Cylinder latching mechanism for revolver

Abstract

A revolver with latching mechanism for swing-out type cylinder. The revolver includes a frame, a rotatable cylinder movable from a ready-to-fire position in the frame to a loading position laterally displaced outwards from the frame, and a latching member retained in the frame by a barrel insert that defines a bullet bore. In one embodiment, the latching member may be a spring-loaded plunger movable from a locked position in which the cylinder is locked in the ready-to-fire position to an unlocked position in which the cylinder is movable to the loading position. A cylinder crane pivotally mounts the cylinder in the frame and moving the plunger to the unlocked position allows the cylinder crane to be swung out laterally from the frame by a user. In one embodiment, the plunger is held in the frame by a retaining plug engaged by the barrel insert.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]The present application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 60 / 955,723 filed Aug. 14, 2007, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present invention generally relates to firearms, and more particularly to a cylinder retaining or latching mechanism for a revolver.[0003]Revolvers typically include a cylinder frame which rotatably supports a revolving cylinder with a plurality of chambers for holding cartridges and a grip frame that provides a structure for mounting and supporting a hand grip attached thereto at the rear of the revolver. The barrel of the revolver is also mounted to the front of or forms part of the cylinder frame.[0004]In some designs such as heavy duty revolvers capable of firing magnum-type loads, a strong one-piece integral frame construction is often preferred which combines both the cylinder and grip frames into one integral unit for added durabili...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0007]In one embodiment, a revolver is provided that includes a cylinder frame for rotatably carrying the cylinder and a separate firing control housing for mounting and supporting the firing control mechanism components operably associated with the cylinder for discharging the revolver. In one embodiment, the cylinder frame is made of metal while the firing control housing preferably is made of a light-weight non-metallic material, and more preferably in one embodiment is made of a polymer possessing a combination of high strength and toughness. In one embodiment, the rear of the firing control housing includes an elongated rear grip tang for mounting a hand grip thereto.

[0008]Advantageously, in contrast to aluminum which is sometimes used for revolver frames, a polymer-based firing control housing frame for example according to the preferred embodiment has approximately equal strength to some aluminum alloys with only approximately half of the weight. Furthermore, since the firing control housing is not part of the heavier metal cylinder frame as in known revolver designs, the length of the cylinder frame can be truncated and shortened to allow more of the component support structure to be made from the lighter weight non-metallic material. The preferred embodiment therefore offers a revolver in the same overall unit size to the user at a significantly reduced total weight compared with known all metal revolvers. In addition, a contrasting and / or textured non-metallic firing control housing such as one made of a dark or otherwise colored polymer provides an aesthetically interesting and pleasing appearance to many users not seen heretofore in all metal frame revolver designs having a substantially uniform appearance in color and texture.

Problems solved by technology

In practice, it is difficult to achieve proper alignment and meshing between the trigger and hammer operably coupled thereto if these firing control components were mounted in separate frames.

Because the metal cylinder frame is far heavier than the grip frame even in two-piece revolver frame constructions, there was little weight savings possible by simply making the grip frame of a lighter material.

Although semi-automatic pistols have used non-metallic polymer grip frames in combination with metal reciprocating slides mounted thereon, the concept of using dual materials in revolvers has not been used heretofore because of the limited potential gains in weight reduction achievable using the foregoing conventional revolver construction with mounting the firing control components in the cylinder frame.

Previous use of non-metallic materials such as polymers in revolvers has been largely limited to the non-structural handgrips which typically are attached to the metal grip frame via threaded fasteners.

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