Underwater pistol

Claim 2

In a pistol having a breech plate, a firing mechanism including a firing pin having a striking path extending through a hole formed in said breech plate to fire a cartridge, and a magazine having a plurality of circumferentially disposed cartridge-receiving chambers disposed in said pistol with the rearward portion engaging the face of said breech plate and having a ratchet index for each of the plurality of cartridgereceiving chambers formed in said magazine: said magazine being disposed in said pistol in a manner enabling it to be rotated, and said breech plate being rotatably disposed in said pistol and having a ratchet detent adapted to engage the ratchet indexes formed in said magazine to cause said magazine to rotate with said breech plate.

Claim 3

In a pistol according to claim 1: said ratchet indexes being formed in said magazine about the outer periphery thereof, and said ratchet detent being disposed at the outer periphery of said rotatable breech plate.

Claim 4

In a pistol according to claim 2: said ratchet detent being resiliently biased toward said magazine, and said magazine having a camming surface formed to one side of each of said ratchet indexes to facilitate the movement of said resiliently biased ratchet detent as said breech plate moves relative to said magazine until said resiliently biased ratchet detent engages one of said ratchet indexes.

Claim 5

In a pistol having a firing mechanism including a trigger member and a firing pin with a striking path to fire a cartridge, and a cartridge-receiving magazine movably disposed in said pistol and adapted to bring a cartridge into alignment with the striking path of said firing pin: a magazine-engaging unit rotatably disposed in said pistol and having at least a single lug protruding therefrom, and said trigger member being movably disposed in said pistol and having at least a single track formed therein inclined to the direction of trigger motion and engaging the protruding lug of said magazine-engaging unit to move said cartridge-receiving magazine and bring a cartridge into alignment with the striking path of said firing pin.

Claim 6

In a pistol having a firing mechanism including a trigger member and a firing pin with a striking path to fire a cartridge, and a cartridge-receiving magazine movably disposed in said pistol and adapted to bring a cartridge into alignment with the striking path of said firing pin: a magazine-engaging unit rotatably disposed in said pistol and having at least a single lug protruding therefrom, and said trigger member being movably disposed in said pistol and having at least a single track formed therein inclined to the direction of trigger motion and engaging the protruding lug of said magazine-engaging unit to move said cartridge-receiving magazine and bring a cartridge into alignment with the striking path of said firing pin.

Claim 7

In a pistol accordinG to claim 4: said magazine-engaging unit having a plurality of angularly spaced lugs protruding thereon, and said trigger member having a plurality of spaced parallel tracks formed therein each adapted to sequentially engage one of the plurality of angularly spaced protruding lugs to effect a maximum movement of said cartridge-receiving magazine with a minimum single track length.

Claim 8

In a pistol having a breech plate, a firing mechanism including a trigger and a firing pin having a striking path extending through a hole formed in said breech plate to fire a cartridge, a cylindrical magazine rotatably disposed in said pistol and having a plurality of chambers formed therein adapted to receive a cylindrical cartridge with laterally opposite notches formed between the ends thereof: said magazine having an annular slot extending radially into said circumferentially disposed cartridge-receiving chambers, an annular snap retaining ring with a camming surface formed on the inner edge thereof being disposed in the annular slot and adapted to be pressed out of said cartridge-receiving chamber upon engagement with the outer diameter of said cartridge and adapted to snap into said cartridge-receiving chamber upon radial alignment of one of said laterally opposite cartridge notches with said annular slot to retain a cartridge in said cartridge-receiving chamber.

Claim 9

In a pistol having a breech plate, a firing mechanism including a trigger and a firing pin having a striking path extending through a hole formed in said breech plate to fire a cartridge, a cylindrical magazine rotatably disposed in said pistol and having a plurality of chambers formed therein adapted to receive a cylindrical cartridge with laterally opposite notches formed between the ends thereof: said magazine having an annular slot extending radially into said circumferentially disposed cartridge-receiving chambers, an annular snap retaining ring with a camming surface formed on the inner edge thereof being disposed in the annular slot and adapted to be pressed out of said cartridge-receiving chamber upon engagement with the outer diameter of said cartridge and adapted to snap into said cartridge-receiving chamber upon radial alignment of one of said laterally opposite cartridge notches with said annular slot to retain a cartridge in said cartridge-receiving chamber.

Claim 10

In a pistol having a laterally protruding handle, a cylindrical magazine rotatably disposed in the pistol about a longitudinal axis and with a plurality of circumferentially disposed cartridge-receiving chambers formed therein, and a firing mechanism including a trigger and a firing pin having a striking path adapted to effect firing of a cartridge disposed in one of said magazine chambers: said firing pin being operatively connected to said trigger, and the zone of striking of a cartridge by said firing pin along said striking path being disposed between said laterally protruding handle and said magazine axis, to minimize the resulting upward torque about the handle of said pistol upon firing the cartridge.

Claim 11

In a pistol having a laterally protruding handle, a cylindrical magazine rotatably disposed in the pistol about a longitudinal axis and with a plurality of circumferentially disposed cartridge-receiving chambers formed therein, and a firing mechanism including a trigger and a firing pin having a striking path adapted to effect firing of a cartridge disposed in one of said magazine chambers: said firing pin being operatively connected to said trigger, and the zone of striking of a cartridge by said firing pin along said striking path being disposed between said laterally protruding handle and said magazine axis, to minimize the resulting upward torque about the handle of said pistol upon firing the cartridge.

Claim 12

In a pistol according to claim 7: said trigger being slidably disposed in said pistol and adapted to move parallel to the striking motion of said firing pin.

Claim 13

In a pistol according to claim 8: said firing pin having a striking path substantially coaxial with a cartridge-receiving chamber formed in said cylindrical magazine.

Claim 14

In a pistol having a breech plate, a firing mechanism including a trigger and a firing pin having a striking path extending through a hole formed in said breech plate to fire a cartridge, and a cylindrical cartridge-receiving magazine rotatably disposed in said pistol against the face of said breech plate: said cylindrical magazine having a plurality of longitudinally extending indexing slots formed in the surface of said magazine, and said trigger being slidably disposed in said pistol and containing a cylinder index resiliently biased against the surface of said cartridge-receiving magazine and adapted to engage one of said longitudinally extending index slots throughout the length of travel of said slidably disposed trigger member.

Claim 15

In a pistol having a breech plate, a firing mechanism including a trigger and a firing pin having a striking path extending through a hole formed in said breech plate to fire a cartridge, and a cylindrical cartridge-receiving magazine rotatably disposed in said pistol against the face of said breech plate: said cylindrical magazine having a plurality of longitudinally extending indexing slots formed in the surface of said magazine, and said trigger being slidably disposed in said pistol and containing a cylinder index resiliently biased against the surface of said cartridge-receiving magazine and adapted to engage one of said longitudinally extending index slots throughout the length of travel of said slidably disposed trigger member.

Claim 16

In a pistol according to claim 10: said cylindrical magazine having longitudinally disposed transverse camming surfaces formed on laterally opposite sides of each index slot to facilitate the removal of the resiliently biased cylinder index from one index slot and its insertion into the next circumferentially disposed index slot in response to the rotation of the cylindrical magazine.

Claim 17

In a pistol having laterally opposite sides, a barrel with a bore formed therein and adapted to have a projectile pass therethrough, a handle, a breech plate, a firing mechanism including a firing pin with a striking path extending through a hole formed in said breech plate to fire a cartridge by striking the primer thereof and a trigger adjacent to the handle and having an operating path to actUate the firing mechanism, a magazine having a plurality of circumferentially disposed chambers adapted to receive cartridges with laterally opposite notches formed between the ends thereof and being rotatably disposed in said pistol with a forward portion engaging a shoulder to prevent forward movement of the magazine and a rearward portion with ratchet indexes formed therein for each of the chambers and engaging the face of said breech plate: said magazine having an annular slot extending radially into said circumferentially disposed cartridge-receiving chambers, an annular snap retaining ring with a camming surface formed on the inner edge thereof being disposed in the annular slot and adapted to be pressed out of said cartridge-receiving chamber upon engagement with the outer diameter of said cartridge and adapted to snap into said cartridge-receiving chamber upon radial alignment of one of said laterally opposite cartridge notches with said annular slot to retain a cartridge in said cartridge-receiving chamber, a magazine chamber area formed in said barrel and adapted to have said cylindrical magazine rotatably disposed therein against the face of said breech plate, a longitudinally extending lateral opening formed in said barrel for insertion of said cylindrical magazine into the magazine chamber area formed in said barrel, means to retain said cylindrical magazine in the magazine chamber area formed in said barrel, said cylindrical magazine having a plurality of longitudinally extending indexing slots formed in the surface of said magazine, said trigger member being slidably disposed in said pistol and containing a cylinder index resiliently biased against the surface of said cylindrical magazine and adapted to engage one of said longitudinally extending index slots throughout the length of travel of said slidably disposed trigger member, said cylindrical magazine having longitudinally disposed transverse camming surfaces formed on laterally opposite sides of each index slot to facilitate the removal of the resiliently biased cylinder index from one index slot and its insertion into the next circumferentially disposed index slot in response to the rotation of the cylindrical magazine, said breech plate being rotatably disposed in said pistol and having a ratchet detent adapted to engage the ratchet indexes formed in said cylindrical magazine to cause said magazine to rotate with said breech plate, said ratchet indexes being formed in said magazine about the outer periphery thereof, said ratchet detent being disposed at the outer periphery of said rotatable breech plate and resiliently biased toward said cylindrical magazine, said magazine having a camming surface formed to one side of each of said ratchet indexes to facilitate the movement of said resiliently biased ratchet detent as said breech plate moves relative to said magazine until said resiliently biased ratchet detent engages one of said ratchet indexes, said breech plate having a plurality of angularly spaced lugs protruding therefrom, said trigger member having a plurality of spaced parallel tracks formed therein inclined to the direction of trigger motion with each adapted to sequentially engage one of the plurality of angularly spaced protruding breech plate lugs to rotate said cylindrical magazine and bring a cartridge into alignment with the striking path of said firing pin, with a maximum movement of said cylindrical magazine being effected with a minimum individual track length, said breech plate being slidably disposed in said pistol in a manner enabling it to move away from and towards the magazine and being resiliently biased towards said cartridge-receiving magazine in a manner that compensates for slightly varying lengths of cartridges disposed in said magazine to maintain the cartridge primers in consistently close proximity with the hole formed in the breech plate of the pistol through which said firing pin must extend to fire A cartridge, said breech plate having an annular recess formed therein about said hole, and said firing pin having an annular shoulder formed thereon, adapted to engage the annular recess formed in said breech plate to limit the extent the firing pin protrudes through said hole in said breech plate to prevent the cartridge primer from being ruptured, said rotatable breech plate serving as a firing pin interrupter disposed in blocking relation to the striking path between said cartridge-receiving magazine and said firing pin and adapted to be moved out of blocking relation to the striking path to enable said firing pin to strike said cartridge only when said cartridge is disposed in said pistol in striking alignment with said firing pin, said firing pin having a striking path substantially coaxial with a cartridge-receiving chamber aligned with the hole formed in said breech plate, said firing pin being disposed in the pistol adjacent to said trigger and having a striking path adapted to fire a cartridge disposed in the cartridge-receiving chamber closest to the trigger to reduce the resulting upward torque about the handle of said pistol upon firing the cartridge, said trigger being slidably disposed in said pistol and adapted to move parallel to the striking motion of said firing pin, said piston having a bore formed therein transversely adjacent to the moving path of said trigger member, a safety member having a protrusion and an integral knob formed thereon and adapted to be rotatably disposed in said transverse bore with the knob on either side of said pistol, locking indexing means adapted to be disposed on either side of said pistol and resiliently biased against said safety member, and first and second indexing means complementary to said locking indexing means being formed in the knob of said safety member at angularly spaced positions relative to the protrusion of said safety member and adapted to be engaged by said locking indexing means whereby rotatable movement of said first indexing means into engagement with said locking indexing means places the protrusion of said safety member into the operating path of said trigger member in blocking relationship thereto, and rotatable movement of said second indexing means into engagement with said locking indexing means enables said trigger member to move along the operating path.

Claim 18

In a pistol having laterally opposite sides, a barrel with a bore formed therein and adapted to have a projectile pass therethrough, a handle, a breech plate, a firing mechanism including a firing pin with a striking path extending through a hole formed in said breech plate to fire a cartridge by striking the primer thereof and a trigger adjacent to the handle and having an operating path to actUate the firing mechanism, a magazine having a plurality of circumferentially disposed chambers adapted to receive cartridges with laterally opposite notches formed between the ends thereof and being rotatably disposed in said pistol with a forward portion engaging a shoulder to prevent forward movement of the magazine and a rearward portion with ratchet indexes formed therein for each of the chambers and engaging the face of said breech plate: said magazine having an annular slot extending radially into said circumferentially disposed cartridge-receiving chambers, an annular snap retaining ring with a camming surface formed on the inner edge thereof being disposed in the annular slot and adapted to be pressed out of said cartridge-receiving chamber upon engagement with the outer diameter of said cartridge and adapted to snap into said cartridge-receiving chamber upon radial alignment of one of said laterally opposite cartridge notches with said annular slot to retain a cartridge in said cartridge-receiving chamber, a magazine chamber area formed in said barrel and adapted to have said cylindrical magazine rotatably disposed therein against the face of said breech plate, a longitudinally extending lateral opening formed in said barrel for insertion of said cylindrical magazine into the magazine chamber area formed in said barrel, means to retain said cylindrical magazine in the magazine chamber area formed in said barrel, said cylindrical magazine having a plurality of longitudinally extending indexing slots formed in the surface of said magazine, said trigger member being slidably disposed in said pistol and containing a cylinder index resiliently biased against the surface of said cylindrical magazine and adapted to engage one of said longitudinally extending index slots throughout the length of travel of said slidably disposed trigger member, said cylindrical magazine having longitudinally disposed transverse camming surfaces formed on laterally opposite sides of each index slot to facilitate the removal of the resiliently biased cylinder index from one index slot and its insertion into the next circumferentially disposed index slot in response to the rotation of the cylindrical magazine, said breech plate being rotatably disposed in said pistol and having a ratchet detent adapted to engage the ratchet indexes formed in said cylindrical magazine to cause said magazine to rotate with said breech plate, said ratchet indexes being formed in said magazine about the outer periphery thereof, said ratchet detent being disposed at the outer periphery of said rotatable breech plate and resiliently biased toward said cylindrical magazine, said magazine having a camming surface formed to one side of each of said ratchet indexes to facilitate the movement of said resiliently biased ratchet detent as said breech plate moves relative to said magazine until said resiliently biased ratchet detent engages one of said ratchet indexes, said breech plate having a plurality of angularly spaced lugs protruding therefrom, said trigger member having a plurality of spaced parallel tracks formed therein inclined to the direction of trigger motion with each adapted to sequentially engage one of the plurality of angularly spaced protruding breech plate lugs to rotate said cylindrical magazine and bring a cartridge into alignment with the striking path of said firing pin, with a maximum movement of said cylindrical magazine being effected with a minimum individual track length, said breech plate being slidably disposed in said pistol in a manner enabling it to move away from and towards the magazine and being resiliently biased towards said cartridge-receiving magazine in a manner that compensates for slightly varying lengths of cartridges disposed in said magazine to maintain the cartridge primers in consistently close proximity with the hole formed in the breech plate of the pistol through which said firing pin must extend to fire A cartridge, said breech plate having an annular recess formed therein about said hole, and said firing pin having an annular shoulder formed thereon, adapted to engage the annular recess formed in said breech plate to limit the extent the firing pin protrudes through said hole in said breech plate to prevent the cartridge primer from being ruptured, said rotatable breech plate serving as a firing pin interrupter disposed in blocking relation to the striking path between said cartridge-receiving magazine and said firing pin and adapted to be moved out of blocking relation to the striking path to enable said firing pin to strike said cartridge only when said cartridge is disposed in said pistol in striking alignment with said firing pin, said firing pin having a striking path substantially coaxial with a cartridge-receiving chamber aligned with the hole formed in said breech plate, said firing pin being disposed in the pistol adjacent to said trigger and having a striking path adapted to fire a cartridge disposed in the cartridge-receiving chamber closest to the trigger to reduce the resulting upward torque about the handle of said pistol upon firing the cartridge, said trigger being slidably disposed in said pistol and adapted to move parallel to the striking motion of said firing pin, said piston having a bore formed therein transversely adjacent to the moving path of said trigger member, a safety member having a protrusion and an integral knob formed thereon and adapted to be rotatably disposed in said transverse bore with the knob on either side of said pistol, locking indexing means adapted to be disposed on either side of said pistol and resiliently biased against said safety member, and first and second indexing means complementary to said locking indexing means being formed in the knob of said safety member at angularly spaced positions relative to the protrusion of said safety member and adapted to be engaged by said locking indexing means whereby rotatable movement of said first indexing means into engagement with said locking indexing means places the protrusion of said safety member into the operating path of said trigger member in blocking relationship thereto, and rotatable movement of said second indexing means into engagement with said locking indexing means enables said trigger member to move along the operating path.