Untitled record

Application filed November 2,1894. Serial No. 527,711. (No model.)

To all whom tb may concern:

Be it known that I, Frank Emilius Lodetti, a subject of the King of Italy, and a resident of Rondout, county, of Ulster, and 5 Stateof New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Magazines for Repeating Firearms, of which the following is a.specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part thereof, io in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

This invention relates to magazines for repeating or self-loading firearms, and has for its object to provide a simple, cheap, readily15 constructed, and perfectly-operating device of this character, by means of which two or more rows of cartridges may be held iii the magazine and automatically carried to the. level of the breech, a further object of the invention 20. being to provide such a device as will enable the firearm upon which it is applied to be used as a single-loading arm.

The invention consists in the novel construction and arrangement of parts herein25 after fully described.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a longitudinal central, section of the magazine of a rifle embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same. Fig. 3 is a ver30 tical cross-section taken upon the line x x, Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a plan view of the spring which forces the cartridges upwardly. Fig. 5 is aside elevation Of a device which I use for holding the cartridges as they are inserted in 35 the magazine. Fig. 6 is an end view of the same. Fig. 7 is a plan view thereof.

In the practice of my invention I form in the gun A a magazine A' of the usual or any other desired form and of a width to hold two 40 or more rows of cartridges, preferably having a base A², secured, removably beneath the same by means of the screw a for greater convenience of access from the bottom. Within the magazine is a plate-spring B, secured at 45 one end by means of screws & to the forward end of the magazine, having at the opposite· end thereof a pivot or trunnion c, from the center of which depends a hook d. Pivoted upon the trunnion c is a plate C, divided Ion50 gitudinally to form two integral sections concaved to receive the lower cartridges therein, one of the said sections 0' being depressed to range below the level of the main portion C and hold the two rows of cartridges at unequal height, as shown in Fig. 3. Near the top I 55 secure upon the interior of the magazine, at· each side thereof, springs D, turned downwardly and inwardly, so-as to bear upon the uppermost cartridge in the magazine.

To provide for placing the cartridges expe- 60 ditiously in the magazine, I have constructed a receptacle comprising a strip Ε, concaved upon its lower face similarly to the plate C, in order to hold the cartridges in the position shown in Fig. 3, whereby one of the same is 65 always higher than the others. This strip has upon, the top thereof a handle Ε, and depending from the same are side pieces or supports ee'at each end thereof, curved upwardly at the ends, the supports on one side being 7c elevated above the level of those upon the other side to conform to the concavities in the strip Ε.

Upon the usual bolt F of the gun.I secure a hook or catch/, which engages with the head 75 of the cartridge in the barrel, and when the arm has been discharged and the bolt is drawn back the cartridge-shell is carried with it.

The operation of the device will be readily understood from the foregbing description, 80 taken in connection with the accompanying drawings. The cartridges having previously been placed, in the .receptacle between the strip E and the supports e and e', the breech is opened and the receptacle with the car- 85 tridges therein placed in the magazine and the receptacle thereupon slipped off the cartridges, which thus rest in the position indicated in Fig. 3. The said receptacle is of very fine flexible steel or other metal, and the ends 90 thereof yield sufficiently to disengage from the lower cartridges. The bolt F of the rifle is then drawn back, as in Fig. 1, the extractor / carrying with it the empty shell, if such be left in the barrel, which is then ejected, and 95 the spring-plate B forces the cartridges upwardly until the topmost one thereof is in substantial alignment with the barrel, whereupon the bolt is forced forwardly to bring tbe said cartridge in place. When' the firearm ioj has been discharged, this operation is repeated and the cartridges are taken alternately from the right and left hand rows and inserted into place, this arrangement of the

545,512 cartridges being, so far as I am aware, a broadly novel means whereby a considerable number of the same may be held in a comparatively- small vertical compass. The 5 springs D not only prevent too great upward movement of the cartridges, but also serve to direct the same, as best shown in Figi 2, one of the said springs always bearing upon the uppermost cartridge.

to Should it be desired to use the firearm as a single-loading gun, the plate C may be held downwardly against the spring D by means of a bolt g, beneath the same, having a stud g' thereon sliding in a slot h in the base A³c5 of the magazine, at the forward end of which bolt is a button g², projecting through a somewhat more elongated slot h^r in the base. Rearward of the bolt g is a spiral spring i, mounted in the wall of the magazine and causso ing the bolt to be normally projected forwardly. When the button g² is pressed back, the catch or hook d upon the spring B falls beneath the same, and, the button being released, the bolt engages with the said hook and holds the plate C and the spring B downwardly out of active engagement with the cartridges.

.The advantages resultant from the use of my invention will be manifest to all who are ;o. conversant with the general class of devices to which the same appertains.