Rotating Closing Organ Pistol Barrel Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing short recoil pistols suffer from rapid wear in kinematic mechanisms and require high production tolerances, leading to increased firearm rise and difficulty in rapid aimed firing due to spurious movements and increased volume.
Innovation Solution
A pistol design with a rotatable closing organ that maintains barrel and slide alignment through a rotary movement about the longitudinal axis, reducing wear and volume, and utilizing a polymeric material for components to enhance precision and balance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If known-type mechanisms for deviating or decoupling the barrel are used, then the barrel can be decoupled from the slide stroke, but the mechanism introduces additional volume that increases the distance between the barrel axis and the user's hand, causing increased firearm rise
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the movement dimension of the barrel from vertical (perpendicular to barrel axis) to rotational (around barrel axis). The barrel rotates in the plane containing the barrel axis during the decoupling stroke, rather than moving vertically away from the axis. This dimensional change eliminates the need for additional volume to accommodate vertical displacement mechanisms, keeping the firearm compact and reducing rise.
2Reliability
If known-type mechanisms for deviating or decoupling the barrel are used, then the barrel can be decoupled from the slide stroke, but the mechanism transmits spurious movements to the whole firearm, increasing firearm rise and making rapid aimed firing difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent eliminates spurious movements by changing the decoupling motion from vertical translation to rotation around the barrel axis. This rotational movement occurs in the plane containing the barrel axis and does not generate vertical displacements or spurious movements that would affect aiming accuracy during rapid firing.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by ensuring that the rotational decoupling mechanism is precisely configured at the barrel-slide interface. The rotation is constrained to occur only where needed (at the barrel axis) without transmitting harmful movements to other parts of the firearm, thus localizing the decoupling action and preventing spurious movements.
3Reliability
If geometric locks of known types are used, then the closing system can lock the combustion chamber, but following high number of firing cycles the geometric coupling precision among barrel, slide and mechanisms tends to reduce rapidly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the locking mechanism from geometric coupling (relying on precise geometric fits between components) to a rotational locking system. The closing organ rotates to engage locking surfaces, which reduces wear and maintains precision over many firing cycles because rotational contact distributes stress more evenly and is less sensitive to geometric tolerances than sliding geometric fits.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2~2a
Figure 3~4
AI summary
The present invention relates to a pistol (1) comprising a barrel (4) which proximally has a combustion chamber (6), and a slide (8) translatable between an advanced configuration in which it closes the combustion chamber (6), and a retracted configuration in which it is distanced from the barrel (4) to open said chamber (6). The orientation of the combustion chamber (6) in the advanced configuration and in the retracted configuration is substantially parallel to a longitudinal axis (X). The slide (8) has at least one locking seat (16, 18) and at least one longitudinal grooving (20, 22). The pistol (1) comprises a closing organ (10) rotatable with respect to the axis (X) between a first and a second angular position and an element for drawing in rotation (100) the closing organ (10) and fixed to the fore-end (2). The closing organ (10) has at least one locking relief (12, 14) and a cam (101) for taking the rotation from the at least one element for drawing in rotation (100). In the advanced configuration, the closing organ (10) is in the first angular position in which the locking relief (12, 14) engages the locking seat (16, 18) so as to make the barrel (4) and the slide (8) solidly constrained to one another, in the retracted configuration the closing organ (10) is in the second angular position wherein the locking relief (12, 14) disengages from the locking seat (16, 18) and slides along said longitudinal grooving (20, 22) so as to enable the slide (8) to retract with respect to the barrel (4).