IMPROVEMENTS IN AIR GUNS OR PISTOLS
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Albert Augustus Pope, of Boston, in the County of Suffolk,
and State of Massachusetts, in the United States of America, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN AIR GUNS OR PISTOLS,"
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Albert Augustus Pope at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 30th March 1876.
ALBERT AUGUSTUS POPE, of Boston, in the County of Suffolk, and State of
Massachusetts, in the United States of America. "IMPROVEMENTS IN AIR GUNS OR
PISTOLS."
The object of this Invention is mainly,―
First, to improve air pistols or guns by adopting a movable breech in order the
more readily to insert a projectile in the barrel.
And, secondly, to obtain a forward movement of the plunger in expelling the said
projectile.
In this pistol the barrel is stationary with the stock and air chamber, and is
secured rigidly to them. The plunger moves independently of the barrel, and is
pulled outward or set" by a rod passing loosely through it and the end of the air
chamber, and having a head upon its inner end to bear against the plunger, and a
knob or its substitute upon its outer end to afford ready means of pulling it
outward against the stress of the spring. The rear end of the barrel is open and
closed by a movable breech block or gate in order that a dart or slug may be
inserted at the breech.
The Drawings accompanying this Specification represent in Figures 1, 2, and 3
sections of a pistol embodying my improvements.
A represents the stock or frame of such pistol; B, the handle; C, the air chamber
or reservoir; and D, the barrel of the same, such barrel being secured rigidly to the
frame A in lieu of sliding thereupon.
The rear end of the barrel is closed by a movable breech of any suitable character,
the device herein shown consisting of a block a hinged at its rear end to the top of
the frame immediately in rear of and above the barrel, the said block dropping into
an orifice or opening b in the top of the barrel through which the dart is inserted,
and being provided with a suitable packing to preserve an air-tight joint.
...

page_text: The movable breech block a is locked in firing position by a suitable latch c, and
when the pistol is to be loaded the latch is released, the block raised, the dart
inserted within the barrel, and the breech returned to place.
The plunger of the pistol is shown at E ás playing within the air reservoir or
cylinder C below the barrel, and pressed forward to the outer or front end of such
reservoir by a spring F interposed between the plunger and the rear end of such
reservoir. A rod d is swiveled in a suitable manner at its front end to the plunger,
and passes rearward through the outer plug or core e of the air reservoir, where it is.
provided with a suitable knob or handle f.
An air passage g is created in the frame A between the air reservoir C and the
barrel D, such passage serving to open communication between the forward end of
the air reservoir and the rear end of the barrel by an aperture a² in the latter. A
suitable trigger his pivoted to the under side of the frame A, and formed with a
hook or spur i, which projects into the air reservoir C a short distance in order to
intercept and "cock" the plunger.
To load this pistol the user seizes the knob f and pulls back the plunger E, and
contracts the spring F until such plunger has passed to the rear of the trigger h
and is "cocked" by the latter, the rod d being subsequently pushed forward to its
utmost limit in order that it may not be driven violently forward by the advance
of the plunger. The breech block a is next raised, a dart inserted within the bore
of the barrel through the aperture b, and the breech then closed. The trigger h is
now pulled, the plunger released and driven forward by its spring, and the air
within the cylinder C expelled from the latter in advance of the plunger upward
through the passage g, and into and through the barrel, in its course expelling the
dart from such barrel.
The combination of parts by which a forward motion of the plunger effects the
expulsion of the dart from the barrel is attended with many advantages in the
manipulation of the pistol over the method of effecting the same result by a
rearward movement of such plunger:
I do not confine myself to any special details of mechanism for closing the breech
end of the barrel, nor to the method by which the plunger is operated.
CLAIMS.
First. The employment with the barrel, air chamber, and plunger of an air pistol
of a movable breech of any suitable character, whereby with a stationary barrel a
dart or projectile may readily be inserted in such barrel, substantially as and for
purposes stated.
Second. The combination and arrangement of the barrel, air chamber, and
plunger of an air pistol, whereby by a rearward inovement of the plunger the
latter is cocked, and by a forward movement the air is expelled from the air
chamber through the barrel without regard to the especial means by which such
result is brought about, substantially as and for purposes stated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Albert Augustus Pope, have hereunto set my
hand and seal this Twenty-fourth day of January 1876.