US2615370A - Automatic gas piston operated firearm - Google Patents

Description

Oct. 28, 1952 J. Koucm? AUTOMATIC GAS PISTON OPERATED FIREARM Filed Sept. 24, 1948 WWWVM Q fizz/enzor Jase)" fiauckj Patented Oct. 28, 1952 UNITED ,s'r

AUTOMATIC GAS PISTON OPERATED.

. FIREARM vakia Application September 24, 1948,

In Czechoslovakia September 26,

1 Claim.

This invention relates to automatic fire-arms and particularly those fire-arms in which the breech block is actuated by the expanding gases in the barrel.

In a well-known type of fire-arm a gas cylinder is formed integrally with the barrel. A gas piston is slidably mounted within the gas cylinder and is associated with a breech block carrier which, as its name implies, carries andactuates the breech block. It has been customary to support the breech block carrier on the barrel or on the body portion of the fire-arm by means of ribs on the fire-arm coacting with grooves on the breech block carrier. This rib and groove support and guide structure for the breech block carrier is expensive and complicated, rendering the disassembly of the fire-arm diflicult and tedious.

The object of the present invention is to remove the disadvantages presented by the rib and groove type support and other complicated supports. In the construction above described, it is common practice to interpose a counter spring for resisting the movement of the gas piston. A support rod is normally aflixed to the body portion or barrel of the fire-arm to support or guide the counter spring. The object of the present invention is accomplished by making this support rod readily detachable from the body portion of the fire-arm and providing on the support rod a single support or head for supporting the breech block carrier. This support head serves as the sole support for the breech block carrier and there is no necessity for having a complicated interlock between the body portion or barrel of the fire-arm for supporting the breech block carrier.

Two embodiments of the subject invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a partial longitudinal section of an automatic fire-arm,

Fig. 2 a cross-section of the fire-arm along the line II-II of Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 a perspective view of the breech block carrier, support rod and head when disassembled from the fire-arm, and

Fig. 4 is a cross-section of a fire-arm utilizing a second embodiment of the subject invention.

In the embodiment illustrated in Figs. 1 to 3, i

the breech block carrier I is positioned on the fire-arm in the usual manner. The gas piston 2 is positioned within the gas cylinder 3, formed integrally with the barrel 4, and has relative sliding movement with respect to the gas cylin- SerialNo. 51 ,oss.

der. The rear portion of the breech blockcarrier 'I is mounted for reciprocation withm the breech casing 5 and carries'the rotating-breech block 6. 1 The breech block 6 is of a usual type being actuatedby means of apin and slot connection between it and the breech block carrier I.

A'support rod 8 is positioned-by means of a stem 9 within the bore ID in the bodyportion 12 of the fire-arm. The support rod-8 serves to support and guide a counterspring lwhich surrounds the support rod 8 and enters within the hollow gas piston 2;. The counter spring I is'precompressed as shown in Fig. l and serves the double purpose of'maintainin'g a return iorce on the breechblock -carrier I and of retaining the stem 9 of the support rod 8 within thebore III.

The breech block carrier I is bifurcated as clearly illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3 and the support rod 8 is mounted within the bifurcated portions of the breech block carrier I. Formed integrally with the support rod 8 is a head I I havin a profile in the shape of a T. The arms of the T expand laterally outward from the support rod 8 and act on the lower sides of the bifurcated portions of the breech block carrier I to support the breech block carrier I in its operative position as illustrated in Fig. 1. The undersides of the bifurcated portions of the breech block carrier and the top portions of the head II may be machined to provide a smooth surface engagement between the parts to facilitate the reciprocation of the breech block carrier.

In operation when the fire-arm is discharged, the gas in the barrel 4 expands as the bullet progresses through the barrel until the bore leading to the cylinder is in communication with the expanding gases in the barrel 4. As the gases continue to expand the gas piston 2 is forced rearwardly against the action of the counter spring I. The breech block carrier I in its rearward movement actuates the breech block 6 by means of a pin and slot connection. When the bullet is fully discharged from the barrel of the fire-arm, the counter spring I will return the gas piston 2, the breech block carrier l and the breech block 6 to the position illustrated in Fig. 1.

To disassemble the fire-arm it is merely necessary to move the support rod forwardly until the stem 9 is disengaged from the bore III at which time the support rod and spring can be removed from the fire-arm in the direction of the arrow. The breech block carrier is then moved rearwardly until the gas piston 2 is disengaged from the gas cylinder 3 at which time it is completely disassociated from the remainder of the firearm. The disassembly of the fire-arm is thus readily and quickly accomplished as is the assembly thereof which is merely the inverse procedure of the disassembly procedure.

A second embodiment of the invention is illustrated in Figure 4 in which the head 15 corresponds to the head II and coacts with a single arm l6 forming a portion of the breech block carrier. It is essential in this embodiment that the stem 9 of the support rod 8 be non-rotatably mounted within the bore 10 of the body portion I 2. The head I takes the formsubstantially of an I.

It is evident from the foregoing description'that the present invention can take a plurality of forms, such for example, as the head II or [5 being formed as a H, an U or other like forms. For this reason I desire to be limited only to the scope of the invention as defined by the following claim.

I claim:

An automatic fire-arm comprising a body portion, a barrel attached to said body portion, a gas cylinder formed integrally with said barrel and means establishing communication between the interior of the barrel and said gas cylinder, a breech casing, a breech block, a breech block carrier operatively associated with and arranged to carry and actuate said breech block, a gas piston formed integrally with said breech block carrier, said gas piston being slidably mounted in said gas cylinder for actuation by gas in said barrel to move said breech block carrier to actuate said breech block when the fire-arm is discharged, a rod removably supported at one end by a socket in said body portion and extending therefrom in axial alignment with said gas piston and cylinder, a head fixedly secured to said rod adjacent its supported end, and a coil spring surrounding said rod and extending between said gas piston and said head and precompressed to exert force on said head and said gas piston to hold said rod to said body portion and to resist movement of said gas piston, said head having portions engaging said breech block carrier to slidably support and guide said carrier, said rod and head being adapted to be readily removed manually from said body portion by compression of said spring in a direction toward said gas piston, said breech block carrier upon axial movement being removable from said body portion, and being readily removed after compression of said spring and removal of said rod including said spring by sliding said piston from said gas cylinder.

JOSEF Ko-UoKY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS

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