Non-recoiling firearm.

Application filed April 25, 1908. Serial No. 429,245.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Ludwig Mertens, a subject of the King of Prussia and the German Emperor, residing in London, England, 5 have invented certain Jmprovements in NonRecoiling Firearms, of which the. following is a specification.

One object of my invention is to provide mechanism for application to fire-arms 10 whereby the recoil of the latter, that is to say, the backward impulse imparted to it upon the firing of a charge, is absorbed partly by stopping the forward movement of certain masses and partly by the stressing 15 of a spring or other suitable device, the idea being to avoid either altogether or to a great extent the direct effect of the recoil upon the. casing or body of the weapon.

Another object of the. invention is to pro20 vide recoil preventing mechanism in which the effect of the. recoil is manifested only in the re-action of a spring or other device during the Whole period of time from the discharge of the weapon until the final return 25 of the. parts of the fire-arm to a position ready for another shot.

It is also desired to so construct the cartridge chamber of a fire-arm that the cartridge.case or shell shall not be distorted or 30 otherwise injured by the powder gases generated at the time of a discharge.

These and other advantageous ends I secure as hereinafter set forth, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which 35 Figure 1, is a vertical section of a rapid firing gun of the automatic type, showing the latter as equipped with my invention and illustrating the various parts in the positions occupied just prior to the firing of a 40 cartridge; Fig. 2, is a vertical section of the fire - arm shown in Fig. 1 illustrating the parts in the positions occupied by them after a cartridge has been fired and while the spring is compressed to its maximum extent; 45 Fig. 3, is a plan of the fire-arm shown in Figs. 1 and 2, certain of the parts being illustrated in section; Fig. 4, is a transverse section, on an enlarged scale, of the fire-arm taken on the line 4—4, Fig. 3; Figs. 5 and 6 50 are vertical sections illustrating my invention as applied to a field gun, the various parts being shown as in Figs. 1 and 2 respectively, in the positions occupied just before a charge has been fired and immediately ⁵⁵ after such firing..

Referring to Figs. 1 to 4 of the above drawings A represents the casing of a firearm constructed according to my invention which is provided with a cavity a for the reception of astandard whereby it is supported, go 'Phis casing carries within it a longitudinally movable barrel B connected by two bolts b with an ejecting ring b' and a block b”· having projecting rearwardly from it a toothed rack o', it being understood that both the ring 65 and the block b^! are suitably guided within said casing. Projecting forwardly from the ring b' is a finger b⁴ designed to engage, the rear end of the cartridges x in the. cartridge belt x' so as to force these, forward out of said 70 belt into position to be engaged by the forwardly projecting part c, of the breech block’C. '

In the rear of the casing A is revolubly mounted a pinion a' whose, teeth mesh with 75 the rack b^s and also with the second rack c' which projects rearwardly from the breech block C, and there is a relatively heavy spring c² within the casing preferably encircling this rack.and the. block b~ with its 80 rack, as illustrated. Said spring at one end abuts against the rear end of tlie casing and at the other engages the rear face of the breech block C so as to at all times tend to maintain this in its most forward posi- 85 tion. It will be. understood that the two racks c' and b³ are so assembled that when the first of these is in its most forward position, the latter occupies its most rearward posit ion. Slidably mounted upon the breech 90 block C is a part k which I shall designate as the hammer, w’hile within said breech block is a spring c^:l acting upon a plate c⁴ to which is attached the rear end of the firing oin c⁵. Said pin extends through the tubu- 95 ar extension c of the breech block so as to capable, of engaging the primer of the cartridge properly inserted in the cartridge chamber b³ at the. rear of the. barrel. The spring c^e is placed upon the firing pin so as 100 to exert a braking force upon the plate c⁴when this is moved forward by the spring to fire the cartridge.

Extending rearwardly from the plate c⁴is a rod c⁷ having a hook designed to engage 105 with the hooked end of a second rod &⁶pivotally mounted upon the block δ² and there is also attached to this second hooked rod an arm b⁷ capable of engaging a longitudinally movable rod d having a headed HO projection d' at the extreme rear of the fire-arm. ‘Fastened to the forward end of s

891,778 t he easing and projecting rearwardly so as to be free to engage a cartridge as it is forced from the cartridge belt, is a Hat spring a⁴.

From Figs. 3 and 4 it will be understood 5 that there is an opening in the side of the main casing A through which a pivotally mounted lever f carried by the casing is permitted to extend into and engage the longitudinally movable breech block C. 10 This lever is connected to one end of a spring f whose other end is connected with a slide F having a pawl/² capable of engaging the cartridge belt x' so as to periodically move this a predetermined distance each time the 15 lever / is given a complete oscillation. It should be understood that the breech block with its extension c and rack c' is equal in weight to the weights of the barrel B, the bolts b, ring b', and the rack b³, while the 20 hammer k upon the breech block is designed to have a weight which is to the weight of the breech block and its parts c and c' as half of the cross-section of the projectile is to the difference between the 25 cross-section of the back part of the cartridge case and said projectile.

Mounted at the front end of the extension of the breech block is a piece p for assisting in the ejection of empty car30 tridges from the barrel, having a downwardly projecting lug through which extends a headed rod p' fixed to said breech block. Between the head of this rod and said lug there is confined a spring p³, which 35 under working conditions serves to yieldingly connect said member p and said rod y .

Under operative conditions and with the parts occupying the positions shown in Fig. 1, the forward movement of the rod d causes 40 the hook b^B to release the hook c⁷ so that the firing pin c⁵ is driven forward by the spring c³ and so caused to engage and explode the primer of a cartridge x. As a result of the discharge of this cartridge the movable45 breech block under action of the pressure due to the explosion is forced backward and strikes and carries back with it the hammer k. At the same time the barrel is driven forward to a small extent by the frictional 50 force of the projectile passing through it and also by the pressure exerted by the powder gases as well as by the force transmitted from the rack c' through the pinion a to the rack δ³ and bolts b. As a consequence the spring 55 c² is compressed, and the extension c of the breech block having suitable cartridge gripping mechanism (not shown) removes the empty cartridge shell from the cartridge chamber of the barrel and delivers this upon 60 an inclined surface x³ so that it is expelled from the casing. At the same time the forward movement of the ring V, which as before noted is attached to the barrel b, forces a second cartridge from the belt x' and de65 livers it directly in front of the breech block ! extension c. After the projectile has left the barrel and the pressure of the powder gases । in the. latter is equal to the atmospheric pressure, the barrel and the breech block continue their movement apart until the spring 70 c² is compressed to its maximum extent when said parts are brought to rest. Immediately thereafter the reaction of the compressed spring again forces forward the breech block C and, through the rack c' the pinion a! and 75 rack δ³, inove the barrel B to the rear. As a result the fresh cartridge, which is pressed downwardly by the spring a⁴, is guided by a suitably formed piece a⁵ connected to the* rear end of the barrel, and is forced by the so extension c of the breech block C into the cartridge chamber. The forward movement of the breech block causes the oscillation of the lever/with a consequent movement of the slide F and cartridge belt carried thereby, so that a new cartridge is brought in position in front of the finger δ⁴.

If the rod d be arranged to be temporarily locked in its inner position, the breech block C will at the completion of its forward movement under the action of the expanding spring c² cause the arm δ⁷ of the hook b to again strike this rod so that the actuating spring of the firing pin, which was compressed as the breech block moved forwardly, is again free to expand and forces the firing pin into engagement with the primer of a second cartridge. If, however, this rod d has not been pushed inwardly, the various parts of the weapon will hold and remain in the various relative positions illustrated in Fig. 1. By means of the crank A' the pinion connecting the two racks may be operated so that the weapon may be fired at will instead of being made wholly automatic as would otherwise be the case. It is to be understood that when operating automatically the hammer k continues to move forward after the breech block C has come to rest, so that when said block is again driven to the rear by the explosion of another cartridge, it meets the forwardly moving hammer, which before it is brought to rest, absorbs a portion of the energy of recoil possessed by said breech block.

In the modified form of my invention such as would be employed when it is applied to a field gun such as illustrated in Fig. 6, I mount the main case or body A² of the gun upon wheels g in the well-known manner, and place within said case or body a longitudinally slidable barrel B. Between this barrel and the body is placed a relatively heavy spring i and I also place between these parts a second or braking spring i' designed to bring the barrel to rest when it has been moved under the action of said main spring i. Upon the casing or body I also mount two or any desired suitable number of locking pawls i~ which are arranged to engage with

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801,778 suitable recesses in the barrel when the spring i has been compressed to a maximum extent anil which may be moved at will by any desired mechanism (not shown) to cause 5 them to release said barrel. There is also placed upon the casing a firing pawl i³ designed to engage a lever i⁴ mounted upon the breech of the gun and having connected to it a firing pin i⁵. The rear end of the barrel is 10 provided with a cam surface designed to permit the pawl i³ to turn on its pivot so as to engage anil then release the firing pin lever i⁴ which is at all times acted on by a spring tending to move it toward a cartridge.

Assuming that the various parts -of the apparatus are in the positions illustrated in Fig. 6, and that there is a cartridge in the barrel ready to be fired, -I move the pawls i²out of engagement with the barrel so as to 20 permit this latter to move forward relatively to the casing under the action of the compressed spring i. Before the barrel, however, reaches the end of its forward movement, the firing pawl i³ engages the firing 25 lever i⁴ and after compressing the spring i^areleases the said firing lever so that this latter under the action of said spring, moves forward and causes the firing pin to explode the primer of a cartridge. The recoil due to 30 such explosion is absorbed partly in stopping the forward movement of the barrel whose w eight is designed to bear a definite relation to the force of explosion, and partly in again compressing the spring i. By the time this 35 compression has reached its maximum the pawls i² automatically engage the recesses in the barrel B and retain said spring in its compressed position, with the various parts in place for another shot.

While I have illustrated the fire-arms provided with springs c² and i for resisting the movement of the various parts and restoring said parts to their normal positions after a shot, it is to be understood that any other 45 suitable means for receiving and storing energy and afterward giving it out may be employed as a substitute.