Improvements in Automatic Fire-arms.
Year: 1894

page_text: TRUVIDIONAL DEUTETUATION.
Improvements in Automatic Fire-arms.
I, FERDINAND RITTER VON MANNLICHER, Engineer, of 1 Getreidemarkt 10,
Vienna, Austria, do hereby declare the nature of my said invention to be as
follows:-
My invention relates to that class of automatic fire-arms, described in my British
Patent No. 2491 of February 5th 1894, in which the sliding barrel resting against
a rigid breech- or butt-plate is driven forward by the shot and carried back
against the breech plate again by a spring, and has for its object the construction
of an improved mechanism specially suited for small arins, such as for instance
pistols.
My improved fire-arm essentially consists of the sliding barrel, guided in a
tubular extension of the receiver and driven rearward by a spring enclosed in said
tubular extension, of the receiver with the butt- or breech-plate, of the magazine,
and of a selfcocking, rebounding hammer-lock of the ordinary construction.
The barrel is by suitable means guided straight in the receiver and is by the
same means prevented from turning. The barrel is at its rear end provided with
the cartridge chamber, and forms, as it were, the breech bolt, but has no
locking device, for it rests freely against the aforesaid rigid breech-plate in the
receiver. The firing mechanism consists of the ordinary selfcocking, rebounding
hammer-lock used in revolvers, and contains but one other part. This part is a
lever, which is pressed upward against the barrel by a spring, and which is
operated upon by the trigger and made to engage with the hammer for the
purposes stated below.
The barrel is provided with a notch or rest, into which the aforesaid lever
may engage when the barrel is in its forward position and arrest it there while
the pull of the finger is still upon the trigger. When this pull is released, the
trigger will operate upon said lever so as to disengage it from the barrel, and
permit the latter to be driven back against the breech-plate by its spring. The
barrel has a second notch or rest, into which the aforesaid lever may enter when
the barrel is in its rearward, closed position. In this position the said lever is not
in engagement with the hammer, and this latter may freely strike forward and fire
the shot. As soon, however, as the explosion takes place, and the barrel is carried
forward, the aforesaid lever is depressed by the barrel and with its rear arm
operates upon the hammer in such manner, as to swing it back a certain way,
so that its striking point will not protrude through the breech-plate.
At or in the breech plate two grooves are provided, in which the rim of the
cartridge is held and guided. Thus, when the barrel is driven forward, the
cartridge shell will be held fast by these grooves, which act in the manner of
an extractor. At the top part of the breech-plate is hinged a small, spring
operated lever, which is of such form, that it will be swung backward when
cartridges are introduced into the magazine, situated centrally underneath the
receiver, but which will spring forward again, as soon as a cartridge has passed,
and will prevent the same from rising out of the aforesaid grooves again. In order
to eject the cartridge shells, one of the said grooves may be placed in a slide,
which is so placed into a groove in the barrel, that this latter, in the last part of
its forward movement, will carry along said slide a sufficient length of way to eject

page_text: the cartridge, whereupon the said slide returns into its former position, in which
its groove is again opposite to the other groove in the breech plate, so that a fresh
cartridge may enter between these grooves with its rim.
Dated 26th September 1894
GEO.
DOWNING,
8 Quality Court, London, W.C., Agent.
Improvements in Automatic Fire-arms.
I, FERDINAND RITTER VON MANNLICHER, Engineer, of 1 Getreidemarkt 10,
Vienna, Austria, do hereby declare the nature of my said invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
My invention relates to that class of automatic fire arms, in which the barrel,
which rests against a rigid tail or butt plate is thrown forward by the firing of a
shot and driven back again against the tail or butt-plate by a spring. This new
system of fire arms forming the subject of a separate Application for Letters
Patent, filed on February 5th 1894 and numbered 2491, the object of this present
invention is the construction of automatic repeating pistols according to the new
system above indicated.
In the annexed drawings a pistol of this kind is shown, of which
Fig. represents the pistol in complete state, as seen from the right.
Fig. 2 shows the complete pistol as seen from the left.
Fig. 3 shows the pistol, with its cover and magazine removed, the mechanism
at rest.
Fig. 4 shows the pistol with its mechanism in the position immediately after the
firing of a shot, the barrel arrested in its forward position and the trigger still
pulled back.
Fig. 5 shows the position of the mechanism of the pistol at the moment of firing
the last shot.
x-y of Fig. 5.
Fig. 6 is a cross section of the pistol after line x-
Fig. 7 is a longitudinal horizontal section of the pistol, the mechanism at rest.
Fig. 8 is a similar section showing the position of the mechanism at the moment
of ejecting a cartridge shell.
Figs. 94, 98 and 9 show, on a somewhat enlarged scale, the head of the ejecting
slide in its three principal positione.
Fig. 10 shows by way of example, a cartridge-holding and charging clasp,
suited for being used with this pistol.
Fig. 11 shows, in a section similar to that in Fig. 6, a modification of the
magazine of this pistol.
In all figures similar letters of reference indicate like parts.
The mechanism of this pistol is, the same as in a revolver, enclosed in a frame K,
which also forms the butt, and which carries the receiver G. At the side this
frame is closed by a cover or plate D, to which is attached the magazine M, so that
both may be taken off together.
The barrel L is guided partly in the receiver G and partly in a tube R, which is
screwed to the forward end of the receiver. Tube R contains the spring F for
driving the barrel rearward and is provided with a suitable shoulder or stop on its
inside, as indicated in the drawing, to limit and arrest the forward movement of the
barrel. The receiver G is closed at its rear end by the breech or tail-plate S,
against which rests the end of the barrel, in its closed position, under the pressure
of spring F

page_text: The construction of the lock of this pistol is exactly the same as that of a
revolver with but one slight difference conditioned by the operation of the barrel.
The frame of the lock must be of such depth that the firing mechanism will find
place at the side of the magazine, which, as attached to the cover D, occupies a
central position in the frame. The same as in revolvers, the hammer H may be
cocked by a long steady pull upon the trigger, at the end of which pu!! it is
released automatically and its point strikes forward through the breech plate S.
For deliberate aiming the hammer may also be cocked by hand, the same as in a
revolver, similar to which the hammer also springs back when the trigger is
released.
The principal parts of the lock are the hammer H, with link k, the mainspring N,
the trigger Z with sear m, and the lever P with spring r. All the parts of the
lock being known, with the exception of the two last named ones, the lever P and
its spring r, a description of only these parts appears necessary. Lever P has to
perform three different functions viz.: 1, to prevent an accidental discharge of the
piece; 2, to arrest the barrel in its forward open position, after the firing of a shot,
until the trigger has been released, thereby giving time for a second cartridge to
rise from the magazine and take up its position behind the barrel; 3, to keep the
barrel in its open position while the magazine is being re-charged. These operations
are performed in the following manner: The beak p of the forward arm of
lever P is, by the spring r, pressed against the under side of the barrel L as
this slides backward and forward. At this under side the barrel is provided with
two notches or rests and l¹, of which the former is about twice as deep as the
latter, and forms an incline. The end p¹ of the other, opposite arm of lever P
stands in juxtaposition to a projection of the hammer H, so as to prevent the
latter from striking forward against a cartridge in the barrel in all positions, except
when beak p of lever P has entered the deeper rest in the barrel. As the shot
is fired, the barrel is carried forward and, in sliding over beak p, depresses this
forward arm of lever P; the other, opposite arm being thereby raised corre-
spondingly, its end p' operates upon projection of the hammer and swings this
latter back a certain part of its way. When the barrel has nearly completed its
forward movement, beak p springs into the other rest in the barrel, whereby this
latter is arrested in a forward position. The stop or shoulder in the guide tube R,
which limits the forward course of the barrel, is situated somewhat further forward
than the position of the barrel as conditioned by the engaging of beak in rest,
so that, at the firing of a shot, the barrel will be thrown first slightly beyond this
point of rest and will be arrested on its way back under the influence of its
spring by beak p. The object of this will be explained further on. Spring r,
which operates lever P, may be inserted from the outside as shown in the
drawing, and its head may spring into a notch in the end of tube R, so as to
prevent this latter from turning upon the end of the receiver G.
As long as the barrel is in its forward position, the forward arm of lever P,
engaged in the shallow rest of the barrel, is sufficiently depressed, and in
consequence the end p' of the other arm of lever P sufficiently elevated to prevent
the hammer from protruding with its striking point through the opening in the
breech plate S, as has already been described. The barrel remains in its forward
position as long as the trigger is kept pulled back. When the trigger is released,
it springs forward and in doing so a shoulder z, with which it is provided, strikes
against a nose pl of lever P, whereby beak p is lowered out of the rest and the
barrel is liberated to be driven back against breech plate S by its spring. In
consequence of its very rapid movements, the arresting of the barrel in a forward
position is necessary in order to permit the rising of a fresh cartridge from the
magazine. This takes place in the short interval of time between the final pressing
of the trigger and the releasing thereof, during which time the barrel is arrested in
te forward position. If the barrel is opened by hand by pushing it forward by
means of its thumb piece o, the hammer being also cocked by hand, it is evident

page_text: that beak p of lever P can freely drop into rest in the barrel, shoulder of the
trigger in this case not being in a position to operate against nose p¹ of lever P.
When the barrel has been opened by hand and is thus arrested, the magazine may
be charged either with single cartridges or by preference by means of a charging
clasp as shown in Fig. 10.
The magazine itself being of the well known construction, a description thereof
appears superfluous. For charging the magazine the breech plate S is provided
with two vertical grooves into which fits the charging clasp (Fig. 6). In the
upper part of breech plate S is fitted a swinging stop-arm t which is pressed outward
by a spring u, and the head t¹ of which is straight at the bottom, but slanting at
the top part, so that when a cartridge clasp or a single cartridge is pushed downward,
in the breech plate S, it will press against the upper, slanting part of head t¹ and
thereby cause arm to swing inward against plate S. In this depressed position
arm will permit the passage of a cartridge or of cartridges into the magazine
below; as soon, however, as they have passed head t' this latter will spring forward
again, and will prevent the topmost cartridge from being raised any higher by the
feeder than just in line with the bore of the barrel. Thus, when the barrel returns
from its forward into its closed position, it will slide over and receive the topmost
cartridge in its chamber. Below grooves a, a (Fig. 6) and forming, as it were, a
continuation thereof, are two grooves el, all (Figs. 7 & 8) adapted to receive and
enclose the rim of a cartridge. One of these grooves is worked into the breech
plate S, while the other a', is in the end of an ejecting slide a. When the barrel
is in its rearward or forward position of rest, groove al in the ejector slide a stands
opposite groove, so that a cartridge may freely pass with its rim between them.
Supposing the magazine charged and the barrel to be in its rearmost closed
position, containing a cartridge, the firing of this cartridge will drive the barrel
forward and will cause the ejecting of the emptied cartridge shell in the following
manner. The ejector slide a, the rear end of which contains the said groove
which rests the cartridge with one side of its rim, is guided in a lateral groove b, b
of the barrel and extends forwards to the forward end of the receiver G. The
forward part of said guide groove is deeper than the rear part b and at the end
of the deeper part 0, where the shallower part & commences, there is a recess b¹¹ in
the barrel, still somewhat deeper than the deeper part of the groove. The
forward end of slide a is provided with a head a', which fits into the said recess 6",
and which is of such thickness that it will stand flush with the surface of the
barrel when it rests in said recess 611. When at rest, the barrel being closed, slide a
occupies the position shown in Fig. 7, the position of its head a' being that, shown
enlarged in Fig. 9. Here, head a' is situated at the end of groove and with its
projecting part rests in a recess c in the side of the receiver G. When the barrel
moves forward, the slide a remains in the position just indicated until the deeper
groove has passed over its head a', when the latter is struck by the forward edge
of the shallower groove b, as indicated in Fig. 9B.
in
The forward end of recess c in the receiver forming an inclined surface, corre-
sponding to which the lower forward edge of head a' is chamfered, it follows that,
as the slide a is now carried along with the barrel, head a will be pressed inward so
as to enter the recess ¹¹. The forward movement of the barrel still continuing,
slide a will still be carried along until its bead a' has entered the tube R and
arrives in the position shown in Fig. 8 and enlarged in Fig. 9. By this length of
way, by which the slide a is carried forward and which is about equivalent to the
length of head a', the barrel is permitted to move forward beyond the point at
which it will be arrested by the beak p. of lever P engaging in the rest .
Immediately upon arriving at its stop in the tube R, however, the barrel is driven
back by its spring F and is now arrested in this open position by beak p, as has
already been described and shown in Fig. 4. By this short return movement of
the barrel, head a', and with it slide a, has been carried back again into its
original position. The described forward movement of the slide a, as caused by

page_text: the barrel, being a very rapid one, it follows that the cartridge shell, the rim of
which rests in groove of the slide a, will be ejected as indicated in Fig. 8. The
slide a having returned with the barrel, its head a' has again entered the recess c
in the receiver, and groove al has again taken its position opposite the groove
in the receiver, so that a fresh cartridge may pass upward from the magazine and
take up its position between the said two grooves. When the trigger is now
released so that it can swing forward, beak p disengages the barrel, which is now
driven back by its spring F over the cartridge held in position by the grooves a, l
and by the head t' of stop arm t. When the hammer is now cocked the pistol
is ready for the next shot. In order to insure a correct rectilinear movement of
the barrel, this may be provided with a groove e, opposite to groove b, b¹, into
which fits a guiding projection e¹ on the receiver.
Instead of the magazine M, shown in the drawing, any other magazine may be
employed with this pistol. The free space at the one side of the magazine M may
also be utilized for enlarging the magazine as shown in Fig. 11, so that it will hold
a greater number of cartridges.
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. In automatic fire arms in which the sliding barrel is carried forward by the
force of the projectile, and driven back against a rigid tail plate by a spring, the
combination with the sliding barrel L, having a rest , of a lever P adapted to
arrest the barrel in its forward, open position.
2. In automatic fire arms in which the sliding barrel is carried forward by the
force of the projectile, and driven back against a rigid tail plate by a spring,
the combination with the sliding barrel L, having a rest and a deeper rest 1, of a
spring operated lever P, having a beak p adapted to engage alternately into
rest and rest of the barrel and an arm p adapted to operate against a
projection of the hammer; substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
•
3. In automatic fire arms in which the sliding barrel is carried forward by
the force of the projectile, and driven back against a rigid tail plate by a spring,
the combination with the sliding barrel L, having a rest and a deeper rest 7,
of a spring operated lever P, having a beak p adapted to engage alternately
into rest and rest of the barrel, an arm p adapted to operate against a
projection of the hammer, and a nose p", and of a spring operated trigger Z
having a shoulder z adapted to operate against nose pl¹ of lever B; substantially
as and for the purpose set forth.
4. In automatic fire arms in which the sliding barrel is carried forward by the
force of the projectile, and driven back against a rigid tail plate by a spring,
the combination with the tail plate S of a spring actuated, swinging stop arm t,
adapted to permit the passage of cartridges into the magazine underneath, but
to prevent the rising of a cartridge from the magazine any higher than in line
with the chamber of the barrel; substantially as set forth.
5. In automatic fire arms in which the sliding barrel is carried forward by the
force of the projectile, and driven back against a rigid tail plate by a spring,
the combination with the tail plate S, having two parallel guide grooves x, x,
of a magazine situated underneath the receiver; substantially as and for the
purpose set forth.
6. In automatic fire arms in which the sliding barrel is carried forward by the
force of the projectile, and driven back against a rigid tail plate by a spring,
the combination with the sliding barrel L, having a groove b, of variable
depth and a recess ", of a slide a, provided at its forward part with a head a'
adapted to slide in part b' of said groove b, b¹ and to enter into recess 6, and in
its rear part with a groove r¹ adapted to receive the rim of a cartridge, of a
stationary groove all opposite to said groove x', and of a recess c in the receiver

page_text: adapted to receive head a' of said slide a; substantially as and for the purpose
set forth.
GEO.
DOWNING,
8 Quality Court, London, W.C., Agent.