Spent Brass Catch Device for Machine Gun
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Solution Overview
Problem
Automatic fire machine guns mounted on military vehicles leave behind a trail of spent brass, which can reveal the vehicle's movement to enemies and pose environmental hazards, and existing solutions fail to efficiently collect and manage this waste during combat or training.
Innovation Solution
A detachable spent brass catch device made of fire retardant materials, featuring a rectangular-shaped bag frame with a latch assembly and internal cross members, that attaches to the machine gun apparatus and includes a collection bag with a zipper for easy emptying, allowing for efficient collection and recycling of spent cartridges and links.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If a refuse can is used to collect spent brass, then spent brass can be collected, but the refuse can fills rapidly requiring frequent emptying during combat
Solution Approach 1:
The collection bag is divided into multiple compartments or sections that can be independently emptied. The operator can open only the bottom portion of the collection bag to empty spent brass, while the upper portions remain sealed and retain collected material. This segmentation allows partial emptying without losing previously collected brass from other sections.
2Quantity of substance
If a large collection bag is used to reduce emptying frequency, then spent brass collection capacity increases, but the bag expands to unacceptable width consuming valuable space in the vehicle
Solution Approach 1:
The collection bag incorporates flexible cross-members that dynamically adjust the bag's internal structure. As spent brass is collected, the cross-members flex and reposition to maintain a compact overall width while accommodating the increasing volume of material. This allows the bag to expand internally without increasing its external dimensions beyond acceptable limits.
Solution Approach 2:
The flexible cross-members redistribute the volume of collected spent brass from the horizontal dimension (width) to the vertical dimension (height). The bag maintains a constrained width suitable for vehicle mounting while extending vertically to provide adequate collection capacity. This dimensional redistribution resolves the conflict between collection volume and width constraints.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If the collection bag is made of fire retardant materials to ensure safety, then occupant protection improves, but the material selection and manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The collection bag utilizes fire retardant materials that achieve adequate fire resistance without requiring complex composite structures. By selecting materials with appropriate fire retardant properties and optimizing the bag's geometric parameters (thickness, shape, surface area), the design achieves acceptable fire safety performance while maintaining manufacturing simplicity and cost-effectiveness.
Data Source
AI summary
A catch device for collecting ejected cartridges and other spent brass from an automatic fire machine gun or the like mounted on a platform includes: (a) a frame portion including an open mouthed, rigid bag frame, and a latch assembly on the bag frame; and (b) a catch bag portion including a collection bag with a hollow interior, a zipper, or a bottom flap with hook and loop strip, closing a bottom slot of the collection bag, at least one attachment mechanism at the top of the collection bag, and at least one flexible cross member extending across the collection bag interior, the catch bag portion being attachable to the frame portion by the attachment mechanism. This simplified abstract is not intended to limit, and should not be interpreted as limiting, the scope of the claims.