US2958974A - Takedown device for firearms - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 8, 1960 H. H. SEFRIED n 2,958,974 TAKEDOWN DEVICE FOR FIREARMS Filed Jan. 19, 1959 INVENTOR. HARRY H. SEFR/EDD' /21L ATTORNE v5 Liedke patent.

TAKEDOWN DEVICE FOR FIREARMS Harry H. Sefried H High Standard Manufacturing Cun., a corpora New Haven, Conn., assignor to The Corporation, Hamden, tion of Connecticut Filed Jan. 19, 1959, Ser. No. 787,490 2 Claims. on. 42-75 This invention relates to barrel take-down devices for firearms, and it relates more particularly to take-downs for semiautomatic pistols.

The purpose of a take-down device is to fasten the barrel of the gun rigidly to, and accurately aligned with, the frame so that the barrel cannot move in any manner with respect thereto.

complishes this by through a hole in the tion of the barrel s pressed together as means of a screw or bolt which fits frame and is threaded into a por- 0 that the barrel and frame are comthe screw is turned up tight. Howbolt which latches One such device is Altenburger 2,107,359. pressure at all is United States Patent O The usual take-down device acthe barrel in place on the frame.

shown for example in the patent to In such arrangements, either no exerted by the locking bolt on the barrel, as is the case in the device disclosed in the Altenburger patent, or

direct urge of the the spring must be weak enough so that else spring on the bolt. In either case it can be depressed with the fingers when the barrel is to be removed from the frame. .Consequently,

exert enough force to rigidly clamp the barrel and frame together so that there is.absolutely no play between them.

The difficulty pr quick-acting take-down devices overcome by the device disclosed in the patent to Liedke 2,817,174.

the mechanical adv of an inclined surface provided on movable transversely of a locking eviously encountered with such prior is rather ingeniously and broadly claimed In this arrangement antage afforded by the wedging action an actuator plunger pin is employed in order to transmit a large force through the locking pin to the barrel by means of a relatively light spring acting on the plunger.

locking pin.

This permits use of a fairly weak spring. Consequently, pressed with the fingers the plunger can be easily dewhen it is desiredto release the The present invention is a specific improvement over the take-down device disclosed in the above-identified kind shown in the One of the objects of this invention is to reduce the manufacturing cost of a take-down of the Liedke patent. In the specific construction there shown, a dovetail tongue is provided on the barrel and a formed in the frame, into which said tongue fits.

correspondingly shaped groove is Since the machining operations for forming the tongue and groove in said prior device are expensive, a specific object of the present invention is to do away with the need for such mac Another object of the "a quick-acting take-down arrangement of the type shown in the 'above-menti hining operations.

present invention is to provide oned patent to Liedke, in which the the locking bolt cannot facturing cost.

pistol frame 12. Slide 10 2,958,974 Patented Nov. 8, 1960 barrel is removed by simply depressing the actuator plunger and lifting the barrel out of its bedding with a straight upward movement.

A further and general object of the invention is to 'provide a take-down device which will permit the barrel most advantageous form contemplates a barrel and frame having complementary non-coplanar mounting surfaces providing a bedding for said barrel in which it is immovably held on said frame, with a locking pin rigidly secured to said barrel and projecting from its mounting surface. A passage, which extends substantially perpendicular to the mounting surface, is provided in the frame in order to receive the locking pin so that it can interlock with a transversely disposed actuator plunger located in another passage in the frame. The actuator plunger is movable longitudinally of itself under the urge of a spring provided at the inner end of the passage in which said plunger is carried. On the opposite side of the plunger from the barrel is formed a wedgi-ng surface, which is engaged by an oppositely facing latching surface adjacent the end of the locking pin. On movement of the plunger in one direction under the urge of said spring, the locking pin is drawn axially inward of the frame causing said locking pin to draw the barrel into rigid immovable engagement with the frame.

An important advantage of the present invention is that it greatly reduces and simplifies the machining operations heretofore required in takedown devices of this general type and therefore reduces the over-all manu- Another advantage of the invention is that the barrel can be mounted by setting it directly on its bedding on the frame, without having to slide a tongue and groove together.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate one particular embodiment of the invention,

Fig. l is a side elevational view, partly broken away and partly in cross-section, of a pistol incorporating the invention, in which the barrel is shown locked in position on the frame;

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. l, but showing the takedown actuator plunger compressed and the barrel lifted from the frame;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the actuator plunger; and

Fig. 4 is a vertical cross-section taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

With reference to the drawings, the pistol includes a slide 10 mounted for longitudinal reciprocation on a is provided along both lower inner edges with a fiange-and-groove 14, which slidingly interengages with a corresponding fiange-and-groove 16 extending longitudinally along the upper edges of frame 12 on both sides thereof. Such guide means 14, 16 permit slide 10 to move back and forth longitudinally of frame 12 in the usual manner, with the return spring 17 urging it into battery position. The barrel 18 is mounted on frame 12 forwardly of slide 10 in the manner described hereinafter in accordance with the invention.

The enlarged rear end of barrel 18 is cylindrically shaped along both its upper (22) and lower (23) sides and, therefore, requires no expensive machining operations so far as these surfaces are concerned. A mountor -theconcave mounting surface ends, respectively, of betweenmountingsurfaces 23 which will prevent the Ways with respect to the frame when said mounting surfaces are pressed'firmly together.

access for locking pin 36, as will be described hereinafter.

32 as may be seen in Fig. l.

2.8 to the frame 12. "51 is formed so that the surfaces 52 extend at an angle brought into intimate engagement with each other in order to prevent the barrelfrom tilting, twisting, or moving sideways with respect to the frame.

A shallow recess 23 isprovided in the central portion 24, Forming apair of cylindrically shaped bands 29 and 30 at the'front and rear surface 24. The area of contact and 24-is therefore limited to the end portions of these surfaces, so that there will be notendency for the barrel to rock longitudinally with respect' to the frame. Mounting surfaces 23 and 24 may be of any corresponding non-coplanar configuration, such as mutually inclined or beveled flat surfaces for example,

barrel from twisting or sliding side- A'locking pin 32 is secured, as by means of threaded portion 33, to the underside of the rear end of barrel 18 in the center of mounting surface 23 and extends downward perpendicular thereto. Apassage 34- is provided in the center of, and perpendicular to, mounting surface 24 on frame 12, into which locking pin 32 is inserted, as

shown in Fig. 1, so that it can be engaged with an actuator plunger 36 carried in another passage 38 in frame 12.

Passage 33 extends generally longitudinally of the triggerplate 26 but at a slight downward angle to the longitudinal axis of the gun toward the point where it opens onto the front edge of trigger-plate 26. Passage 34 intersects passage 38 substantially at its midpoint, thereby providing 32 to latch with actuator plunger When the barrel is locked in place on the frame, actuator plunger 36 extends outwardly somewhat beyond the front edge of trigger-plate 26, as shown in Fig. 1, so that it can be pressed rearwardly with the fingers against a coil spring 40 located at the inner end of passage 38 for the purpose of releasing the barrel. Plunger 36 is provided with a substantially key-hole shaped slot 42 (best shown in Fig. 3) which extends longitudinally of plunger 36 with an'enlarged circular portion 44- at one end nearest the outer end of plunger 36 and a narrow portion 46 extendIng rearwardly toward the inner end-of plunger 36. The circular portion 44 is'slightly larger in diameter than a semi-spherically shaped head-portion 47 on the lower end of locking pin 32, such that head-portion 47 will fit through circular portion 44 of slot 42 when portion 44 isbrought into alignment wlth'passage 34 by moving plunger 36 inwardly. Locking pin 32 is provided with a reduced diameter shank 48' above head-portion 47, forming an annular latching shoulder 59 on the upper side of head-portion 47 adapted to engage with the actuator plunger 36. Shank 48 is smaller in diameter than the narrow portfon 46 of slot 42 so that when locking pin 32 is in place on the frame, plunger 36 can be moved outwardly into locking relation with pin 32.

The underside of plunger 36 is cut away at 51 adjacent slot 42 to provide space for the head-portion 47 of pin When plunger'36 is moved outwardly, the upwardly facing latching shoulder 50 of locking pin 32 is engaged by the downwardly facing marginal surfaces 52 on either side of the narrow portion 46 of slot 42, in which the shank 48 of locking pin 32 is then located. This effectively locks the pin 32 and barrel It will also be noted that cutaway with respect to the longitudinal axis of plunger 36. Surfaces 52, therefore, act as 'a wedging surface forcing latching shoulder 50 downward as they slide laterally into locking position with pin 32. Consequently, when locking pin 32 is placed in latching relation with plunger 36 as just described, longitudinal movement of plunger 36 movement of the barrel on the frame. is not critical in any event, since the forward movement with the removal of the barrel.

outwardly under the urge of spring 40 causes locking pin 32 to be moved inwardly (or downwardly as viewed in the drawings) of the frame, and this inturn causes the mounting surfaces 23 of the barrel 18 to be brought into immovable engagement with the mounting surfaces 24 of the frame 12.

In order that the force exerted by the actuator plunger 36 on locking pin 32 will be directed perpendicular to the mountign surfaces 23 and 24 of the barrel and frame, respectively, as is most desirable but not absolutely essential, the angle of the longitudinal axis of plunger 36 and its passage 38 with respecttothe longitudinal axis of the gun is equal to the angle of wedging surfaces 52 with respect to the longitudinal axis of plunger 36. Consequently, as may be-seen in the drawings, latching surface 50 and wedging surfaces 52 are both parallel to the mounting surfaces 23 and 24, and the force exerted by the wedging surface of plunger 36 is transmitted along, and bymeans of, locking pin 32 so that the entiremul- -t plied force of the wedge is employed in rigidly holding the barrel in place on the frame.

In order to prevent movement of thebarrel '18 longitu- .dinally with respect to the frame 112, the locking pin 32 sage'34. .Flange 54 therefore fits closely within passage 34 and prevents any appreciable amount of longitudinal Such movement ofslide 10 under the urge of return spring 17 is limited -byits abutment with the rear end of barrel extension 20 and, therefore, no difficulty arises even if the barrel moves slightly forward or-back longitudinally, so long as -it does not tilt or twist. of mounting surfaces 23 and 24, together with the great force exerted on locking pin 32 by actuator-plunger 36, prevent any possibility The non-coplanar relationship of the barrel tilting or twisting. The operation of the take-down device describedhereinabove is believed to be clear from the disclosure and -need-n0t be further elaborated upon. =tione'd, however, that it is usually desirable to move the It should be men- -slide 10-- to the-rear and to latch it in that position before removing the barrel, as the pressure of the slide against therear end of the-barrel may interfere to some extent After the barrel is removed, the actuator plunger 36 is released and moves outwardly until the rear end of the cutaway 51in its under side comes up against a stop pin 55 which extends throughthe trigger-plate 26 and passage 38. As will be noted in the drawings, pin 55 is located so that it does not interfere in any way with the normal operation of the plunger-36.

'Thepistol is of course provided with a trigger 56 and firing mechanism (not shown), but since these, as well as the rear sight 58, do not form any part of the present invention, they are not described herein.

What is claimed is:

, 1. In a firearm having a barrel member removably mounted on a frame member, such members having.com plementary non-coplanar and mutually engaging mounting surfaces for locating said barrel member on said frame member, the combination therewith comprising alocking pin rigidly secured to' and projecting from the mounting surface of said barrel member into a first pasage in said frame member extending transversely of said mounting surfaces, an actuator plunger carried within a second pasage'in said frame member which intersects said first passage, said plunger being movable longitudinally within said second passage at an angle to the longitudinal axis of said locking pin, said actuator plunger having a wedging surface facing generally away from said barrel member and inclined with respect to the longitudinal .axis of said plunger,,said locking pin having an enlarged head at its free end forming a latching surface facing generally toward said barrel member, said actuator plunger having a longitudinally elongated opening extending transversely through it and intersecting said wedging surface, said locking pin being interlockingly engageable with said actuator plunger and fitting through said opening with said latching surface in position for engagement with said wedging surface, at least a portion of said opening being narrower than the enlarged head of said locking pin, whereby said loc g pin is drawn inward of said frame upon longitudinal movement of said plunger in one direction causing said locking pin to draw said barrel mounting surfaces into immovable engagement with the complementary mounting surfaces of said frame member, spring means mounted on said frame member for biasing said actuator plunger in said one direction, and 15 2,817,174

10 alignment with said locking pin.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Elder June 5, 1906 Liedke Dec. 24, 1957

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