Cartridge Clip

Abstract

An improvement facilitating the loading and unloading of firearms, including a clip adapted to hold a plurality of cartridges for unison loading of the cartridge chambers of a revolver cylinder or the like, and unison unloading. The clip is constructed for interior mounting of the cartridges, achieving thereby strength and simplified cartridge installation. One face is recessed for a flush mounting of the base of each cartridge applied. One aspect of the invention provides a cartridge so formed that cooperative parts on the clip and cartridge enable a simple interlock between the clip and supported cartridges.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to means facilitating the loading and unloading of firearms, and more particularly to an improved cartridge clip and a cartridge particularly designed for use therein.

As heretofore known, cartridge clips for revolvers have suffered from disadvantages which have substantially limited their effective use. Some prior art clips may be used only for loading the chambers of a revolver cylinder and must be disengaged from the cartridges before the cylinder is returned from a swung out or loading position to an operating position. This involves waste motion and obviates the possibility of unison unloading of empty cartridge shells. In other instances, where a prior art cartridge clip is accepted in a revolver, the clip mounts cartridges in exterior pockets. This makes for a relatively weak clip and provides an unstable support for mounted cartridges. Moreover, in the handling of such a clip the cartridges are exposed to finger pressure and readily subject to being deflected out of parallelism with one another. This makes it difficult to quickly load cartridges into the chambers of a cylinder even where there is plenty of light. Loading of a revolver in the dark, using only one's sense of touch, is even more difficult and is the primary reason why cartridge clips of the prior art have had little use in police revolvers. Still further, many cartridge clips of the prior art have evidenced some degree of inability to properly grip cartridges within their accommodating pockets to prevent cartridges from dropping from the pockets in handling and during a loading process. The absence of a positive interlock between cartridges and clip limits cartridge clip reliability.

The foregoing evidences substantial problems in use of prior art clips.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a simple but effective clip design which overcomes the above problems. In one form of embodiment it comprises a disc made of metal for strength, although a substantially rigid plastic may be substituted. The center of this disc is cut out to give it an annular shape and formed in its inner periphery is a continuous series of radially extending pockets. The latter are of arcuate configuration and open through the disc, from face to face thereof. Each pocket has its base or wall configuration formed on a generally uniform radius corresponding to the radius of that portion of a cartridge shell it will nest. one face of the disc is countersunk at spaced locations to form recessed seats concentric to and rimming the pockets.

In use of the clip, cartridges are inserted in the center and pressed into each pocket with a pressure directed radially outward of the clip. Radially directed tongue portions between adjacent pockets, at the entrance thereto, define entrance throats which yield to allow entry of the cartridges. In a preferred embodiment of the invention the cartridges may be formed with flats, allowing them to freely enter the pocket entrance openings, following which a twist of the cartridge locks it in place. As the cartridges are inserted, the flange on each cartridge base nests in the recessed seat portion of the clip rimming the pocket to which the cartridge is applied. Thus, when installed, the base of each cartridge seats flush with the said one face of the disc.

The arrangement is one to facilitate mounting of the cartridges from the center of the clip and to provide for a strong, stable support of the cartridges within the clip.

In handling an assembled clip, it is gripped by the outer periphery of the disc without finger contact with the cartridges. The clip remains in an assembled relation, with the cartridges being received in the revolver in a non-interfering relation to the breech and other parts thereof and enables unison withdrawal of empty shells.

The invention contemplates, in at least one aspect thereof, a generally new cartridge which is shorter in length than conventional cartridges to avoid interference with the revolver grip during loading and which is constructed with the described flats to achieve an interlocking relation with the clip.

A primary object of the invention is to provide an improved cartridge clip which is economical to fabricate, more efficient and satisfactory in use, adaptable to a wide variety of applications and unlikely to malfunction.

Another object of the invention is to provide a cartridge clip strongly constructed and offering substantial support to installed cartridges.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved cartridge clip, and cartridges therefor, in which installed cartridges have an interlocking relation with the clip.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved cartridge clip usable with conventional cartridges as well as those especially adapted for interlock with the clip.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a cartridge clip with means for recessing therein the flanged bases of applied cartridges in a manner to provide for stable mounting of the cartridges and to enable the clip to be slip fit and received within the body of a revolver.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved cartridge facilitating its loading in a clip.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a generally new cartridge clip to which cartridges may be assembled in a manner facilitating use of the assembly and in particular achieving a construction and arrangement of parts in which a revolver cylinder may be quickly and reliably loaded and unloaded using the sense of touch alone, as in darkness.

An additional object of the invention is to provide a cartridge clip and a cartridge each individually possessing the advantageous structural features, the inherent meritorious characteristics and the means and mode of use herein described.

With the above and other incidental objects in view as will more fully appear in the specification, the invention intended to be protected by Letters Patent consists of the features of construction, the parts and combinations thereof, and the mode of operation as hereinafter described or illustrated in the accompanying drawings, or their equivalents.

Referring to the accompanying drawing wherein is shown one but obviously not necessarily the only form of embodiment of the invention,

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary view in side elevation of a revolver, showing the cartridge cylinder swung out for loading and showing a cartridge clip assembly positioned for loading into the cylinder;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary view similar to FIG. 1, showing the parts in top plan view and showing the cartridge assembly loaded into the cylinder, the cylinder being broken away for clarity;

FIG. 3 is a view in rear elevation of the parts as shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a detail view of a cartridge clip in accordance with the illustrated embodiment of the invention, showing one face thereof;

FIG. 5 is a view like FIG. 4, showing the opposite face of the cartridge clip;

FIG. 6 is a detail view, in side elevation, of a clip and cartridge assembly;

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary, enlarged view like FIG. 6, a part of the clip being broken away and the cartridges being shown in fragmentary form;

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary detail view of an improved cartridge showing flats thereon; and

FIG. 9 is a view like FIG. 8, the cartridge being rotated approximately 90.degree. from the FIG. 8 position.

Like parts are indicated by similar characters of reference throughout the several views.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF AN ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENT:

While the invention may be otherwise applicable, it is here shown as applied in the loading and unloading of a conventional .38 caliber Police Special revolver. Such a revolver includes a grip 10, a body 11 in which is a standing breech wall 12, and a barrel 13. A cylinder 14 pivotally mounts on an extractor rod 15 and normally occupies a position within body 11 where a circumferential series of cartridge chambers 20 may be brought selectively to alignment with barrel 13. A retaining lug 16 and a latch 17 are adapted to hold cylinder 14 in an operating position between barrel 13 and breech wall 12, from which position the cylinder may be rocked out to a loading and unloading position as illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 3. In the latter position, empty cartridge shells are removed from chambers 20 and fresh cartridges inserted therein.

According to the present invention, loading and unloading of cartridges and cartridge shells into and out of the cylinder chambers 20 is a single action process, involving use of cartridge clip 18. The part 18, as shown, is a flat disc having an outside diameter less than the outside diameter of cylinder 14. It is preferably made of metal for strength and rigidity, although the invention does not exclude the use of a suitable plastic material. The center of disc 18 is open, giving it a generally annular configuration.

A series of equidistantly and circumferentially spaced cut-outs are formed on the inner periphery of the disc 18. Each cut-out is radially directed and defines at said inner periphery a convergent throat 21 opening to an expanding recess or pocket 19 the wall of which is formed on a generally uniform radius. The pockets 19 open from face to face of the disc 18 and the center of each pocket is radially spaced from the disc axis. Moreover, the several centers of the pockets dispose at circumferentially spaced locations on a common circle concentric to the disc axis. It is noted that the convergent extremity of each throat 21 which opens to a pocket 19 provides an opening to the pocket which is slightly smaller in dimension than the diameter of that portion of a cartridge case which it is to receive.

As the inner periphery of the disc 18 is formed, there is produced thereon, between each pair of successively adjacent pockets 19, an intermediate tongue portion 22. The inwardly projected extremity of each tongue 22, as defined by the form of the throats 21, has inclined or tapering sides providing guide surfaces for cartridge casings as cartridges are applied to the respective pockets.

Referring now to FIG. 4 of the drawings, formed in what might be considered the rear face of the disc 18 are a series of counterbores, there being a counterbore coextensive with the arcuate extent of the wall rimming each pocket 19. There is thus defined in the rear face of the disc 18 a recessed seat 25 rimming the arcuate extent of each of the respective pockets. On the other hand the opposite or front face of the disc 18 shown in FIG. 5 reveals a flat uninterrupted surface which in use is adapted to abut the rear end of the cylinder 14, as will be further described.

Thus defined, the recesses or pockets 19, with their counterbored seats 25, are circularly and equidistantly spaced in a continuous series about the central axis of the disc to correspond in position and number with the chambers 20 of the cylinder 14. As seen, moreover, the recesses or pockets 19 commonly face in a direction radially inward of the clip. This dictates that cartridges will be inserted in the pockets from the open center of the disc.

As will be self-evident from the foregoing and the accompanying drawings, the periphery of the clip 18 may be gripped in the fingers of one hand and each cartridge installed by inserting the same in the center and pressing the same radially outward into a pocket 19 through a throat 21, the form of the tongues 22 and the throats defined thereby facilitating a smooth and easy entry of a cartridge to a pocket. In moving a cartridge radially outward through a throat 21, the throat will be caused to slightly spread as the cartridge casing enters the pocket. Once within the pocket the throat 21 returns to its normal configuration to closely engage about the wall of the cartridge casing as the base flange on the cartridge is moved to abut the seat 25 rimming the pocket in which the cartridge nests. Each cartridge so applied to a pocket 19 is thus stably and securely mounted and the total of the cartridges will remain in parallel as the entire clip is applied to a revolver cylinder 14.

It will be realized that since the pockets 19 are precisely defined to correspond to the position of the chambers of a cylinder 14 and cartridges are stably and uniformly mounted to project from the clip 18, by merely grasping the outer periphery of the disc 18 one may simply and easily thrust the cartridges together with the clip into the cylinder 14. Note that the clip defines a simple means enabling a sure manipulation of cartridges, even in the dark, into the respective pockets. Note further that once the cartridges are applied that the same may be safely and quickly inserted without touching the cartridges, and merely by thrusting the noses thereof into the appropriate chambers of the cylinder. A further benefit is evidenced by the fact that the bases of the cartridges abut the seats 25 which are recessed relative the rear or outer face of the disc 18. This dictates that the cylinder loaded with the cartridges, still retained in their clip, may be swung into an operating position. The arrangement is such that the cylinder will rotate without interference.

The simplicity and effectiveness of the invention clip should now be obvious. Its nature is such as to facilitate not only simple and easy loading but similar unloading, the clip being withdrawn with the empty cartridge casings in the latter event. When one needs to replace the clip, an entire unit may be held available in assembled relation or one can slip out the empty cartridge cases and replace the same without waste motion or significant loss of time. The advantages are of utmost importance to police and military usage.

Looking now to FIGS. 8 and 9 of the drawings, a novel cartridge with which the clip 18 provides a particularly advantageous assembly comprises a cup-like cylindrical shell casing 26 containing a charge of powder, the open end of which is clamped upon a projectile 27. The opposite end of the shell casing 26 includes a conically tapering portion 28 which terminates in a flanged base 29. The tapering surface 28 together with the flange of base 29 define therebetween an extractor groove 31. Formed on each of diametrically opposite sides of the surface 28 is a flat 32. The flats 32 lie in parallel planes and, of course, reduce the shell casing diameter across the location of the flats. As will be noted, apart from the dimension across the flats, the diameter of the shell casing in the area of the base of the extractor groove corresponds, approximately, to the interior diameter of a pocket or recess 19. Further attention is directed to the fact that the flanged base 29 has a thickness corresponding approximately to the depth of the counterbores in the one face of the disc 18 which define the seats 25. The interior diameter of each pocket 19 is designed such that it closely nests the portion of the cartridge shell surface 28 immediately adjacent its base 29, as will be further described.

In applying the cartridge 26 in the clip, it is inserted through its open center to place the extractor groove portion in the plane of the clip. In this case, as in the previous case described, the throat 21 of each pocket is undersize relative the diameter of the shell casing 26 at the location of its extractor groove portion. In this instance, on insertion within the center of the clip and appropriate orientation, the cartridge is rotated about its axis to align the flats 32 with the lateral or side margins of the throat 21. So positioned, the flattened portion of the cartridge casing in the extractor groove is dimensioned to be readily passed through a throat 21 and into a pocket 19. When the cartridge is fully accommodated in the pocket 19, it may be given an approximately 90.degree. turn about its axis, whereupon the flats will be displaced and the relatively larger diameter of the tapered surface 28 will be frictionally engaged with the wall of the pocket as the flanged base 29 is caused to seat in recessed relation to the clip 18, abutting a seat 25 defined by one of the aforementioned counterbores, designated by the numeral 24. Thus, a cartridge, on application to the clip 18, may be quickly and easily inserted and caused to assume a stable perpendicularly projected relation to the cartridge clip. While the flanged base 29 may be caused to be fully recessed so as to clear the breech wall of the revolver, the outer extremity thereof may be in slightly projecting relation to the adjacent clip face.

As seen, when the cartridges of FIGS. 8 and 9 are mounted as described, they will become releasable but unitary parts of the clip 18, projecting in parallel relation. In loading a revolver cylinder such as 14, therefore, it is again necessary merely to advance an assembled clip whereupon the tapering noses of the cartridge projectiles locate and guide the entire unit so as to achieve, quickly and easily, a loading of the chambers 20.

In summary, the invention provides a clip which can be simply and effectively loaded so the clip can be peripherally gripped without affecting the position of the mounted cartridges and the cartridges simultaneously and swiftly loaded in a simple fashion. The simplicity and nature of the clip is to enable the same remaining in connected relation to the cartridge shell casings as a revolver cylinder is swung into an operating position. The base portions of the cartridge shells are not only so mounted to stabilize the position of the cartridges but as to obviate interference with the cylinder retaining lug 16 and latch 17. When the cartridges are fired and the revolver cylinder moved to an unloading position, one can quickly and easily draw the cartridge shell casings from the cylinder 14 simultaneously, through the medium of the extractor rod 15. There are thus provided features of accurate, trouble-free, loading and unloading, along with the absence of structural features that may cause interference between a clip and parts of a revolver, making the invention of special interest and application to police work. The clip is optimally designed to facilitate loading and unloading in the dark.

Further, while a cartridge clip 18 is so economical to fabricate that it may be considered expendable and discarded after a single use, nevertheless, the clip is rigidly constructed and designed so that in use it is not subjected to damaging stresses. It is accordingly reusable.

It will be obvious that shell casings are removed from the clip in a manner reversely of that in which they are installed, presenting no problems in this respect.

Attention is directed to the fact that the particular cartridge of FIGS. 8 and 9 is designed to have a particular utility in conjunction with the cartridge clip. However, the clip can be advantageously used with a more conventional cartridge such as first described.

From the above description it will be apparent that there is thus provided a device of the character described possessing the particular features of advantage before enumerated as desirable, but which obviously is susceptible of modification in its form, proportions, detail construction and arrangement of parts without departing from the principle involved or sacrificing any of its advantages.

While in order to comply with the statute the invention has been described in language more or less specific as to structural features, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the specific features shown, but that the means and construction herein disclosed comprise but one of several modes of putting the invention into effect and the invention is therefore claimed in any of its forms or modifications within the legitimate and valid scope of the appended claims.

Claims

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A cartridge clip for use with a cartridge having a case and on one end thereof a flanged base, comprising a flat plate-like element having a central passage which extends from face to face thereof, said element including openings defining a series of spaced pockets in rimming relation to said passage and means defining limited access openings leading outwardly from said passage, each said access opening providing an entrance throat to one of said pockets opposite a closed base portion thereof arranged to provide a limited passage through which the case of a cartridge oriented generally perpendicular to said plate-like element may be pressed into the related pocket, each said pocket being rimmed by a facially recessed surface portion of said plate-like element to nest the flanged base of a cartridge in one face of said element as it is pressed into the base portion of the related pocket and moved axially its fullest extent.

2. A cartridge clip as in claim 1 characterized by said pockets and the entrance throats thereof being radially oriented with reference to the center of said passage and said pockets being separated by tongue-like plate portions the projected extremities of which are formed with tapering sides providing guide surfaces for an applied cartridge case.

3. A cartridge clip according to claim 1 characterized by said plate having an integral ring-like form, said pockets being circularly spaced about its center, and flexing tongue-like projected formations on the inner periphery thereof defining said entrance throats.

4. A cartridge clip device for use with a cartridge having a case and at one end thereof a flanged base comprising plate means including means defining a central opening extending between the remote faces thereof, a portion of said plate means providing means defining a series of spaced pockets limited portions of which pockets are open to and in rimming relation to said central opening, each of said limited portions providing an entrance to one of said pockets opposite a closed base portion thereof, through which entrance the case of a cartridge oriented generally perpendicular to said plate means may be pressed into the related pocket, a portion of said plate means rimming each pocket providing with said first portion a recess adapted to nest the flanged base of a cartridge on assembly thereof.

5. A cartridge clip device as in claim 4 characterized in that said pockets are arranged in a circumferential series and separated at the entrance thereto by tongue-like plate portions.

6. A cartridge clip device as in claim 4 characterized by said plate means having a configuration of a flat disc-like unit of substantially ring form, the inner periphery of said first portion of which includes the entrances to each said pocket.

7. A cartridge clip device as in claim 4 characterized by said plate means forming a disc-like plate structure and the portion of the plate means rimming each said pocket forming a step at edge portions of plate means which define said pockets to form said recess.