US1020596A

US1020596A - Automatic firearm with fixed barrel and breech-action.

Info

Publication number: US1020596A
Application number: US66089111A
Authority: US
Inventors: Karl August Braeuning
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1911-11-17
Filing date: 1911-11-17
Publication date: 1912-03-19
Anticipated expiration: 1929-03-19

Description

` K. A. BRUNING. AUTOMATIC IIREABM WITH FIXED BARREL AND BRBEGH ACTION.

APPLIGATION FILED NOV. 17, 1911.

Patented Mar. 19

K. A. -BRUNING- AUTOMATIC EIREARM' WITH FIXED BARREL AND BREECH ACTION.

APPLICATION FILED 11017.17, 1911.

l1,020,596, l Patented Mar. 19, 191.2. A

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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v K. A. BRUNING. AUTOMATIC PIRBARM WITH FIXED BARREL ANDV BREEOH ACTION.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 17, 1911. v

Patented Mar. 19, 1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

ll|||||| III- KARL AUGUST BRUNING, OF HERSTAL, NEAR LIEGE, BELGIUM.

AUTOMATIC FIREARM WITH FIXED BARRELAND BREECH-ACTION.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 19, 1912.

Application led November 17, 1911. Serial No. 660,891.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be itknown that I, KARL AUGUST BRUN ING, engineer, a` subject of the Emperor of Germany, and resident of Herstal, near Liege, in the Kingdom of Belgium, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Firearms with 'Fixed Barrels and Breecli-Actions; and I do hereby declare the followinor t0 be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,.and to letters or figures of reference marked therein, which form a part of'this specification.

The present invention relates to an automatic fire-arm with fixed barrel and breechaction, in which the breech-action is controlledby a lock rotating in the movable breech.

The motion of the lock is Obtained by the displacing of the firing-pin underthe action of gas pressure. In the forms of construction here represented, the action of the gases is transmitted t0 the firing-pin by a piston guided in an opening in the movable breech.

The fire-arm can be employed Wlth ordinary cartridges (Figure 11) or with special cartridges having a hole in the back end of the shell (Figs. 1 to 10). U

In the drawings showing the inventlon as applied with special cartridges Fig. 1 is a vertical longitudinal section of the breech with ,the tiring-pin in the posit-ion after tiring. Fig. 2 is vertical longitudinal section ot' the breech with the tiring-pin in the position ready for firing. Fig. 3 is a vertical longitudinal section of the breech 4With the firing-pin in the unlocking position. Fig. 4. is a vertical transverse section of the rotating lock in the locking position. Fig. 5 is a .vertical transverse section of the rotating lock in the unlocking position. Fig. 6 represents the firing-pin and the sear in side and end view. Fig. 7 is a side View partly in section of the cartridge with the small hole in its back-end. Fig. 8 is a side and an end View of the movable breech. Fig. 9 is a side View, a plan'view. and two end views of the rotating lock. Fig.Y l0 is a detail of the piston and of the lock. Fig. ll is a view similar to Fig. 2 showing a modication.

After the delagration of the cartridgein the barrel. a part ot' the gases pass through a small opening R1' in the cartridge-shell R (Fig. 7) to the back of this shell and thence, for an;7 position of the cartridge, through the annular groove A1 andthe passage AL into -the opening of the breech bolt A. in which slides the piston B. By the high pressure of the gases the cartridge shell and its back-end are pressed against the fore-end of the breech bolt, thus producing a tight closing to the exterior. The piston B is provided at its fore-end with a brass-pieceB1 by which the tightness is insured under the pressure of the gases, so that no gas can leak out to the 'back through the opening A3. The pressure of the gases pushes backward the piston B and at the same time the firing-pin C which bears with its jaw C1 against the back-end of the piston B. The rotating-lock E is forced to rotate l during this backward movement of the firing-pin C thus causing the unlocking. The

.rotating-lock E is placed in a chamber A4 of the breech-bolt and is centered by the cylindrical part of the firing-pin C. A stud C2- of the firing-pin C, .which cannot rotate, extends downwardl and slides in a curved guide E1, E2, E' of the rotating lock. The rectilinear fore-part E3 of this curved guide of the rotating lock corresponds to the locking position (Fig. 4) of the lock, which it occupies during the recoil of the firing-pin in the position forfiring (Fig. 2), z'. e., as long as the sear D presses With its notch D2 against the `salient piece A5 of the bolt A. By continuing its backward movement the firing-pin reaches the position Fig. 3,

'l'. c. when the fore-notch D1 of the sear D reaches the salient piece A5. During this movement of recoilof the firing-pin C the stud C2 enters the oblique part E2 of the curved guide of the lock which is forced to] rotate and thus to unlock the breech bolt (Fig. 5). The unlocked breech bolt is compelled to follow the pieces already in motion and the breech is completely unlocked. The empty cartridge-shell is thenejected in the usual way; a new cartridge comes up from the magazine to the front of the breech bolt, which when pushed forward by the closingspring K introduces the new cartridge into the barrel.

when the. breech bult, in as initial for-v to the sear D and frees the firing-pin C until by a short movement, the notch D2 of the Sear reaches the salient piece A5. The short movement of the firing-pin C is sufficient to allow the stud C2 `to slide through the oblique part E2 of the curved guide of the lock E; the lock will rot-ate and thus reestablish the locking. The firing-pin C is maintained in the position for firing by the notch D2 of the sear D until it is lifted during the firing by the trigger (not represented) by the intermedium of the lever N. The firingpin can then move forward freely, the stud C2 slides in the rectilinear part E3 of the curved guide of the lock, thus preventing its being unlocked during the firing. The particular disposition of thue rotating lock behind the fore-face of the breech bolt is remarkablydn opposition with the usual disposition of the rotating lock orof the movable breech-head at the fore part of the breech. In order to obtain the maximum bearing surface of the breech bolt for a minimum displacement of the lock, the surface ,of the frame presents a longitudinal groove and a transverse groove. In the first one slides a rib M2 of the casingM and serves to reduce the necessary rotation for the locking; the second one offers at each side of the lock four bearing surfaces, that is to say in all eight surfaces EA1 (Fig. 9).

When the {ire-arm is to be used as an ordinary repeating arm, z'. c. when the automaticaction of the locking and unlocking of the breech is omitted, use is made of a locking device which keeps the gas piston B from moving from its fore-position notwithstanding the pressure of the gases acting upon it. To this end, a casin O is disposed at the back-end of the breech bolt A. This casing is maintained in the annular groove Af (Fig. 8) by the stud O1, so that the casingO cannot move longitudinally, but can have aA certain rotation. The piston B guided at its back-end in the casing O has a lug B2 extending upward, which slides in a slot extending the length of the casing and Whose Width is that of the button B2. When the casing O is rot-ated by its arm O3 the Width of the slot the button IB2 of the piston B Will be locked and the piston cannot move. The breech Will then have to be opened by a handle (not represented) after each ,firing to unlock the firing-pin. In this construction as in others, the act-ion of the gases upon the breech and the locking of the piston could be effected otherwise Without modifying the principle of the invention, as for example, by omitting the piston and by utilizing the firing-pin as a piston.

Without any essential modications of the re-arm, the invention could be used in automatic firing with blank cartridges. To adapt this inventionto the loW pressure of the gases of these cartridges, the hole in the back-end of the cartridge shells is made larger, or more holes are provided. To avoid the penetration of humidity into the cartridges by the gas-holes at the back-end, they can be stopped up With lac or by other appropriate means.

When it is desired to use ordinary cartridges the fore-part of the mechanism is disposed as particularly represented by Fig. 11. The groove A1 of the former arrangement is omitted. The piston B is extended forward and penetrates partly in an opening )V1 formed at the back-end of the barrel W. This opening communicates with the opening W through the passage I 72. The passage of the gases is regulated by a valve. The co-ne P of the valvecan occupy three positions: l to close the passage of the gas, when the fire arm is to beused as a repeating lire arm. 2..,To give a small passage P1, when the re-arm is to be used for the normal automatic firing, and 3, to give a Wide passage P2, When the fire arm is to be used for the automatic firing With blank cartridges.

l/Vhen the charge has left the cartridgeshell the gases pass through the opening W3 into the passage W2 thence into the opening W1 and there they act upon the piston B Which can slide in the cylinder of the breech bolt A. The action of the piston Will then be the same as that described above for the construction' represented by Figs. l to 10.

Having now described my invention, What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. In automatic lire-arms with fixed barrels and breech-action, the breech-action controlled by a lock rotating in a movable breech bolt, the combination of a firing-pin with a rotating lock centered by the cylindrical part of the firing-pin, means by which the firing-pin is displaced backward, means by Which the rotating lock is acted upon by the firing-pin and a sear pivoted to the firing-pin, substantially as described;

2. In automatic fire-arms With fixed barrels and breech-action, the breech-action controlled by a lock rotating in a movable breech bolt, the combination of a firing-pin with a rotating lock centered by the cylindrical part of the firing pin, ai piston acting upon a jaw of the firing pin, openings for the gases to reach the fore-end of the piston, means by which thev lock is rotated by a longitudinal movement of the firing-pin and a sear pivoted to the firing-pin, substantially as described.

3. In automaticre-arms With fixed barrels and breech action, the breechA action controlled by a lock rotating in a movable breech bolt, the combination of a firing-'pin with a rotating lock centered by the cylindrical part of the firing-pin, a piston acting upon the firing-pin, an annular groove at the fore-part of the movable breech bolt, a

passage for the gases to reach the fore-end of the piston, means by which the lock is rotated by a longitudinal movement of the.

firing-pin and a Sear pivoted to the firingpin, substantially as described.

4. In automatic fire-arms with fixed barJ rels and breech action, the breech-action controlled by a lock rotating in a movable breech bolt, the combination of a ring-pin with a rotating lock centered by the cylindrical part of the firing-pin, a piston acting upon the firing-pin, openings through which the gases from the barrel at the foreend of the cartridge-shell are led to the foreend of the piston, means' by which the lock is rotated by a longitudinal movement of the firing-pin anda sear pivoted to the ring pin, substantially as described.

5. In automaticiire-arms with fixed barrels and breech-action, the breech-action controlled by a lock rotating in a P,movable breech', the combination of a firing-pin with a rotating lock centered by the cylindrical part of the firing pin, a piston acting upon the firing-pin, openlngs' through which the gases from the barrel at the fore-end of the cartridge-shell are led to the fore-end of the piston, a valve regulating the opening area for the gases led from the barrel to the oreend of the piston, means by which the lock is rotated by a longitudinal movement of the tiring-pin and a sear pivoted to the firing-pin, substantially as described; 6. In automatic tire-arms with fixed bar. rels and breech-action, the breech-action controlled by a lock' rotating in a movable breech bolt, the vcombination of a firing-pm' with a rotating lock centered bythe cylindrical part of the firing pin, means by which the firing-pin is displaced backward, a stud fixed to the firing-pin, a curved groove in the rotating lock, a sear with notches pivoted to the firing-pin, an abutment of the casing for engaging the said seal', substantially'as described.

In testimon whereof I aix my signature in presence o two Witnesses.

KARL AUGUST BRUNING.