Gun rack

Claim 1

In a gun rack comprising a cabinet having a floor and a top wall and a rotatable post therebetween, bearing means at the upper and lower end portions of the post to facilitate rotation thereOf, an upper rotor on the post for supporting gun barrels, a lower rotor on the post for supporting gun butts, drive means for rotating the post, and power means beneath said floor for operating said drive means, the improvement comprising a reduced lower end portion on the post which extends through and is engaged by the lower rotor, said lower bearing means supporting said reduced lower post end portion and being supported by a stationary bearing support means which in turn rests on and is attached to said floor, said lower bearing means comprising a tapered roller bearing having inner and outer races, said outer race being engaged by said reduced lower post end portion and being rotatable therewith, said stationary bearing support means having a portion which engages said inner race to hold the latter stationary, and said post having a portion of increased diameter above the lower rotor to facilitate securing the latter to the post, said upper rotor having a plurality of recesses in the peripheral edge thereof each of which receives and supports a gun barrel adjacent the muzzle thereof, a barrel-supporting recessed removable insert in the peripheral edge of the upper rotor between each pair of adjacent peripheral recesses, each of said peripheral and insert recesses having a cushion liner for soft engagement with a gun barrel, said lower rotor having a plurality of gun butt-receiving recesses, a butt-supporting piece in the floor of each said gun butt receiving recesses, each said piece being surrounded by the lateral walls of said recess, said piece and said walls helping to stabilize the position of a gun on said rack, and said lower rotor having between each pair of adjacent gun buttreceiving recesses an added removable gun butt-supporting piece having butt-retaining walls, said inserts of the upper rotor and said added pieces of the lower rotor serving to increase the gun holding capacity of the rack, said drive means for rotating the post extending through said floor and into the post to operatively engage the latter, said cabinet having a transparent door through which guns on the rack may be examined, a headpiece over the door, a pair of spaced switches on the back side of the headpiece one of which energizes a lamp-containing circuit and the other of which energizes a circuit containing said power means, each switch having a switch-operating shank extending through the headpiece and terminating on the front side thereof in a button end, a pivoted manually movable actuator on the front side of the headpiece engageable with one button or the other and operative to actuate one switch or the other, and said switch which energizes the power means-containing circuit having spring means associated with the shank thereof so that the latter moves against the action of said spring means, whereby said actuator must be held in button end-engaging position in order to rotate the post.