Machine Gun Receiver Dovetail Joints Weight Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional machine guns are heavy, costly, and cumbersome due to their construction from multiple individual parts fastened with rivets and welding, making them difficult to handle and transport, especially for warfighters.
Innovation Solution
A lightweight machine-gun receiver is constructed using a left shell and a right shell, both milled from single pieces of metal, with dovetail interlocking joints that eliminate the need for rivets and welding, allowing for a strong, compact, and cost-effective design.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If traditional rivets and welding are used to fasten multiple individual parts, then the receiver strength is improved, but the weight and manufacturing cost increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple separate receiver parts into a single integrated receiver body milled from one piece of metal. This eliminates the need for rivets and welding joints, thereby reducing weight while maintaining structural strength through the continuous metal construction.
Solution Approach 2:
The single-piece milled receiver performs multiple functions that previously required separate components: it serves as the receiver body, mounting structure, and structural framework. This multi-functionality reduces the total number of parts and eliminates fastening requirements.
2Stability of the object's composition
If multiple individual parts are used to construct the receiver, then the structural complexity is improved, but the manufacturing cost and assembly time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple receiver components into a single milled part, reducing the number of manufacturing operations and assembly steps. This integration simplifies production while maintaining the necessary structural complexity through precise milling of functional features.
3Strength
If traditional rivets and welding are used to connect left and right shells, then the joint strength is improved, but the device complexity and manufacturing cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The left and right shells are merged into a single integrated receiver structure through milling operations, eliminating the need for separate joining methods like rivets or welding. This integration reduces device complexity while maintaining joint strength through the continuous metal construction.
Data Source
AI summary
A receiver for use in the manufacture of a lightweight and strong machine-gun comprising a left shell that includes a milled, single-piece metal flat body of a predefined peripheral shape that is substantially rectangular, and a right shell including a milled, single-piece metal flat body, including said right shell formed in size and shape to be joined together symmetrically with said left shell, to form a compartment, said left shell and said right shell including the same size and shape dovetail interlocking joints, milled in said left shell and said right shell at the same locations, said left shell joined to said right shell solely by dovetail fasteners, without welding, without rivets, and without nuts and bolts, forming a rigid, strong, lightweight machine-gun receiver. First and second takedown pins are also used to fasten the left shell to the right shell after the left and right shells have been interlocked together by the dovetail interlocking joints to prevent vertical movement between the left shell and the right shell.