed and roughened sides to hold the head of the cartridge,
and extracting fingers 245 engaging the rim of the cartridge. The clutch is mounted
upon a pivoted lever 247 operated by means of a sliding rod 249, in the same
manner as the rod 223, being carried downward by the impact of the crosshead
upon the projection 251 253 is a hollow shaft having a crimping head 255 with
transverse grooves 257, and is rotated by means of a gear 261 of the shaft 31
meshing with its pinion 259. 263 is a marker arranged in the hollow shaft 253
having a spring 265 bearing it downward, and a die 267 on the lower end to imprint
the wad of the cartridge. A pin 269 in the shelf 221 arranged in a slotted
opening 271 of the clutch forces the cartridge out of the clutch after being crimped
as the clutch is carried downward. To prevent the bruising of the edges of the
shells when lifted into position for the various loading operations, air cylinders 273,
having small vents 27, are arranged above the several sliding rods described, to
receive pistons 277 upon the rods, the air in the cylinders serving as a cushion
to check the sudden movement of the rods. As shown in the drawings, the
machine is constructed with a duplicate loading mechanism at each end operated
from the common driving shaft by means of the lever 17 and the belts 30 and 43.
In operation, the receptacles of the mechanism being supplied respectively with
shells, wads, powder and shot, the shells are successively carried through the
machine and loaded, being first discharged from the hopper into the shell tube, and
then delivered by the carriage 117 to the clutch 125 and the opening of the
cartridge wheel above it, with one step movement of the machine. With the next
step movement, the shell is carried by the wheel out from the jaws of the clutch
and upon the lifting foot, thrust into the opening 175, and loaded with powder and
wad; simultaneously another shell being inserted into the next opening of the
wheel. At the next step, the first shell is loaded with shot, the second with powder,
and a third inserted into the wheel; and at the fourth step, the first shell is crimped,
the second loaded with shot, the third with powder, and a fourth inserted into the
wheel, the same operations being carried on by the duplicate mechanism with
alternating movements.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by
my foreign correspondents, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. In a cartridge loader, the combination of a' wheel having shell openings, means
for intermittently rotating said wheel, means for inserting shells successively in
said openings, means for successively charging said shells with powder and wad,

page_text: and shot and wad, and means for successively crimping the edges of the loaded
shells.
1
1.
1.4
"
2. In a cartridge loader having conduits for conveying thereto shells, wads,
powder and shot, the combination of mechanisms actuated from a common source
of power for arranging the 'shells in their conduits head downward, for delivering
them therefrom succesively to the loading mechanism, for regularly arranging the
wads in their conduits, for alternately receiving and conveying charges of powder
and shot and of wads from their conduits and depositing them in the shells
successively, and for crimping the loaded shells successively.
3. In a cartridge loader, having a conduit for conveying shells thereto, a shell
turner connected therewith comprising a central ridge, and an inclined way on each
side thereof.
4. In a cartridge loader, a shell feeding mechanism comprising in combination a
rocking carriage in one position connecting with a source of supply, and in another
position with the loading mechanism, and a reciprocating plunger arranged therein
for expelling the shells therefrom.
5. In a cartridge loader, having a wad conduit, a reciprocating carrier of
substantially the thickness of a wad having circular openings of substantially the
diameter of a wad, successively registering with the opening of the conduit.
6. In a cartridge loader, a reciprocating charger alternately receiving and
conveying to a shell opening a charge of powder or shot and wads.
7. In a cartridge loader, the combination, with a wad plunger, of an elastic
shell support.
8. In a cartridge loader, means for crimping the loaded shells comprising in
combination a socket to receive the head of the shell, means for foreing it out
of the socket, a constantly rotating crimping head, and a spring forcing the shell
against it.
Dated this 31st day of August 1891
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Agents for the Applicant.