US50854A - Improvement in cartridge-retractors for breech-loading fire-arms - Google Patents

Description

. UNITED STATES PATENT T. L. STURTEVANT, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN CARTR-lDGE-RETRACTORS FOR BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent iNo. 50,854, dated November 7, 1865.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, TnoMAs L. S'rUa'rE- VANT, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Brecon-Loading Fire-Arms; and I do hereby declare the same to be fully described in the following specilication and represented in the accompanying drawings, of which- Figure l is a longitudinal section of a :firearm provided with my invention, the barrel in such section being exhibited with its rear end at its lowest position relatively to the stationary breech. Fig. 2 is another longitudinal section showing the barrel rnisedatitsrear above the breech and in a position for reception of a cartridge, which, while being inserted in the barrel, enters it at its rear end, which is open. Fig.3 is a side view of the grooved cam applied to the barrel. Fig. 4 is an edge view of the trigger-guard lever.

In carrying out my present invention, I combine with the barrel and stock and the triggerguard lever, substantially as hereinafter specilied, a pin or stud and a grooved cam or projection, so made that during the movements of the lever on its fnlcrum such cam and stud will not only raise and depress the barrel relatively to a stationary breech, but maintain such barrel in a position above the breech for a period long enough' for a cartridge or the shell or remains of a cartridge to be expelled from its rear end and a fresh cartridge to be introduced at suchend into the barrel.

My said invention avoids the employment of a spring to depress the barrel, and causes its depression to be effected wholly by the means adopted for raising it.

By dispensing with the spring acting sepaA rarely from the lever or means employed for elevating the barrel., I avoid the difficulties in cident to a spring and insure a positive and determinate action of the barrel at all times with respect to the stock and breech 5 and in further carrying outmy invention, I apply to the cartridge-shell diseharger an arm and spring, and to the barrel a pin or its equivalent7 and I so arrange the same together and with respect t the trigger-guard lever that such lever, during its movement for raising the breech end of the barrel, shall so operate against the said arm as to cause the cartridge-shell discharger to be forced rearward, the arm in the meantime being released from the lever by means of the pin, against which the arm will be moved by the discharger. During the forward movement of the diseharger the spring of the arm will restore the said arm toits rearmost position or that in which it will be ready for being moved by the lever.

In the drawings, A denotes the barrel, and B the stock, of a fire-arm, such barrel being held to the stock by such a hinge-joint, a, as will enable the barrel to be moved. with respect to the stock from the position as shown in Fig. 1 into that as represented in Fig. 2, the rear end of the barrel in the one case being against and so as to be closed by a stationary breech or abutment, O. In the other case the said end is shown as elevated above such abutment, and open to allow either the expulsion of a cartridge-shell from the barrel or the introduction of a cartridge at such end into the barrel.

For elevating the barrel, I make use of a lever, D, which turns on a fnlerum, b, extentiing transversely through the stock. The longer arm, d, of this lever answers as a guardfor the trigger c of the lock. The shorter arm, e, has a pin or stud, e', extending from it laterally and into a curved groove, j', made in a plate, g', which is attached to one side ot' a projection or block, h, applied t0 the lower part of the barrel and arranged with respect to the lower edge of such block in manner vas shown in the drawings.

The block h is channeled lengthwise to support the cartridge-shell dscharger F, which slides freely within the block, andhas aspring, s, for retracting it, such spring being applied to the disch'arger F at its front end and also to a pin, t, extending from the barrel. At its rear end the discharger extends up into the rear part of the barrel, so as to come in front of the ange of a cartridge-shell when in the barrel. Furthermore, there is hinged to the diseharger an arm, 7c, which is pressed downward by a spring, l, arranged as shownin Figs. l and 2. A pin or-stud, m, goes through the block h, and is so disposed therein that during a rearward movement of the cartridge-shell discharger caused by the lever D such pin shall force the'arm k upward and away from the lever in order that the spring Z may retract the said discharger. By laying hold of the longer arm of the leverD and moving it downward in a direction away from the stock the actionof the stud c on the upper side ot' the groove f will canse the elevation ot' the rear end of the barrel above the breech C. A reverse motion of the lever will cause the said stud, by its action on the lower side of the groove f, to depress thc barrel back into place into the stock. By means ofthe groove j' and the stud I am enabled to dispense with a spring for effecting the depression of the barrel and to insure such by means of the lever. So, by means of the stud m, combined with the block h and with the arm 7c and spring l, applied to the cartridge-shell discharger, as specied, and also with the groovef and the pin e', I am enabled to insure the reversed motion of the dscharger. When a spring is employed to depress the barrel and the barrel has no direct connection with the trigger-guard lever the barrel will be liable to be thrown up so as to prematurely disengage the cartridge-shell discharger from the lever, in which case the said discharger may fail to expel the cartridge or its shell from the barrel; but with my improved mechanism the movements ofthe barrel are so controlled by the stud c and the groove f as to render certain the proper action of the discharger with respect to the cartridge or its shell.

What, therefore, I claim as my invention is- 1. The combination and arrangement of the tripping-stud m, the arm 7c, and the lspring l with the block h or the barrel A, the cartridgeshell discharger F, and the lever D.

2. The combination and arrangement 0f the groove f and the stud e with the barrel A and the lever D, the cartridge-shell discharger F, and the stud m, the arm 7c, and the spring l, arranged and applied to the said discharger and barrel substantially as specified.

. T. L. STURTEVANT.

Witnesses:

R. H. EDDY, F. P. HALE, Jr.

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