Patent Application
20110289811
The present invention is directed to a safety mechanism in the nature of an improved cocking and de-cocking assembly for striker-fired pistols enabling the striker to be de-cocked with ease and speed for safe field stripping of the weapon.
Safety mechanisms for pistols have been developed for both hammer-fired and striker-fired semi-automatic weapons to prevent accidental discharge should the weapon fall, be dropped, or otherwise be subject to a sudden application of a stray force. Among the mechanisms developed for this objective are locking or blocking members associated with the trigger and/or firing pin to prevent such accidental discharge. It is to an improved cocking/de-cocking arrangement for striker-fired pistols to which the present invention is specifically directed. The new and improved arrangement permits striker-fired pistols to be simply disassembled without having to pull the trigger, a potentially dangerous condition if ammunition is in the firing chamber, as is the case with earlier de-cocking systems.
Striker-fired pistols have been well-developed by the art. Such pistols are absent a traditional hammer and firing pin. They employ a spring-biased striker pin urged into a “cocked” pre-firing condition by a cocking lever actuated by a trigger bar linked to a finger trigger. The striker pin itself is typically pre-cocked by the forward movement of the slide into battery position. The shooter's finger action on the trigger is relieved upon discharge by the striker pin detonating the explosive charge in the ammunition. This simplicity of both operation and design for striker pin fired guns, while making such guns inexpensive to manufacture, can make the pistol vulnerable to mishaps caused by accidental drops of the weapon or rough handling.
Importantly, the striker pin, which is intercepted by the cocking lever during the forward displacement of the slide, must be safely disarmed whenever it is necessary to disassemble the weapon by free relative movement of the slide and the gun barrel. For this purpose, absent the mechanism which is the subject of the invention, the shooter, heretofore, had to pull the trigger in a potentially dangerous “dry firing” of the gun.
The new and improved cocking/de-cocking mechanism has a minimum number of parts and lends itself to manufacture using inexpensive, high volume techniques such as stamping and casting, rather than comparatively expensive machining processes, and utilizing off-the-shelf elements as well. The new trigger bar may be stamped at low cost while the cocking lever may be made at low cost by metal injection molding.
The present invention eliminates this danger attendant with trigger squeezing “dry firing” by providing a simple, safe, and very inexpensive cocking/de-cocking arrangement predicated upon the actions of a specially configured multiple tasking cocking lever, specially configured trigger bar, in cooperation with the slide, frame, and receiver. For a full understanding and appreciation of the new de-cocking mechanism, reference should be made to the following detailed description of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings illustrating the mechanism and principles of the invention.
As shown in
The pistol frame 10 (advantageously of molded plastic construction) encloses the metal receiver 11 in which the new cocking lever 19 (
First the multi-purpose cocking lever 19 and its associated biasing spring 23 are inserted and the de-cocking pin 22 inserted to support the cocking lever 19 on its bore 42, then the retaining ring 24 is inserted in an associated groove. The spring 23 is constrained at one end on the cocking lever 19 and at the other end on the receiver 11. The cocking lever 19 has a right (as viewed from the rear of the gun) lobe 31, and left lobe 37 with surfaces 38, 40, and a lug 27.
In accordance with the invention, the cocking lever 19, in this advantageous arrangement, possesses two distinct degrees of freedom: (1) rotation for moving the striker 21 rearward by lobe surface 38 until disengagement, and (2) the lateral translation within the receiver (dashed line position,
The return in position of the multi-function cocking lever 19 from either one of its rotational or lateral movements is provided by the action of cocking lever spring 23 designed to function both in torsion and compression. The new assembly achieves multiple separate functions of the cocking lever, rotation for cocking and linear axial translation for de-cocking. In accordance with the invention, axial translation of the lever 19 is achieved by pushing the concavely recessed right end 45 of the pin 22 inwardly with a simple tool such as a punch key (phantom) to effect the de-cocking function. It is important to note that the de-cocking operation is absolutely safe, since the striker will stop against the safety block 20, thus prohibiting travel forward into the cartridge primer. Further safety is ensured by the reduced energy of the relaxed striker spring 29 at de-cocking (pre-cock position), which is insufficient to contact and to ignite the primer.
The new cocking/de-cocking subassembly operates as follows: the trigger bar 18 is pushed rearward by squeezing the trigger 17 (after releasing trigger lock 43 pivotably attached through pivot 52 to the trigger 17) and, after a short pre-travel, the trigger bar nose 28 contacts the cocking lever lug 27 having a faceted surface, which projects laterally from the receiver 11 through the small aperture 53 formed therein. After contact has been established between the trigger bar nose 28 and the surface of the cocking lever lug 27, the trigger bar cammingly rotates cocking lever 19 counterclockwise with lobe surface 38 engaging striker lug 33 to move the striker 21 rearward until complete armament of the striker spring 29 by full compression is achieved (
As shown in
After firing through the explosion of the gun powder, recoil of slide 12 commences and contact between the trigger bar and lever lug 27 is disengaged by the action of camming notch 41 in the slide 12 engaging the trigger bar peak 32 to push the trigger bar down to “disconnection” (see trigger bar dashed line position in
Disconnection of the trigger bar allows the cocking lever lobe 38 to return to vertical position as the slide engages arcuate lobe surface 40, and upon return of the slide forward to battery, intercepting striker lug 33 to pre-cock the striker.
Trigger pull release, well after the pistol has fired, returns the trigger bar to the initial position, upwardly biased by a proper spring acting between the frame and the bar (not shown), to an “at rest” position to repeat the gun cycle.
The functioning of the de-cocking assembly is reliable and safe. It ensures the highest safety condition in the event the slide is, even to a minimum extent, out of battery. Safety against undesired movements of trigger and trigger bar upon dropping of the pistol is provided by a very simple safety lever incorporated in the trigger. The striker, with the exception of only the instant of firing (primer's indentation) is constantly biased rearwardly by the striker return spring 34 and, in conjunction with the special configuration of the main striker spring 29, which is confined, at pre-load, inside the striker spring holder 35, prevented from any dangerous exposure out of the breech face.
The illustrated mechanism configuration allows the de-cocking of the cocking lever in a very simple and effective manner by simply laterally displacing the cocking lever on the de-cocking pin 22.
It will be apparent that the cocking lever assembly, with a minimum number of parts, serves multiple purposes. The de-cocking pin 22, in addition to serving as the support for cocking lever 19 and cocking lever spring 23, functions as a limited stop for the trigger bar cam surface 30 and, most importantly, through concave end 25 (
In review, the mechanism is shown at pre-cock in
As shown in
The only way to disassemble the slide 12 from the frame 10, making it move forward, is disengaging the striker 21 from the cocking lever 19. In order to avoid a dangerous “dry firing” operation utilized in earlier striker fired weapons, the multiple function cocking lever mechanism of the present invention provides simple de-cocking for disassembly which is simple to perform and which is totally safe.
It should be understood, of course, that the specific form of the invention herein illustrated and described is intended to be representative only, as certain changes may he made therein without departing from the clear teachings of the disclosure. Accordingly, reference should be made to the following appended claims in determining the full scope of the invention.
