US442025A - Air-gun - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.) y

S. D. ENGLE.

AIR GUN.

\ No. 442,025. Patented Deo. 2, 1890.

l UNITED STATES `PATENT OEEICE.-

STEPHEN D. ENGLE, OF II'AZLE'ION, PENNSYLVANIA.

AIR-GUN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 442,025, dated December 2, 1890.

Application filed March 3, 1890. Serial No. 342,467. (No model.)

To all. whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, STEPHEN D. ENGLE, of Hazleton, in the county of Luzerne and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and Improved Air-Gun, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to improvements in that class of air-guns in which the current of air by which the projectile is expelled from the gun-barrel is generated by a spring-actu ated plunger; and the object of my invention is to produce a neat, simple, and inexpensive gun having few parts to get out of order, and in which the parts are so arranged that the gun is very easily operated and a missile expelled therefrom with great velocity and precision. l l

To this end my invention consists in certain features of construction and eombin ations of parts,whieh will be hereinafterf ull y described,

4 and specifically pointed out in the claims.`

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a partof this specification, in which similar letters Lof reference indicate corn-:spending` parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a broken vertical longitudinal section of a gun embodying my invention; Fig. 2, a transverse section of the same on the line of Fig. l; Fig. 3, a transverse section on the line y y of Fig. l, and Fig. 4 a transverse section on the line z e' of Fig. l.

' The gun is of ordinary musket shape, having a barrelA and stock B, and in the barrel is fitted a tube O, which is preferably of metal. The tube C extends the entire length of the barrel A, and is slightly pinched or flattened at the breech, as best shown in Fig. 2, to prevent the missile which may be. inserted therein from falling out at the breech. The gun is also provided with a removable pin .1), which extends through the stock B, and the point of which terminates in the fiattened end of the tube C. This prevents any small article that might pass between the fiattened sides of the tube from falling through the tube, and also affords means of cleaning the tube or of forcing therefrom any object which may be stuck therein. This may be done in the usual way by forcing a iiexible rod through the tube.

Fixed lengthwise in the stock 3 is a tube E, of larger diameter than the tube C, with having an annular groove J therein, and hav` ing its forward end provided with a packing J 2, of leather, rubber, or other suitable material, which fits air-tight in the tube.

Fixed to the plunger J is a rod K, which is doubled, as shown, so as to form aloop therein, and to the lower end of the loop is attached the rod L, which is likewise doubled, asshown in Fig. 3, and extends through the hole H of the plate Il and into the holes N of the plate N, which is attached to the butt of the stock B. It will thus be seen that the rods Kand L are simply looped or doubled over each other, so that when the rod L is pulled back the rod K will be pulled also; but when the rod L is pushed in, as hereinafter described, one rod will slide within the other.

Coiled around the rods K and L within the.

tube E is a strong spiral spring M, oneend of which rests against the closed lower end of the tube, and the other presses'against the lower end of the plunger .l and4 normally holds the plunger in the upper part of the tube. Fixed to the rodL so as to be movable longitudinally in therecess B is a handle L by means of which the gun is primed or set.

Pivoted in the recess B2 on the under side of the stock B by the pin a is a lever P, having one end formed into an upwardly-projecting catch P, which extends through a slot E in the under side of the tube E, and having the other cud formed into a depending trigger P2, which projects below the gunstoclc B in the usual manner and is inclosed by an ordinary guard Q, which is attached to the gunstock as in ordinary guns. The front edge of the catch P is beveled, as shown, to

enable it to slide easily over the rear edge of `the plunger J.

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The gun is provided with the usual sights, and is operated as follows: Drop a missile, preferably a ball or shot, in the tube C, and it will be caught and held in place between the flattened sides of the tube or will rest upon the end of the pin D. Then grasp the handle L and pull it back against the plate N. This will pull back the rod K and plunger J, compressing the spring M, and when the plunger is opposite the catch P the catch, being actuated by the spring b, will project into the groove J of the plunger and hold the same in position. When thehandle L ispulled back, t-he ends of the rod L will project through the holes N of the plate N; but when the catch P engages the 4plunger J the handle may be pushed back into its former position and the rodL will slide within the rod K, and its projecting ends will be retracted, so as to leave the plate Nsmooth for the shoulder. The ends of the rod L should be headed to prevent them from being pushed through the holes N.

To discharge the gun, pull the trigger P2, and as this slants rearwardly, as shown, the action will raise the trigger and the forward end of the lever P, depress the rear end of the lever, and release the catch P from the plunger J. The spring M will then force the plunger forward. As the plunger J rushes forward, the air will be forced from the tube E and passage F into the tube C, and as the passage F and tube C are smaller than the tube E the air will be condensed and the missile in the tube C will be forced out with great velocity. and accuracy.

It will be observed from the foregoing description that the gun contains comparatively few parts, and that the operative parts are all in the breech of the gun, thus making it evenly balanced, neat in appearance, veryconvenient to use, and giving sufficient length to the barrel to enable it to shoot accurately.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. An air-gun comprising a barrel, a stock having a transverse longitudinally-extending recess B through it, a tube leading from said recess and communicating at its forward end with the bore, a plunger working in the tube, a rod connected with the plunger, a second rod having a sliding connection at its inner end with the first-named rod and extending into the recess B', a handle on the second rod within said recess,a spring Within the tube throwing the plunger forward, and a trigger mechanism whereby when the plunger is held in its retracted position the handle, with its rod, may be pushed inward and not operated by the plunger-rod in the forward throw thereof, substantially as set forth.

2. An air-gun having the openingof the barrel iattened or pinched at the Vend next the breech and having suitable means for forcing air through said barrel, substantially as described.

3. An air-gun having a suitable barrel, means for forcing the air through the same, and a pin projecting through the breech or stock and terminating in the rear end of the barrel, substantially as described.

et. An air-gun havinga barrel with the rear end of the opening therein pinched or flattened,`apin projecting through the stock and terminating in the end of the barrel, a tube located in the gun-stock and communicating with said barrel, a springactuated plunger movable longitudinally in said groove and having an annular groove or recess therein, means, as shown, for retracting said plunger, and a lever pivoted below the plunger-tube, having one end formed into acatch projecting through a slot in the plunger-tube to engage the plunger, and having the other end formed into a depending trigger by which the lever may be actuated and the plunger released, substantially as described.

5. The combination, with a gun having a spring-actuated plunger located in the stock, of a trigger-lever pivoted below said plunger, having formed thereon at its rear end an upwardly-projecting catch to engage the plun- 9 ger and a depending downward and rearward inclined trigger at its forward end to release the same, substantially as described.

6. The combination, with the barrel Aand tube C and the slotted stock B, having the tube E and passage F therein, of the plunger J, having groove J therein, rods K and L and handle L for retractin g the plunger, the spring M, for forcing it forward, and means, as a spring-lever P, having catch P at its rear end, and trigger P2, integral with and `inclined downward and rearward from theV front end of said lever, for tripping and releasing the plunger, substantially as described.

7. The combination, with the tube E and plunger J therein, of the rods K and L, looped together within the tube, as shown, and having means, as handle L', on the outer end of rod L, in rear of the tube, for operating the same, substantially as described.

S. The combination, with the tube E and plunger J, of the trigger-lever P, having the catch P and trigger P2 thereon at its rear and forward ends, respectively, and means, as spring b, pressing the forward end of the lever down, substantially as described.

STEPHEN D. ENGLE.

Witnesses:

JOHN A. BARTON, A. HOFFMAN.

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