Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-05-01
THE THUMB TRIGGER.
1T IS INTENDED TO PREVENT
SLIGHT swERvING.
The Mechanism of the Gun SO
Simply Put Together That IL
Can lie Taken Apart In a.
Few Seconds.
correspondence of the Dispatch.)

Correspondence OF the Dispatch)
NEW YORK, April 3O.-How to avoid
the slight swerving of a rifle at the mo-
ment when the trigger is pulled has
long puzzled the gunmaker and annoyed
the marksman. An expert gunmaker has
Invented a rife that is intended to solve
the problem, and, IN the opinion OF those
who have tried 1t. does so. 1t Is modelled
on a principle entirely new to gun
making, the trigger being worked by the
thumb, and placed on top of the rifle
instead of underneath, where all trig-
gers have been placed since guns were
first made. A one-armed man can use
this new rifle. the action is 80 simple,
and the mechanism so free from COM
pick machinery.
The rifle can be taken apart and put
together in a few seconds. so few are
the parts of which 1t is constructed. There
are no screws. except the one hat joins
the stock TO the barrel. The simple re-
naming mechanism fits together without
screws. The firing section Of the gun
OiiSioN VI OitJ HNC Bdll0s II hlN
chanism Of the gun is as follows: When
the hammer is drawn back TO cock the
gun, the nose Of a lever is pressed up
wards. This lever presses on a spring
formed OF a piece Of bent steel. the
curved end OF which. when the gun is
cooked, rests against the rim of the cart
ridge, holding it firmly until the gun
is fired.
The trigger, which Is pressed by the
gun, in order 10 release the hammer,
protrudes from the upper surface of the
stock, and is simply d steel plate. which,
when pressed down, does this: Into a
slot hat is depressed to receive d lug
on its lower surface this section of the
steel is pressed, the action releasing the
hammer II d%ischarging the gun. Until
the gun is cooked this depressed 'lug"
prevents the possibility of the gun being
fired.
The shell is extracted automatically by
the drawing back of the breech block.
When the block is drawn back the steel
spring that plays such an important part
H. the simple mechanism of the u is
thrown, by the drawing back Of the
hammer, against the rim Of the cartridge,
and when the block is drawn back the
spring forces out the empty shell. leaving
the gun ready for reloading.
1t is impossible for the gun to be fired
while the cartridge is being inserted. for,
as explained, the lug must enter the
depression before the hammer can be re-
leased by the nose of the lever. and as
this can only be lone by depressing the
trigger, which cannot be depressed when
the lug is not over the slot. it will
be seen that an accident through the
premature discharge OF the shell is inn
possible.
Neither is it possible for ar accident
to occur through the breech mechanism
being blown back by the explosion of the
cartridge, for as it enters the slot
through the depression of the trigger, it
engages the rear Of the slot, and is held
firmly until the gun Is discharged.
This is all the mechanism Of the
1t IS so simple that any one not accus-
toned 10 the handling of firearms might
doubt its deadliness.
The inventor is Albert A. Give, OF
Ilion, n. Y.