Pistol, whose housing is composed of plastic

Details Pistol, whose housing is composed of plastic Pistol, whose housing is composed of plastic

1999-08-13

2001-07-17

Johnson, Stephen M. (Department: 3641)

Firearms

Stocks

For pistols

C042S075020

Reexamination Certificate

active

06260301

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a pistol which comprises a housing composed of plastic, a barrel slide (which contains a barrel and a breech and is guided in the longitudinal direction with respect to the housing) and a trigger mechanism. Pistols of widely differing systems are thus affected.
With the aim of making pistols as light as possible, efforts are being made to make as many parts as possible from plastic. Owing to the high forces which occur, this is subject to limits, although these are receding owing to the progress in plastics technology. Certain parts of the housing, such as the guides for the barrel slide, still have to be composed of metal. Thus, although it has become possible to design a housing composed of plastic, certain parts (such as the guides for the barrel slide) still have to be composed of metal. In some cases, these have been connected non-detachably to the housing by means of extrusion coating, and in some cases they are inserted individually into the housing.
Such a pistol is known in practice, the GLOCK Model 17. In this pistol, the barrel slide guides are individual extrusion-coated parts. The manufacture of such plastic parts is expensive and complicated, while the metal parts must be inserted into the injection molding die accurately in position and corrected for shrinkage. The mountings for the parts of the trigger mechanism and the control parts for locking the barrel are individually inserted as assemblies into the housing, resulting in further dimensional inaccuracies with respect to one another and with respect to the barrel slide guides. If individual extrusion-coated parts become worn or damaged, the entire housing must be replaced. A further disadvantage is that the individual parts are difficult to fit into the housing, since accessibility to the interior of the housing is poor. This disadvantage occurs irrespective of the choice of material.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a pistol construction which allows for the use of plastics technology to a large extent, and which provides high precision and simple assembly.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the invention, the foregoing object is achieved wherein a single, metal, multifunction part is removably inserted into the housing, and on the multifunction part the guides for the barrel slide are formed, and the elements of the trigger mechanism are mounted and guided.
The multifunction part can easily be manufactured and processed with high precision, is fitted with all the moving parts, and is not inserted into the housing until after the fitting has been done. It can be removed again for repair purposes. All parts are easily accessible during assembly and repair. As a result, the relative position of those parts which are essential to operation is defined considerably more accurately, and is much less susceptible to adverse influences, even in the event of expansion differences. Overall, greater precision is achieved, with reduced costs.
In the case of a pistol having a disassembly lever shaft which is mounted transversely in the housing, the multifunction part in an advantageous development has a hole, which holds the disassembly lever shaft and thus produces the connection between the housing and the multifunction part. The multifunction part is thus connected to the housing without any specific fastening means. Furthermore, when disassembling the weapon, it also makes sense to pull out the disassembly lever for the next stage of disassembly.
In one preferred embodiment, a recess for a projection of the multifunction part is provided in the rear wall of the housing. This makes disassembly and assembly particularly simple. After pulling on the disassembly lever shaft, the multifunction part is pulled slightly forward, and is then simply lifted off.
In the case of a pistol having a barrel which can be locked in the barrel slide, the invention achieves a further simplification in that the control means for locking are formed on the multifunction part.


REFERENCES:
patent: 4409882 (1983-10-01), Blackshaw et al.
patent: 5293708 (1994-03-01), Strayer et al.
patent: 5669169 (1997-09-01), Schmitter et al.

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