US3537204A - Safety mechanism and stop member for a cylinder slide release - Google Patents

Description

D. S. WOLOCH Nov. 3, 1970 SA-FETY: MECHANISM AND sT oi- MEMBER FOR A CYLINDER SLIDE RELEASE Filed Aug. 8, 1968 INVENTOR. DAVID S.-WOLOCH ym I! ATTORNEYS I States 3,537,204 SAFETY MECHANISM AND STOP MEMBER FOR A CYLINDER SLIDE RELEASE David S. Woloch, 522 Overwood Road, Akron, Ohio 44313 Filed Aug. 8, 1968, Ser. No. 751,148 Int. Cl. F41c 17/00, 17/04, 17/08 US. C]. 4266 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE RELATED APPLICATION This application involves an improvement on the subject matter of applicants earlier filed application filed June 13, 1967 as Ser. No. 645,656 now US. Pat. 3,422,559.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to safety devices for revolvers and in particular to revolvers employing the safety device shown in applicants earlier application referred to above which includes spring loaded stop means secured to the stocks and designed to retain the cylinder release slide in the forward position so as to prevent normal operation of the hammer. The safety devices in question can be released by pivoting of the stocks relatively of the handgrip to retract the stop member thereby permitting the slide to return to normal operative position.

The particular area of this invention relates to an additional safety mechanism which prevents accidental engagement of the spring loaded safety means as a result of excess recoil of the firearm.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART Other than the applicants aforementioned copending application and the prior art made of record made therein, no pertinent prior art is known to applicant.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In the art of handguns, safety mechanisms designed to prevent premature or accidental firing of the firearm are of great value and take many forms.

In applicants copending application referred to above, a particularly effective safety mechanism is disclosed and involves a spring loaded stop member which is carried in the handgrip and secured to the stocks and which automatically seats behind the cylinder slide release upon opening of the cylinder and prevents the slide release from being returned to operative position upon closing the cylinder as would normally be the case.

By holding the slide in the forward position, normal operation of the hammer is prevented. The firearm is prepared for firing, as disclosed in the aforesaid application, by pivoting the stocks relatively of the handgrip to withdraw the stop member and permit the slide to move to the rear of the firearm thereby permitting the hammer to operate normally.

While the invention described in the aforesaid application is fully operative and presents a definite improvement over the previously known prior art, there is, at times, a possibility of accidental engagement of the safety means during repeated firing of the firearm.

This possibility exists primarily with regard to larger caliber firearms in which case an excessive amount of recoil takes place. It is possible during recoil that since the body of the firearm is being thrust upwardly and rearwardly upon detonation of the cartridge that, while the cylinder release slide will also be thrust in this direction, due to the follower spring located behind it, it will move slower with the result that the slide conceivably could move relatively of the body a sufficient distance to enable the spring loaded stop means referred to above to snap into place behind it thereby preventing rapid successive firing of the firearm.

While such an occurrence would be extremely rare and in all probability occasioned by a combination of a weakened cylinder spring and overloaded cartridge, the same nonetheless could present a disadvantage to the firearm.

It has therefore been discovered that by providing a stop plate or rod on the cylinder indexing arm that at the precise moment of firing, this stop would be disposed between the forward end of the cylinder slide and the cylinder housing itself so that any tendency of the slide to move forwardly far enough to permit engagement of the stop member would be overcome.

Accordingly, production of a revolver having the above characteristics becomes the principal object of this invention with other objects thereof becoming more apparent upon a reading of the following brief specification con sidered and interpreted in view of the accompanying drawings.

Of the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a revolver partially broken away and showing the improved safety mechamsm.

FIG. 2 is a partial perspective view showing the position of the improved safety mechanism during the firing operation.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken on the lines 33 of FIG. 1.

Turning first then to FIG. 1, it will be seen that the revolver, generally indicated by the numeral 10, consists of a barrel 20, body 30, handgrip 40 and hammer mechanism 50.

The barrel 20 projects from the forward end of body 30 itself is also of conventional construction including a revolving cylinder 31 adapted to be snapped into and out of the appropriate body opening 30a for loading purposes. On the rearward end of the cylinder 31 is a spring loaded pin 31a which projects rearwardly through wall 30b for purposes which will be described more fully below.

The body 30 also has a normal trigger 32 and trigger guard 33 with the trigger being pivotally connected to the body as at 32a for movement in the direction of arrow 32b for firing purposes.

The handgrip 40 which projects to the rear of the body 30 generally includes a metal strap 41 and a pair of opposed stocks 42 and 43 which may be made of wood or other suitable material.

The main spring 44 is also carried by this handgrip portion 40 and is a fiat steel spring having its lower end seated in the butt of the handgrip and its upper end connected to the hammer 50.

Hammer 50 is also of generally conventional construction including a thumbgrip 51 and being pivotally secured to the body 30 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

Finally, the body 30 also carries a cylinder release slide 60 of generally U-shaped planar configuration and normally being urged to the right of FIG. 1 by spring 61 seated in the strap 41 of handgrip 40. Normally, the

spring that is associated with pin 31a is stronger than spring 61 and the cylinder 31 will be securely held in place. Slide 60 has a thumbgrip (not shown) however on the outside of the stock and movement of this grip to the right of FIG. 1 overcomes the force of the cylinder pin spring forcing it clear of wall 301;. Thus, it will be apparent that at this time the cylinder 31 can be rotated out of the opening 30a and the cylinder release slide 60 will be urged to the right by the spring 61.

Conversely in normal operation, when the cylinder 31 is returned to its operative position, the plunger 31a thereof will force the slide 60 back to the left overcoming the force of the spring 61.

In the improvement disclosed in applicants earlier filed copending application above referred to, a safety mechanism 70 was provided in the handgrip and generally included a stop 100 which was spring loaded and urged upwardly so that when the slide 60 moved to the right of FIG. 1, this stop member would snap into place behind the slide. In this fashion when the cylinder 31 was closed, the presence of the stop member 100 would prevent rearward movement of the slide and since the slide in its forward position lies under the hammer, firing of the revolver would be prevented.

As disclosed in applicants earlier filed application, the stocks 42 and 43 of the handgrip were designed to pivot relatively of this grip and were attached to arm 71 of the safety mechanism 70 so that when it was desired to unlock the firearm for firing, it was merely necessary to rotate the stocks 42 and 43 relatively of the handgrip thereby drawing the stop 100 downwardly and permitting the cylinder release slide 60 to assume its normal position.

While this structure has been found to be perfectly operative in the normal instance, it has been found that due to a combination of circumstances such as a weakened spring on the plunger 31a, overloading of the bullet or utilization of very high performance bullets such as .44 magnum that firing of the firearm will cause considerable recoil. The practical effect of such recoil is to force the barrel 20 and body 30 to the rear and upward. In some instances this may be suflicient to permit slide 60 which, being cushioned by spring 61 moves more slowly, to be moved relatively of the body a sufficient distance to enable the stop 100 to snap into place.

In this position, of course, the firearm is inoperative and although, as taught by applicants earlier application, it is a simple matter for the user to unlock the firearm by snapping the revolver and pivoting the handgrip stocks, even this amount of delay can be undesirable in situations where rapid successive firing is desired.

Accordingly then, attention is directed to the trigger mechanism in which it will be seen that the trigger 32 has a projection 34 which normally overlies projection 52 on the hammer. When the trigger is pulled in the direction of the arrow 32b, projection 34 contacts area 53 of hammer 50 to rotate the hammer in the direction of arrow 50b and the hammer is forced upwardly approximately to the position shown in FIG. 2. At this point projection 34 clears arm 53 and the force of the main spring 44 will snap the hammer down to achieve firing.

The trigger 32 of the present invention includes a conventional cylinder indexing arm 32c which projects upwardly from the rear portion of the trigger and which moves upward upon pulling the trigger to index the cylinder as each round is fired thereby bringing an unused cartridge into line with the firing pin. In the present invention a stop member 80, which may take any form such as a plate or rod, is aflixed to this indexing arm 32c and is disposed between the ends of the arm a sufficient distance so that at the moment of firing, the same is disposed between forward end 61a of cylinder slide release 60 and wall 30b of the body.

It is believed apparent then by this construction that any tendency of the slide 60 to move relatively of the body 30 will be resisted by the stop 80. Therefore it becomes impossible for safety mechanism to come into operation since this can only occur when the slide 60 has moved forward a sufiicient distance to enable stop 100 to snap into place behind it. After firing, of course, the trigger and hammer are returned to the position of FIG. 1 and stop member is moved completely out of the way so as not to impede operation of the safety means associated with the slide and which are discussed above and more fully disclosed in applicants aforementioned copending application.

It has therefore been shown how by a simple modification of the existing cylinder indexing arm, a virtually fool-proof safety mechanism can be achieved which is operative for all of the purposes for which it is designed and yet which is incapable of being accidentally engaged.

While a full and complete description of the invention has been set forth in accordance with the dictates of the patent statutes, it should be understood that modifications may be resorted to without departing from the spirit hereof or the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a revolver having a cylinder slide release, a cylinder indexing arm, a trigger and a spring loaded safety device adapted to be selectively moved into and out of position behind the cylinder slide release, the improvement comprising;

(A) means carried by the cylinder indexing arm and adapted to be moved into and out of position in front of said cylinder slide release upon actuation of the trigger.

2. A revolver comprising;

(A) a body;

(B) a rotatable cylinder;

(C) a cylinder slide release (1) adapted to move between forward and rear positions into and out of contact with said cylinder;

(D) a safety mechanism adapted to automatically move into position behind said slide release when said slide is in said forward position and retain said slide in said forward position;

(E) a trigger pivotally mounted on said revolver;

(F) a cylinder indexing arm carried by said trigger; and

(G) a stop member (1) carried by said arm (2) and adapted to be moved into position between said slide and said body during the time said slide is in its rear position upon actuation of said trigger;

(2.) whereby said slide is prevented from moving to its forward position.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 573,736 12/1896 Wesson 42-62 635,705 1()/ 1899 Wesson et a1. 42-66 3,422,559 1/ 1969 Woloch 42-66 BENJAMIN A. BORCHELT, Primary Examiner C. T. JORDAN, Assistant Examiner

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