FRAME FOR POLYMERIC PISTOL WITH METAL RAIL

Abstract

The present invention is to provide a frame for a polymeric pistol with a metal rail, capable of securing the structural soundness of firearms to secure an accuracy rate of bullet even in high-temperature environments, preventing the high-temperature heat generated in a barrel or the like from being transferred, as it is, to a handle of the frame, and disassembling and replacing components as occasion demands. According to an aspect of the invention to achieve the object described above, there is provided a frame for a polymeric pistol with a metal rail, a pistol having a slide, the frame including: a lower frame made of a reinforced plastic material and having a handle formed at its lower portion; and an upper frame assembled onto the lower frame while being assembled to the slide and made of a metal material, wherein: the lower frame includes a first support positioned in front of the handle to support a bottom surface of the upper frame, and a second support positioned behind the handle to support a rear surface of the upper frame; and the upper frame is assembled to the lower frame such that the bottom and rear surfaces of the upper frame are supported by the first and second supports, and the upper frame has a front rail and a rear rail that are integrally formed on its upper surface, the front and rear rails being assembled to the slide.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the priority of the Korean Patent Application NO 10-2017-0154824 filed on Nov. 20, 2017 in Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a frame for a polymeric pistol with a metal rail, and more particularly, to a frame for a polymeric pistol with a metal rail, which includes a rail made of metal to couple the frame made of a reinforced plastic material to a slide.

Description of the Related Art

In a glock pistol, the components thereof such as a slide, a lower gun body, and a magazine etc., which are not directly associated with the discharge of bullets, are made of light reinforced synthetic plastic materials having a stiffness similar to a metal, so that it reduces the weight of the pistol and is easy to carry.

However, if the slide and the lower gun body etc. made of the reinforced synthetic plastic materials are kept at a higher temperature for a long time, as though it has an excellent stiffness plastic, the shapes thereof are deformed more or less and gaps between the assembled internal parts are generated.

In particular, the thermal deformation of the lower gun body made of plastic materials causes malfunctions and functionality failures between various components assembled to the lower gun body. As a result, it can deteriorate the shooting accuracy of the gun and the operation reliability thereof. Also, since it can cause the shooting accident etc. owing to the unnecessary gaps between the components, the safety of using the gun can be also deteriorated.

Therefore, recently, a metal part is added to the lower gun body of the glock pistol or it suggests a method of replacing the plastic lower gun body with the metal one.

As the conventional techniques for the above purposes, U.S. Pat. No. 6,260,301 (Title: Pistol whose housing is composed of plastic) and US publication No. 2009-0071053 (Title: Modular firearm system with interchangeable grip and slide assemblies and an improved firing pin safety for firearm) have been disclosed. In the pistol (firearm) disclosed in the patent literatures, a metallic part (hereinafter called as ‘metal insert’) is attachably and deattachably inserted into the lower gun body made of the plastic materials and the trigger and the safety pin etc. are assembled by the metal insert. As a result, it is characterized in that the assembling status of the trigger and the safety pin etc. can be maintained under high temperature.

However, since the metal insert disclosed in the above patent literatures is manufactured by pressing and bending a thin sheet, it is not easy to manufacture the component having a fine machining tolerance owing to the manufacturing characteristic thereof. Therefore, since the gap between the lower gun body (gun body frame) and the metal insert is generated, the vibration and the noise are generated during firing of the bullet, thereby deteriorating the shooting accuracy thereof due to the vibration.

In addition, in order to solve the above problem, there is a method in that the entire lower gun body is made of the metallic materials. In this case, when the bullets are continuously fired or it is used in a high temperature environment, since a high-temperature heat is transmitted to the gripping portion for gripping the pistol by means of the user, it has trouble in using the pistol.

Accordingly, it requires the development of the frame for a polymeric pistol, capable of securing the structural soundness of firearms to secure an accuracy rate of bullet even in high-temperature environments, maintaining performance thereof for a long time without the deformation of the components, 0preventing the high-temperature heat generated in a barrel or the like from being transferred, as it is, to a handle of the frame, and disassembling and replacing components as occasion demands.

Patent Literature

Patent Literature 1: U.S. Pat. No. 5,655,326 B1 (Aug. 12, 1997)

Patent Literature 2: U.S. Pat. No. 6,993,864 B1 (Feb. 7, 2006)

Patent Literature 3: U.S. Pat. No. 8,156,677 B1 (Apr. 17, 2012)

Patent Literature 4: US 2014-0007479 A1 (Jan. 9, 2014)

Patent Literature 5: US 2009-0071053 A1 (Mar. 19, 2009)

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been made in view of the problem of the above-mentioned conventional plastic pistol, and an object thereof is to provide a frame for a polymeric pistol with a metal rail, capable of securing the structural soundness of firearms to secure an accuracy rate of bullet even in high-temperature environments, preventing the high-temperature heat generated in a barrel or the like from being transferred, as it is, to a handle of the frame, and disassembling and replacing components as occasion demands.

According to an aspect of the invention to achieve the object described above, there is provided a frame for a polymeric pistol with a metal rail, a pistol having a slide, the frame including: a lower frame made of a reinforced plastic material and having a handle formed at its lower portion; and an upper frame assembled onto the lower frame while being assembled to the slide and made of a metal material, wherein: the lower frame includes a first support positioned in front of the handle to support a bottom surface of the upper frame, and a second support positioned behind the handle to support a rear surface of the upper frame; and the upper frame is assembled to the lower frame such that the bottom and rear surfaces of the upper frame are supported by the first and second supports, and the upper frame has a front rail and a rear rail that are integrally formed on its upper surface, the front and rear rails being assembled to the slide.

Preferably, the upper frame has a recoil spring installation part formed in front of the front rail and a trigger mechanism housing installation part formed inside the rear rail.

Preferably, the first support of the lower frame has an insertion hole that is formed at one side thereof to have a predetermined depth and has a fastening hole formed through the side surface thereof and the second support includes a seating portion that has a horizontal plane to support the bottom surface of the upper frame; and the upper frame has a front fixed part formed at the bottom surface thereof such that the front fixed part is inserted into the insertion hole and a rear fixed part protruded from the bottom surface thereof and seated to the seating portion while being inserted into the second support.

Preferably, a pair of side fixing grooves is formed to face each other along both sides of the lower frame between the first support and the second support of the lower frame, and each of the side fixing grooves has a length in forward and backward directions; and a pair of insertion protrusions protrudes downward from the bottom surface of the upper frame so that the insertion protrusions are inserted into the side fixing grooves.

Preferably, fitting protrusions protrude from one ends of the pair of side fixing grooves, respectively; and fitting grooves formed at the bottom surface of the upper frame such that the fitting protrusions are inserted into the fitting grooves.

Preferably, a side guide is further formed at a selected one of the pair of side fixing grooves, protrudes upward to be pressed against the outer surface of the upper frame, and serves to guide the position of the upper frame.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating an example of a frame for a polymeric pistol with a metal rail according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view illustrating an example in which the lower and upper frames of FIG. 1 are separated from each other;

FIG. 3 is a side view of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view illustrating an example of the lower frame according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a side view of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a plan view of FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view illustrating an example of the upper frame according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a side view of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a bottom view of FIG. 7;

FIG. 10 is a top view of FIG. 7;

FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an example in which the lower frame is assembled to the upper frame in the frame for a polymeric pistol with a metal rail according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 12 is a view illustrating a state of use in an example in which a slide is assembled to the frame for a polymeric pistol with a metal rail according to an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the invention will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The present invention is to provide a frame for a polymeric pistol with a metal rail, capable of securing the structural soundness of firearms to secure an accuracy rate of bullet even in high-temperature environments, preventing the high-temperature heat generated in a barrel or the like from being transferred, as it is, to a handle of the frame, and disassembling and replacing components as occasion demands. As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, a frame (2) according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a lower frame (10) and an upper frame (20).

The lower frame (10) is made of a reinforced plastic material by injection molding. As illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4, the lower frame (10) has a handle (11) that allows a user to grip a pistol, and a magazine insertion hole (with no reference numeral) into which a magazine is inserted through the inside of the handle (11).

The handle (11) has a magazine catch installation hole (11A) formed on the side surface thereof, and a magazine catch (not shown) is installed in the magazine catch installation hole (11A) so that the magazine inserted into the magazine insertion hole is restricted or the restriction thereof is released.

In addition, the lower frame (10) includes a first support (12) that is formed above and in front of the handle (11) to support the bottom surface of the upper frame (20) which will be described later. The first support (12) has an insertion hole (12A) that is formed at one side thereof to have a predetermined depth, and the insertion hole (12A) has a fastening hole (12A′) formed through the side surface thereof. The first support (12) has a trigger installation hole (12B), which is formed at the other side thereof to vertically pass therethrough, so that a trigger (not shown) is inserted and installed in the trigger installation hole (12B).

Furthermore, the lower frame (10) includes a second support (13) that is formed above and behind the handle (11) to support the rear surface of the upper frame (20). The second support (13) includes a seating portion (13A) that has a horizontal plane to support the bottom surface of the upper frame (20).

In addition, the second support (13) has a pin coupling hole (13B) formed through the side surface thereof, and a fixing pin (P) is inserted into the pin coupling hole (13B) to fix a rear fixed part (24) of the upper frame (20) which will be described later.

A pair of side fixing grooves (14) is formed to face each other along both sides of the lower frame (10) between the first support (12) and the second support (13), and each of the side fixing grooves (14) has a length in forward and backward directions. As illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 6, fitting protrusions (14A) protrude from one ends of the pair of side fixing grooves (14), respectively, and they face each other.

In addition, a side guide (14B) is formed at a selected one of the pair of side fixing grooves (14), and the side guide (14B) protrudes upward to be pressed against the outer surface of the upper frame (20) and serves to guide the position of the upper frame (20) while supporting the upper frame (20), as illustrated in FIG. 5.

The upper frame (20) is seated on the lower frame (10) having the above structure using the first support (12) and the second support (13), an assembly screw (B) is assembled to a nut (N) by passing through the fastening hole (12A′) of the first support (12), and the fixing pin (P) is inserted through the pin coupling hole (13B) of the second support (13). Thus, the lower frame (10) is strongly coupled to the upper frame (20).

Since the lower frame (10) is made of a reinforced plastic material, it is possible to prevent the high-temperature heat generated in the process of discharging bullets from being transferred, as it is, to the lower frame (10) through the upper frame (20).

The upper frame (20) made of a metal material is assembled onto the lower frame (10), thereby preventing the easy deformation of the lower frame (10) due to high-temperature heat by the upper frame (20) while the assembly between a plurality of components in the lower frame is maintained as it is. As a result, it is possible to improve the accuracy rate and reliability of operation of the pistol.

As illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 8, the upper frame (20) is manufactured by cutting a metal material in the form of a rectangular block having a length of the lower frame (10) in the forward and backward directions thereof. The upper frame (20) has a front rail (21) and a rear rail (22) that are integrally formed at the upper portion thereof, and the front and rear rails (21) and (22) are assembled to a slide (1) and spaced at a predetermined distance from each other.

The upper frame (20) has a front fixed part (23) protruding downward from the bottom surface thereof by a predetermined length such that the front fixed part (23) is inserted into the insertion hole (12A) of the first support (12). The front fixed part (23) has a through-hole (23A) formed through the side surface thereof, and the through-hole (23A) communicates with the fastening hole (12A′) of the insertion hole (12A).

In addition, the upper frame (20) has a rear fixed part (24) protruding downward from the bottom rear thereof such that the rear fixed part (24) is supported by the second support (13) of the lower frame (10) while being inserted into the lower frame (10) by a predetermined depth.

As illustrated in FIGS. 8 and 11, the rear fixed part (24) includes, when it is assembled to the lower frame (10), a first contact portion (24A), which is inclined to form a continuous plane with the inner surface of the magazine insertion hole in the handle (11), and a second contact portion (24B), the other surface of which has a vertical length so that the second contact portion (24B) is supported by coming into contact with the inner surface of the second support (13).

The rear fixed part (24) has a pin coupling hole (24C) formed through the side surface thereof, and a third contact portion (24D) is formed at the bottom surface of the upper frame (20), which is adjacent to the rear fixed part 24, so that the third contact portion (24D) is seated to the seating portion (13A) of the second support (13).

In addition, the upper frame (20) has a pair of insertion protrusions (25) protruding downward from the bottom surface thereof so that the insertion protrusions (25) are inserted into the side fixing grooves (14) of the lower frame (10), as illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 9. The pair of insertion protrusions (25) are formed with fitting grooves (25A) into which the fitting protrusions (14A) of the lower frame (10) are inserted.

Furthermore, as illustrated in FIG. 10, the upper frame (20) has a recoil spring installation part (26) formed at the upper portion thereof, and the recoil spring installation part (26) has a concave groove having a predetermined depth for installation of a recoil spring assembly in front of the front rail (21). The upper frame (20) has a trigger mechanism housing installation part (27) formed by vertically penetrating the rear rail (22) and the rear fixed part (24).

A slide lock installation hole (28) is formed through both sides of the upper frame between the front rail (21) and the rear rail (22), and a slide lock (not shown) is installed in the slide lock installation hole (28) so as to be elastically supported by springs.

The upper frame (20) having the above structure is manufactured such that the components such as the front rail (21), the rear rail (22), the front fixed part (23), the rear fixed part (24), the recoil spring installation part (26), and the trigger mechanism housing installation part (27) are integrally formed by precisely cutting one metal material. Therefore, it is possible to relatively significantly reduce the gap between assembly components, compared to separately forming these components.

In addition, the upper frame (20) made of a metal material is not easily deformed even due to high-temperature heat, thereby preventing the gap assembly components from occurring due to heat even in high-temperature environments or at the time of continuous discharge of bullets. As a result, it is possible to significantly reduce the malfunction or functional failure rate of the pistol.

Hereinafter, the method of assembling the lower frame (10) to the upper frame (20) in the frame for a polymeric pistol with a metal rail having the above structure according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

When the lower frame (10) and the upper frame (20) are assembled to each other, as illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 11, the bottom and rear surfaces of the upper frame (20) are positioned on and supported by the first support (12) and the second support (13) of the lower frame (10). Then, the front fixed part (23) formed on the bottom surface of the upper frame (20) is inserted into the insertion hole (12A), and the rear fixed part (24) is inserted into the second support (13) so that the second and third contact portions (24B and 24D) come into contact with the respective inner surface and seating portion (13A) of the second support (13).

In this case, the fitting protrusions (14A) of the side fixing grooves (14) are fitted into the fitting grooves (25A) of the upper frame (20) while the pair of the insertion protrusions (25) formed on the bottom surface of the upper frame (20) are inserted into the side fixing grooves (14). In addition, the lower frame (10) is assembled to the upper frame (20) while the side surface of the upper frame (20) is tightly supported by the side guide (14B), thereby allowing the position therebetween to be accurately fixed.

In this state, when the assembly screw (B) and the fixing pin (P) are respectively inserted into the fastening hole (12A′) and the pin coupling hole (13B), the assembly screw (B) and the fixing pin (P) pass through the through-hole (23A) and the pin coupling hole (24C). Thus, the lower frame (10) is securely pressed against and assembled to the upper frame (20) without the gap therebetween in the forward and backward directions.

When the lower frame (10) has been assembled to the upper frame (20), typical components such as a trigger, a barrel, a recoil spring assembly, and a safety pin are sequentially assembled in the pistol. Then, the assembly of the pistol is completed by assembling the slide (1) to the upper frame using the front and rear rails (21) and (22), as illustrated in FIG. 12.

In accordance with the present invention, a frame is configured by assembling a lower frame made of a reinforced plastic material to an upper frame made of a metal material, thereby preventing the deformation of front and rear rails due to the high-temperature heat generated in the trigger mechanism, barrier, and the like of a pistol even in high-temperature environments.

In the present invention, it is possible to prevent transfer of heat from the upper frame to the lower frame and prevent user inconvenience due to high-temperature heat in using the pistol.

In addition, the present invention is advantageous in that, when it is necessary to replace one of the components of the lower and upper frames, it is possible to separately replace only the corresponding component.

In addition, when it requires the replacement of any one component of the lower frame and the upper frame, it can replace only corresponding component.

Furthermore, since front and rear rails are integrally formed in the upper frame by precisely cutting one metal material in the present invention, it is possible to relatively significantly reduce the gap between the rail and a slide when they are assembled to each other, compared to an existing rail formed by pressing or bending. As a result, it is possible to improve the accuracy rate of the pistol by reducing unnecessary rocking when the slide slides.

While the present invention has been described with respect to the specific embodiments, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the following claims.

Claims

1. A frame for a polymeric pistol with a metal rail, a pistol having a slide (1), the frame comprising:

a lower frame (10) made of a reinforced plastic material and having a handle (11) formed at its lower portion; and

an upper frame (20) assembled onto the lower frame (10) while being assembled to the slide (1) and made of a metal material, wherein:

the lower frame (10) comprises a first support (12) positioned in front of the handle (11) to support a bottom surface of the upper frame (20), and a second support (13) positioned behind the handle (11) to support a rear surface of the upper frame (20); and

the upper frame (20) is assembled to the lower frame (10) such that the bottom and rear surfaces of the upper frame (20) are supported by the first and second supports (12 and 13), and the upper frame (20) has a front rail (21) and a rear rail (22) that are integrally formed on its upper surface, the front and rear rails (21 and 22) being assembled to the slide (1)

wherein

the second support (13) includes a seating portion (13A) that has a horizontal plane to support the bottom surface of the upper frame (20),

the first support (12) includes an insertion hole (12A) that is formed at one side thereof to have a predetermined depth, and

the upper frame (20) has a front fixed part (23) protruding formed at the bottom surface thereof and a rear fixed part (24) protruded from the bottom surface thereof,

wherein

the front fixed part (23) is inserted into the insertion hole (12A),

the rear fixed part (24) is seated to the seating portion (13A) and has a first pin coupling hole (24C) formed through the side surface thereof, and

the second support (13) has second pin coupling holes (13B) formed through the side surface thereof, and a fixing pin (P) is inserted into the second pin coupling holes (13B) to fix the rear fixed part (24).

2. The frame for a polymeric pistol with a metal rail as claimed in claim 1, wherein the upper frame (20) has a recoil spring installation part (26) formed in front of the front rail (21) and a trigger mechanism housing installation part (27) formed inside the rear rail (22).

3. (canceled)

4. The frame for a polymeric pistol with a metal rail as claimed in claim 1, wherein a pair of side fixing grooves (14) is formed to face each other along both sides of the lower frame (10) between the first support (12) and the second support (13) of the lower frame (10), and each of the side fixing grooves (14) has a length in forward and backward directions; and

a pair of insertion protrusions (25) protrudes downward from the bottom surface of the upper frame (20) so that the insertion protrusions (25) are inserted into the side fixing grooves (14).

5. The frame for a polymeric pistol with a metal rail as claimed in claim 4, wherein fitting protrusions (14A) protrude from one ends of the pair of side fixing grooves (14), respectively; and

fitting grooves (25A) form at the bottom surface of the upper frame (20) such that the fitting protrusions (14A) are inserted into the fitting grooves (25A).

6. The frame for a polymeric pistol with a metal rail as claimed in claim 4, wherein a side guide (14B) is formed at a selected one of the pair of side fixing grooves (14), protrudes upward to be pressed against the outer surface of the upper frame (20), and serves to guide the position of the upper frame (20).