Patent ID: 8312871

Claim:
An active paintball loader for use with a paintball marker, said loader operably connected to said marker and comprising: a hopper for containing paintballs; a feed tube for conveying paintballs from said hopper to the marker; a feed cone disposed within said hopper rotatable about an axis fixed in relation to said hopper, said feed cone configured for urging by rotation thereof paintballs from said hopper into said feed tube; and a drive mechanism for rotating said feed cone about said axis irrespective of orientation of said axis, said drive mechanism further comprising: a plurality of magnetic driven elements connected to said feed cone, said plurality of driven elements arranged in a first plane generally symmetrically about a rotational axis fixed in relation to said loader; a plurality of electromagnetic drive elements connected to said loader, said plurality of drive elements arranged in a second plane generally symmetrically about said rotational axis and fixed to the loader in a manner to preclude movement about said rotational axis, said second plane being spaced apart from and generally parallel to said first plane, each of said plurality of drive elements being selectively alterable between a first polarity state and a second polarity state, said second polarity state having a polarity opposite of said first polarity state; and a controller for managing said polarity states of each of said plurality of said drive elements, said controller configured to sequentially change said polarity state of each of said plurality of drive elements between said first and second polarity states in a manner to cause rotation of the feed cone thereby urging paintballs from the hopper into the feed tube.