Abstract: An artillery-shell rammer with a carriage provided with a shell accommodation trough. The trough is aligned with the weapon's chamber behind the barrel and has a shell positioner at the rear. The carriage travels back and forth on a rail along a track paralleling the axis of the barrel and is coupled to a drive mechanism that accelerates it toward the barrel. Means of braking the carriage are provided at a prescribed distance back of the barrel. The drive mechanism is provided with at least one linear motor.

Abstract: A rammer for an artillery piece with a barrel that can be elevated. The rammer has a cradle upstream of the barrel. The cradle is aligned with the powder chamber, has an accommodation for the shell, travels subject to a guide along a track that parallels the axis of the barrel, is coupled to a piston-and-cylinder mechanism that accelerates it toward the barrel, and is provided with a brake. The piston-and-cylinder mechanism is controlled by pneumatic controls that accommodate a rapid-opening valve. The valve diverts air back and forth between a source of compressed air and a vent. There is a pressure-reduction component with an electrically controlled proportional pressure-regulation valve between the source of compressed air and the rapid-opening valve. Signals from a fire direction system or position generator are forwarded to the electric controls. The pressure-regulation valve is then activated, reducing the ramming pressure in accordance with a prescribed formula as elevation decreases.

Abstract: A rammer for artillery shells with a carriage behind the gun's tube that supports a tray in alignment with the powder chamber, that has a mechanism at the rear to intercept the shell, that travels on slides along a track paralleling the axis R of the tube, that is coupled to a piston-and-cylinder drive mechanism to accelerate toward the tube, and that has a braking mechanism to brake it at a prescribed distance from the rear end of the tube. The braking mechanism has a shock absorber position in the longitudinal midplane of the carriage with a piston that moves against the force of a friction spring inside a cylinder and that has a piston rod projecting forward beyond the front of the carriage with a stop mounted on it, whereby the stop rests directly against the rear end of the tube when the carriage is in the forward and braked position.