The present invention is directed to safeties for semi-automatic pistols. More particularly, the present invention is directed to internal safeties for semiautomatic pistols to prevent improper movement of the trigger bar during a firing sequence of the pistol.
Current semi-automatic pistol designs have a disconnector disposed in the frame of the pistol that provides for resetting of the trigger bar after the pistol has fired so the trigger bar can engage the firing pin and place the firing pin in its ready position such that the pistol can be fired again. Current semi-automatic pistol disconnector design does not contain a safety feature to prevent the firing pin from bouncing off the trigger bar or prevent the firing pin from pushing the trigger bar out of the way when the firing pin is moved to the seared position. Currently, safety features of this type are built into other areas of the pistol, usually molded into a surface on the frame.
During a firing sequence, when a slide of the semi-automatic pistol is traveling forward stripping a cartridge from the pistol's magazine, it is also moving the firing pin forward to cause the firing pin sear surface to load against the trigger bar sear surface. It is at this point that the firing pin can potentially push the trigger bar sear surface down allowing the firing pin to skip over the trigger bar and travel forward, firing the pistol. While this is normally operable, a shortfall is that this system relies on another feature in the frame to prevent the trigger bar from falling. Another problem is that it requires the trigger bar have a complete travel to stay in a safe zone.
Similarly,
It would be beneficial to provide a pistol safety having similar function, but that does not require surfaces of the molded frame to achieve this function.
In a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a semi-automatic pistol having a disconnector trigger bar safety is provided. The pistol includes a frame having a longitudinal axis, two sides and an upper surface, a trigger, a firing pin having a sear surface, a trigger bar, a disconnector and a slide. The trigger bar has a trigger end disposed at the trigger and a firing pin end having a sear surface and a cam surface. The trigger bar has an inside surface disposed adjacent to the cam surface. The disconnector is disposed in the frame and has at least one side generally parallel to one of the sides of the frame and is moveable perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the frame from an inward position to outward position and back to the inward position. The disconnector has a cam surface to receive the cam surface of the trigger bar. The slide has a cam surface and is slidably mounted to the upper surface of the frame.
During a firing sequence of the pistol, the trigger bar moves rearward by rearward movement of the trigger to disengage the sear surface of the firing pin from the sear surface of the trigger bar to cause the firing pin to move forward to fire the pistol. The slide moves rearward to eject a cartridge case, and subsequently moves forward to supply a new cartridge to a chamber of the pistol. During this movement of the slide, the cam surface of the slide contacts the cam surface of the disconnector to urge the disconnector from the outward position to the inward position and back to the outward position (during rearward movement of the slide), and to urge the disconnector from the outward position to the inward position and back to the outward position (during forward movement of the slide).
The disconnector trigger bar safety includes an inset portion on the trigger bar at the firing pin end. The inset portion has bottom surface. The disconnector trigger bar safety further includes a protuberance on the at least one side of the disconnector to mate with the inset portion of the trigger bar. The protuberance has a top surface matable to the bottom surface of the inset portion.
During the firing sequence of the pistol, rearward movement of the trigger bar (by a user of the pistol pulling the trigger) causes the cam surface of the trigger bar to slide against the cam surface of the disconnector to move the firing pin end of the trigger bar downwardly to cause the sear surface of the trigger bar to release the firing pin to fire the pistol. Subsequent to firing, when the slide moves rearward, the disconnector moves to provide clearance for the trigger bar to move upward. When the slide moves forward, the slide causes the disconnector to move from the outward position to an inward position to a partially outward position, wherein the top surface of the protuberance of the disconnector mates with the bottom portion of inset portion of the trigger bar to prevent downward movement of the trigger bar. Forward movement of the trigger bar (by a user of the pistol releasing the trigger) causes the top surface of the disconnector to disengage from the bottom portion of the inset portion of the trigger bar and causes the disconnector to move to a fully outward position to allow the cam surface of the trigger bar to reengage with the cam surface of the disconnector.
In a second exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a disconnector trigger bar safety for a semi-automatic pistol is provided. The safety includes a trigger bar having a trigger end and a firing pin end. The firing pin end has a sear surface and a cam surface. The trigger bar has an inside surface disposed adjacent to the cam surface. The safety further includes a disconnector moveable from an inward position to outward position and has a cam surface to receive a cam surface of a trigger bar. An inset portion is provided on the trigger bar at the firing pin end. The inset portion has a bottom surface. The disconnector includes a protuberance on one side of the disconnector to mate with the inset portion of the trigger bar. The protuberance has a top surface matable to the bottom surface of the inset portion of the trigger bar.
Rearward movement of the trigger bar causes the cam surface of the trigger bar to slide against the cam surface of the disconnector to move the firing pin end of the trigger bar downwardly. A side of the disconnector slides against the inside surface of the trigger bar to allow the trigger bar to move upward. The top surface of the protuberance of the disconnector mates with the bottom portion of the inset portion of the trigger bar to prevent downward movement of the trigger bar. Forward movement of the trigger bar causes the top surface of the disconnector to disengage from the bottom portion of the inset portion of the trigger bar and causes the disconnector to move to allow the cam surface of the trigger bar to reengage with the cam surface of the disconnector.
The present invention is directed to a pistol disconnector that integrates a trigger bar and a disconnector to create a trigger bar safety. Surfaces in the disconnector and trigger bar prevent the trigger bar from being improperly pushed when the firing pin is “searing up” (i.e., when the firing pin loads against the trigger bar to move to a ready-to-fire configuration) when the slide is moving forward into battery. The present invention eliminates the need for a similar safety feature that utilizes a feature that is molded into the pistol's frame. The safety lockout of the present invention physically locks the trigger bar in its up position, ensuring that the firing pin cannot push past the trigger bar, keeping the trigger bar locked safely until the trigger is released. By using the disconnector for the trigger bar safety, improvements in the manufacturing of the pistol, including improving tolerancing stack up issues involved with multiple separate parts, are possible, since the safety is provided at the trigger bar and disconnector interface rather than at separate areas of the frame. Because the safety is integral with the disconnector, the present invention also allows for a shorter trigger pull without reducing safety. If the trigger is pulled just far enough to fire, but is not pulled completely, the safety lockout remains operational.
Referring now to the drawing figures wherein like part numbers refer to like elements throughout the several views, there is shown in
As can best be seen in
During the firing sequence of the pistol 10 as shown in
In accordance with the present invention, the disconnector safety 12 first includes an inset portion 56 on the trigger bar 28 at the firing pin end 32 where the inset portion 56 has a bottom surface 58. The disconnector safety 12 of the present invention also includes a protuberance 60 on the side 42 of the disconnector 40 to mate with the inset portion 56 of the trigger bar 28. The protuberance 60 has a top surface 62 matable to the bottom surface 58 of the inset portion 56.
During the firing sequence, rearward movement of the trigger bar 28 causes the cam surface 36 of the trigger bar 28 to slide against the cam surface 44 of the disconnector 40 to move the firing pin end 32 of the trigger bar 28 downwardly (
As the slide 46 moves forward, the slide 46 causes the disconnector 40 to move partially outward (
It is to be understood that the disclosure teaches just one example of the illustrative embodiment and that many variations of the invention can easily be devised by those skilled in the art after reading this disclosure and that the scope of the present invention is to be determined by the following claims.
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