This invention relates to a magazine or chamber for holding and dispensing multiple projectiles, and in particular, to a magazine that a constant-force spring, also known as a negator coil spring, to hold and dispense elastomeric foam projectiles within the magazine.
There have been multiple attempts to create ammunition magazines to store and dispense elastomeric foam projectiles using spring-power. These magazines have used conventional spring configurations, such as compression springs and torsion springs, to achieve the relatively long action required by this type of application. However, such conventional springs all share the undesirable characteristic that their restoring force is proportional to their deflection length. In other words, the further these springs are compressed, the more forcefully they push back. When a magazine using this type of spring is used to dispense relatively soft, elastomeric foam projectiles, this characteristic of conventional springs results in excessive deformation of the projectiles, particularly as multiple projectiles are added to the magazine and the spring becomes highly compressed. This effect currently limits the practical capacity of current magazines for loading elastomeric-foam projectiles to approximately seven projectiles. Therefore, it would be desirable to increase the capacity for magazines that use elastomeric foam projectiles.