GB191504924A - Improvements in Firearms provided with Cartridge Magazines. - Google Patents

Abstract

4924. Hammond, G. Jan. 28, 1914. Breech actions, sliding breech-block.-Relates to automatic guns of the kind in which the magazine is retained by a catch which is automatically released when the magazine is empty, and consists in a special catch controlled by the cartridge-lifter in such a way that it is not released until the breech is opened after the firing of the last cartridge. The catch 17, shown separately in Fig. 5, slides laterally, and engages a notch 10, Fig. 1, in the magazine by a lug 11. The catch is operated by a spring-pressed vertically-sliding rod 18, which has an inclined part engaging a crosspiece 12 on the catch. The rod is held inactive by a lever 19, Figs. 1 and 3, the free end of which rests on a detent 24 on a spring leaf 25 carried by the magazine. The leaf 25 tends to move inwards to release the lever, but is held out by the cartridges 9 and cartridge-lifters 8. Only when the breech is opened after the last cartridge has been fired can the cartridge-lifter rise high enough to allow the spring-leaf 25 to move inwards to release the lever, and hence to allow the catch 17 to be operated to release the magazine. The rod 18, in rising, also raises a stop 20, which holds the breech-block in the retracted position.