Firearms – Safety mechanism – Hammer or firing pin
Reexamination Certificate
2001-04-12
2003-08-05
Carone, Michael J. (Department: 3641)
Firearms
Safety mechanism
Hammer or firing pin
Reexamination Certificate
active
06601331
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This application relates to improved safety features for semi-automatic firearms with hammerless designs or which use striker pins to activate a firing pin. More particularly it concerns hand-held or guns of the type which do not have manual safety selectors and which use a striker type firing mechanism rather than a hammer strike firing mechanism.
2. Description of Related Art and the Class of Weapons to Which the Invention is Drawn
It is well known by police, military and other users of semi-automatic handguns that their accidental discharge is a very serious problem. Accidental discharge, often with fatal results, occurs by someone handling a weapon which was “supposed” to be on safety or, alternatively, which had its magazine removed and was supposed to be empty. Accordingly, much attention has been given, by designers, manufacturers and others skilled in the art of manufacture and use of semi-automatic firearms, to their construction or adaptation so as to avoid or mitigate the danger of accidental or inadvertent firing. The present invention further addresses this problem and provides the art with unique improvements in firearm construction that accomplishes this desired result with a manual safety system which heretofore was not available.
The majority of semi-automatic pistols in use, including those used as side-arms by the armed forces of the United States of America, are of the essentially single action type in which a firing pin, typically impacted by a hammer, is cocked into firing position by recoil of a slide when the weapon is discharged by pull of the trigger.(See U.S. Pat. Nos. 984,519 and 4,754,689). Some of these weapons may be double action on loading of the first round, but single action thereafter for all rounds in the magazine, i.e., they are not double action only weapons.
Such single action pistols are notorious for accidental discharge and various embodiments have been devised to improve their safety. This has included modification of the sear mechanism to reduce potential for movement on dropping or other impact of the weapon (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,646,619) and disablement of the trigger upon removal of the magazine (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,420,899).
Double action type pistols are those in which the firing pin is not cocked by slide recoil, but wherein trigger movement both cocks and releases the firing pin for weapon discharge (see U.S. Pat. No. 3,857,325). Since such pistols are not “armed” until trigger pull, they have less potential for accidental discharge upon being dropped or impacted. Still, accidental discharge is possible in such firearms and embodiments of them have been created to improve their safety, e.g., disablement of the trigger upon removal of the magazine (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,031,648). The present invention improves upon the inherent safety features of double action type firearms by provision of improvements thereto that virtually eliminate the possibility of their accidental discharge by dropping or impact or because there was a cartridge in the chamber of a gun from which the magazine had been removed.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
A principal object of the present invention is the provision of new improved safety features for semi-automatic firearms which use a striker pin type of firing mechanism.
Further objects of the invention include an improved:
1. Manual safety device for hammerless pistols or other semi-automatic hand-guns guns wherein a firing pin is both cocked and released for firing by a trigger mechanism in contrast to the predominate type of semi-automatic guns in which a firing pin or related hammer is cocked by the recoil of the gun.
2. Manual safety lock mechanism for semi-automatic hand-guns having triggers, sears and firing pins that operate with relatively low and more constant friction as compared with prior known hand-guns.
3. Manual safety for such hand-guns that does not interfere with a constant, smooth trigger pull.
4. Manual safety in semiautomatic handguns in which the striker pin is positively blocked and/or prevented from reaching a fully retracted position necessary for the release of the pin and the firing of the weapon.
5. Manual safety in semiautomatic hand-guns in which attempted operation of the hand gun while the manual safety is engaged causes the gun to enter an out of battery condition, thereby preventing the firearm from operating.
6. Manual safety in semi-automatic handguns which provides an indication of the guns safe or ready-to-fire condition.
Other objects and further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed descriptions given herein. It should be understood, however, that the detailed descriptions, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent from such descriptions.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A manual safety lock that allows positive manual lock-out of semiautomatic to hand-guns of hammerless design is disclosed. In hand-guns similar to the Glock and Smith & Wesson 99 style pistols which use hammerless firing mechanisms, frequently there are no manual safety lock-outs to provide for a positive disengagement of the striker pin used to strike the primer of a cartridge. The present invention provides a method for easily retrofitting existing hand-guns with a positive safety mechanism that can be manually selectable or can include the provision of a conventional lock pin screw device requiring a unique key type mechanism to unlock.
Although the present invention has been designed specifically to work with Glock brand pistols, and have been successfully operated in a prototype design, it is clear from the diagrams and consideration of similarly designed semiautomatic pistols that the invention should operate properly on all such similar striker pin hand-gun designs. Therefore, the description below will specifically reference a Glock hand-gun though it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the same mechanisms are frequently found on many other popular hand-guns using similar technology for striker pin design.
In the case of the Glock hand-guns, once fully assembled, the Glock has three safeties engaged. However, the safeties are not manually selectable and are meant simply to prevent the inadvertent movement of the striker pin, so that the firing pin operated by the striker mechanism cannot reach a primer on live ammunition without the trigger actually and deliberately being pulled. Such a system does not provide for a manual safety system which can be positively engaged by an operator to prevent firing of the pistol even if the trigger is inadvertently pulled by the operator or some other person. When the trigger is pressed on the Glock pistol and begins to move, the trigger safety of the Glock is disengaged. As the trigger safety is pressed flush with the face of the trigger, the rear-end of the safety retracts into, and flush with, the upper rear portion of the trigger. This allows the Glock trigger safety to clear the receiver as the trigger is moved to the rear. The vertically extending tab on the trigger bar pressing the firing pin safety upward disengages it. At this point, the ammunition primer of the pistol cartridge is now available for the firing pin to detonate. Thereafter, the trigger bar moves the firing pin to the rear as the trigger is pulled further back—this rear-end movement partially compressing the firing pin spring which ultimately provides the energy from moving the firing pin forward upon release. It is at this point that the present invention would operate to prevent further movement. When the tab of the trigger bar contacts the connectors angled lip, the Glock pistol is said to be cocked. Unlike conventional pistols which will remain cocked without trigger presser, Glocks will uncock themselves automatically if, at this point, trigger pressure is removed by the operator. At this point in the trigger opera
Buckley Denise J
Carone Michael J.
Famiglio Robert B.
Famiglio & Associates
LandOfFree
Integrated manual safety device for hammerless semiautomatic... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Integrated manual safety device for hammerless semiautomatic..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Integrated manual safety device for hammerless semiautomatic... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3091990