6,887 1,661 April 24, 1928, J. M. BROWNING ICE POR FIREARMS Filed Ot. 15, 1925 3 7 fyvgnior . pA Firm ny 2 Shoote- Shee!1,666,887 J. M. BROWNING BARREL COOLING DEVICE FOR FIREARMS April 24, 1928, 2 Sheots-Shoor 2 Filed Oot, 15, 1925 Sort yy ab | alo aPatented Apr. 24, 1928. 1,666,887 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. JOHN M, BROWNING, OF OGDEN, UTAH; JOHN BROWNING ADMINISTRATOR OF SAID JOHN M, BROWNING, DECEASED. BARREL-COOLING DEVICE FOR FIREARMS, Application ‘led October 18, 1996, ‘The invention relates to'a barrel cooling device for automatic machine guns having recoiling barrel, and more particularly to 2 device of this kind in which water is used 6 as the cooling medium. Tn machine guns of this class @ tubular water cooling juckel, surrounds the barrel and is stitably connected at its rear end to the breech easing of the gun. At the front, 1o the jacket is provided with o closing cap having a bore within which the burrel slides. ‘To prevent leakage of water along the bar rel suitable stuffing boxes are, provided at the rear end and at the front closing eap of 15 the jacket. “After using sueh a gun, the water must be drained from the jacket and the barrel leaned and greased (o provent its rusting. Failure (o effect this cleaning operation may 2» result in the subsequent malfunctioning of the gun due to the rusted condition of the barvel which particularly interferes with the smooth movement of the barrel and tends to tear the packing in the front and rear stuil- 25 ing boxes with a resultant leakage of the water from the easing. Hleretofore it has heen necessary, in order to effect this nec- essary cleaning and treatment of the baurel, to open the rear end of the breech casing, 30 remove the mechanism in rear of the barrel fand to finally withdraw the barrel from the ‘water jacket and breech casing in rearward dizection. Tt is an object of my invention to provide 35 a construction whereby ready access can be hhad to the barrel for this purpose without the nevessity of handling the barrel by dis- mounting it from the gun, Such a construc- tion is particularly desirable in guns of rel- © atively lazge caliber (say 37m/m or over) because of the weight of the barrel. ‘This ‘object is attained by providing a water cool- {ng easing which can be easily atiached lo and detached from the breech casing and 4s slid forwardly off the barrel, after which the Darrel can be cleaned in situ. "A further object of the invention, resides in the provision of means whereby the used packing in the stuffing boxes cam also be so Teadily removed and new packing, inserted. Tn automatie machine guns of this class, it has also been found that the extreme for- ward portion of the barrel, which necessarily projects forwardly beyond the front closing Serial Ho, 62,672, cap of the water jacket a distance substan- tially equal to the length of the recoil of the barrel, is not as effectively cooled as may be, ecmise not immersed in the water of the for a sudicient length of time, if at ‘This is particularly true, when the bar- all rel is tapered! and when the gun is fired at a high angle of elevation, as at an aerial target, because the level of the water in the easing then drops an appreciable. extent at each recoil of the barrel due to the de- cased displacement of the barrel when in the recoiled position. Te is, therefore, a further object of the in- vention to provide for the more effective cooling of the barrel at its forward portion, sind this object is attained by providin means for preventing the drop of tho lev of the water in the forward portion of the jacket when the gun is at a ligh elevation, and during the recoil and return movements of the batvel, thereby insuring that the for- ‘ward portion of the barrel is suficiently sub- jected to the cooling action of the water. ‘In the accompanying drawings. there is shovin « preferzed onbodiment ofthe inven. dion as applied to an automatic gun of large caliber, sch a8 fe shown and described, for example, in my prior Patent, No. 1,525,005 dated Kebriary 3, 1925, for’ an automatic ‘ream, but it will be’ obvious that it is equally applicable to other guns and to guns of smaller caliber. In the drawings: Fig. 1is the partial left side elevation. of the gin having mounted thereon a cooling device embodying the invention; ig. 2 is a front elevation of the forward portion of the gum and cooling device mount- 4 thereon; Fig. 8 is’ vertical longitudinal section of the forward portion of the gun with parts broken away; Fig. 4 is an enlarged front elevation of the front stufling box and the, hose connection therefor, the barrel being shown in section: Tig. 8 is an enlarged central longitudinal erica setion through the front stung ox; Tig. 6 is an enlarged vertical transverse section taken on the line 6—6of Fig. 8, show ing the novel chock valve for holding the water in the extreme forward portion of the casing when gun is elevated to high angles; 6 0 6 98 100 105