1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to devices used in reloading ammunition and more particularly to a case activated drum powder measure, which provides automatic reloading of a cartridge case with gunpowder by the upward movement of the cartridge case in a reloading press.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Case activated powder charging was originally introduced by the inventor in U.S. Pat. No. 4,418,606 to Richard J. Lee. The Lee invention is well understood and has been used for over a quarter century. Its usefulness has been limited to sliding charge bars due to the short stroke of 0.4 inch provided by standard “powder through expanding dies.” Rotating drum powder measures, such as those illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 2,550,827 to Lachmiller and U.S. Pat. No. 4,151,933 to Myers require a longer stroke to rotate the powder drum at least 120 to 180 degrees. Rotating drum powder measures are desirable, because they are infinitely adjustable within the maximum capacity, and are considered more accurate by the consumer. It is difficult and expensive to convert vertical travel to 120 degrees or more by the use of rotary motion with levers, cranks and connecting rods.
The rotating drum powder measures are normally not case activated due to the long stroke required. Recently, adaptors such as the “Case Activated Powder Drop Improved” manufactured by Hornday have been offered as retrofits for certain drum type measures. A webpage illustration of the Hornady device is recited in the information disclosure statement. The Hornady device uses multiple levers, which are costly, cumbersome, and may damage the case mouth due to the force required to operate the powder measure and the return spring. It appears that the prior art does not disclose an economical case activated drum powder measure, especially for standard dies that have a 0.4 inch stroke.
Accordingly, there is a clearly felt need in the art for a case activated drum powder measure, which provides automatic reloading of a cartridge case with gunpowder by the upward movement of the cartridge case in a reloading press, without a complicated linkage mechanism.
The present invention provides a case activated drum powder measure, which is activated by the upward movement of a cartridge case. The case activated drum powder measure includes a measure body, a powder drum, a drive assembly and an actuation assembly. The measure body includes a drum receiver, an actuation tube and a hopper receiver. The hopper receiver extends from a top of the drum receiver and the actuation tube extends from a bottom of the drum receiver. The hopper receiver communicates with the drum receiver through a feed opening and the actuation tube communicates with the drum receiver through a drop opening. The powder drum includes a powder tube and a powder drum shank. A powder cavity is formed in the powder tube. A volume adjustment screw is threaded into the powder cavity to vary the volume capacity of the powder cavity. The drive assembly includes a connecting rod, a gear case, a sun gear and a planet gear. The actuation assembly includes an actuator, a drop tube, an expanding die and a case mouth expander.
A planet gear pin is inserted through one end of the connecting rod, the planet gear and a yoke. A shoulder of the sun gear is inserted through the yoke and the gear case and axially secured to the gear case with a retaining ring. An alternative drive assembly includes the connecting rod, the sun gear and a drive gear. The drive gear is pivotally retained on the gear case. The powder drum is inserted into the drum receiver and radially secured with a chain drum and a thumb screw. A compression spring is pushed over the connecting rod. The actuator is inserted into the actuation tube and the other end of the connecting rod is secured to the actuator with a actuator arm pin. An adapter is inserted into the actuation tube behind the actuator. One end of the drop tube is inserted into the adapter and actuator. The case mouth expander is pushed over the other end of the drop tube. The expanding die is threaded on to the adapter. A hopper is pushed into the hopper receiver.
The expanding die is threaded into a top of a press frame of a reloading press and secured thereto with a jam nut. Gun powder is poured into the hopper. Some of the gun powder in the hopper fills the powder cavity. A shell holder is retained in a ram of the reloading press and a case is retained in the shell holder. A lever arm of the reloading press is pulled downward, which causes the ram to push the case into the expanding die. The case pushes the mouth expander upward, which causes the connecting rod to rotate the powder cavity in the powder drum from an alignment with the feed opening to an alignment with the drop opening. The angle between the feed opening and the drop opening is preferably minimized to 120 degrees. Either drive system reduces the required linear movement of the case to rotate the powder drum by one half. The gun powder in the powder cavity falls into the case. The lever arm is retracted, which removes the case from the case mouth expander and the compression spring causes the powder cavity in the power drum to rotate back, such that the powder cavity is in alignment with the feed opening.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a case activated drum powder measure, which provides automatic reloading of a cartridge case with gunpowder by the upward movement of the cartridge case in a reloading press, without a complicated linkage mechanism.
Finally, it is another object of the present invention to provide a case activated drum powder measure, which is economical to manufacture and use.
These and additional objects, advantages, features and benefits of the present invention will become apparent from the following specification.
a is a front cross sectional view of a case activated drum powder measure cut through
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The actuation assembly 16 includes an actuator 66, a drop tube 68, an expanding die 70 and a case mouth expander 72. The actuator 66 includes an actuator arm 74 extending from a bottom perimeter of the actuator 66. A pivot hole 76 is formed through the actuator arm 74. A tube counterbore 78 is formed in a bottom of the actuator 66, which is sized to receive the drop tube 68. A tapered bore 80 is formed in a top of the actuator and communicates with tube counterbore 78. The actuator 66 is inserted into the actuation tube 20. An arm clearance 82 is formed in a bottom of the actuation tube 20 to provide clearance for the linear movement of the actuator arm 74.
An adapter 84 includes a threaded end 86 and a tube end 88. The tube end 88 is inserted into the actuator tube 20. A retention thread 90 is formed on a bottom of the actuator tube 20 to threadably receive a retaining nut 92. The retaining nut 92 retains the adapter 84 in the actuator tube 20. The case mouth expander 72 includes a tube counterbore 94 and a necked down perimeter 96. The necked down perimeter 96 is sized to expand an inner perimeter of the case 110 to create a 0.001-0.003 inches press fit with a bullet. The expanding die 70 includes a case bore 120, a female thread 122, a case expander bore 124 and a threaded perimeter 126. One end of the drop tube 68 is inserted into the adapter 66 and the case mouth expander 72 pushed over the other end of the drop tube 68. The case expander bore 124 is sized to receive the case mouth expander 72. The female thread 122 is sized to threadably receive the threaded end 86 of the adapter 84. The case bore 120 is sized to receive an outer perimeter of the case 110. The threaded perimeter 126 is threaded into the press frame 102 and secured with a jam nut 112.
The powder drum 12 is inserted into the drum receiver 18 and radially secured therein with a chain drum 128 and a thumb screw 152. A location ring 132 preferably extends from the other side of the drum receiver 18. The location ring 132 is sized to receive an inner perimeter of the gear case 42. The gear case 42 includes a plurality of fastener holes 134. A plurality of case fasteners 136 are inserted through the plurality of fastener holes 134 and threaded into the other side of the drum receiver 18. The sun gear 46 includes a shaft hole 47 and a plurality of spline slots 49, which are sized to receive the plurality of spline projections 34 on the powder drum shaft 32.
A compression spring 138 is pushed over the connecting rod 40. An actuation arm hole 140 is formed through the other end of the connecting rod 40. An actuation arm pin 142 is inserted through the actuation arm hole 140 and the pivot hole 76 in the actuation arm 74. The actuation arm pin 142 is preferably press fitted with the actuation arm hole 140 in the connecting rod 40. The chain drum 128 includes a shaft boss 144 and a pull chain 146. The pull chain 146 is optional and may be attached to the ram 104 to eliminate the need for the compression spring 138. A plurality of spline projections 148 are formed around the shaft boss 144. The plurality of spline projections 148 are sized to be received by the plurality of spline slots 49 in the sun gear 46. To insure proper assembly between the shaft boss 144, the powder drum shaft 32 and the sun gear 46, at least one of the plurality of spline slots 49 is oversized.
The shaft boss 144 of the chain drum 128 is pushed part way into one end of the shaft hole 47 of the sun gear 46. The powder drum shaft 32 is pushed into the opposite end of the shaft hole 47 of the sun gear 46. A gap 145 between an end of the powder drum shank 32 and an end of the shaft boss 144 allows a user to adjust the tightness of the thumb screw 152 for zero clearance between the conical cavity 27 and the powder drum 12. The chain drum 128 includes a screw hole 150, which is sized to receive a thumb screw 152. The thumb screw 152 is threaded into a threaded tap 33 in the powder drum shaft 32 to retain the powder drum 12 in the conical cavity 27.
A hopper 154 is pushed into the hopper receiver 22. Gun powder (not shown) is poured into the hopper 154. A portion of the gun powder fills the powder cavity 35. The lever arm 106 of the reloading press 100 is pulled downward, which causes the ram 104 to push the case 110 into the expanding die 70. The case 110 pushes the case mouth expander 72 upward, which causes the connecting rod 40 to rotate the powder cavity 35 in the powder drum 12 from an alignment with the feed opening 24 to an alignment with the drop opening 26. The gun powder in the powder cavity 35 falls into the case 110. The lever arm 106 is retracted, which removes the case 110 from the case mouth expander 72 and the compression spring 138 (or in the alternative the drum chain 146) causes the powder cavity 35 in the power drum 12 to rotate back, such that the powder cavity 35 is back in alignment with the feed opening 24.
While particular embodiments of the invention have been shown and described, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that changes and modifications may be made without departing from the invention in its broader aspects, and therefore, the aim in the appended claims is to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
481127 | Wagner | Aug 1892 | A |
1991742 | Green | Feb 1935 | A |
1996044 | Green | Mar 1935 | A |
2050756 | Kubo | Aug 1936 | A |
2194143 | Ganter | Mar 1940 | A |
2532698 | Corkins | Dec 1950 | A |
2538413 | Chard | Jan 1951 | A |
2550827 | Lachmiller | May 1951 | A |
2778528 | Corcoran | Jan 1957 | A |
3029574 | Anderson | Apr 1962 | A |
3090524 | Corcoran | May 1963 | A |
3140018 | Miller | Jul 1964 | A |
3311272 | Westbrook | Mar 1967 | A |
3336829 | Lee | Aug 1967 | A |
3386329 | Rohrbacher | Jun 1968 | A |
3670928 | Hanson | Jun 1972 | A |
4151933 | Myers | May 1979 | A |
4418606 | Lee | Dec 1983 | A |
4522102 | Pickens | Jun 1985 | A |
5024135 | Bender | Jun 1991 | A |
5179243 | Schroeder | Jan 1993 | A |
5202529 | Shields | Apr 1993 | A |
5292037 | Held | Mar 1994 | A |
5763810 | Lee | Jun 1998 | A |