US13592A - Improvement in fire-arms - Google Patents

Description

F. BEE RSTECHER.

Lock for -Fire-arms.

No. 13,592. Patented Sept. 25, 1855.

N-FETERS, PndrouruoaliAPuEi. WASHINGTGR, n c.

UNITED TATES ATENT FFICE.

IMPROVEMENT IN FIRE-ARMS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 13.592. dated September 25, 1855.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FREDERICK BEER- STEOHER, of the city of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Fire-Arms; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which Figure 1 is a side view of a pistol having the improvement applied thereto. Figs. 2, 3, and at are different views of parts of the hammer; and Fig. 5, a reverse side view of the hammer, like letters indicating like parts when on the different figures.

My invention relates to the mode of constructing the head of the hammer of those fire-arms which are adapted for discharging two loads in succession from the same barrel without reloading; and it consists in making the head of the hammer in two parts, so constructed and combined together that the longer part of the head may, as occasion requires, be turned downward, so as to clear the forward tube, and allow the shorter part of the head to strike the rear tube when the the said hammer is let go, thus dispensing with the intermediate lever heretofore required for discharging the forward load.

Referring to the drawings, A is the hammer; B, the rear cap-tube; O, the forward captube. In order to cause the head of the hammer to cover both of the tubes, (one of which tubes being necessarily placed a short distance in advance of the other,) the head is made in two partsthe one projecting a little forward of the other-the longer part, (I, being formed with a tennon, e, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, which fits into a slot, f, cut in the head, and is held therein by means of the screw-pin 9, so as to form a joint that the said longer part may be turned down, as shown by the dotted lines, Fig. 1; and for the purpose of producing sufficient friction in the joint to prevent the said projecting part from falling down by its own weight, a small spring, h, is inserted into the side of the hammer, so as to bear with its point against the side of the tenuon e, alternately in two small cavities, t,

which have inclined bottoms, so that the point of the spring may slide from one to the other cavity, as the said longer part of the head is moved down or up by the finger of the operator. The shorter part, 70, of the head is made in the usual form, and adapted in length to suit the purpose of exploding a cap on the rear tube, 13. hen the longer part, (1, of the head is turned down, as shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 1, the said longer part, (7, being also adapted in length and form to the purpose of exploding a cap on the forward tube, 0, when in the position on the hammer shown in Figs. 1 and 5, and without at the same time allowing the shorter part, 70, of the hammer to come in contact with the cap on the rear tube, 13.

Operation: The two charges being placed in the barrel in the usual manner, the hammer cooked, and explosive caps placed upon the two tubes B and O, and the longer part of the head of the hammer being in the position shown in Fig. 1, when the hammer is let go it explodes the forward cap, and thus the forward charge only is discharged. The hammer is then again cocked, when, with his finger, the operator turns down the longer part, d, of the head into the position shown by the dotted lines, Fig. 1 when the hammer is again let go and the rear charge discharged.

The principal advantages arising from thus constructing the head of the hammer are that the inconvenient and awkward-looking intermediate lever heretofore required for exploding the forward cap, or for preventing the explosion of the rear one in fire-arms of this character is entirely dispensed with, and a cheaper, more compact, convenient, and quick ly-adjusted means is afforded thereby for the purpose.

I do not claim the general arrangement whereby two loads may be discharged in succession from one barrel without reloading, as such arrangement is not new; but

WVhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

Constructing the head of the hammer ofw fire-arms of this description so that the part of the head which discharges theforward load shall be capable of being turned down for the purpose of allowing the shorter part of the same being constructed, arranged, and. 0phead to strike the rear tube only, and so that erating, substantially as described and set when turned up it shall strike the forward forth.

tube only without the use of the intermedi- F. BEERSTEOHER. ate eovering-1ever heretofore required, for the WVitnesses: purpose of preventing the explosion of the BEN MORRISON,

rear cap in fire-arms of this description, the J. LANDSOHUTZ.

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