Improvements in the Looks of Fire-arms and Safety-devices combined therewith.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 28th Apr., 1891-Accepted, 30th May, 1891
EDLECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Looks of Fire-arms and Safety-devices
combined therewith.
A communication from abroad by WILLIAM HENRY WHITNEY, of the City of
Florence, in the State of Massachusetts, United States of America, Treasurer
and Manager of The Whitney Safety Fire-arms Company.
I, JOHN CORRY FELL, of the firm of Fell and Wilding, of 1 Queen Victoria
Street in the City of London, Patent Agents, do hereby declare the nature of
this said invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
This invention is additional to the "Improvements in the Locks of Fire-arms,
and Safety-devices Combined therewith" for which Letters Patent of A.D. 1884,
2nd September, No. 11898, were granted to Samuel Pearce Wilding, and it consists
in certain novel combinations of peculiarly constructed parts, as hereinafter set
forth and claimed.
"
The present improvements, as a whole, in common with said previous improve-
ments, are preferably embodied in a "hammerless" double-barrelled breech-loader,
but may be embodied wholly or in part in other styles of small arms. The hammers,
as in the preferred arrangement before set forth, are always at cock except at the
moment of firing, while the main-springs normally have no tension whatever on
them. The main-springs are put in tension by pressing upward a "tension-lever
as it is hereinafter termed, which is pressed home by the firing hand when the gun
is brought to the shoulder. Upon releasing this lever after firing, the displaced
hammer or hammers are automatically cocked; and in case the gun is not fired, the
springs automatically become passive as soon as the lever is released by opening
the hand. The common object thus aimed at in the two inventions is to render the
gun absolutely safe against accidental discharge.
The distinguishing objects of the present improvements are, first, to simplify the
construction of the main-springs proper, and by the same means to facilitate the
work of the tension-lever; secondly, to provide for the employment of a small and
simple cocking-spring out of contact with the main-springs proper; thirdly, to
adapt a single "sear-spring" to hold down a pair of triggers and to keep a pair of
sears in place, and to adapt such spring to be attached by a single screw; fourthly,
to relieve the sear-spring from strain so that a very light spring suffices, and fifthly,
to provide for the attachment of all the working parts of the lock and safety-
device to a detachable trigger-plate, so as to facilitate assembling the parts, and also
taking the gun apart to clean it.
Two sheets of drawings accompany this Specification as part thereof.
Figure 1 of these drawings is a side view of a midlength portion of an improved
double-barrelled shot-gun illustrating this invention;
Fig. 2 is a like view of the same portion with the stock in longitudinal section,
showing the movable parts in their normal position of rest as in Fig. 1;
Fig. 3 is another sectional side view of the same portion, showing the movable
parts in full lines as they appear when the gun is ready to be fired, and representing
by dotted lines the movements incident to pulling the near trigger;
Fig. 4 is an elevation of the improved lock and safety-device detached, with the
trigger-plate and the front end of the tension-lever in section, and with dotted
outlines of the other division of the metallic "action" of the gun, as separated,
together with the lock and safety-device, from the stock ;
Fig. 5 is a top view of both divisions of the action as represented in Fig. 4, with
hose portions above the section-line 5-5 broken away;
Fig. 6 is a top view of the lock and safety-device, with the hammers main-springs

page_text: and connections broken away and removed to expose to view the cocking-spring,
sears and sear-spring;
•
Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the improved main-springs and their "rocker'
detached ;
Fig. 7x is a like view of the same with a divided or two part rocker;
Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the sears, detached ;
Fig. 9 is a perspective view of the triggers, detached; and
Fig. 10 is a top view of the sear-spring detached.
"
Figs. 4 to 10 inclusive are enlarged one diameter from Figs. 1 to 3, and like
letters refer to like parts in all the figures.
The main-portion, A, of the wooden stock, shown in Figs. 1 to 3, and hereinafter
termed the stock, terminates at front in a pair of cheeks, 2, Fig. 1, at the respective
sides of the lock space, and is rigidly connected with the metallic breech-piece B,
by top and bottoni tangs, y, a, formed respectively on said breech-piece and on the
rear end of a trigger-plate, C, and by tang-screws, wo, v; said trigger-plate being
rigidly connected with said breech-piece at its front end by a screw, u, shown in
dotted lines in Fig. 2.
The barrels, D, have a wooden stock-tang, E, attached to them at bottom, and,
at its rear end, are loosely hinged to the front end of a forward extension of said
breech-piece B by a suitable joint, comprising a transverse pivot, t; their tilting
movement being limited by a stop-projection, s, Figs. 4 and 5, in a customary way.
A recess, r, Fig. 5, in said extension of the breech-piece, receives a hook-rib united
with the rear ends of the barrels at bottom; and when the breech is closed it is
automatically secured by a suitable fastening, F, which is preferably located at the
top of the breech-piece, and comprises a locking-spring, g, Fig. 4, and an unfastening
thumb-lever, p.
The breech-piece B is further provided with suitable spring-retracted firing-
pins, o, Fig. 5, and the remainder of the "action" of the gun is carried by said
trigger-plate C. Consequently, by removing said screws and u, Fig. 2, or by
removing the tang-screws and loosening said screw u, the entire action may be
quickly and easily withdrawn endwise from the stock, and then separated as
illustrated by Fig. 4.
The present invention relates exclusively to said trigger-plate C, and the parts
carried thereby, and further reference to the drawings will be mainly confined to
Figs. 4 to 10 inclusive, where these parts are segregated, except for the operation
of the safety-device as illustrated by Figs. 1 to 3.
The main-springs, G, (Figs. 4 5 7 and 7×) are of a peculiarly simple straight
form, having transverse cylindrical enlargements at their respective ends; those
at their smaller ends being milled and drilled to form hinge-joints con-
necting the springs with short links, G³, Fig. 4, that connect in like manner
with short crank-arms on the hubs of the hammers H. The rear ends of the
main-springs are tightly fitted into lateral recesses in a "rocker," I or I³, which
is pivoted at its rear end by a transverse pivotal screw, n, and is constructed
with a curved recess at bottom, in its front portion, to form the "cam-wedge," m,
to coact with the antifriction roller, l, with which a short crank-arm at the
front end of the tension-lever, J, terminates. Said pivotal screw n is located
as high as possible with reference to the cam-wedge portion of the rocker, so
that when the springs are put in tension, as illustrated by Fig. 3, the rocker
will swing forward as the springs bend, and thus reduce the work of the lever,
and also present the cam-wedge m in the most effective position to coact with
the roller. The rocker I, Fig. 7x, is made in two parts, one for each spring;
and individual main-springs may obviously be so pivoted.
A single cocking-spring, K, of a small and simple pattern, as shown in Figs. 4
and 6, coacts with a flange, k, on the rear end of the rocker or I at bottom,
so as to act on both main-springs through the rocker. Acting through the
main springs G and links G; the cocking-spring restores the haminers H'auto-
matically to their normal cocked position, and acting through the cam-wedge m

page_text: of the rocker, and the anti-friction roller l, it simultaneously restores the tension-
lever J to its normal position represented in Figs. 12 and 4.
A single flat sear-spring, L, Figs. 4 5 6 and 10, shown detached by the figure last
named, coacts with the lever ends of a pair of sears, M, M³, shown detached by
Fig. 8, and therethrough on the lever-arms of a pair of triggers, N, N³, shown
detached by Fig. 9. The combination is illustrated by Figs. 4 and 6. The tops of
said lever-ends of the sears are normally flush with the top of the trigger-plate C,
which is made deep enough and suitably recessed for the purpose. The flat sear-
spring is thus adapted to rest normally on the top of the trigger-plate, and is
attached thereto by a single vertical screw, j, at its rear end, which is closed. Its
other end is divided longitudinally, and recessed so as to render its respective limbs
of L-shape. They are thus adapted to cross the respective sears at a given effective
point, as shown in Fig. 6, and the spring may be stamped complete from sheet
steel.
The sears M M are pivoted by a transverse pin, i, and the triggers N N' by a
transverse pin, h; and the pivot holes in the former are located by means of down-
ward extensions, , Fig. 8, of the respective sears, so as to be below a straight line
drawn rearwardly from the front end of either sear or from either hammer-notch to
the front end of the sear-spring when the main-springs G are in tension. Compare
Figs. 3 and 4. Consequently, the strain of the main-springs on the upwardly
projecting hammers H, acting through the sears so pivoted, tends to depress the
lever ends of the sears, instead of subjecting the sear-spring L to added strain as
heretofore, and the sear-spring may hence be very light, without risk of failure.
The guard, O, is screwed fast to the bottom of the trigger-plate C at its front
end, and is conveniently fastened at its rear end by the extremity of said screw jas
shown in Fig. 4. Farther back, the cocking-spring K is attached to the top of the
trigger-plate by another vertical screw, g. Between these points the trigger-plate
is provided with a contracted and depressed waist which is embraced by the
bifurcated front end of the tension-lever J, and receives its transverse pivotal
screw, f, Fig. 4. A parallel pivotal screw, e, Fig. 4 confines the antifriction roller
between the extremities of the bifurcated portion of the tension-lever which con-
stitutes its said lever-arm. The rear end of the tension-lever is preferably provided
with a sector-arm, d, which guards its free extremity, and is accommodated by a
slot, d, in the under tang, and a recess, d³, Fig. 2, in the stock A. The move-
ment of the tension-lever is limited by a stop-pin, c, at the extremity of the sector-
arm d, and by abutments, b, on the uprights of the trigger-plate between which the
rocker I is pivoted. Either one of these stop-provisions may be omitted, and other
like modifications will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art.
The trigger-plate has a pair of longitudinal recesses, fitted to the sears M M³,
the lever-arms of the triggers N N', and the hubs of the hammers H, as shown in
Figs. to 6, and at the front ends of said recesses it forms three strong lugs
between which the hammers are effectively pivoted by a transverse pivotal screw, a,
Fig. 4. At the front extremity of the trigger-plate there is a flat attaching-end
having a drill-hole, u², Figs. 4 to 6, to receive said screw z Fig. 2, and suitably
shaped to form a rigid joint in connection with a milled seat fitted thereto in the
bottom of the breech-piece B; and the tang of the trigger-plate is provided with
a countersunk hole, , to coact with said tang-screw Fig. 2, and with a tapped
hole, w³, to coact with said tang-screw w Fig. 2.
The trigger-plate C and breech-piece B, held together as shown in Figs. 4 and 5,
are applied endwise to the stock A; and when the cheeks z are in place and the
tangs y and are in their seats, the screws wv and u are inserted, the barrels, if
detached, are applied, and the gun is then ready for uce.
It is loaded in customary manner, and the breech is closed and automatically
secured by the breech-fastening F as aforesaid, without in any manner affecting the
lock. The hammers H remain at cock, and the main-springs G free from tension,
as represented in Figs. 1 and 2, until the tension-lever J is pressed home as
illustrated by Fig. 3. This is readily done by the firing hand as the gun is brought

page_text: to the shoulder. When either trigger is then touched, the corresponding sear is
tripped, and the corresponding hammer is projected against the firing-pin o in line
therewith by the freed main-spring, as represented by dotted lines at N G H in
Fig. 3. When the tension-lever is freed, by opening the hand, after firing either or
both barrels, it is automatically returned to its normal position, and the displaced
hammer or hammers recocked, by the cocking-spring K, Fig. 4, as before described.
Details which have not been specified may be of any approved description; and
I do not limit my respective claims to particular mechanical details, except as
therein expressly stated.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed. I declare that what I
claim is :-
:-
1. An improved safety-lock for fire-arms comprising a pivoted hammer or pair
of hammers, a normally passive main-spring or main-springs, a rocker, in which the
rear end of each main-spring is rigidly held, having an elevated pivot at its rear
end parallel to that of the hammer or hammers, and a tension-lever coacting with
said rocker to put the main-spring or main-springs in tension preparatory to
firing.
2. The combination, in a safety-lock for fire-arms, of a rocker, in which the rear
end of each main-spring is rigidly held, and a cocking-spring coacting with said
rocker to automatically recock the hammer or hammers and to restore the tension-
lever to its normal position of rest, substantially as hereinbefore specified.
3. The combination with a pair of hammers and a pair of triggers of a pair of
sears having lever-ends in one and the same horizontal plane overlying the lever-
arms of the triggers, and a flat sear-spring having limbs which cross the respective
lever-ends of the sears, substantially as hereinbefore specified.
4. In combination with a substantially horizontal sear or pair of sears engaging
with the hammer or hammers in front and having rearwardly projecting lever-ends,
a sear-spring above said lever-ends, and a sear-pivot so arranged as to relieve said
sear-spring from strain, substantially as hereinbefore specified.
5. The combination with the main stock, terminating in front in a pair of wooden
cheeks at the respective sides of the lock-space, and with the breech-piece having
the top-tang united therewith, of the improved safety-lock, comprising the trigger-
plate having the bottom-tang formed thereon, and removable end wise, as a whole,
from said main stock and breech-piece, substantially as hereinbefore specified.
Dated this 28th day of April 1891.
FELL & WILDING,
1, Queen Victoria Street, Agents for the Applicant.
FELL & WILDING,
1, Queen Victoria Street, Agents for the Applicant.