US 377878
UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.
DANIEL B. WESSON, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.
REVOLVER.
SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 377,878, dated February 14, 1888.
Application filed December 27, 1887. Serial No. 259,011. (No model.)
To all whom it may concern:
Be it known that I, DANIEL B. WESSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Springfield, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Revolving Fire-Arms, of which the following is a specification.
This invention relates to improvements in that class of fire-arms described in Letters Patent of the United States granted to me October 11, 1887, No. 371,532, and particularly to the formation of the catch-post on the frame of the fire-arm, against which the pivoted spring-actuated dog of the barrel-strap engages, whereby the wearing away of the resisting part of said catch-post is prevented; and the invention consists in the construction and combination of the parts of the arm, all substantially as will hereinafter more fully appear and be set forth in the claims.
Reference is to be had to the accompanying sheet of drawings, forming part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures, which are enlarged views of parts of the fire-arm.
Figure 1 is a perspective view of a portion of the stock of a revolver and of the cartridge chamber and barrel-strap, said chamber and barrel-strap being swung out of the position of shooting alignment, and said barrel-strap being partially broken away and in section. Fig. 2 is a central longitudinal vertical section through a portion of the stock and barrel strap, showing the parts as locked. Fig. 3 is a perspective view at the rear side of the catch post, showing its formation for the reception of the wear-block, said wear-block also being shown adjacent thereto; and Fig. 4 is an under face view and projection of the wear-block.
As set forth in the hereinbefore-mentioned patent, with the shoulder e at the rear of the catch-post 6 on the stock or frame 3 of the fire-arm, a spring-actuated dog, 7, pivoted in an opening of the barrel-strap by its notch c, engages. The rear side of the catch-post, as also the top of the stock, is recessed, as at a, for the reception of an angular finger-lever, 9, the outer end of which, on being depressed, serves to swing its forward nose against said dog 7, to free it from its engagement with the catch-post shoulder to permit the swinging down of the barrel.
In the use of the fire-arm, particularly at the time of its discharge, as well, also, in a less degree at the opening and closing of the barrel, an impact and strain, and also frictional wearing is had by, against, and between the catch-post shoulder e and the dog 7. The said dog is composed of steel, and for the practical purposes in the manufacture thereof the stock and catch-post are integrally formed of softer metal, as wrought or malleable iron. I therefore form in the rear side of the catch post, extending from the upper end of the finger-lever slot a, by milling or otherwise, a socket, b, of suitable extent, depth, and direction, but preferably extending obliquely downward and forward, having its bottom or inner end arc-shaped, and insert in said socket a segmental resistance and wear-block, A, of unusually hard metal or material–as, for instance, hardened steel. On the under side of this block is formed a groove or notch, d. The said block is forced within the said socket, and the lip portion f, formed at the rear of the catch-post by the milling out of the recess b, is swaged and a portion thereof, crowded against the under side of said resistance-block and into the depression d thereof, thereby immovably and firmly securing said block in the socket and as one with the catch-post, its lower rear side and corner forming the abutment-shoulder for the spring-actuated dog 7.
What I claim as my invention is–
1. In a breech-loading fire-arm, a catch-post provided with an abutment-shoulder formed by a block of suitable material harder than that of which said catch-post is formed, and let into a recess thereof and there rigidly secured, substantially as and for the purpose described.
2. In a breech-loading fire-arm comprising a catch-post on the stock, and an apertured barrel-strap provided with a spring-actuated dog, an abutment-shoulder on said catch-post formed by a block of suitable material harder than that of which said catch-post is formed into a recess thereof, substantially as and for the purpose described.
3. In a breech-loading fire-arm, a malleable or wrought iron catch-post, 6, provided with an abutment-shoulder formed by a segmental steel block having on its under side a groove, and let into an arc-shaped recess milled in the rear of said catch-post and there secured by swaging said catch-post, substantially as and for the purpose described.
DANIEL B. WESSON.
Witnesses:
WM. S. BELLOWS,
H. A. CHAPIN.