US2715356A

US2715356A - Closing block with percussion safety for automatic guns

Info

Publication number: US2715356A
Application number: US148549A
Authority: US
Inventors: Fiorini Sestilio
Original assignee: COSTRUZIONI MECCANICHE BREDA E
Current assignee: COSTRUZIONI MECCANICHE BREDA E
Priority date: 1949-03-17
Filing date: 1950-03-09
Publication date: 1955-08-16
Anticipated expiration: 1972-08-16
Also published as: BE494590A; GB693907A; FR1018658A

Description

Aug. 16, 1955 s. FIORINI 2,715,356

CLOSING BLOCK WITH PERCUSSION SAFETY FOR AUTOMATIC GUNS Filed March 9, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet l Fig. 2 ;:f:

/ I l W 5a 5 O 4 6 7 I! 3 40 42 39 30 29 Fig.3 17 18 20 19 INVENTOR. SESTIUO F IORDNI ATTDRNEY Aug. 16, 1955 s FlQRlNl 2,715,356

CLOSING BLOCK WITH PERCUSSION SAFETY FOR AUTOMATIC GUNS Filed March 9, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig.5

INVENTOR. SESTILIO FIORINI ATTORNEY CLOSING BLOCK WITH PERCUSSION SAFETY FGR AUTOMATIC GUNS Sestilio Fiorini, Brescia, Italy, assignor to Societa Italiana illltglnesto Breda per Costruzioni Meccaniche, Milan,

Application March 9, 1950, Serial No. 148,549

Claims priority, application Italy March 17, 1949 1 Claim. (Cl. 89-164) The present invention relates to automatic guns and more particularly to safety devices for automatic guns.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a locking block for an automatic gun which will also provide a percussion safety, which will present improved features over conventional mechanisms of this nature, and which will be simple, sturdy, easy to manufacture and to mount, and safe in operation.

Other objects of the invention will be apparent hereinafter from the specification and from the recital of the accompanying claim.

In the accompanying drawings there are illustrated, merely by way of example, several different embodiments of my new locking block.

In these drawings:

Fig. l is a fragmentary longitudinal section of a gun, showing an improved locking block made according to one embodiment of this invention in elevation in the position in which it locks the breech block of the gun to the barrel extension;

Fig. 2 is a similar section but with the locking block in released position;

Fig. 3 is a section taken at right angles to Fig. 1 and looking down on the breech block;

Fig. 4 is a plan view showing a breech block of modified form having a somewhat difierent means from that of Fig. 3 for manually moving the locking block to released position;

Figs. 5 and 6 are sections corresponding to Figs. 1 and 2, respectively, and showing a somewhat different embodiment of the invention; and

Fig. 7 is a section at right angles to Fig. 5, looking upon the breech block and the means for manually moving the locking block to released position.

Referring first to Figs. 1 to 3 inclusive, 29 denotes the barrel of the gun, and 30 designates the barrel-extension. The new locking block 1 is of approximately parallelpiped shape. it has a projecting tooth 1a which is adapted to engage in the slot 31 in the barrel-extension 30 to lock the barrel extension 30 to the breech block 3. The locking block 1 is housed in the body of the breech block and it is hingedly connected to the breech block by means of a pin 2. This pin is mounted in the breech block and extends transversely thereof, and engages in an oblong slot 32 in the locking block 1. The purpose of the oblong slot 32 is to allow for a short sliding movement of the locking block longitudinally during pivotal movement thereof. This permits a plane front face 33 to be provided on the locking block 1 which is adapted to seat against a plane face on the breech block 3 so that the thrust of recoil may be taken by the locking block, the breech block and the barrel extension and not be transmitted to the pin 2. Were the locking block to be pivoted to the breech block by a pin 2 seating in a closely fitting circular hole in the locking block, the pin 2 would take the thrusts and shock of recoil. There is an additional advantage in providing a plane front face on the locking block, and that is that it facilitates very much the con- 2,715,355 Patented Aug. 16, 1955 struction of both the locking block and the breech block.

Inside the locking block there is provided a longitudinal hole 35 in which the percussion rod 10 is housed. This rod serves to transmit percussion from the hammer 9 to the firing pin 11. The pin 11 is reciprocably mounted in the breech block 3 and is constantly urged rearwardly by the coil spring 37. It is evident that if the locking block is in the unlocked position shown in Fig. 2, the percussion rod 10 assumes such a position that even if it is struck by the hammer 9 it will not strike the firing pin 11 because it is no longer aligned with said firing pin. Absolute assurance is had, therefore, that firing of the gun cannot take place if the breech block is not locked to the gun barrel.

A spring 5a, for example, the recoil spring of the breech block, acts through a rod 5 and pin 4 to constantly urge the locking block toward locking position. This spring surrounds a portion of the rod 5, which is pivoted at its front end by the pin 4 to the locking block. The spring 5a is in such position as to create a leverage between the point of application of the spring and the pivot of the locking block so that the spring, as stated, always pushes the locking block toward locking position.

The locking block is provided with a ledge 6, and with an ear or projection 8. The ear or projection 8 is to permit movement of the locking block manually to disengaged position. The ledge 6 is adapted to be engaged by the cocking tooth 7 of the gun, upon return of the breech block to battery position. The cocking tooth 7 is pivotally mounted by means of pin 37' in conventional manner upon a lever 38. It is constantly urged clockwise (Fig. 2) about its pivot 37 by a spring-pressed pin 39, that is housed in conventional manner in the lever 38.

To manually release the locking block 1, the ear or projection 8 is pressed toward the gun stock to pivot the locking block downwardly and disengage its tooth In from the slot 31 in the barrel extension 30. The pivotal motion of the locking block 1, as already stated, is possible notwithstanding the fact that it has a plane bearing surface 33, thanks to the oblong slot 32 for the pivot pin 2. After the locking block 1 has completed its pivotal movement, as shown in Fig. 2, and its tooth 1a has, thereby been disengaged from the barrel-extension, the breech block 3 can be made to move rearwardly to the end of its stroke by continuing the pressure upon the ear or projection 8. When the breech block 3 reaches the position shown in Fig. 2, the cocking teeth 7 will automatically engage the ledge 6 of the locking block to hold the breech block in rear position. The cocking tooth 7 can be tripped through conventional means to release the breech block again to permit the breech block to return to battery.

The ear or projection 8 may be replaced, as shown in Fig. 4, by a small tooth 15 that is formed integral with the locking block, and that may be engaged by a block 14 on a cooking carriage 13 that is slidable in the breech block 3. The sliding carriage 13 may be provided with an ear or projection 12 for manual actuation.

Assuming that the parts are in the position shown in Fig. 1, upon firing the shot, the whole system comprising the barrel 29, the barrel-extension 30, the breech block 3, and the locking block 1 which locks the breech block and barrel extension together, recoils to the end of the stroke. During return to battery of the whole system under actuation of the recoil spring, not shown in the drawing, the ledge 6 of the locking block is engaged by the cocking tooth 7, which causes the locking block to pivot on the pin 2, unlocking the breech block from the barrel and barrel-extension assembly. While the breech block is held by the cocking tooth 7, then, the barrel-extension 30 and barrel 29 return to battery. During the return stroke of the barrel and barrel-extension assembly, the empty cartridge case 40 is retained by the extractors 41, which are mounted in known manner on the breech block; and thus the empty cartridge case is extracted from the gun barrel.

Upon reaching the end of the return stroke to battery, the barrel and barrel-extension assembly operate through known means (not shown) upon the cocking tooth 7 to disengage the cocking tooth from the ledge 6 of the locking block 1, permitting the breech block3 to return to its forward position under'thrust of its own recoil spring. During this return movement anew cartridge is introduced into the gun barrel in known manner.

There is a small lever or detent 17 (Fig. 3 pivotally mounted by means of pin 18 on the breech block 3. This lever or detent is constantly urged by a coil spring 19 counter-clockwise from the position shown in Fig. 3 so that when the tooth 1a of the locking block 1 is in disengaged position (as shown in Fig. 2), the lever or detent 17 will be moved over this tooth to retain the tooth in disengaged posiiton. Hence, after the locking block 1 has been released from the cocking tooth 7, it is still held depressed by the lever or detent 17 during the return movement of the breech block 3 to battery. During this return movement, the tail of the lever or detent 17 travels in a slot 42 in the barrel extension 30; and when the breech block is approaching batteryv position, the tail of the lever or detent 17 rides on the cam surface 20 at the front end of the slot 42 so that the lever or detent 17 is rocked about its pivot pin 18 in a clockwise direction to disengage it from the tooth 1a of the locking block. This permits the locking block to be returned to locking position under actuation of the spring So when the tooth 1a of the locking block registers with the slot 31 in the barrel-extension.

In the embodiment shown in Figs. 5, 6 and 7 the firing pin is integral with the percussion rod 24. It is also provided with a laterally extending lug 25 for safety control. The combined percussion rod and firing pin 24 is guided in the breech block 3 at front and rear of the locking block 1.

Here, the locking block 1' has an opening 50 extend ing longitudinally through it for the passage of the combined percussion rod and firing pin 24. The opening locking block to pivot on its pivot pin 2' without hitting the pin 24; and it is formed with an enlarged hole 26 whose bounding wall constitutes a cam surface which is adapted to engage and operate on the lug 25 of the percussion rod 24. Upon downward pivotal movement of the locking block 1, then, the percussion rod 24 is moved rearwardly far enough so that it cannot project beyond the front edge 45 of the breech block 3', and so that, therefore, it cannot fire.

In this embodiment of the invention, the locking block 1. has no car or projection for manual operation, but has instead a recess 22 in one side surface (Fig. 7) which is engaged by a tooth 21 of the manually reciprocable slide 46. This slide is mounted to slide in a guideway in the breech block 3 and is manually movable rearwardly by pressing upon the ear or projection 47.

The locking block 1' is mounted as in the embodiment of the invention shown in Figs. 1 to 3 inclusive, a pin 2 is wide enough, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6 to permit the iii being provided in the breech block 3 which extends transversely of the breech block and which engages in an elongated slot 32' in the locking block. As before the locking block has a tooth 1a which is adapted to engage in the locking slot 31 of the barrel-extension 30. The tooth la is disengaged by pressing the ear or projection 47 rearwardly to rock the locking block downwardly in a manner similar to the operation of the first described embodiment of the invention. The locking block may be held in downward position by a lever, similar to the lever 17 of Fig. 3 which is disengaged by a cam surface as in the first described embodiment of the invention. The locking lever 17 is shown in dotted lines in Fig.7. The locking lever 17 cooperates with the top of the locking tooth 1a in the same manner as in the first described embodiment of the invention, and as illustrated in Fig. 3.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

In a recoil-operated gun, the combination with a recoiling barrel-extension having a locking 'slo't therein, and a breech-blockreciprocable axially in and relative to said barrel extension, of a locking block mounted in said breech block and having a locking tooth formed thereon to engage in said locking slot to lock said breechblock to said barrel extension, said locking block being mounted in said breech block for pivotal and sliding movements relative to said breech block, the pivotal and sliding mounting for the locking block comprising a pivot pin secured to one of the two named blocks and an elongate slot formed in the other named block in which said pin engages, a percussion rod slidable longitudinally in said locking block and disposed to be in operative, firing position when said locking tooth is engaged in said locking slot, resilient means for rocking said locking block in one direction about said pivot pin to move said locking tooth into locking engagement with said locking slot, and means for rocking said locking block in the opposite direction about its pivot to disengage said locking tooth from said locking slot, said locking block having a plane front surface, and said breech block having a plane surface against which said plane front surface is adapted to abut and seat when said locking tooth is in engagement with said locking slot, said plane surfaces and said elongate slot permitting the thrust of recoil to be taken by the locking block, the breech block, and the barrel extension without being transmitted to said pivot References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 324,296 Browning Aug. 11, 1885 768,665 Johnson Aug. 30, 1904 1,984,443 Swebilius Dec. 18, 1934 2,090,340 Browning Aug. 17, 1937 2,352,193 Gorton a- June 27, 1944 2,527,895 Tassan Oct. 31, 1950 2,614,462 Browning Oct. 21, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 134,191 Germany Apr. 11, 1907