Firearms – Safety mechanism – Trigger lock
Reexamination Certificate
1999-07-13
2001-04-10
Jordan, Charles T. (Department: 3644)
Firearms
Safety mechanism
Trigger lock
Reexamination Certificate
active
06212812
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a pistol, which comprises a butt containing a trigger mechanism and a barrel slide which can be displaced in the longitudinal direction. The trigger is guided in the upper part of the butt.
As a result of repeatedly occurring accidents and incidents in which children or young people make unauthorized use of firearms, there is a requirement to make access to firearms more difficult. This requirement to an increasing extent comes from the legislature. Storage of pistol in cabinets which can be locked, which is usual in the case of long weapons, is not customary as, in the case of pistols, they are often stored in desks or bedside cabinets. The usual solution is, therefore, to provide additional mechanisms enclosing and filling the trigger guard and these are secured by means of a lock and thus making movement of the trigger impossible.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
Such mechanisms are known from DE-A 17 03 217 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,638,627, with a cylinder lock in the first publication and a combination lock in the second. They are, of course, just as suitable for long weapons as for pistols.
In any event, they involve bulky additional items which do not usually fit very accurately and are, in addition, expensive. Furthermore, unlocking the mechanisms requires some time and skill, which is not always available. In pistols of the generic type, there is a further safety problem which involves the (almost invariably present) stripping lever, which may collide with one of the additional mechanism discussed above and thus cause an undesired stripping of the pistol. This risk is present even without any additional mechanism.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is a principle object of the invention to improve a pistol of the generic type in such a way that, with a minimum of additional costs, rapid, simple and reliable locking and unlocking is possible thereby improving safety.
In accordance with the invention, the foregoing object is achieved wherein a locking pin is guided so that it can be displaced and rotated in a lateral transverse hole of the butt. The locking pin protrudes into the path of the trigger in the locked condition. A compression spring acts on the locking pin in the opening direction. The locking pin has a head which interacts in bayonet fashion with a hole in a side wall of the butt so that two different angular positions of the locking pin correspond to two travel positions, locked and unlocked.
The locking of the trigger therefore takes place within the butt where, even in the case of a small pistol, there is still space to accommodate a transverse hole and the locking pin. As a result, the locking pin comes to lie in the vicinity of the trigger where it is easily accessible and easy to operate. Because of the bayonet-type interaction between the head and the hole, the two travel positions (locked, unlocked) can be established with minimum space requirement. The accurate arrangement, length and support of the pin and the arrangement of the spring can then be easily adapted to the features of the particular weapon. Finally, only one additional and quite simple component is necessary.
In an embodiment which is preferred because it is particularly space-saving and cheap, the head of the locking pin has at least one lug on its outer periphery and the side wall of the butt has at least one recess on the inside and on the periphery of the hole, which recess accepts the lug in the open position.
Within the scope of the invention, the recess can extend over the whole thickness of the side wall and the lug has a colored mark on its side facing toward the outside. As a result, it is possible to recognize visually whether the weapon is locked or not.
In an advantageous further development, a pistol with a stripping lever which can be pivoted about a transverse axis, which is almost always the case in pistols, the end of the stripping lever remote from the transverse axis partially overlaps the hole in the side wall and the head of the locking pin has on its outside a locking lug in which the end of the stripping lever engages when the locking pin is in the open position, so that the stripping lever is restrained. In this way, the stripping lever is restrained when the weapon is unlocked, i.e. ready to fire, so that it cannot be accidentally operated, which represents a safety risk. In order to strip the weapon, the pin must be pushed in slightly so that the stripping lever can be operated.
In order to facilitate the assembly of the pistol, the end of the stripping lever overlapping the hole can have a chamfer on its side facing toward the head of the locking pin. As a result, the stripping lever itself presses the pin slightly into the weapon and snaps in as soon as it has reached its end position.
There are various possibilities for the actual locking procedure. The simplest comprises that the head of the locking pin has, on the outside, a profiled opening for accepting a key. A somewhat more complicated, but particularly safe possibility, comprises that the locking pin accepts a locking cylinder of a cylinder lock.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3979850 (1976-09-01), Schiessl et al.
patent: 4754568 (1988-07-01), Brandt
patent: 5042185 (1991-08-01), Justice, Sr.
patent: 5241769 (1993-09-01), Von Muller
patent: 5361525 (1994-11-01), Bowes
patent: 5371965 (1994-12-01), Nelson
patent: 5638627 (1997-06-01), Klein et al.
patent: 5659993 (1997-08-01), Watson, Jr. et al.
patent: 5671560 (1997-09-01), Meller
patent: 1703217 (1972-03-01), None
NRA. . . Illustrated Firearms Assembly Handbook. “Colt.25 Pocket Automatic”, Triggs, James M. Jul. 1960.
Bachman & LaPointe P.C.
Best Christian M.
Jordan Charles T.
Steyr Mannlicher AG & Co. KG
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