Abstract:
A spring closing assembly is disclosed which is adapted to be selectively installed and removed from a firearm. The illustrated spring closing assembly includes a rod having a free forward end which defines a slot dividing the free forward end into fork prongs. The assembly also includes a spring mounted on the rod, and a projecting part located on a first one of the fork prongs. At least the first fork prong is resiliently displaceable in an inward direction. The assembly also includes a washer dimensioned to be forced onto the free end of the rod by inwardly displacing the first fork prong. At least one of the projecting part and the washer is chamfered to promote the inward displacement of the first fork prong. The washer is captured between the projecting part and the spring.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATION  
         [0001]    This patent claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §120 from International Application Serial No. PCT/EP00/03092, which was filed on Apr. 6, 2000.  
         FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    The invention relates generally to firearms, and, more particularly, to a closing spring assembly for a handgun.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0003]    Reference is made to German Patent 437,959.  
           [0004]    Prior closing spring assemblies must be removed when their associated handgun is dismantled. However, the spring centering rod should not itself be dismantled, or it should not be dismantled any further for the time being, because it is too difficult to reassemble the closing spring assembly. The closing spring assembly is usually held together inseparably by a locking washer which is pressed into a ring groove close to the free end of the rod where it is secured elastically. Such locking washers are included in DIN 6799, for example.  
           [0005]    These locking washers serve only to hold the closing spring assembly together after it has been removed from the weapon. These locking washers do not have any other function. They do not absorb any forces when the assembly group is installed.  
           [0006]    A typical example of such a closing spring assembly is the closing spring device of self-loading or automatic guns with a Colt-Browning safety lock. In such guns a catch piece is fixedly mounted on the rear end of a spring centering rod. A helical closing ring is pushed onto the rod itself. This is followed by a ring-shaped spring supporting plate or washer, which is referred to here in general as an assembly part. In the unloaded state, the spring is longer than the spring centering rod. As a result, assembly of the closing spring assembly is rather tricky. To facilitate assembly, a ring groove is provided in the forward end of the spring centering rod. A locking washer is positioned in the ring groove. When the closing spring assembly is removed from the weapon, the closing spring, when compressed slightly, presses the spring supporting plate against the locking washer, but it cannot slide down off the spring centering rod. When assembled, the closing spring assembly is inserted from beneath into the slides of the gun which already hold the barrel. The closing spring assembly is then pushed slightly forward and locked in the lock body at the end of the barrel. In this installed state, the closing spring is compressed slightly more than previously, so that the load on the locking washer is released.  
           [0007]    However, it has been found that some locking washers break or come off during use of the gun. They evidently do not survive the vibration applied to the spring centering rod during firing. The function of the gun is not usually impaired, but it is much more difficult to reassemble the gun after breaking it down the next time after the washer has fallen off.  
           [0008]    The locking washers that have broken or come off and the respective ring groove have of course been investigated and studied in detail, but no irregularities have been discovered. Therefore, the possibility has been considered that the customer might have removed the locking washer from the gun incorrectly, thereby damaging it and then inserting it again. However, inquiries with these customers have not confirmed this assumption.  
           [0009]    Furthermore, there has also been an increased frequency of damage incidents involving the locking washers of specific manufacturers, although no reasonable generalization could be formulated to track down the cause of these damage incidents.  
           [0010]    The simplest solution would be to include a bag of locking washers (a penny item) with each gun shipped. However, this would to some extent be equivalent to admitting that the gun shipped is damaged or at least not well designed, and, in any case, can create the impression that the weapon is not completely reliable. Since customers demand the greatest reliability, this idea has been discarded.  
           [0011]    A retaining arrangement of the type described herein is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,127,310, but it is described in a different context.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0012]    In accordance with an aspect of the invention, a spring closing assembly is provided which is adapted to be selectively installed and removed from a firearm. The spring closing assembly includes a rod having a free forward end; and an assembly part which is dimensioned to be pushed onto the rod. The assembly also includes at least one projecting part located in proximity to the free forward end of the rod. The at least one projecting part is displaced from a resting position when the assembly part is pushed onto the free forward end of the rod and thereafter returns to the resting position with the assembly part mounted on the rod The at least one projecting part is in retaining engagement with the assembly part when (a) the at least one projecting part is in the resting position, (b) the assembly part is mounted on the rod, and (c) the spring closing assembly is removed from the firearm. 
       
    
    
       [0013]    Other features and advantages are inherent in the disclosed apparatus or will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description and its accompanying drawings.  
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0014]    [0014]FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view through the front end of an automatic gun illustrating a closing spring assembly.  
         [0015]    FIG. 2  is a longitudinal sectional view like that shown in FIG. 1, but with a closing spring assembly constructed in accordance with the teachings of the invention.  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 3 is a truncated longitudinal sectional view of the closing spring assembly of FIG. 2.  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 4 illustrates a part of the closing spring assembly of FIG. 3, shown in an inclined view.  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 5 illustrates the ring washer from the closing spring assembly of FIGS. 3 and 4.  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 6 illustrates the front part of the spring centering rod of the closing spring assembly of FIGS. 3 and 4, shown in an inclined and truncated view. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0020]    [0020]FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of the front part of an automatic gun with the safety on. The gun has a slide or a breech  1 , a barrel  3  and a handle (not shown), all of which are conventional and will not be described further herein. A transverse groove  7  to accommodate a sight or the like is located at the forward end on the top side of the slide  1 .  
         [0021]    A known spring centering rod  9  is positioned beneath the barrel  3  and projects through a borehole in the forward end face of the slide  1 . A helical closing spring  11  is pushed onto the rod  9  and is supported with its rear end (not shown) on an element which is stationary with respect to the handle, at least in the condition of the gun shown here (breech  1  closed and locked). The forward end of the closing spring  11  is supported on the breech  1  at the forward end by way of a ring washer  13  which sits with its bore tightly but displaceably on the rod  9 .  
         [0022]    A ring groove (not shown) is formed in the forward end of the rod  9 . A locking washer  15  made of spring plate sits in this ring groove. The washer  15  and the groove it sits in are positioned at a location which sits with some play in the borehole in the forward end face of the slide  1  as shown in FIG. 1.  
         [0023]    In the installed state shown here, the locking washer  15  is apparently completely unloaded. The closing spring assembly includes the rod  9 , the closing spring  11 , the ring washer  13  and the locking washer  15 . When the closing spring assembly is removed, the closing spring  11  can relax slightly so that it is then supported on the locking washer  15  by way of the ring washer  13 .  
         [0024]    As already pointed out above, it occasionally happens that the locking washer  15  breaks or comes off of the rod  9 . If the locking washer  15  is missing when the closing spring assembly is removed, the closing spring  11  pushes the ring washer  13  forward and down from the rod  9 , so that this ring washer  13  can fall to the ground and be lost.  
         [0025]    [0025]FIG. 2 illustrates a closing spring assembly constructed in accordance with the teaching of the invention. The illustrated assembly is shown installed in a handgun in FIG. 2. FIG. 3 shown the closing spring assembly of FIG. 1 removed from the weapon. FIGS.  4 - 6  show individual parts of the closing spring assembly of FIGS. 2 and 3. The parts that are identical in the exemplary closing spring assembly of FIGS.  2 - 6  and in the prior art closing spring assembly of FIG. 1 are labeled with the same reference numbers in all the figures. The spring centering rods are different, being labeled as “ 9 ” in the prior art assembly shown in FIG. 1 and as “ 19 ” in the assembly of FIGS.  2 - 6 . In addition, the assembly of FIGS.  2 - 6  does not have a locking washer  15 . Instead, the forward end of the rod  19  is provided with a longitudinal slot  21  which is arranged symmetrically with respect to the longitudinal axis of the rod  19 . The slot  21  passes through the entire width of the rod  19 . The length of the slot is approximately  1 . 5  times the diameter of the rod  19 . The height of the slot  21  is approximately one third of the diameter of the rod  19  as shown in FIGS. 4 and 6.  
         [0026]    Projecting parts  17  are formed on the outside of the rod  19 . The projecting parts  17  are integrally formed with the rod  19  and are symmetrically located on both sides of the slot  21 . Each projecting part  17  is chamfered on the side facing the free end of the rod  19 . On the opposite end, however, each projecting part  17  not only drops steeply and at a right angle, but also opens at the base into a shallow ring groove in the surface of the rod  19  to permit the usual rounded transition between adjacent surfaces. FIG. 6 shows the design of the rod  19  in detail.  
         [0027]    FIGS. 3  and  4  show the end of the rod  19  with the ring washer  13  and the closing spring  11  with the assembly removed from the weapon (i.e., the dismantled state). In this state, the washer  13  is pressed by the closing spring  11  against the projecting parts  17  and is in contact with them. In FIG. 4, the closing spring  11  has been omitted so that the other assembly parts can be illustrated better. FIG. 5 shows the ring washer  13  alone.  
         [0028]    As shown in FIG. 4, the free end of the rod  19  projecting above the ring washer  13  is very short, so that it cannot be easily clamped in a vise by an amateur hobbyist and compressed to remove the washer  13 . Without the washer  13 , the gun would probably not function as smoothly. The rod  19  would not be guided in that case. However, the manufacturer would be blamed for any resulting malfunction instead of blaming the hobbyist who did not assemble the gun properly.  
         [0029]    As shown by a comparison of FIGS. 1 and 2, when the assemblies of FIGS. 1 and 2 are installed in their weapons, none of the parts of the closing spring assembly of FIG. 2 is arranged in the location where the locking washer  15  is mounted in the assembly of FIG. 1. Therefore, nothing can be broken at that location.  
         [0030]    From the foregoing, persons of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the closing spring assembly of FIG. 2 will hold together more reliably when removed from the weapon than other devices. To this end, at least one projecting part  17  is arranged or designed on the rod  19 , so that this projecting part yields when the washer  13  is pushed onto the rod  19 , but then returns to its resting position, where it is in locked engagement with the washer  13  when the closing spring assembly is removed. Such a retaining arrangement is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,127,310, although it is described in a different context there.  
         [0031]    The locking washer  15  and the receiving groove are omitted in the closing spring assembly of FIGS.  2 - 6  and are replaced by projecting parts  17  which are biased outward in the radial direction. In its resting position (the outermost position radially), the suitably designed and dimensioned projecting parts  17  optionally engage with the washer  13  to prevent the washer  13  from slipping off the rod  19 . However, the resiliency of the projecting parts  17  allow them to be inwardly displaced such that the ring washer  15  can be pushed over the projecting parts  17  onto the rod  19  or pulled down from it.  
         [0032]    Experiments have shown the stability of the closing assembly of FIGS.  2 - 6 , although ultimately it is not known precisely why the previous locking washers  15  would break and now the projecting parts  17  hold.  
         [0033]    It is conceivably possible to press the projecting part or parts  17  radially inward in a mounting device, for example, and then push the washer  13  over it. To facilitate assembly of the closing spring assembly, however, the following is proposed. The surface of the projecting part or parts  17  facing the free end of the rod  19  and/or the surface pointing in the direction of movement when the ring washer  13  is pushed onto the rod  17  should be chamfered so that the projecting part  17  is pressed in radially when preferably one inclined face of the washer  13  is pushed onto the preferably chamfered projecting part  17 . However, the other two surfaces of the washer  13  and the projecting part  17 , (i.e., the surfaces facing away from one another before assembly), should be designed so that they can be supported on one another.  
         [0034]    The projecting part  17  may be designed as a pin, for example, which is arranged so that it is radially movable near the free end of the rod  19 , and is pressed inward to the extent that it is depressed completely into the rod  19 . It is advantageous, however, for a longitudinal slot  21  to be provided in the rod  19 . This slot  21  starts at the free end and runs in parallel with the longitudinal axis of the rod  19  over a short section of the rod  19 . The slot  21  preferably extends across the rod  19 , preferably diametrically through it.  
         [0035]    The end of the rod  19  is, thus, forked. The material of this rod  19  and the dimensions of the slot  21  are designed so that the fork prongs can be pressed together elastically, starting from their resting positions, but they return to their resting positions again after being released.  
         [0036]    The projecting part  17  sits on the outside of at least one of the fork prongs. This projecting part is fixedly connected to the rod  19  and may be, for example, a grooved dowel pin that is pounded in. Alternatively, it may also be designed in one piece with the rod  19 . This latter solution has the advantage over the related art that the total number of assembly parts is reduced (eliminating the locking ring or the grooved dowel pin).  
         [0037]    Two opposing projecting parts  17  arranged symmetrically with respect to the longitudinal slot  21  are preferred. However, it is also possible for just one such projecting part to be provided.  
         [0038]    The rod  19  is preferably a spring centering rod on which sits the closing spring of a gun. The free end of the spring is close to the end of the spring guide rod. This closing spring is supported on a ring washer  13  as an abutment. This ring washer  13  forms an assembly part which is held by the projecting part(s)  17  against the force of the closing spring when the closing spring assembly is removed from the weapon.  
         [0039]    Although certain apparatus constructed in accordance with the teachings of the invention have been described herein, the scope of coverage of this patent is not limited thereto. On the contrary, this patent covers all embodiments of the teachings of the invention fairly falling within the scope of the appended claims either literally or under the doctrine of equivalents.