DESCRIPTION Title : PISTOL FOR SLAUGHTERING ANIMALS WITH AUTOMATIC CLOSURE BY MEANS OF THE TRIGGER Present state of the art V/ell-known are the so-called slaughtering pistols or instru ments which, ^" by means of blank cartridges, cause a stiletto shaped projectile to emerge for several centimeters which penetrates deeply into the animal's brain which remains fa¬ tally injured thereby. Some types are tube shaped with no hand grip and consequent ly difficult and unreliable to use. Other types comprise a. screwed-on breech block which, though fairly safe, is slow and awkward in use. Hinged breech blocks, especially those having transversal articulations, are in most cases manually closed by an ex¬ ternal lever, movement of which is unreliable and unsafe. The trigger is generally placed high up on the hand grip so that the strongest fingers, like the index and middle fingers, are engaged with pressing it, and maximum strength cannot therefore be exerted by the other fingers on the hand grip itself.

In other types still the percussion pin acts on the cock through a complex series of interacting levers which make operation unreliable and faulty. The way in which the various parts are balanced is inade¬ quate to absorb the effect of recoil thus creating consid¬ erable problems for the operator.

The whole travel of the projectile generally determines a compression of rubber shock absorber pads with the result that final pressure of the projectile is greatly reduced and consequently is often insufficient.

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The holes for gas outlet are usually too large which fur- . ther decreases shooting power. Tall.horses pose the operator with considerable problems in correctly gripping the pistol. ^' The numerous complex parts both inside and outside the pis¬ tol require a great deal of lubrication with the risk of some of them, especially the percussion pin, becoming stuck fast in cold weather.

Construction of the barrel, breech and pistol grip in. dif- : ferent parts associated together, often creates problems of precision.

The uϊidejr ar* of the breech block is often so low, in rela¬ tion to the grip, as to cause it to hit the operator's wrist should the animal suddenly raise its head. The above invention avoids the above drawbacks as well as providing considerable advantages as will be explained be¬ low.

Description of the invention Subject of the invention is a slaughtering pistol having a captive projectilό ..and: ^' 'hinged ^■ breech block comprising an internal balancing lever whose posterior head is kept, by means of a spring also inside the breech block, on the tra¬ jectory of a gripping means fixed to the percussion pin. The upper front of the lever is shaped as a tooth and the like turned upwards having opposite it, at a very short di tance, a tooth and the like, turned downwards on the breech. The lower front of the lever is a convex ridge which, when the breech block is closed, is practically in contact with the end of an arm fixed at its top to an oblong body which articulates in proximity to the arm itself in3ide the pis¬ tol grip.

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The lower end of said oblong body, projecting from an aper ture in the hand grip, acts as the trigger: - ^' By pulling the percussion pin, its gripping means couples onto the posterior head of the breech block lever, with con sequent cocking, but with the breech block closed, the per¬ cussion pin is only released by pressing the trigger. The first part of the trigger's travel, due to movement of the extremity of its upper arm, causes the front part of the breech block lever to move sufficiently to lock the breech block's tooth into the tooth of the breech and this locks the breechblock. '

A' further part of the trigger's travel brings about a more extended coupling of the above teeth, lowering of the poste_ rior head of the lever which becomes detached from the per- cussion pin's gripping means,with release of the percussion pin towards the cartridge which consequently explodes. The percussion pin substantially consists of a small cylin¬ drical rod with a percussion tip, of a gripping means that is formed of a disk fixed to the rod in proximity to its tip, of a cylindrical spiral spring placed round the rod. The spring determines a reaction between the disk and a co¬ axial ring nut fixing it in place.

Said percussion pin is situated within the body of said breech block and, when the latter is closed, the percussion pin is aligned with the cartridge and the captiveprojectile. The projectile substantially consists of a small cylindrical rod of a practically constant diameter, the back end of which, destined to remain in the compression chamber, is separated from the front end, with its point that will pe- netrate into the animal's brain, by a fixed disk.

In the breech there are three cylindrical aligned chambers: the explosion chamber containing the cartridge, the compres_

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sion chamber containing the back end of the projectile and the expansion chamber in which lies the front end of the projectile almost of the same diameter as that of the disk which separates the back end of the projectile from the 5 front end.

The barrel has external threading for screwing on the bar¬ rel casing which lengthens the barrel, said casing formed of a cylinder closed at one end and with a central hole through which the front end of the projectile passes.

10- The inside of the barrel casing extending the barrel is practically filled up by disk-shaped poly'-urethane foam pads, for absorbing the shock set up by the explosion,and said pads are pressed by the disk fixed onto the captive

15. ^" projectile.

The travel of this latter is free for the whole length of the expansion chamber, practically corresponding to the length of the barrel. The expansion chamber has a cylindrical nylon lining whose 0 ^" inside diameter slightly decreases towards the outside of the barrel better to soften the return movement of the pro jectile after the explosion.

The extractor consists of an oblong body situated in a ca¬ vity of the breech parallel to the compression chamber and 5 placed between said compression chamber and articulation of the breech block.

Said articulation is formed of an ear-shaped projection fixed to the breech _, block and interposed between a pair of ear-shaped projections fixed to the breech.

30 The first ear-shaped projectionjsfitted with a tooth set radially in relation to the articulation, and thin so that when the breech block is opened, said tooth enters a ca¬ vity in the breech and touches the back end of the extractor

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- 5 - and then, pushing it outwards, determines by means of a fixed tang, expulsion of the exploded cartridge. •The trigger is kept in a non-shooting position by a compares sion spring placed between the trigger's oblong body and the internal side of the back of the hand grip.

The hand grip is made long enough to avoid contact between the.lower part of the breech block and the wrist of the ope_ rator even if the animal were suddenly to raise its head.

The trigger, consisting of the lower extremity of the oblong body with articulation inside the hand grip, lies in proxi¬ mity to the little finger and the fourth finger while the mi-idle and index fingers can rest on the upper part of the hand grip in order to exert maximum strength and maximu sia bility during the severestresses set up by the explosion. All the main parts such as the breech, hand grip, barrel ca sing, breech block, projectile, extractor, percussion pin, breech block lever, trigger body, various springs, shock ab sorbers, articulation pins in the breech block and lever, and others are longitudinally crossed by a single geometri- cal plane of symmetry to ensure maximum equilibrium among all the weights as well as maximum structural and functional simplicity.

The breech, hand grip and barrel are made in a single piece cast in wax. About half way along the expansion chamber on the barrel ca sing, small outlet holes are cut to ensure the best control of the forces set up by formation of gas.

Similarly at the end of the compression chamber, small holes are cut in the breech. On each side of the breech there is a nylon pad, the two pads being paired together by a bridge across the upper part of the breech itself. Inside each pad there are longitudinal

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ducts matching the outlet holes in the breech through which the gas can escape thus reducing the- noise and ' heat caused by the explosion. The thread on the outside of the barrel is rounded to facilitate cleaning. A rigid poly irethane disk is placed among the shock-ab sorbing pads. The hole in said disk through which the projectile passes, has a diameter smaller than the exter¬ nal diameter of said projectile and this, due to the fric tion thereby caused, prevents it: from accidentally leav- ing the mouth of the pistol.

In the lower part of the breech block there are expanding points whose inner sides_symmetrically embrace the two sides of the breech, on one side and on the other. These expansions contain cylindrical chambers facing to- wards the breech, each one having inside it a sphere which is caused, by pressure from an internal spring, to project from a smaller hole in the walls and, when the breech block is closed, said spring penetrates inside a concave niche in the sides of the breech keeping the breech block closed against accidental opening. Examples of execution Fig.1. An outside view of the pistol.

Fig.2. Detail of breech block coupling seen in cross sec¬ tion. Fig.3. Detail of breech block coupling onto the breech. Fig.4. Longitudinal section view of the pistol uncocked. Fig.5. Longitudinal section view of the pistol cocked. Fig.6. Longitudinal section view of the pistol with the breech block locked. Fig.7. Longitudinal section view of the pistol after the explosion and before automatic return of projectile.

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Fig.8. Longitudinal section view of the pistol during the extraction stage. -..

'The pistol comprises the breech 10, hand grip 11, bar¬ rel 12 all built from a single piece of metal. The breech in turn comprises the cylindrical explosion chamber 16 in which the cartridge 1 with base 31 is placed, the cylin¬ drical compression chamber 17 coaxial with and having a bigger diameter than the first chamber, the cylindrical expansion chamber 18 which has a much larger diameter. The posterior end 20 of the rod-shaped captive projectile 19 comprising the disk-shaped head 21 and the tubular ex¬ tremity 22 with cylindrical hole 23 and tip 97, are housed in the chamber 17 where there is a small amount of play. Chambers 16, 17, 18 are coaxial. The nylon barrel casing 24 fits inside chamber 18 and is further held in place by the raised edge 25 of the barrel 12, said casing being slightly tapered towards the inside of the barrel. The internal diameter of the barrel casing is slightly lar- ger than that of the disk-shaped head 21 of the projectile. The breech also has cylindrical chamber 26 for the extrac¬ tor 27 to which the extraction tooth 28 is fixed, sunk in a niche 29 made for it in the wall 30 of the breech.. The barrel has rounded external threading 32, easy to clean and keep free from rust.

The breech has at its top a pair 33 of longitudinal projec¬ tions with which to articulate, round the pin 34 of the breech block 13,by means of the ear-shaped projection 77 on the breech block,said projection being placed between the first two.

Lower down there is the niche 35 with tooth 36 which fits

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into tooth 39 of the lever,37 of the breech block. Said lever articulates on the moveable pin 38 supported by the ..breech block and comprises the posterior head 40 for fit¬ ting onto the percussion pin, the convex ridge 41 to be pressed by the trigger, as will be explained, and the tang 42 with pin 43 for working the cylindrical spiral spring 44 placed in chamber 45 of the breech block. The lower extremity of the sprins is guided and held by the head 46- of the plate 47,inserted within a corresponding po- : aterior seat in the breech block, and is fixed by the. ring nut 48 of the percussion pin 50, which ring nut penetrates inside, a special hole 49 in the plate itself. The percussion pin 50, lodged in the chamber 56 of the breech block., comprises the small cylindrical rod 51 with percus- sion tip 52 and the fixed disk 53 where a cylindrical spiral compression spring 54 reacts and fits against the inside of the ring nut 48 which screws into the threaded seat 55 of the breech block. The manual pulling ring 57 is applied to the rod 5-1 through the transversal hole 56.

The barrel 12 is extended in length by means of the barrel casing 60 with its inside threading 61 for screwing .onto the external thread 32 of the barrel. In the flat end 62 of the barrel casing there is a central hole 63 through which the front part 22 of the projectile 19 comes out when the cartridge has exploded. On part 22 of the pro-jectile the disk-shaped nylon bushing ^' 64 is inserted, its external diameter being practically the same as the internal one of the barrel casing 60, destined to fit against the external edge of the barrel 12 and the four disk-shaped foam poly.urethane pads 65, 66 _t 67, 68 in the middle of which is interposed the thin elastic disk 69

-9 _ made of rigid polyurethane whose outside diameter is prac¬ tically the same as the internal one of the barrel casing .60.

In the middle of disk 69 a hole 101 is made having a dia- 5 meter smaller than the external constant diameter of the front part 22 of the rod-shaped projectile and therefore said rod freco-mas fixed into the hole with a slight effort. There.is a cavity in the hand grip 11 suitable for receiv¬ ing the oblong body 70 articulated on the pin 71.

10 Said body 70 has the lower extremity 72 which partially emerges, like a trigger, from the aperture 73 in the -hand grip, and the upper arm 74 on the side opposite to the ar¬ ticulation 71. At its extremity 75 said arm is shaped in a curve suitable

15 for matching the convex ridge 41 of the breech block lever 37 when it is in the closed position shown in Figs. 1,4-6

The spiral compression spring 76 reacting between the trig ger 72 and the inside face of the back of the hand grip 11 keeps the trigger itself in the relaxed position shown in

20 Figs. 1, 3-4 .

On its lower sides below its articulation on pin 34, the r ^* breech block has two symmetrical expansions 99 containing the cylindrical chambers 79 holding the small spheres 80 kept pressing against _, a smaller hole 81 than the internal

25 faces of said expansions, by means of the compression spring 82.

When the breech block is closed, said small spheres pene¬ trate into the concave niches 83 made in the sides 84 ofthe breech, stabilizing closure against accidental opening. It

30 is clear, however, that if pressure is exercised on the breech block greater than that applied by the springs, said

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breech _. block can open by rotating round the pin 34 (Fig.8). The two sides 84 of the breech are protected by the pair of nylon pads 85 connected by the bridge 86 and fixed to the breech by the bolt 98 passing between the breech and the hand grip. Said pads protect the .pistol in the event of its being dropped.

Outlet holes like 90, 91 are made on the barrelcasing that extends the barrel, about half way along the expansioncham¬ ber. More holes like 92,93 are similarly made on the sides. of the breech at the point where the compression chamber ends. Said holes are masked by. the lateral pads 85 whose longitu¬ dinal ducts like 94 and 95 are situated where these holes are made and allow gas to escape through holes 92, 93 thus lessening both noise and heat. How the pistol works

Assuming that the first animal has been killed, the breech block is opened by rotating it upwards (Fig.1 ). By this rotation the hook 100 on the breech block's ear- -shaped projection 77 will cause partial emergence of the extractor 27 whose tooth 28 will cause the exploded cart¬ ridge 15' to be expelled.

In this way a new cartridge 15 (Fig. 4) can be placed inthe explosion chamber 1 and the breech block closed again (Figs 1 and 4).

The rod-shaped projectile has meanwhile automatically gone back inside the pistol due to reaction by the shock absor- be s.

This has happened overcoming the resistance created by fri£ tion between the hole in disk 69 and the projectile rod, it being this resistance that prevents accidental partial e er gence of the projectile.

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At- this point the pistol is ready for further use. To" use it again the percussion pin is cocked by pulling _# the ring 57 (Pig.5 ) and at the same time compressing the spring 51. When disk 53 of the percussion pin has passed over the po¬ sterior head 40 of lever 37, due to elastic reaction of the spring 44, head 40 is immediately brought back against said disk 53, thus keeping the percussion pin cocked as indica¬ ted in Fig.5. The pistol mouth is then placed against the animal's head and the trigger 72, at the lower extremity of the oblong b£ dy 70 (Fig.6 ) is pressed.

Due to arm 74 rising up, the first stroke (a) (1-2 mm) of the trigger causes the ridge 41 of breech block lever 37 to rise, rotation of said lever round pin 38 and penetration of its tooth 39 inside niche 35 in the breech and consequent hold on the breech's tooth 36.

During this phase the breech block is locked and cannot be opened on account of the very strong tractive force exer - ^" cised by tooth 39 of lever 37 on tooth 3 of the breech.

By maintaining pressure on the trigger, further rotation by lever 37 round its pin causes the head 40 to move downwards and free disk 53 of the percussion pin which moves sharply towards the cartridge hitting it with tip 52. Explosion having taken place in chamber 16, resulting gas rapidly increases pressure in chamber 17 with consequently sudden movement of end 20 of the projectile which advances ^• allowing gas to expand in chamber 18. When the head 21 of the projectile reaches pads 64-68, thrust is partially ab- sorbed by said pads without however preventing sudden emer gence of tip 97 of the projectile over the entire amplitude of expansion chamber 18, wounding the animal to death (Fig.7).

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To prepare the pistol for further use it is sufficient to open the. breech block ^Fig.8), with expulsion of the cart- - .ridge as already explained, by means of the extractor, and put in a fresh cartridge. 5 Advantagea

Closure of the .-.M.ή.ged breech block is automatic and is caused when the trigger makes its first short stroke. Since- the percussion pin is released only after the breech block is closed, determined by the trigger itself, it is

10 absolutely certain that no explosion can occur with thebreedi block open or half open.

Though the- breech block is ^: "hinge_d'.J' ^: .sn ^' therefcire of the qui¬ ckest;and ^: most convenient kind, the percussion pin is "in line."' ^" _. with, the cartridge and the barrel.

15 The positioning of weights and various structures, optimum shock- absorption, the particular sizing of ^" the explosion - compression. - expansion chambers, anatomically shaped hand grip, outlet holes at the extremity of the compression cham ber and half way along the expansion chamber, of limitedsize,

20 make, recoil almost unnoticeable.

Having irhe hand grip in one piece with the breech makes the ~ pistol, strong and light at the same time.

The hand grip is so shaped as to make the pistol easy to use even for tall horses.

25 ^" Axial percussion, with percussion tip aligned with the slim cylindrical body of the percussion pin, in turn cocked by axial pull on a ring centered on said body, avoids the risk of the mechanism sticking in winter due to lubrication be¬ coming frozen as occurs with other well-known types of pis-

30- tol.

The tapered form given to the nylon bushing fitted into the barrel and therefore in the expansion chamber absorbs recoil

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-13 - thrust without the risk of any kind of breakages. All.breech block mechanical parts, like levers, springs, pins and the like are inside the body of the breech block itself and are therefore well protected from blows or falls . The pads on the sides of the breech are highly effective in reducing the noise of shooting and in protecting the pistol if. accidentally dropped.

Pressure being applied to the trigger by the fourth and lit tie fingers, and use of the thumb, index and middle fingers for the main function of gripping and support, ensure exoag tinπal stability in holding the pistol and the best possibϋe use of it at the most difficult moment of shooting the ani¬ mal. All the principle movements before actual shooting are re- versible.

The fresh cartridge put in can be taken out before the ex¬ plosion by opening the breech block.

Before shooting the breech block can be easily opened over¬ coming resistance opposed by the ^' springs which press on the lateral spheres.

Up to the moment when the shot is fired the breech block can be unlocked by releasing pressure on the trigger and allow¬ ing said trigger to resume its relaxed position (a stroke of less than 1.5 mm). Maximum accuracy is assured by the breech being in one piece with the barrel.

The thread for extending barrel length is rounded without cavities or sharp depressions which make cleaning difficult and encourage formation of rust. Having the pads made of _, foam polyurethane instead of rubber ensures much better absorption of shock from the shot than is obtained in the usual pistols.

- 14 - As the lower part of the breech block is.considerably higher than the _. hand grip, the breech _. block will thereby be prevented from touching the operator's wrist even if the animal suddenly lifts its head. The fact that the metal structure of the pistol with the barrel, breech and hand grip are made in a single piece by a wax casting, considerably lightens overall weight though making the pistol much stronger than competitive brands. The, percussion pin can be uncocked after opening by simply movin its internal lever.

The, advantages may thus be- summarised: safe operation, strength, a constantly optimum function in any weather, un limited life, easy to maintain and simple to use.

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