Rheinmetall Gmbh

Walter Sauerwald

Josef Metz

Udo Weinfurth

Hans Hulsewis

Helmut Fischer

Adolf-Peter Bierwirth

A turret gun assembly includes a turret, a gun having a barrel being adjustable in inclination about a trunnion axis, a magazine for accommodating rounds of ammunition, and a loading device for advancing rounds of ammunition from the magazine into a position behind the barrel in a longitudinal alignment therewith. The improvement wherein the loading device has a cam drive having a cam track mounted at an ammunition discharge location of the magazine and a follower guided in the cam track; a transfer arm mounted for pivotal motion about the trunnion axis; an ammunition-gripping holding clamp articulated to the transfer arm by a hinge connection and being arranged for gripping said ammunition. The transfer arm is rotated about the trunnion axis for causing the follower--which is coupled to the holding clamp--to slide within the cam track to rotate the holding clamp and the round of ammunition about the hinge connection and to simultaneously swing the holding clamp and the ammunition gripped thereby, about the trunnion axis to position the gripped ammunition into longitudinal alignment with the barrel.

Automatic loading device for a gun

An empty belt clip and empty cartridge casing discharge arrangement for use with a machine cannon which can, for example, be mounted in the gun turret of an armored vehicle. The arrangement includes a cradle and built-in gun barrel which is pivotally mounted in a gun mount about an axis which is parallel to the longitudinal axis of the gun barrel for control purposes. An alternate ammunition belt feeder is also pivotally mounted in the gun mount about a second axis which is also parallel to the longitudinal axis of the gun barrel and is adapted to assume an upper or lower operative position or a middle SAFETY position. The alternate ammunition belt feeder has an upper and lower outlet for empty belt clips. An upper and lower discharge duct are mounted in the arrangement so that their respective inlets confront the upper and lower outlets of the alternate ammunition belt feeder. A middle duct serves to receive the empty cartridge casings from the cradle. Means are respectively mounted in the inlet regions of the upper and lower discharge ducts to be actuated by the empty belt clips which are being discharged in dependence to the positional shift of the alternate ammunition belt feeder.

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Duesseldorf, Germany

Walter Sauerwald