Patent Grant
11953278
This application claims the benefit of U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 16/039,381, filed Jul. 19, 2018, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,578,388; Ser. No. 16/780,947, filed Feb. 4, 2020, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,852,090; Ser. No. 17/090,074, filed Nov. 5, 2020, now U.S. Pat. No. 11,993,374; and Ser. No. 17/643,969, filed Dec. 13, 2021, which are each hereby incorporated by reference for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.
The present invention relates to a mechanism and a method used in firing firearms, in particular, a firearm with an unsealed breech or a revolving cylinder. More specifically, the present invention relates to a firing mechanism that seals a gap between the breech or revolving cylinder and a barrel of a firearm to contain cartridge propellant gases, to increase safety, and to suppress the noise and flash created by a fired cartridge.
A revolver is a handgun, or pistol, that has a barrel and a revolving cylinder that includes multiple chambers that retain cartridges. The revolver allows a user to fire multiple rounds without reloading after every shot and requires manual ejection of spent cartridges and reloading of new cartridges. Unlike a semiautomatic handgun, the spent casings of the cartridges are not ejected after each shot, but stay within the cylinder chamber. Before a round is fired, a hammer usually including the firing pin is cocked, either by the shooter manually or by rearward movement of the trigger that rotates the cylinder and that aligns the next chamber with the barrel.
Conventional revolvers have a unique problem in that, unlike semiautomatic handguns or rifles, the path of the propellant gas is not sealed completely along an entire path between the cartridge and the muzzle. When a cartridge is fired in a revolver, the expanding propellant gas momentarily expands the cartridge casing in the cylinder and seals the space between the cartridge casing and cylinder to force the gas forward into the barrel. However, the gap between the cylinder and the barrel in a revolver is in a location where hot burning propellant gases can escape in a substantially perpendicular direction to the longitudinal axis of the barrel before reaching the muzzle. This spacing between the cylinder and the barrel is provided to allow the cylinder to rotate during the firing action without impinging on or interfering with the rear portion of the barrel and to accommodate dimensional tolerances suited for mass-production of the various revolver components.
A breech-loading gun is a firearm in which the cartridge or shell is inserted or loaded into a firing chamber integral with the rear portion of a barrel. The main advantage of breech-loading is a reduction in reloading time compared to muzzle loading. The main challenge of breech-loading firearms is sealing the breech as an unsealed breech lowers propellant gas pressure and muzzle velocity, and creates safety issues for the shooter.
An unsealed breech does not prevent blowback or escape of cartridge propellant gas in the direction of the shooter, causing unsafe conditions. Typically, overcoming the problem of an unsealed breech is a very delicate balance between loose enough tolerances in the breech-loading mechanism to allow the firearm to function under conditions of extreme dirt and powder fouling, and the effective sealing of the breech against propellant gas leakage by the very slight expansion of the typically soft brass cartridge during firing or obturation.
The propellant gases exiting the gap between the firing chamber and the barrel cause a safety hazard to a user's hand holding the handgun that is inches away, and to any person or object near or adjacent to the firearm when a round is discharged. Being struck by this heated gas causes the potential for serious injury. There is also the possibility of breathing unburned powder or lead shaved from the round caused by less than perfect alignment between the moving bullet, the chamber the bullet is exiting, and the barrel.
Furthermore, noise caused by the use of a firearm is mostly associated with the rapid expansion of the propellant gas produced when the powder inside the cartridge ignites. When propellant gas rapidly expands and collides with cooler air, normally in and around the end of the barrel, i.e. the muzzle of the firearm, a loud bang sound occurs. Noise suppression devices used with firearms are used to reduce the noise attributable to this phenomenon to provide stealth or mitigate hearing loss and noise pollution. Noise suppression devices attached to the muzzle have been in use at least since the late nineteenth century, but noise produced by revolvers is notoriously difficult to suppress.
In general, noise suppression devices reduce the noise associated with the rapid expansion of propellant gas by slowing the propellant gas. Slowing the propellant gas allows the propellant gas to expand more gradually and to cool before it collides with the air in and around the muzzle of the firearm. There is enough room in this gap that the escaping gases are a large source of noise and flash cannot be suppressed using only conventional suppressor devices attached to the muzzle. Several techniques have been used to attempt to overcome this mechanical issue and to suppress noise in a revolver with a gap between the firing chamber and the barrel.
One technique provides a sealed mechanical box or clamshell device surrounding at least the entire cylinder and proximal portion of the barrel to enclose the propellant gas escaping from the gap with sound absorbing material. This technique adds bulk and weight to the handgun and needs to be removed before reloading the cylinder.
Another technique used to suppress revolver noise is to use a special rimless cartridge that emits no report or flame because all of the propellant gases are retained in the casing. This “silent” type of cartridge uses a piston between the charge and the bullet. When fired, the piston pushes the bullet out of the cartridge and then remains captive to seal the casing, preventing the propellant gases from escaping. The effective range of this type of cartridge is severely limited.
The Nagant M1895 Revolver uses a gas-sealed system including a proprietary cartridge in which the cylinder is moved forward when the gun is cocked to close the gap between the cylinder and the barrel. In a cartridge used with the Nagant M1895 Revolver, the bullet is deeply seated and entirely within the casing, and the mouth of the casing is slightly reduced in diameter compared to the remainder of the casing. The proximal end of the revolver barrel is conically shaped. When the hammer is cocked, the cylinder turns first and then moves forward sealing the mouth of the cartridge to the conical portion of the barrel. This provides an increased muzzle velocity and suppression. On the other hand, in addition to the requirement for a non-standard cartridge, because the cylinder is firmly attached at the front and rear of the frame, a major disadvantage of the Nagant M1895 design is the need to manually remove each used casing and reload the chambers one at a time through a loading gate.
To overcome the problems described above, preferred embodiments of the present invention provide firing mechanisms for revolvers and firearms each with an unsealed breech, and methods of firing firearms, using standard ammunition, that each contain cartridge propellant gases to suppress the noise and flash created by a fired cartridge and to increase safety.
A firing mechanism for a firearm includes a trigger; a forcing structure; and a spring within a cylinder; wherein while the trigger is pulled, the forcing structure moves to force the cylinder to contact a barrel and to force the spring to compress, and while the trigger is returned to an idle position, the forcing structure moves to allow the spring to decompress and to force the cylinder away from the barrel.
The firing mechanism can include a spring in a bore of the cylinder. The spring can be helical and retained between the cylinder and a crane.
The firing mechanism can include a barrel including a conical taper at a rear end of the barrel, and the cylinder can include a conically tapered counter bore at a front end of a chamber closest to the barrel. The conically tapered counter bore fits over the conical taper at the rear end of the barrel and seals or substantially seals the barrel and the conically tapered counter bore.
In the firing mechanism, the forcing structure can include a latch pin lever and a latch pin, wherein the latch pin lever pivots to force the latch pin in a direction parallel or substantially parallel to a bore of the barrel.
In the firing mechanism, a direction of movement of the latch pin lever can be perpendicular or substantially perpendicular to a direction of movement of the latch pin. Further, in the firing mechanism, the latch pin lever can include an angled surface such that a vertex of an angle of the angled surface extends in a direction toward the latch pin, and the angled surface is in slideable contact with the latch pin.
A method of firing a firearm includes rotating a trigger to force a latch pin lever to move; forcing a latch pin forward by the latch pin lever to force a cylinder forward toward a barrel; sealing or substantially sealing the barrel and the cylinder; and releasing a hammer to strike a cartridge while the barrel and the cylinder are sealed.
In the firing mechanism, the latch pin can include a contact surface that is in slideable contact with the latch pin lever.
A method further includes, after the hammer is released: releasing the trigger; forcing the cylinder away from the barrel by the cylinder spring; forcing the latch pin backward; and stopping movement of the latch pin.
Because the gap between the barrel and chamber is sealed, there is no leak, and substantially all of the propellant gas is used to propel the bullet. This containment increases muzzle velocity of the bullet, increases accuracy, negates a need for a higher cartridge load to achieve the same muzzle velocity, and achieves the design balance needed between loose breech mechanism tolerances and very tight cartridge expansion tolerances.
Safety is improved by forcing substantially all of the propellant gas to exit the muzzle. This moves a source of extremely hot propellant gas away from the shooters' hands and anyone next to the shooter or the firearm. Forcing substantially all of the propellant gas forward, away from the shooter, also significantly reduces the toxic fumes, unignited gunpowder, and bullet lead exposure to the shooter and those nearby.
The ability to suppress a firearm is significantly increased. With substantially all of the propellant gas exiting the muzzle, noise and flash suppressors mounted to the muzzle can be used without a need for a separate device to contain or suppress propellant gas exiting from the gap between the rear end of the barrel and the chamber.
A non-custom, commercially available cartridge can be used in the firearm.
The built-in safety features of a firearm, such as a transfer bar, cylinder latch, or the like, are not adversely affected by the preferred embodiments of the present invention.
The above and other features, elements, characteristics, steps, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments of the present invention with reference to the attached drawings.
Firing mechanisms used with revolvers, in accordance with exemplary preferred embodiments as disclosed herein, are representative of firearms with unsealed breeches, and are assembled within a revolver and capable of being activated as part of the firing action of a conventional revolver.
Optionally, it is possible a bushing, a washer, or the like can be included as a buffer between the end surface of the keeper 355 (shown as the end surface of the cylindrical portion 335 of the crane 330) and the cylinder spring 350.
Referring to
In the firing sequence of a revolver, when pulled, the trigger 20 pushes the hammer 50 backwards to compress the main spring 35 (shown in this configuration as wishbone-shaped) while a pawl 90 attached to the trigger 20 pushes against a ratchet to rotate the cylinder 70 and align the next chamber with the barrel 80 and hammer 50. When the trigger 20 reaches all the way back, the hammer 50 is released and the compressed main spring 35 forces the hammer 50 forward. The firing pin on the hammer 50 strikes the primer on the cartridge that ignites the propellant. The pawl 90 resets its position when the trigger 20 is returned to the starting location. A firing sequence of a firearm with an unsealed breech can work similarly without the need to rotate a cylinder.
The firing mechanism shown in
After firing, while the trigger 20 is returning to the idle position, the force on the cylinder latch pin 60 against the cylinder 70 is released and the cylinder spring forces the cylinder 70 rearward to disengage the aligned chamber from the barrel 80 and return the cylinder 70 to the idle position.
The frame 510 can be made of metal, plastic, ceramic, composite, or any material suitable for the purpose of providing the main structural support of a firearm, such as a revolver or a firearm with an unsealed breech. Likewise, the protrusion 520 can be made of metal, plastic, ceramic, composite, or any material suitable for the purpose of providing a pivot location for the latch pin lever and the hammer.
The diameter and location of the hole 620 are configured such that the latch pin lever 600 can be inserted so that the protrusion of the frame (shown in
The upper flange 630 is configured to contact the latch pin and provide a force to push the latch pin forward as part of the firing action (as described above). The outer surface of the upper flange 630 that contacts the latch pin is curved to provide a small contact area with the latch pin and allow relative movement of the latch pin contact position along the curved surface during movement as part of the firing action.
The lower flange 640 is configured to contact the main spring or rebound lever and receive a force from the rebound lever while the rebound lever is moved as part of the firing action. As shown in
Forming a substantially obstructed seal between the barrel and the chamber while firing a firearm provides several advantages. Because there is no leak, substantially all of the propellant gas is used to propel the bullet, which increases muzzle velocity for the bullet, increases accuracy, and negates a need for a higher cartridge load to achieve the same muzzle velocity. Additionally, safety is improved. Forcing substantially all of the propellant gas to exit the muzzle moves a source of extremely hot propellant gas away from the shooters' hands and anyone next to the shooter or the firearm. Forcing all of the propellant gas forward away from the shooter also significantly reduces the toxic fumes, unignited gunpowder, and bullet lead exposure to the shooter. Moreover, the ability to suppress noise in a revolver is significantly increased. With substantially all of the propellant gas exiting the muzzle, noise and flash suppressors mounted to the muzzle can be used without a need for a clam shell or other device to contain or suppress the propellant gas exiting from the gap between the rear end of the barrel and the chamber of conventional revolvers and firearms with an unsealed breech. All of these advantages can be achieved without the need for custom cartridges and do not affect the built-in safety features of conventional firearms.
One end of the latch pin lever 940 is in contact with the trigger 920 and another end of the latch pin lever 940 is in contact with the latch pin 960. As the trigger 920 rotates, the latch pin lever 940 also moves. As the trigger 920 is pulled, the latch pin lever 940 moves upward and forces the latch pin 960 against the cylinder (not shown in
The latch pin lever 1340 can also include a protrusion 1345. As shown in
The latch pin lever 1340 can also include a surface 1347 that is angled or pointed at an end of the latch pin lever 1340, opposite to an end of the latch pin lever 1340 with the slot 1342. The vertex of the angled surface 1347 points in a direction toward the latch pin such that the angled surface 1347 is in slideable contact with the latch pin, as shown in
The advantages of the second preferred embodiment are the same as those discussed above with respect to the first preferred embodiment.
It should be understood that the foregoing description is only illustrative of the present invention. Various alternatives and modifications can be devised by those skilled in the art without departing from the present invention. Accordingly, the present invention is intended to embrace all such alternatives, modifications, and variances that fall within the scope of the appended claims.
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 182646 | Davis | Sep 1876 | A |
| 970248 | Lisle | Sep 1910 | A |
| 5092068 | Rick | Mar 1992 | A |
| 11573061 | Washburn, III | Feb 2023 | B2 |
| 20200292267 | Washburn, III et al. | Sep 2020 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 190915753 | Feb 1910 | GB |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20230184504 A1 | Jun 2023 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 17643969 | Dec 2021 | US |
| Child | 18164048 | US | |
| Parent | 17090074 | Nov 2020 | US |
| Child | 17643969 | US | |
| Parent | 16780947 | Feb 2020 | US |
| Child | 17090074 | US | |
| Parent | 16039381 | Jul 2018 | US |
| Child | 16780947 | US |
