REDUCED STROKE LENGTH TELESCOPIC RECOIL MECHANISM

Abstract

A reduced stroke length telescopic recoil mechanism for a firearm having a barrel and a slide movable rearwardly with respect to the barrel during an initial part of a firing cycle, and forwardly during an ending part of the firing cycle, the recoil mechanism having a base, an axle fixed to the base, a central tube slidably mounted on the axle, an inner spring engaged between the base and the central tube for biasing the central tube forwardly away from the base, an outer tube slidably mounted with respect to the central tube, a central spring engaged between the central tube and the outer tube for biasing the central tube forwardly away from the base, and an outer spring engaged between the slide and the outer tube for biasing the slide forwardly of the base.

Claims

1. A reduced stroke length telescopic recoil mechanism for a firearm having a barrel (10) and a slide (12) movable rearwardly with respect to the barrel during an initial part of a firing cycle, and forwardly during an ending part of the firing cycle, the recoil mechanism comprising: a base (14); an axle (16) fixed to the base (12); a central tube (18) slidably mounted on the axle (16); an inner spring (20) engaged between the base (12) and the central tube (18) for biasing the central tube forwardly away from the base; an outer tube (22) slidably mounted with respect to the central tube (18); a central spring (24) engaged between the central tube (18) and the outer tube (22) for biasing the central tube forwardly away from the base (14); and an outer spring (26) engaged between the slide (12) and the outer tube (22) for biasing the slide (12) forwardly of the base (14).

2. The reduced stroke length telescopic recoil mechanism of claim 1, wherein the springs and the tubes are telescopically nested with each other so that they at least partly overlap for shorting an overall length of the recoil mechanism.

3. The reduced stroke length telescopic recoil mechanism of claim 1, including a cap (28) connected to the axle (16) at a location opposite from the base (12), for retaining the central and outer tubes (18, 22) and the springs (20, 24, 26) to the base (14).

4. The reduced stroke length telescopic recoil mechanism of claim 1, wherein each of the tubes (18, 22) have inner and outer flanges for engaging the springs (20, 24, 26).

5. The reduced stroke length telescopic recoil mechanism of claim 1, wherein the central tube (18) is engaged over and is shorter than the axle (16), and the outer tube (22) is engaged over and is shorter than the central tube (18).

6. The reduced stroke length telescopic recoil mechanism of claim 1, wherein the central spring (24) is engaged over and is shorter than the inner spring (20), and the outer spring (26) is engaged over and is shorter than the central spring (24).

7. The reduced stroke length telescopic recoil mechanism of claim 1, including a cap (28) connected to the axle (16) at a location opposite from the base (12), for retaining the central and outer tubes (18, 22) and the springs (20, 24, 26) to the base (12), the tubes (18, 22) having inner and outer flanges for engaging the springs (20, 24, 26).

8. The reduced stroke length telescopic recoil mechanism of claim 1, wherein each of the tubes (18, 22) have inner and outer flanges for engaging the springs (20, 24, 26), the central tube (18) being engaged over and being shorter than the axle (16), and the outer tube (22) being engaged over and being shorter than the central tube (18).

9. The reduced stroke length telescopic recoil mechanism of claim 1,wherein the central tube (18) is engaged over and is shorter than the axle (16), and the outer tube (22) is engaged over and is shorter than the central tube (18), the central spring (24) is engaged over and is shorter than the inner spring (20), and the outer spring (26) is engaged over and is shorter than the central spring (24).

10. The reduced stroke length telescopic recoil mechanism of claim 1, including a cap (28) connected to the axle (16) at a location opposite from the base (12), for retaining the central and outer tubes (18, 22) and the springs (20, 24, 26) to the base (12), the central spring (24) being engaged over and being shorter than the inner spring (20), the outer spring (26) being engaged over and being shorter than the central spring (24), and the tubes (18, 22) having inner and outer flanges for engaging the springs (20, 24, 26).

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0009] In the drawings:

[0010] FIGS. 1 and 2 are perspective views taken from different angles of a reduced stroke length telescopic recoil mechanism for a firearm according to the invention;

[0011] FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the recoil mechanism of the invention with part of a firearm slide visible and at a rest position before a shot has been fired;

[0012] FIG. 4 is a side perspective view of the base, axle and tubes of the mechanism, without springs, for showing the rest position of the components;

[0013] FIG. 5 is a side perspective view of the base, axle and tubes of the mechanism, without springs, for showing an intermediate position of the components, part way through a rearward part of the firing cycle, before the slide (not shown in FIG. 5) has moved to its rearward-most position;

[0014] FIG. 6 is a side perspective view of the base, axle and tubes of the mechanism, without springs, for showing a rearward-most position of the components, at the end of the rearward part of the firing cycle, when the slide (not shown in FIG. 6) has reached its rearward-most position;

[0015] FIG. 7 is a partial sectional view of a short stroke, auto-loading pistol of the type that can but equipped with the recoil mechanism of the invention, in rest position;

[0016] FIG. 8 is a partial sectional view of the short stroke, auto-loading pistol of FIG. 7, in a rearward most position for its slide during a firing cycle; and

[0017] FIGS. 9 to 15, illustrate details of the components of the reduced stroke length, telescopic recoil mechanism of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0018] Referring now to the drawings, in which like reference numerals are used to refer to the same or similar elements, FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 illustrate a reduced stroke length, telescopic recoil mechanism for a firearm having a barrel 10 (shown in FIGS. 7 and 8) and a slide 12 movable rearwardly with respect to the barrel during an initial part of a firing cycle, and forwardly during an ending part of the firing cycle.

[0019] The recoil mechanism of the invention includes a base 14 in the form of a stepped flange to which an axle 16 is fixed, for example, by mating threads. A central tube 18 is slidably mounted on the axle 16, and an inner spring 20 is engaged between the base 12 and an inner flange 18b (see FIG. 11) of the central tube 18 for biasing the central tube forwardly away from the base 12. An outer tube 22 is slidably mounted with respect to the central tube 18 and a central spring 24 is engaged between an outer flange 18a of the central tube 18 and an inner flange 22b (see FIG. 12) of the outer tube 22, for biasing the central tube forwardly away from the base 14. An outer spring 26 is engaged between on inner flange of the slide 12 and an outer flange 22a of the outer tube 22 for biasing the slide 12 forwardly of the base 14.

[0020] With reference to FIGS. 3 to 6, in operation, when a round is fired, the recoil mechanism of the invention moves from the rest position shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, to an intermediate rearward position shown in FIG. 5, where the outer spring 26 is substantially compressed while the central spring 24 is somewhat compressed and the inner spring 20 is slightly compressed. As the firing cycle continues, the slide 12 moves to its rearmost position and the recoil mechanism components are in the positions shown in FIG. 6. In this position of the components, the outer and central springs 26, 24, are compressed fully while the inner spring 20 is mostly compressed but not fully compressed so that some buffer is still provide to avoid the slide 12 mechanically engaging the rest of the firearm frame without some biasing cushion.

[0021] According to the invention, the springs and tubes are telescopically nested within each other so that they at least partly overlap. This shortens the overall length of the recoil mechanism while, at the same time, providing a full measure of recoil effect. Also, by dividing the usually single recoil spring into three nested parts, a new possibility of fine tuning the recoil characteristic become possible by selected different compression characteristics and lengths for the three springs.

[0022] In order to keep the components, including the tubes and springs, together, the mechanism of the invention includes a cap 28 connected, e.g. by mating threads, to the forward end of axle 16, at a location opposite from the base 12, for retaining the central and outer tubes 18 and 22, and the springs 20, 24 and 26, to the base and axle 14 and 16.

[0023] The central tube 18 is engaged over and is shorter than the axle 16 and the outer tube 22 is engaged over and is shorter than the central tube 18. The central spring 24 is engaged over and is shorter than the inner spring 20 and the outer spring 26 is engaged over and is shorter than the central spring 24.

[0024] Additional details concerning the dimensions and specifications of the components of the invention are illustrated in FIGS. 9 to 15.

[0025] By shortening the recoil mechanism of conventional design, which generally utilizes a single spring on a shaft, by dividing the spring into plural nested parts, and providing accommodating nested components, the inventor has found that similar or even better recall characteristic can be achieved in a much shorter space.

[0026] While a specific embodiment of the invention has been shown and described in detail to illustrate the application of the principles of the invention, it will be understood that the invention may be embodied otherwise without departing from such principles.