A locked trigger releasing device

Abstract: The present invention provides a device for releasing a locked trigger set by a set-trigger mechanism widely applied to a gun such as a rifle which comprises at least a receiver, a bolt loosely inserted in the receiver, and a bolt handle for rotating and reciprocating the bolt so as to load a bullet and set in a fire-enabling state, wherein the locked trigger releasing device comprises: an abutting portion formed on the bolt handle, and a release means having a release link and capable of being brought into contact with the abutting portion and pushed down toward a trigger in accordance with a rotational movement of the bolt handle, whereby the trigger locked by the set-trigger mechanism is released when the bolt handle is rotated up to a fire-disabling position, at which the abutting portion is abutted with the release means thereby to urge the release means to push the trigger to unlock it. With this construction above, only when the bolt handle is rotated up to the fire-disabling position at which the abutting portion formed thereon abuts with the release means so as to release the locked trigger, the loading/removal of a bullet into/out of a barrel cartridge chamber is enabled by way of the receiver. In other words, when the bolt handle is in the fire-disabling state, the trigger can never be in the locked position, which enables a safe and secure release of the locked trigger.

Description: The invention relates to a device for releasing a trigger of a gun, such as a rifle, locked by a common set-trigger mechanism. US-A-2,976,637 refers to a sear safety actuated by rotation of a bolt, which is provided for preventing a manual movement of a safety lever. FR-A-24 31 110 refers to a trigger mechanism of a gun having a safety device for preventing a discharge of a bullet. GB-A-285 422 refers to improvements in bolt-action, small arms and discloses a safety device for bolt-action. EP-A-0 165 334 discloses a trigger for a gun, comprising a device in which the trigger is moved to the direction in which a bullet is discharged, when a mechanism is moved upward. However, none of the above-mentioned documents discloses a safety release from a state in which the trigger is already set to enable a person to discharge a bullet even with a very subtle feathery touch to the trigger as will be explained below with regard to the closest prior art shown in Figs. 5 and 6. Generally in firing with live bullets, it is not easy to obtain a best timing for discharging, since the sighting of a target by a gun being held by a shooter is not easily stabilized due to a balance of the gun itself, variation of the shooting condition such as a wind and so on, and in order to solve this problem, a so-called set-trigger mechanism has been developed so far, thereby to enable a firing of a gun even with a very subtle feathery touch to the trigger. Figs. 5 and 6 each shows a conventionally adopted set-trigger mechanism, and here a mechanism of the trigger itself is first explained as follows. In these figures, reference numeral 1 denotes a receiver where the loading of a bullet into a barrel cartridge chamber (not shown) and removal of a bullet or an empty cartridge case therefrom are conducted. Reference numeral 2 denotes a bolt which is assembled together with a bolt handle 3 and a bolt shroud 4, and is rotated and reciprocated within the receiver 1 in accordance with an operation of the bolt handle 3 so that a bullet is loaded into the barrel cartridge chamber and set in a fire-enabling condition. Reference numeral 5 denotes a firing pin sear having at an opposite end thereof a firing pin which is protruding from a far end of the bolt 2. This firing pin sear 5 is repulsively urged toward a nuzzle side of the gun (left side of the figure) by a spring (not shown) when it is set in a fire-enabling state, and a protruding portion 6a of a sear 6 is engaged with a slanting portion 5a formed on the firing pin sear 5. The sear 6 is rotatably supported by a shaft 6b formed at the left side thereof, and is also formed with another protruding portion 6c at its lower side. This protruding portion 6c loosely enters into a dented portion 7a of a trigger sear 7 so as to hamper the protruding portion 6a from shifting its position downwardly, and thus hampering the firing pin sear 5 from moving toward left side of the figure. The trigger sear 7 is rotatable on an axis 8. Reference numeral 9 denotes a trigger which is also rotatable on the axis 8, and when this trigger is pulled, it is rotated in a counterclockwise direction, so that a head portion 9a thereof pushes the upper portion of the trigger sear 7 toward left side of the figure, disengaging the dented portion 7a from the protruding portion 6c to permit the sear 6 to rotate in a clockwise direction, and then the slanting portion 5a goes over the protruding portion 6a and the firing pin sear 5 instantly moves toward left to discharge a bullet. A bullet is discharged from a gun by all these above movements. However, the trigger 9 should be pulled by a substantially large force in this case, and therefore it is not easy to get the best timing for discharging as mentioned before. With this background, a set-trigger mechanism has been developed and already known, the mechanism of which is now explained hereinafter. In Figs. 5 and 6, reference numeral 10 denotes a roller arm rotatable on an axis 10a and having a roller 11 at an end portion thereof, and this roller arm 10 is repulsively urged in a counterclockwise direction by a spring 12. On the other hand, the trigger 9 is formed with a projection 9b having a sharpened point at its top end. When the trigger 9 is rotated in the opposite direction to that for discharging a bullet, that is, rotated in a clockwise direction, a set adjustment screw 13 is adjusted to lock the sharpened point of the projection 9b in an upper position than a line connecting the respective center points of the roller 11 and the axis 8, and by this adjustment, the trigger is locked by the set-trigger mechanism. By lightly pulling the thus locked trigger 9 as shown in Fig. 6, the following actions are instantly done to discharge a loaded bullet. First, the projection 9b abruptly slides downward along the outer periphery of the roller 11 due to the repulsively urged force of the spring 12, the trigger 9 is thereby rotated in a counterclockwise direction, the head portion 9a thereof hits the trigger sear 7 in the left ward direction, and then the dented portion 7a and the protruding portion 6c are disengaged from each other so as to discharge. In this case, since the projection 9b is formed with a sharpened point and is situated on the outer periphery of the roller 11, a conception that we conventionally had "to draw a trigger" is changed to "to touch a trigger", and thereby to greatly contribute to an improvement of a shooting technique. However, since the above set-trigger mechanism is, as a matter of fact, performed in a state that a bullet is loaded and is enabled to discharge, once the trigger is locked by the set-trigger mechanism, the bullet is possibly discharged even by a very light feather-like impact. For example, if the bolt handle 3 is abruptly closed and operated, the trigger can easily be brought into a fire-enabling state, and therefore, once the trigger is locked, it should be treated with a meticulous attention. In the above case, if the bullet is not discharged and still remains in the loaded state, the locked trigger should be released. However, if the releasing operation is not conducted with care, a sudden discharge of the bullet would accidentally occur, and therefore, in order to avoid this accidental phenomenon, the locked trigger should be firmly pressed first and put back up to the released position before moving the nuzzle of the gun away from the target, which requires a meticulous attention of the users. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to eliminate such problems as described above, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a device for safely and securely releasing a trigger locked by a set-trigger mechanism. In order to attain the above object, the present invention provides a device for releasing a trigger, locked by a common set-trigger mechanism according to claim 1, and is further embodied by subclaims 2-9. According to a preferred embodiment, the device can be constructed such that the pushing means further comprises a release lever attached to the release link, and/or a spring means to repulsively urge the release link toward an upper end thereof. [Action] For releasing a trigger locked by the above set-trigger mechanism, first of all, the bolt handle 3 is to be rotated from the state shown in Fig. 1 in counterclockwise direction. When the bolt handle 3 is rotated and comes to a fire-disabling point, an abutting portion 26 formed on the bolt handle 3 is brought into abutment with the release link 21 as shown in Fig. 2. When the bolt handle 3 is further rotated, the abutting portion 26 forces the release link 21 to move downward and an attachment 22 attached to the release link 21 pushes the trigger 9, so that the trigger is released. from its locked position. Here, although the trigger 9 is rotated to the fire-enabling direction, discharging of a bullet dose not occur since the bolt handle 3 has already come to a fire-disabling point before this movement of the trigger, which thus enables a safe and secure release of the locked trigger. Other objects and features of the invention will be more fully understood from the following detailed description and appended claims when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is an illustration showing a release device according to one embodiment of the present invention, in which a trigger is in a locked state. Fig. 2 is an illustration showing the same release device as Fig. 1, in which the trigger is in a released state. Fig. 3 is a sectional view cut along the line III - III of Fig. 1, in which the gun is in a fire-enabling state. Fig. 4 is a sectional view cut along with IV - IV of Fig. 2, in which the gun is in a fire-disabling state. Fig. 5 is an illustration showing a conventional set-trigger mechanism, in which a trigger is not in a locked state. Fig. 6 is an illustration showing the same set-trigger mechanism as Fig. 5, in which a trigger is in a locked state. In the figures, reference numeral 1 denotes a receiver, numeral 2 denotes a bolt, 3 a bolt handle, 9 a trigger, 11 a roller, 21 a release link, 22 an attachment attached to the release link 22, 24 a spring means, 26 an abutting portion, and numeral 26a denotes a guide means. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Figs. 1 and 2 each shows one embodiment of the present invention, wherein Fig. 1 illustrates a state that a trigger is locked by a set-trigger mechanism, and Fig. 2 illustrates a state that the trigger is released from its locked position. The releasing device according to the present invention is an additional mechanism added to the conventional set-trigger mechanism, and therefore most of the parts shown in the figures are same as those of the conventional mechanism explaint above. With this reason, an explanation given hereinafter is principally about a difference between the conventional mechanism and that of the present invention. A receiver 1 is formed with a through-hole la, through which a release link 21 penetrates at a substantially right angle to the axis of a bolt 2. The release link 21 is a cylindrical metal product, the upper end portion of which intrudes into the receiver 1, the middle portion thereof is loosely bent toward the trigger 9, and further the lower portion thereof is bent at right angle to the surface of Fig. 1 or 2 so as to be finally brought into contact with a release lever 22 which is an attachment attached to the release link 21. The release lever 22 is rotatable on a rotational shaft 23, and is repulsively urged in a clockwise direction by a spring means 24 provided to the rotational shaft 23, and therefore, the release link 21 is also urged toward its upper end portion by the spring means 24. In addition, a latching portion 22a of the release lever 22 is abutted to an end surface of a base plate 25 of the trigger mechanism, thereby to put a limit for preventing the release link 21 from moving upwards. The release lever 22 is formed with a projection 22b at its lower portion, and this projection 22b is substantially abutted to a projection 9c formed on the trigger 9. On the other hand, the bolt handle 3 is formed with an abutting portion 26 which is protruding therefrom, and is further formed with a guide portion 26a at its left side in a slanting form. Fig. 3 is a sectional surface view cut along with III-III of Fig. 1, and illustrates that the bolt 3 is located in a fire-enabling state. In this situation, the abutting portion 26 is situated with a certain distance from the upper end portion of the release link 21, wherein even a very light touch to the trigger 9 could cause a discharging of a bullet. In the above situation, for releasing the trigger locked by the set-trigger mechanism, first of all, rotate the bolt handle 3 from the state shown in Fig. 3 in a counterclockwise direction. This rotation is a reverse movement to that for loading a bullet in a gun and put it in a fire-enabling state. When the bolt handle 3 is rotated and the abutting portion 26 thereof comes to a point 26' indicated by a broken line, the gun is put in a fire-disabling state. When the bolt handle 3 is further rotated in a counterclockwise direction as shown in Fig. 4, the abutting portion 26 pushes the upper end portion of the release link 21, and the release link 21 is thus moved to the lower direction against the force repulsively urged thereto by the spring means 24. Whereafter, the release lever 22 is, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, rotated in a counterclockwise direction, and the projection 22b thereof pushes the projection 9c of the trigger 9 downward, so that the trigger is finally situated in the position as shown in Fig. 2 which is called the released position of the trigger. By the way, the trigger 9 at this stage is shifted to the same direction as the fire-enabling direction, but since the bolt handle 3 has already been rotated and situated in a fire-disabling position, there is no possibility of danger such as a spontaneous discharge at all. The position of the bolt handle 3 in Fig. 4 is the position in which a discharging mechanism is disabled, and also the position in which a bullet can be loaded into or taken out of the barrel cartridge chamber by way of the receiver 1. Subsequently, if the bolt 2 is retreated from the position of Fig. 4, the loaded bullet can be taken out of the barrel cartridge chamber by way of the receiver 1, whereby a bullet which has not been discharged yet can be taken out. By the way, when the bolt 2 is retreated, the release link 21 goes up to the position as shown in Fig. 3 due to the force urged by the spring means 24, and thereafter, when the bolt 2 is to be inserted again, the abutting portion 26 thereof is abutted to the release link 21 and this is the reason why the further insertion of the bolt is hampered, and therefore the abutting portion 26 is formed with a guide portion 26a in a slanting form so that the bolt 2 can be smoothly closed by pushing the release link 21 downward. In fact, pushing the release link 21 downward here means the fact that even if the trigger 9 is in a locked state for discharging in that moment, the locked trigger is securely released when a bullet is to be loaded in or taken out of the barrel cartridge chamber by way of the receiver 1. In other words, when the bolt handle 3 is put in the fire-disabling state, the locking operation of the trigger is hampered, that is, it can be done only when the bolt handle 3 is in the fire-enabling state. The present invention can be variably constructed such as eliminating the release lever 22 so that the release link 21 directly pushes the trigger 9, eliminating the spring means 24 and so on, provided that it includes the mechanism in which the bolt handle can detect the rotated position thereof to put it in a fire-disabling position and push the locked trigger 9 downward so as to unlock the trigger from its locked state. Further, the present invention can also be constructed such that it contains a mechanism in which although the locked trigger is released from its locked state, it can not be automatically done whenever a bullet is to be loaded. Effect of the Invention In summary, the present invention provides a releasing device which is capable of releasing a trigger locked by a set-trigger mechanism safely and securely. Furthermore, if the releasing device according to the present invention is constructed such that the position of the bolt handle at which the trigger is released from its locked state corresponds to the position thereof at which a bullet can be loaded into or taken out of a barrel cartridge chamber by way of a receiver, the locked trigger can securely be released whenever the bullet is loaded or taken out.

Claims: A device for releasing a trigger (9) of a gun locked by a common set-trigger mechanism (10, 11), said device comprising: at least a receiver (1), a bolt (2) loosely inserted in said receiver (1), and a bolt handle (3) for rotating and reciprocating said bolt (2) so as to load a bullet and set in a fire-enabling state, an abutting portion (26) formed on said bolt handle (3); and a releasing means comprising a release link for directly pushing said trigger (9) responsive to rotational movement of said bolt handle (3) to release said set-trigger mechanism, wherein said trigger (9) locked by said set-trigger mechanism (10, 11) is released when said bolt handle (3) is rotated up to a fire-disabling position, such that said release link contacts said abutting portion (26) and said trigger (9) is pushed to release said set-trigger mechanism (10, 11). A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said releasing means further comprises a release lever (22) attached to said release link (21), which is rotatably supported by a rotational shaft (23) for holding a lower end portion of said release link (21) at a certain distance from said rotational shaft (23). A device as claimed in claim 2, wherein said release lever (22) further comnprises a spring means (24) between said release link (21) and said trigger (9), said spring means (24) being pivotably supported by said rotational shaft (23) for repulsively urging said release link (21) upwardly. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said abutting portion (26) is formed with a guide means (26a) for receiving said release link (21), whereby said locked trigger (9) is automatically released when said bolt is to be inserted. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein a rotated position of said bolt handle (3) at which said abutting portion (26) formed thereon abuts with said release link (21) coincides with a position thereof at which loading or removal of a bullet is enabled by way of said receiver (1), whereby said locked trigger (9) is securely released whenever said bolt (2) is to be inserted. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said receiver (1) is formed with a through-hole (la) at the lower portion thereof, thereby to enable said release link (21) to move upward and forward within said receiver (1). A device as claimed in claim 2, wherein said release lever (21) is formed with a projection (22b) at the lower portion thereof for pushing said trigger (9) downward. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the upper end of said release link (21) and said abutting portion (26) are detachable from each other.

Inventors: KUROHARA NOBUYA, TANAKA SHINPEI, KUROHARA, NOBUYA, TANAKA, SHINPEI, Kurohara, Nobuya, c/o K. K. Miroku Seisakusho, Tanaka, Shinpei, c/o K. K. Miroku Seisakusho
Applicants: MIROKU FIREARMS MFG, KABUSHIKI KAISHA MIROKU SEISAKUSHO
Application year: 1992
Main classification: F41A17
IPC codes: F41A17, F41A19