US2169084A - Firearm - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 8, 1939. w. L. SWARTZA FIREARM Original Filed April 13, 1937- .Inventar WiL/jam L. Swartz' .E 0m Y Mt rngy" Patented ug. 8, 1939 UNTE ST rer ori FIREARM Connecticut Original application April 13, 1937, Serial No. 136,630. Divided and this application July 26, 1937, Serial No. 155,609

7 Claims.

One object of this invention is to provide safety means of novel construction for locking the ring pin of a rearm against movement except when the user is properly gripping the arm preparatory to firing.

Another object is to provide a construction of the above character in which there is substantially no danger of the firearm jamming due to breakage of some of the elements of the ring pin safety lock mechanism.

A further object is to provide a safety means of the above character which is operated by a movab.e member on the grip portion of a firearm, which member also serves to lock the trigger mechanism against movement to ring position except when the user is properly gripping the arm preparatory to firing.

From this specication further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent to those sldlled in the art.

This application is a division of my co-pending application Serial No. 136,630, led April 13, 1937, Patent No. 2,140,946.

In the accompanying drawing I have shown the embodiment which I now deem preferable, but it will be understood that the drawing is intended for illustrative purposes only and is not to be relied upon as limiting or defining the scope of the invention, the claims forming a part of this specication being relied upon for that purpose.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation view of a firearm embodying the invention, certain parts being broken away to more fully disclose the invention and other parts being further broken away to show other details.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation view of the breech portion of the rearm of Fig. 1 showing the parts in another position.

Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. l. Y

In rearms it is common practice to provide a firing pin which may be forcibly moved into Contact with the primer of a cartridge to fire the same. I consider it desirable to provide means for locking such a firing pin against movement to firing position except when the arm is being properly gripped by the user preparatory to firing in order to avoid the possibility of the rearm being unintentionally discharged.

For locking the firing pin a member may be provided which is adapted to move to and from a (Cl. Lift- 70) position in which it prevents. movement of the tiring pin into Contact with the cartridge. The invention relates to such a locking construction and in accordance therewith I preferably mount a movable member on that portion of the arm which must be gripped by the user preparatory to tiring and provide an actuator for transmitting movement from this movable grip member to the lock. The actuator may move the lock either into or out of locking relationship with the iiring pin, although for reasons which will be apparent hereinafter I now prefer to have the actuator slidable to move the lock out of engagement with the firing pin,

The invention is susceptible of application to most types of iirearms having a firing pin but for the purpose of this specification I have illustrated it in connection with an automatic pistol of the type shown in U. S. Patents No. 984,519 and 1,070,582. ing a part of this specication, the pistol comprises a frame or receiver l, a barrel 2, a reciprocable slide or breech bolt 3, a firing pin 4, a grip 5, a trigger 6, and a hammer l. In the pistol illustrated the grip is adapted to hold a magazine containing a plurality of cartridges which may be successively fed into the chamber of the barrel, red, and ejected by repeated retraction of the trigger and automatic reciprocation of the bolt, all in a known manner.

The iiring pin 4 is slidably mounted in a hole 9 in the bolt and is urged to retracted position by a spring 9 abutting at one end against a shoulder i9 on the firing pin and at the other end against a portion of the bolt. Rearward movement of the ring pin is limited by a stop li. The ring pin is of such length that when the hammer is in its uncooked position it may rest against the stop il without moving the firing pin suiciently to cause its forward end to project beyond the front face of the bolt 3. It should, however, be understood that the hammer delivers a sudden blow to the rear end of the ring pin when the .gun is intentionally discharged and the momentum of the ring pin causes it to be projected beyond the front face of the bolt to fire the cartridge primer.

In accordance with the invention a ring pin lock l2 is provided which is movable into and out of locking engagement with the firing pin and which may be mounted on any part of the firearm and have any desired type of movement. When used on a rearm of the type illustrated I at present prefer to slidably mount the lock in the bolt which may be transversely apertured as As shown in the drawing format I3 to receive the lock. Although other forms of locking engagementmay be used, I have shown the ring pin asbeing provided with the shoulder IA in front of which the firing pin safety lock I2 may project to effectively prevent movement of the firing pin beyond the front face of the bolt. While not strictly essential, I prefer to provide means for biasing the lock and such meansisA In the illustrated con'- found in the spring I5. struction the lock receiving aperture 3 intersects the rear sight groove I6 in the bolt and the rear sight I in conjunction with the firing pin, serves to hold the lock and spring in place, although any desired construction for the purpose may be adopted. The spring I5 is inescapably confined in its receiving recess by the lock and the rear sight; wherefore, if the spring should break the pieces could not get into the action of the firearm to cause jamming. The shape of the lock is not critical, the same being only dependent upon the other details of construction used, and in the construction shown it is generally L- shaped with the leg of the L projecting downward, the forward lower corner of which is provided with the cam surface I8.V The leg is notched as shown at I9 in Fig. 4 so that the extractor 20 may be removed from the bolt without necessitating the removal of the lock I2.

The means for moving the` lock may be of different forms depending .upon whether the lock is mounted on the bolt or on the frame, and also depending upon whether the lock is biased, either to or from ring pin engaging position, or not.

With the construction illustrated I now prefer to slidably mount a firing pin safety lock actuator 2| in a cavity 22 in the frame, it being held therein by a pin 23 which passes through an elongated slot 24 in the actuator. The actuator includes a portion 25 which, when the parts are in the position shown in Fig. l, projects upward so that the end thereof is substantially flush with the top of the frame but which, when the parts are in the position shown in Fig. 2, projects above the top f the frame to move the lock I2 out of engagement with the firing pin. The bolt 3 has a groove 26 formed therein for receiving the projecting end of the actuator when it is in its raised position.V The lock engaging portion of the actuator 2| projects only slightly above the top of the frame. The frame thus supports theactuator closely adjacent its lock engaging end against the reactionary thrust of the lock as the bolt reciprocates. This construction practically eliminates all danger of the actuator breaking.

fn accordance with the invention movable means for operating the actuator is provided on some portion of the firearm which must be gripped, it-of course Ybeing apparent that the type of movable means provided and its. form of connection with the actuator will be dependent upon the specific type of Ysafety lockV and actuator adopted for effecting the purposes of the invention. The means for operating the actuator may be designated as a grip safety, the term as used herein being intended to include any such means on the grip which is movable upon properly gripping the firearm preparatory to firing. When the construction takes the form illustrated, a grip safety such as shown at 2'! is now preferred. The safety 21 is pivotally mounted in the frame by a pin 28 and-it includes a downward extending portion 29 which generally conforms with the shape of the grip. This safety is further provided'with a portion 30 which extends beneath vis adapted to actuate a sear to release the hammer from cocked position. The portion 33 of the grip' safety is so shaped and positioned that when the grip safety is in the position of Fig. 1, the triggeris blocked against retraction, but when the parts are in the position of Fig. 2 the trigger may be moved to firing position.

The operation of the disclosed embodiment is as follows:

If the firearm is not being properly gripped preparatory to firing, the parts thereof occupy the positions shown in Fig. l, that is, the firing pin safety lock is engaged with the firing pin to prevent movement of the latter to firing position should such movement tend to take place due to any cause, and the portion 33 of the grip safety is in a position to prevent movement of the trigger to firing position. If the pistol be properly gripped for firing, the grip safety 2'I will be swung inward and consequently'the portion 30 thereof will be moved upward. This upward movement will slide the actuator 2| upward which in turn will move the firing pin safety lock out of locking engagement with the firing pin, the pin now being free to be moved to firing position. As the portion 33 of the .grip safety is moved upward it also frees the trigger for retraction. Assuming Vthat the pistol is loaded and the hammer cocked, the trigger may now be retracted to release the hammer. When the piston has been fired by contact of the firing pin with a cartridge, the bolt willV be caused to-slide rearward in a known manner. YAfter the bolt has moved rearward to some extent the safety lock l2 will move out of engagement with the actuator 2| and will be biased by the spring into engagement with the firing pin. Further rearward movement of the bolt will serve to extract and eject the empty cartridge and cock the hammer, all in the usual manner. The bolt will then be moved forward to breeched position but in so moving the lock I2 will come into engagement with the actuator 2| and by reason of the cam surface I8 will again ybe moved out of locking engagement with the firing pin and the pistol may be again red as before, assuming that during the forward movement of the `bolt a cartridge was fed into the chamber.`

If the users grip on the pistol should now be released the partswould be returned to the positions of Fig. 1 due to the combined action of the springs I5 and 3|. It should be noted that the spring I5 not only serves to insure proper movement of the safety lock I2 to locking position but also aids the spring 3| in performing its function, therefore if the spring 3| should for any reason fail to move the grip safety to its safety position any particular embodiment except as defined in the claims.

What I claim is:

1. The combination With a iirearm including a frame, a firing pin, and a grip portion, of a iiring pin safety lock, rectilinearly slidable means for moving the lock, and a grip safety movable to operate said slidable means.

2. The combination with a firearm including a frame, a bolt, a ring pin slidably mounted in the bolt, and a grip portion, of a firing pin safety lock on the bolt, rectilinearly slidable means mounted on the frame for moving the lock, and a grip safety movable to operate said slidable means.

3. 'Ihe combination with a rearm including a frame, a reciprocable bolt, a firing pin slidably mounted in the bolt, and a grip portion, of a firing pin safety lock on the bolt, slidable means mounted on the frame and including a portion engageable with said lock for moving the same, said slidable means being mounted in the frame so as to be supported thereby closely adjacent its lock engaging portion against reactionary thrust of the lock during reciprocation of the bolt, and a grip safety movable to operate said slidable mass.

4. The combination With a rearm including a frame, a bolt, a iiring pin mounted in the bolt, and a grip portion, of a ring pin safety lock, a spring for biasing the lock to operative position and being inescapably conned Within a recess in the firearm, means for moving the lock to inoperative position, and a grip safety movable tooperate said means.

5. The combination With a firearm including a frame, a bolt, a ring pin mounted in the bolt, and a grip portion, of a spring, a ring pin safety lock normally biased to operative position by said spring, said lock being movable to operative position by gravity when said rearm is in asub stantially upright position upon breakage of said spring, and means including a grip safety for moving the lock to inoperative position.

6. The combination with a firearm including a frame, a firing pin, and a grip portion, of a main sear, trigger mechanism movable from and to a non-ring position and engageable with the main sear to release the same, a firing pin safety lock, a firing pin safety lock actuator, and means mounted on the grip portion directly engageable with the trigger mechanism for normally locking the trigger in non-ring position but movable from normal position to permit trigger movement to ring position and to move said actuator to lock releasing position.

7 The combination with a firearm including a frame, a ring pin, and a grip portion, of a main sear, trigger mechanism movable from and to a non-firing position and engageable with the main sear to release the same, a firing pin safety lock, an actuator for moving the ring pin safety lock to inoperative position, and means separate from said actuator mounted on the grip portion directly engageable with the trigger mechanism for normally locking the trigger in non-ring position but movable from normal position to permit trigger movement to ring position and to move said actuator to release said firing pin safety lock.

WILLIAM L. SWARTZ.

CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION. Patent No. 2,169,08L\.. August 8, 1959.

WILLIAM L. SWARTZ.

It is hereby certified that error appears in the printed specification of the above numbered patent requiring correction as follows: Page 5, first column, line 27, .claim 5, for the word "mass" read means; and that the said Letters Patent should be read with this correction therein that the sa'me may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 19th day of September, Ao D; 1959,

Henry Van Arsdal'e,

( Seal) Acting Commissioner of Patents.

Patent No. 2,169,053 August 8, 1959 WILLIAM L. swARTz.

It is hereby certified that error appears in the printed specification of the above numbered patent requiring correction as follows: Page 5, first column, line 27, claim 5, for the word "mass" read means; and that the said Letters Patent should be read with this correction therein that the sa'me may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 19th day of September, Ao D. 1959,

Henrsr Van Arsdal'e,

( Seal) Acting Commissioner of Patents.

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