M240 adapter assembly clip
A clamping mechanism corrects a design flaw in the NSN 1005-01-431-8324 adapter assembly without modifying it. The fine details of military regulations have encouraged the design flaw's persistence by limiting and preventing actions for correcting or modifying the NSN 1005-01-431-8324 adapter assembly. The clamping mechanism can be fielded without violating any regulations and thereby without necessitating the very expensive and time consuming acceptance procedures that would be required of other solutions. The clamping mechanism addresses the design flaw while simultaneously remaining within the regulatory regime.
Embodiments relate to the fields of machine guns, ammunition boxes, ammunition bags, and attachment systems. Embodiments also relate to the field of government purchasing regulations.
BACKGROUNDThe machine guns in the M240 family are belt fed medium range machine guns currently in wide service with the United States military and its allies. The M240 family includes the M240, M240E4, M240B, M240C, M240E1, M240D, M240G, M240E5, M240H, M240E6, and MAG58. For simplicity, the various M240 family members are all herein referred to as M240s. An M240 is often mounted to a vehicle or tripod but can also, because of its light weight, be hand carried and hand fired.
In general, ammunition is belt fed into the M240 from the left side. The ammunition belt can be hand held, contained in an ammunition carrier. An ammunition carrier can be an ammunition box or an ammunition bag sometimes called a bandolier. Hand held ammunition belts are usually short because a long belt is unwieldy and mishandling can lead to jams. Longer belts can be held in an ammunition carrier attached by an adapter assembly to the side of the M240. The M240 family adapter assembly is a specific item that can be purchased by United States purchasing agents as “NSN 1005-01-431-8324” or as “P/N 12976909”. NSN stands for “National Stock Number” while P/N stands for “part number”.
The NSN 1005-01-431-8324 adapter assembly illustrated in
The following summary is provided to facilitate an understanding of some of the innovative features unique to the embodiments and is not intended to be a full description. A full appreciation of the various aspects of the embodiments can be gained by taking the entire specification, claims, drawings, and abstract as a whole.
Systems and methods for clamping together a NSN 1005-01-431-8324 receiver plate to a NSN 1005-01-431-8324 bandolier holder while not violating military purchasing regulations nor violating military equipment regulations are needed.
It is therefore an aspect of the embodiments to provide a clamp that fixes a NSN 1005-01-431-8324 receiver plate to a NSN 1005-01-431-8324 bandolier holder. The NSN 1005-01-431-8324 receiver plate and the NSN 1005-01-431-8324 bandolier holder together are a NSN 1005-01-431-8324 adapter assembly.
It is also an aspect of the embodiments that the NSN 1005-01-431-8324 adapter assembly is not modified to receive the clamp and that the clamp does not modify the NSN 1005-01-431-8324 adapter assembly. As such, the NSN 1005-01-431-8324 adapter assembly always remains unmodified and in accord with military regulations. Any modification to the NSN 1005-01-431-8324 adapter assembly can be a violation of military regulations.
The accompanying figures, in which like reference numerals refer to identical or functionally similar elements throughout the separate views and which are incorporated in and form a part of the specification, further illustrate the present invention and, together with the background of the invention, brief summary of the invention, and detailed description of the invention, serve to explain the principles of the present invention.
The particular values and configurations discussed in these non-limiting examples can be varied and are cited merely to illustrate at least one embodiment and are not intended to limit the scope thereof. In general, the figures are not to scale.
As previously discussed, the NSN 1005-01-431-8324 adapter assembly has a design flaw leading to a tendency to separate under certain conditions and uses. The design flaw is difficult to correct because of military purchasing regulations and military equipment regulations. The NSN 1005-01-431-8324 adapter assembly has been tested and approved by military organization all over the world. Any modification to the NSN 1005-01-431-8324 adapter assembly necessarily leads to new rounds of testing and approvals as the various interested military organizations examine what is, by regulation, a new piece of equipment. The United States military as well as allied militaries use the M240 and are thereby interested military organizations. Every military organization has its own regulations and test regimes.
Systems and methods that address the design flaw while not modifying the approved part can be introduced without necessarily leading to the very expensive and time consuming testing processes that would otherwise be required in accordance with military regulations. The fine details of military regulations cause great complications to what would otherwise be a simple task. For example, gluing the NSN 1005-01-431-8324 adapter assembly together is an obvious solution that is easy to implement. However, the act of gluing the parts together is irreversible under field conditions and thereby against regulations. A suitable solution must meet both technical and regulatory requirements.
It will be appreciated that variations of the above-disclosed and other features and functions, or alternatives thereof, may be desirably combined into many other different systems or applications. Also that various presently unforeseen or unanticipated alternatives, modifications, variations or improvements therein may be subsequently made by those skilled in the art which are also intended to be encompassed by the following claims.
Claims
1. A system comprising:
- a clamp that fixes a NSN 1005-01-431-8324 receiver plate to a NSN 1005-01-431-8324 bandolier holder wherein a NSN 1005-01-431-8324 adapter assembly comprises the NSN 1005-01-431-8324 receiver plate and the NSN 1005-01-431-8324 bandolier holder;
- wherein the NSN 1005-01-431-8324 adapter assembly is not modified to receive the clamp; and
- wherein attaching the clamp does not modify the NSN 1005-01-431-8324 adapter assembly.
2. The system of claim 1 wherein the clamp comprises a first plate, a second plate, and a bolt.
3. The system of claim 2 further comprising a thread locker wherein the bolt is threaded into and through the second plate and wherein the thread locker is threaded and binds the bolt inside the second plate.
4. The system of claim 1 wherein the clamp comprises a second plate and a bolt wherein the bolt's head can not pass through a tang assembly that is formed by assembling the NSN 1005-01-431-8324 receiver plate and the NSN 1005-01-431-8324 bandolier holder.
5. The system of claim 4 further comprising a thread locker wherein the bolt is threaded into and through the second plate and wherein the thread locker is threaded and binds the bolt inside the second plate.
6. The system of claim 1 wherein the clamp comprises a nut and a bolt wherein neither the bolt's head nor the nut can not pass through a tang assembly that is formed by assembling the NSN 1005-01-431-8324 receiver plate and the NSN 1005-01-431-8324 bandolier holder.
7. The system of claim 6 further comprising a thread locker wherein the bolt is threaded into and through the nut and wherein the thread locker is threaded and binds the bolt inside the nut.
8. The system of claim 1 wherein the clamp comprises a first hexagonal rod, a second hexagonal rod, and a bolt; wherein the NSN 1005-01-431-8324 receiver plate comprises a locking tab that engages the NSN 1005-01-431-8324 bandolier holder, and therein the second hexagonal rod prevents the locking tab from disengaging from the NSN 1005-01-431-8324 bandolier holder.
9. A system comprising:
- a NSN 1005-01-431-8324 adapter assembly comprising an NSN 1005-01-431-8324 receiver plate and an NSN 1005-01-431-8324 bandolier holder;
- a clamp that fixes the NSN 1005-01-431-8324 receiver plate to the NSN 1005-01-431-8324 bandolier;
- wherein the NSN 1005-01-431-8324 adapter assembly is not modified to receive the clamp; and
- wherein attaching the clamp does not modify the NSN 1005-01-431-8324 adapter assembly.
10. The system of claim 9 wherein the clamp comprises a first plate, a second plate, and a bolt.
11. The system of claim 10 further comprising a thread locker wherein the bolt is threaded into and through the second plate and wherein the thread locker is threaded and binds the bolt inside the second plate.
12. The system of claim 9 wherein the clamp comprises a second plate and a bolt wherein the bolt's head can not pass through a tang assembly that is formed by assembling the NSN 1005-01-431-8324 receiver plate and the NSN 1005-01-431-8324 bandolier holder.
13. The system of claim 12 further comprising a thread locker wherein the bolt is threaded into and through the second plate and wherein the thread locker is threaded and binds the bolt inside the second plate.
14. The system of claim 9 wherein the clamp comprises a nut and a bolt wherein neither the bolt's head nor the nut can not pass through a tang assembly that is formed by assembling the NSN 1005-01-431-8324 receiver plate and the NSN 1005-01-431-8324 bandolier holder.
15. The system of claim 14 further comprising a thread locker wherein the bolt is threaded into and through the nut and wherein the thread locker is threaded and binds the bolt inside the nut.
16. The system of claim 9 wherein the clamp comprises a first hexagonal rod, a second hexagonal rod, and a bolt; wherein the NSN 1005-01-431-8324 receiver plate comprises a locking tab that engages the NSN 1005-01-431-8324 bandolier holder, and therein the second hexagonal rod prevents the locking tab from disengaging from the NSN 1005-01-431-8324 bandolier holder.
Type: Application
Filed: Apr 24, 2007
Publication Date: Aug 26, 2010
Inventor: Steve Hines (Edgewood, NM)
Application Number: 11/789,511