US449711A

US449711A - Emil bitter

Info

Publication number: US449711A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1891-04-07
Anticipated expiration: 1908-04-07

Description

(No Model.) s sheets-sheet ,1.

EMIL RITTER v; SKODA. BRBEGH LOADING ORDNANGB.

` No. 449,711. PatentedApL 7, 181971.-

3 sheets-sheet 2.

(NoModel.) l

EMIL RITTER V. SKODA. BREBGH LOADING RDNANGE.

No. 449,711. Patented Apr. 7, 1891.

UNITED STATES `PATENT OFFICE.

EMIL RITTER VON SKODA, OF PILSEN, AUSTRIA-HUNGARY.

eREEcH-LQADING ORDNANCE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N o. 449,711, dated April 7, 1891.

Application tiled September 22, 1890. Serial No. 365,757. (No modela To all whom t may concern.-

Beit known that LEMIL RITTER von SKODA, a subject of the Emperor of Austria, residing at Pilsen, in' the Province of Bohemia, in the Empire of Austriallungary, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Breech-Loading Guns and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters of reference marked there on,which form a part of this specification.

The invention relates to breech-loading ordnance, and more especially to that class of ordnance in which the breech-block has motion in a plane at right angles to the axis of the breech chamber, and in which the iiringpin is contained within the breechblock.

The object of my invention is to simplify the breech mechanism; and the invention consists in structural features and combinations of parts, as will now be fully described, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of so much of the breech end of a gun as Will be necesf sary to illustrate my invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse sectional elevation of the same. Figs. 3 and et are vertical axial sectional elevations of Fig. 1,showing the firing mechanism in its position after firing and ready for firing, respectively. Fig. 5 is a sectional detail view illustrating a coiled mainspring in combination with a tubular 'firingpin in lieu of a leaf-spring, as shown 1n the above-described iigures. Figs. G and 7 are views similar to Figs. 1 and 2, respectively,

illustrating the breech-block and ring-pin actuating mechanism as arranged axially of the breech fblock. Figs. 8 and 9 are like views illustrating the arrangement of the shell-extractor relatively to the breech-block, which latter is not shown in Fig. 9; and Fig. lO is a detail elevation iu which the arrangement of the sear or main lever is shown as engaging the firing-pin from below.

Like letters of reference indicate like parts wherever` such may occur in the above drawto the axis of the gun.

a 1s the lever for actuating the breech-action, which lever is fulcrumed at a. This lever is practically a two-armed lever, whose shorter arm c2 is pivotally connected with the breech-block A by means of a link B and a pin or stud b, that projects from the upper end of said link into the breech-block, as shown in Figs. 1 to 4, inclusive. The pin b has motion within its bearing in the breechblock and has a radial lug b', adapted to engage the lug c, Figs. 2, 3, and 4, on the ringpin @,that is contained in a cylindrical chamber formed axially in the breech-block.

By the side of the lug c on the ring-pin is formed a second lug c', Fig. 2, adapt-ed to be engaged by a detent-lever E, that is fulcrumed at e in a vertical recess formed in the breech block Ain rear of the firing-pin O. (See Figs. 2, 3, and 4:.) The lever E is constructed in the form of an angle-lever, the shorter horizontal arm c2 of which has a locking-shoulder thatvengages the lug c on the firing-pin O. To the vertical arm e' of lever E, which arm projects downwardly and out of the breechblock A, is secured the mainspring d, the free end whereof has bearing on the rear end of the firing-pin C, as shown. The detent-lever E is simply suspended upon its pivot or fulcrum pin e, and has a stop-arm e3, that bears against an abutment or shoulder formed in the breech-block, the lever being thus firmly braced at opposite ends against the stress of the mainspring cl.

From the description of the construction of the breechaction it will be seen that the parts are very few and simple and that the movement of the lever-arm a2 and link B is very limited as compared witli the movement of like parts in guns of this class.

VThe shell-extractor consists of two levers G, fulcrumed on a pin g below the breech, and each of saidv levers is providedwith a pin g', that takes into a vertical groove g2, formed in the opposite sides of the breechblock A, the upper end of said groove being curved rearwardly, so that the movements of the extractor' are controlled by those of thc IOO breech-block itself instead of being controlled by independent devices.

By reference to Figs. 8 and 9 it will readily be understood that when the operating-lever ais moved from its position shown in full lines in Fig. l to that shown in dotted lines in said figure the link B will draw the breechblock A down, not in a line perpendicular' to the axis of the gun, but in a line that inclines more or less rearwardly, so that the extractor-levers G will be moved rearwardly to the same extent for the purpose of loosening or starting the empty shell in the breech, and as the pins g on the said extractor-levers enter the rearwardly-curved portion of the grooves g2 the extractor-levers will also move rearwardly, and the empty cartridge-shell will be extracted from the breech and ejected, at which time the breech-block will have reached its lowermost position, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. l, and the pins c/"will lie in the upper end of the grooves g2. /Vhen the lever a is returned into its normal position for the purpose of closing the breech,

` one of them only may be connected with the breech-block instead of both. On the other hand, the extractor lever or levers may be fulcrumed above instead of below the breechblock, in which case the curved portion of the guide-groove g2 will be at the lower end of said breech-block instead of being at the upper end.

Insteadof aleaf-mainspringcl, a coiled mainspring may be used, in which case I preferably provide the firing-pin C with a socket for the reception of the free end of the said coiled spring, as shown in Fig. 5, Furthermore, the lug c may be formed on the lower portion ofthe tiring-pin and the horizontal arm c2 of the detent-lever E located accordingly,

`as shown in Fig. l0, in which case the lever from the lower portion of the firing-pin O..

Finally, the body of theiiriug-pin C need not necessarily be of cylindrical form in crosssection, but may be of a polygonal form.

As shown in Fig. G, the trigger f is a cam on a pin provided withcrank, -said cam having bearing on the free end of the detent-lever E.

The advantages of the described breech-action consist in the great simplicity and the small number of the co-operative parts, all of which may be made very strong; also, in that the arrangement of the cooperative devices admits of the use of a very short firing-pin wholly concealed or contained Within the breech-block, and by providinga positive connection between the breech-block and shellextractor and arranging the latter so as to have motion on a tixed pivot the operation of the said extractor is rendered absolutely certain, it being wholly controlled by the breechblock.v Finally, by connecting the shell-extractor with the breech-block the operation of the former is rendered more accurate than would be the case otherwise.

Having described my invention, whatV I claim is.

1. In a breech-loading gun in which the breech-block has atraversng motion in a di rection at right angles to the axis of the gun, the combination, with the breech-'chamber and said breech-block provided in' one of its lateral faces with a vertical groove having a rearwardly-curved end, of a shell-extractor lever having motion on a fixed pivot in a plane at right angles to the plane ofmotion of the block, said lever having a pin or stud projecting into the groove of the block, for the purpose set forth.

2. In a gun of the class described, the combination, with the breech-chamber, a verticalslot in rear thereof, the breech-block having motion in said slot, an actuating-lever having two arms of unequal length, and a link pivotally connected with the breech-block and the short arm of the lever, of a tiring-pin contained Within the breech-block, a spring having bearing on the end of the ring-pin, and an actuating device controlled by the lever and link for imparting motion to the firing-pin against the stress of its spring, for the purpose set forth.

3. In a gun of the class described, the combination, with the breech-chamber, a vertical slot in rear of said chamber, the breech-block having motion in said slot, a lever having: two arms of unequal length, and a link pitfotally connected with the block and short arm ot the lever, of a firing-pin contained within the breech-block, a spring having bearing on the end of the tiring-pin, an actuating device controlled by the lever and link for imparting motion to the tiring-pin against the stress of the spring, and a detent for locking the firing-pin against motion under the stress of its spring, the said actuating device, spring, and detent being also contained within the breech-block, for the purpose set forth.

4. In a gun of the class described, the combination, with the breech-chamber, a vertical slot in rear thereof, the breech-block having motion in said slot, a lever having arms of ICO unequal length, and a link pivotally connected with the block and short arm of the lever, of a firing-pin contained within the breech-block, a spring having bearing on the rear end of the firing-pin, an actuating device controlled by thelever and link to iinpart motion to the tiring-pin against the stress of its spring, and a detent to which the heel of the spring is secured, adapted to lock the firing-pin against motion under the stress of its spring, said actuating device, spring, and detent being contained within the breechblock, for the purpose set forth.

5. In a gun of the class described, the combination,with the breech-chamber, a vertical slot in rear thereof, the breech-block having motion in said slot, a lever having two arms of different length, and a link pivotally connected with the breech-block and the shorter arm of the lever, of a firing-pin, a detent consist-ing of an angle-lever suspended from a pin within the b1eecl1block in rear of the tiring-pin, a spring interposed between the de- 1 tent and tiring-pin and having bearing on both, said detent being adapted to lock the firing-pin against motion under the stress of the spring, and an actuating device controlled by the lever and link for moving the tiring pin against the stress of its spring, for the purpose set forth.

6. In a gun of the class described, the combination, with the breech-chamber, avertical slot in rear thereof, the breech-bolt, and a spring-actuated firing-pin contained Within the bolt and having a projecting abutment, of a lever having two arms of unequal length, a link provided with a pivot-pin having bearing in the breech-bolt and being provided with a radial lug adapted to engage the abutment on the ring-pin, and a pivotal connection between the link and short arm of the lever, for the purpose set forth.

'7. In a gun of the class described, the combination,with the breech-chamber, the breechblock, a spring actuated firing pin contained in said block and provided with a shoulder or abutment, a two-armed lever c, and a link B, pivotally connected with the block, the pivot-pin of the link being provided with a lug or radial arm having bearing on the abutment of the firing-pin to move the same against the stress of its spring, of the angle-lever E and a spring interposed between said lever and the pin and having bearing on both, as and for the purposes set forth.

8. ln a gun of the class described, the combination,with the breech-chamber, the breechblock, a spring actuated firing pin contained in said block and provided with a shoulder or abutment, a two-armed lever a, and a link B, pivotally connected with the block, the pivot-pin of the link being provided with a lug or radial arm having bearing on the abutment of the firing-pin to move the same against the stress of its spring, of the anglelever E and the flat spring d, having its heel connected with the vertical arm of the lever and its free end in contact with the rear face of the firing-pin, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

In testimony whereof Iaffix mysignature in presence of two witnesses.

EMIL RITTER. V. SKODA.

Witnesses:

ALFRED ScHEFrNnn, ADoLrH FISCHER.