Cylinder locking mechanism for small revolvers

In a small, single action revolver of the type comprising a frame including a handle and a barrel, a cylinder having a plurality of cartridge-receiving chambers, said cylinder being rotatably mounted in the frame and having spaced notches formed thereabout, a spring biased hammer mounted to the frame for reciprocal, pivotal movement between fired and cocked positions, means for rotating the cylinder to bring a subsequent chamber in the cylinder into alignment with the barrel when the hammer is pivoted from its fired position to its cocked position, cylinder locking means, which provides for releasably locking the cylinder in its proper aligned position each time the hammer is cocked, and a side cover plate which is attached to the frame and encloses the hammer, trigger, cylinder rotating means, and cylinder locking means in a recess in the frame of the revolver, an improved cylinder locking means comprising:

• a rocker latch member being pivotally connected at a position between its ends to the side cover plate, with one end portion of said latch member being positioned adjacent to the lower side of the cylinder and having a locking lug thereon adapted to make releasable, locking engagement with the notches of said cylinder, and with the other end portion of said latch member being positioned close to one of the sides of the hammer;
• first spring means acting upon said latch member biasing the locking lug thereon into engagement with said notches in said cylinder;
• an actuating member projecting outwardly from the hammer and adapated to:
• (a) strike the underside of said other end portion of said latch member and pivot the latch member against said spring means to retract said locking lug from the corresponding notch in the cylinder as the hammer is moved from the fired position to a position between the fired and cocked positions, and (b) to escape beyond the free end of said other end portion of said latch member as the hammer attains its fully cocked position;
• whereby the latch member is biased by said first spring means to move into engagement with a subsequent notch in said cylinder as the hammer is moved to its fully cocked position;
• and
• camming means in combination with said latch member and actuating member which is adapted to permit the actuating member, upon firing of the revolver, to slide past the free end of said other end portion of said latch member without pivoting the latch member or retracting the locking lug from the notch in said cylinder as the hammer moves from the cocked position to the fired position.