Patent: Athanase Chuchu

US 325053
UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.
ATHANASE CHUCHU, OF BAHIA, BRAZIL.
REPEATING FIRE-ARM.
SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 325,053, dated August 25, 1885.
Application filed January 15, 1885. (No model.) Patented in France July 6, 1833, No. 156,437, and April 2, 1884, No. 148,814, and in Belgium July 6, 1853, No. 66,949.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ATHANASE CHUCHU, of Bahia, Brazil, South America, gunmaker, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Repeating Fire-Arms, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to repeating fire-arms, and more particularly to pistols having several barrels, and principally characterized by the articulation of the barrels upon the stock and by the rotation of a firing pin or striker which acts successively upon the annular primings of the cartridges. The articulation of the barrels upon the stock enables them to be folded underneath the latter. My pistol, therefore, occupies very little space in the pocket, and by reason of the multiplicity of the barrels it presents the same advantages as the revolver at present in use.

The particular features of my invention will be readily understood from the following description, reference being had to the drawings.

Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the repeating pistol, showing the same folded. Fig. 3 is an end view of the same folded. Fig. 4 is a front end view in part, showing the cover plate open and the star-shaped extractor hereinafter described. Fig. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of the shell-extractor.

The four barrels are formed of a single piece of metal having four bores. This piece, which, to facilitate the description of my invention, I will term the “barrel-piece,” is provided near its point of articulation with a hinged cover-plate, A. This plate can be turned around upon the rear end of the said piece, Fig. 3, so as to prevent the falling out of the cartridges when the pistol is folded that– is to say, when it is not in use. The said cover-plate is secured by a hinge upon the left-hand side of the said barrel-piece, or upon the same axis, r, as the barrel. In the first case the said cover-plate opens to one side, while in the latter case it opens rearwardly.

In the center of the barrel-piece is arranged an extractor-rod, B, provided with a spiral spring, b’, which tends to hold the star-shaped metal piece b in a cavity or recess in the rear end of the barrel-piece. The piece b is recessed at b’ to receive the rim of the cartridge. By pressing upon the extremity of the extractor-rod B the said star shaped piece b can at will be removed from the cavity in the rear end of the said barrel piece.

When the pistol is to be used, the barrel is held to the stock by a lug, M, engaging with a slot, N, formed in a casing-catch, C. This catch is pivoted at c to the stock. A spring, c’, tends to hold the said catch C constantly horizontal in such a manner that in order to break down the pistol it is necessary to lift the free end of the said catch C to release it from the catch-lug M.

The movable firing-pin D carries the firing point or striker d’. By pressing upon the trigger H the pivoted piece J acts upon the hammer F, so as to draw it rearward, while the firing-pin is retracted by the action of the spiral spring E. When this pressure upon the trigger H is discontinued, the mainspring G, which has been bent by the rearward movement of the hammer, unbends and imparts to the latter a forward movement, which is transmitted to the firing point or striker d’ through the medium of the firing-pin D, thereby firing a cartridge in one of the barrels. Each time the trigger is pulled a pawl or piece, I, actuated by the trigger revolves the firing-pin a quarter of a turn to bring the firing point or striker opposite the bore of the barrel next to that in which the cartridge has been fired. When the pressure upon the trigger is relaxed, the compressed spring K expands and forces it back into its original position.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent–

1. The combination, with the stock, of a barrel hinged to the same, and a plate hinged on the breech end of the barrel and adapted to cover the said breech end and prevent the cartridges from falling out, which plate has a single aperture through which the firing-pin can strike the barrel, substantially as herein from the trigger, substantially as herein shown shown and described.

2. The combination, with the stock, of united barrels hinged to the same and adapted to be folded against the front of the stock, and of a firing-pin arranged to revolve on its longitudinal axis within the stock and operated and described.

ATHANASE CHUCHU.

Witnesses:
JOSI ANTONIO DE ROCH, Jr.,
JOAS LEITE DA LUZ.