US23590A - Sele-priming gun-lock - Google Patents

Description

S1AES PATENT FFCE.

RICHARD S. LAWRENCE, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT.

SELF-PRIMING GUN-LOCK.

Specification of Letcers Patent No. 23,590, dated April 12, 1859.

T0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RICHARD S. LAWRENCE, of the city of Hartford, in the county of Hartford and State of Connectiout, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Primers for Firearms; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which Figure 1, is a vertical section of a primer with my 1mprovements parallel with the face of the lock plate. Fig. 2, is a transverse section of the same, in the plane inclicated by the line m, 00, in Fig. 1. Fig. 3, is a partial transverse section of the same in the plane indicated by the line 7, y, in Fig. 1. Fig. 4, is an inside face view of the lock plate. Fig. 5, is a top view of the primer vvith the cover spring removed. Fig. 6, is a plan of the same with the cover and driver removed. Fig. 7, is a plan of the priming driver. Fig. 8, is a side view of the same. Fig. 9, is a side view of the shut-off.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

This invention consists in certain improvements in that description of automatic primer known as Sharps primer, vvhereby greater facility is afforded for the introduction of the pellets into the tube or magazine provided for them in the lock plate, and provision is made for shutting them off to permit the use of common percussion caps in the ordinary manner when desired, and generally to prevent the pellets from interfering with or being interfered with by the movements of the hammer, when desired t0 operate the hammer without delivering the pellets, and whereby, also, the delivery of more than one pellet at a time by the movement of the hammer is effectually prevented.

T0 enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I Will proceed t0 describe its construction and operation.

A, is the lock plate having the pellet hole or magazine a, in the usual position, and having its upper side grooved out to receive the priming driver b, the cover 7', and what I call the shut-off, 9. The driver 6, instead of being made of about the thickness of the pellets e, 6, as has heretof0re been customary is made of a little more than double that thickness, but has its front portion for about one-eighth of an inch in length reducecl on the underside to a thickmess but very slightly greater than thethick ness of the pellets, as shown at 10, in Fig. 8, and from the so-reduced portion it is beveled as shown at 11, in a wedge-like form, but this bevel only extnds so far back that when the driver is thrown forward to its full extent' by the action of the hammer or by other means, the full thickness of the driver Will lay over the pellet hole or magazine a, a. This vvedge like portion, as the driver advances to push out the upper pellet, by its action on the next pellet below, forces clown all the other pellets into the magazine a, about the thickness of one pellet, and thus prevents more than one pellet at a time being forced out. The driver has also a groove 12, in its under side extending the whole length of the thicker portion and leaving a thickness of metal at the top of the groove equal to the thickness of the reduced portion 10, as shown in the section, Fig. I, said groove being to receive what I term the shut-off which I Will presently describe. The front extremity of the driver is slightly beveled on its under side in the usual manner, and has a projection 21, of the usual form, on one side to enter the groove, f, in the hammer B, to enable the latter to operate the driver in the usual manner.

9, is the shut-off, consisting of a plate of a thickness to slide in the groove 12, of the driver, and arranged under the driver in a groove provided in the lock plate, as shown in Fig. 2. This plate has a wedgelike projection 13, on the upper part of its front end, as shown in Figs. 1 and 9, whose duty it is to pass between the driver and the top pel let Within the magazine to shut off the pellets from the driver. It has also a slot 14:,

which works on a pin 15, inserted through 7 the lock plate, said slot being so inclined that as the shut off advances between the driver and the pellet it also descends slightly and thus while forcing clown the pellets frees itself from the driver and leaves the latter free of the pressure of the feeding piston p, and spring 9, so that it may be operated with very little friction vvhen the pellets are shut off. On one side the shut-off 9, has formed upon or secured to it a pin 16, Which projects from a recess 77., IL, on the upper edge of the lock plate. This pin 16, serves to enable the operator to movethe shut-off g, back and forth to shut ofi? and liberate the pellets, and the length of the recess 7L, 7L, li1nits said pin to a proper movement.

In the back part of the upper edge of the shut-ofi there are two beveled notches 17, 18, into either of which a tooth 20, on the rear end of the primer oover z' is capable when the cover j, is closed, of engaging; in the former notch to look the shut-ofi' closed, and in the latter to look it open. The shut off is shown in Fig. 1, in both positions, viz., closed in red outline and open in black.

The primer oover 7', is fitted to slide in the look plate in the usual manner, over the driver, but its spring z, instead of being simply a straight piece of steel is turned clown at its rear end to form the tooth 20. The said spring is secured to the cover j, bv a screw m, and kept rom getting out et place by a guide pin n, secured in the cover. The tooth 20, besides serving to look the shut off When the cover 7', is closed, serves to look the cover in a closed position by entering a beveled notch 76, in a portion Z, of the look plate. This notch k, coincides exactly With the notch 17, of the shut 011 when the latter is open, and With the notoh 18, when it is closed. Ovving to the rounded form of the edge of the tooth 20, it slips out of the notches 17, 18, and 73, when force is applied to open or close either the shut-ofi or the cover.

The shut ofi can only be moved forvvard to shut ofi' the pellets when the driver is in its most forward position, and its thicker portion covers the pellets, for it is only in that position of the driver, that any provision is made for the entry of the point of the shut ofi, betvveen it and the pellets, and in that position there is the open groove 12, above the pellets.

The shut-off g, besides serving to shut ofi the pellets When desired, and permit the use of percussion caps or other priming while the pellets romain in their magazine a,

is of great service in the operation of placing the pellets in the magazine, whioh with Sharps primer as ordinarily constructed, is an operation of some difiiculty, or, at least, requiring some manual dexterity. The pellets for these primers, as is Well known, are sold in small tubes Which have a slit all down one side, and are usually inserted in the magazine by placing the mouth of the tube therein and forcing clown the feeding piston 79, and then, by means of the point of a nail, or some sharp point inserted through the slit in the tube, holding the caps While the tube is drawn out and the cover closed. In my improved primer the piston is pushed down as far as desired by the tube full of pellets, in the usual manner, but cars is taken to place the slit of the tube opposite the shut-ofi'. The shut oif is then pushed forward and the point of its wedge-like front portion, 13, entering the tube above the caps, retains them in the magazine while the tube is being drawn out and after it has been dravvn out, without any trouble to the operator.

VVhat I olaim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The shut-off g, constructed, applied, and operating substantially as and for the purposes herein specified.

2. Constructing the driver with its rear portion of about double the thickness of the pellets, and With the wedge-like bevel 11, and the groove 12, substantially as and for the purpose herein described.

3. The combination of the clownwardly extended tooth 20, of the cover spring and the notches 17, 18, in the shut-ofi", and 76, in the look plate, substantially as and for the purpose herein set forth.

RICHARD S. LAWRENCE.

'Witnesses SAML. H. GREEN, ROBERT E. DAY.

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