Ammunition Magazine Bracket for Feed Jam Prevention
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional machine gun magazine boxes face issues with feed jams due to intermeshing of ammunition rounds and excessive pull force required for outfeed, which can prevent the gun from firing.
Innovation Solution
A length-adjustable interior support bracket structure with a laterally and longitudinally sloped top surface is introduced to prevent intermeshing of ammunition rounds and reduce the pull force needed, featuring telescoped U-shaped brackets that tilt the rounds and adjust the extraction force.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If ammunition is stored in a vertically serpentined configuration in a conventional magazine box, then the round capacity is maximized, but the projectile ends of vertically successive ammunition rounds intermesh and cause feed jams
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a third dimension by tilting the support bracket at an angle (e.g., 45 degrees) relative to the vertical axis. This angular orientation separates the projectile ends of vertically successive rounds in the lateral direction, preventing intermeshing while maintaining high round capacity through the serpentined configuration.
Solution Approach 2:
The support bracket serves as an intermediary structure between the ammunition rounds. By positioning rounds on this tilted bracket rather than directly on the magazine box floor, the bracket mediates the spatial relationship between successive rounds, preventing their projectile ends from contacting and intermeshing.
2Quantity of substance
If ammunition is stored in a vertically serpentined configuration, then round capacity is maximized, but the pull force required to extract the ammunition exceeds the available pull force of the machine gun
Solution Approach 1:
The tilted support bracket reorients the ammunition storage in three-dimensional space. By angling the bracket, the extraction path gains a lateral component, effectively reducing the vertical height that must be overcome during extraction and thereby reducing the required pull force.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the geometric parameters of the support structure by introducing a tilt angle. This parameter change modifies the force distribution during ammunition extraction, reducing the maximum pull force requirement to within the capabilities of the machine gun's feed mechanism.
3Device complexity
If a fixed support bracket structure is used, then the structure is simple, but the magazine box cannot be adjusted for different ammunition types or pull force requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The support bracket is designed with adjustable features allowing it to be repositioned or reconfigured. This dynamic capability enables the same magazine box to accommodate different ammunition types and extraction force requirements by adjusting the bracket's position or angle, rather than requiring fixed, application-specific designs.
Solution Approach 2:
The adjustable support bracket structure provides multi-functionality, allowing a single magazine box design to serve multiple purposes: different ammunition types, different round capacities, and different pull force requirements. This universal design eliminates the need for multiple specialized magazine variants.
Data Source
AI summary
An ammunition magazine box is provided for receiving a vertically serpentined length of belted ammunition for selective outfeed from the box to a machine gun. A specially designed support bracket structure, representatively of a length adjustable construction, is provided and suitably secured within the interior of the magazine box. At least a portion of the belted ammunition loops rest on a top side surface of the installed support bracket structure. The top support bracket structure side surface is (1) laterally sloped, in a direction transverse to the lengths of the belt loops, to inhibit a tilting-created intermeshing of vertically adjacent projectile ends of the ammunition rounds which could cause a feed jam, and/or (2) longitudinally sloped, in a direction parallel to the lengths of the belt loops, to desirably lessen the ammunition outfeed force that must be exerted by the machine gun.