US564440A - William mason - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

w. MASON. LOCKING MEANS OPERATING HANDLES 0P BRBEGH'LOADING GUNS.

No. 564,440. Patented July 21, 1896'.

UNITED STATES FATENT OFFICE.

WVILLIAM MASON, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE WINCHESTER REPEATING ARMS COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

LOCKING MEANS FOR OPERATING-HANDLES OF BREECH-LOADING GUNS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 564,440, dated July 21, 1896.

Application filed January 31, 1896. Serial No. 577,494. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM MASON, of New Haven, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new Improvement in Firearms; andI do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and the letters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, and which said drawings constitute part of this specification, and represent, in

Figure 1, a broken View, in side elevation, of a gun containing my invention; Fig. 2, a plan view of the magazine and action-bar with the barrel of the gun removed; Fig. 3, a view in transverse section on the line a b of Fig. 1.

My invention relates to an improvement in that class of firearms the action mechanism of which is operated by means of a sliding handle located forward of the frame of the arm, and adapted to be reciprocated in a line or substantially parallel with the longitudinal axis of the gun-barrel, the principal object of my present invention being to prevent the gun from being prematurely opened by the user in the interval between the falling of the hammer and the explosion of the cartridge in case he pulls rearward upon the sliding handle at the time of firing the gun.

With these ends in view my invention consists in the combination, with a fixed lug located upon the magazine of the arm, of a lug located upon the action-bar of the sliding handle and traveling back and forth therewith. I

My invention further consists in certain details of construction and combinations of parts, as will be hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claims.

In carrying out my invention I locate a beveled stop-lug or projection A upon the magazine A, and nearly'in the center of the upper face thereof, as shown in Fig. 3. This lug may be made integral with the magazine or independently thereof and brazed thereto. Its outer edge is beveled, as at a, for coaction with a stop-lu g B, located within the extreme forward end of the action-bar B, which is, as shown, secured to a metal sleeve 13*, by means of which it is connected with the sliding handle C, which is moved back and forth on the magazine A in a line substantially parallel with the longitudinal axis of the gun-barrel D. The rear end of the action-bar is provided with an inwardly-proj ecting operating-lug B through the medium of which it is connected with the action mechanism of the arm, said mechanism being of any approved construction.

\Vhen in the operation of the arm the sliding handle is pushed forward, and just before it reaches the limit of its forward movement, the lug B engages with the beveled edge a of the lug A, whereby the lug B is crowded slightly outward and downward, and the action-bar B given a slight torsional twist, causing the sliding handle at the same time to rotate slightly on the magazine. Then, when the sliding handle reaches the limit of its forward movement, the lug B passes in front of the lug A, when the torsional strain under which the action-bar B has been placed immediately operates to throw the lug B in front of the lug A with a corresponding reverse rotation of the handle upon the magazine. It is plain now that the sliding handle is positively blocked and held in its forward position, and that any rearward draft that the user may exert upon it cannot pull it back and endanger the premature opening of the gun, which can only be done by the rotation of the handle by the user sufficiently to twist the actionbar enough to clear the lug B from the lug A, after which the handle may be drawn back. I may point out that the recoil of the gun does not in this case release the sliding handle for rearward movement.

It is apparent that in carrying out my invention some changes from the construction shown and described may be made, and I would therefore have it understood that I do not limit myself to such construction, but hold myself at liberty to make such changes and alterations as fairly fall within the spirit and scope of my invention.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a firearm, the combination with a fixed stop-lug or projection, of a sliding handle, a lug moving therewith and engaging with the fixed lug at the limit of the forward movement of the handle for blocking the rearward movementof the handle against direct rearward draft, for which the handle miist be released by turning it slightly to clear the ln g connected with it from the fixed lug, substantially as described.

2. In a firearm, the combination with a fixedstop-lug or projection having one edge beveled, of a stop-lug or projection traveling with the sliding handle of the arm, andengaging with the fixed stop-lug or projection when the handle is at the limit of its forward movement, and blocking the rearward movement r bar connected with thesliding handle and extending rearward therefrom, and a stop-lug located at the forward end of the action-bar and coacting with the fixed lug before mentioned to place the action-bar under torsional strain, and engaging with the forward end of the fixed lug when the handle is at the limit of its forward movement in which it is locked against rearward movement under direct rearward draft except as the sliding bar is first rotated to twist the action-bar and clear the lug thereof from the fixed lug or projection, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM MASON.

Witnesses:

DANIEL I-I. VEADER, W. S. BALDWIN.

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