What's an Autoloader Anyway?

Falathi:  This is true. Usually, the loader and driver are most busy with these tasks. However, these tasks can - at least in some cases - be performed by the rest of the crew, or extra crews. Much depends on the tank and the conditions though.  When it comes to drawbacks:  it took quite some time for autoloaders to become something used on regular basis, as initial designs had often serious reliability issues.This for example is one of the reasons why the T22 E1 remained what it was - a one time prototype, and not a regular tank ( the other big reason was the fact that 76mm gun was seen as not powerful enough for the new generation of tanks ). In the modern era autoloading systems are usually reliable enough. Of course, they can still fail but let`s face it: in a complicated machine like a modern tank there`s a lot of stuff that can fail and cause a serious problem for the crew in the combat situation. 
Speaking of reliability: IIRC one of the reasons an autoloader was used with success on the AMX 13 tanks was the fact that its design was pretty simple and easy to operate and therefore reliable as there simply weren`t many elements prone to damage, or difficult to replace. The other important factor was - as mentioned in the article - the oscillating turret. You see, these early designs required alignment with the gun which oscillating turret would provide. However, such a turret does not offer great protection due to its construction - but in case of a light tank this didn`t matter as it was not expected to offer protection against heavy fire anyway.  And since we`re at the alignment thingy... this was another reason why autoloaders haven`t become ubiquitous earlier: the fact that you have to load the gun only in given position means that after each fire you have to realing your gun and then track the target again after firing and this makes the task of hitting the enemy more difficult. There were also other design issues - IIRC the T62 was famous in the Red Army for its notoriously dangerous autoloading mechanism as it could catch piece of uniform of a soldier leading to injuries. 
This leads to another issue - the safety. As pretty much everyone knows tank can be damage more or less serious and in many cases can be repaired once you have time and the team to evacuate it from the battlefield and get it to a repair shop. However, if the tank burns out or it suffers explosion of the ammunition the result is just a wreck that can only be scrapped. Also, if the tank gets hit and the ammunition explodes ( actually, it`s bit more complicated with deflagration and stuff... but I digress ) then the crew is usually done for.  At least, that`s how it used to be during WWII and decades afterwards. Now, however, the solution is to design the tanks in such a way that energy of the explosion of the ammunition is projected outside of the vehicle without destroying the interior and the crew. The problem is, though, that this adds another level of difficulty if you want to use auto reloading mechanism and still benefit from the increased safety of the crew. For example, one of the more reliable and standard reloading systems used in the early T-72 tanks stored ammunition and propellant charged in a carousel at the bottom of the turret - it worked great for reloading purposes, but any hit in the side of the tank below the turret could lead to massive explosion, dooming the crew.  To end this post before it gets too long - I do not know much about auto reloading mechanisms that were designed around WWII Perhaps you guys know a thing or two about it? 
I mean I know that some projects existed. I`ve seen pictures of a German design of the 8,8cm KwK with extra mechanism to quickly reload another two shots, but not much beyond that. Anyone?