Gun Rack

As best known to the applicant, the prior art comprises various types of racks including spaced supports which are variously locked to the guns. These are expensive and primarily depend on a lock and key securement. By simply opening the lock, easy access is obtained. Any supplementary locks are complex or ineffective.

A primary object is to provide a novel gun rack which is made of simply, easily fabricated parts and which cooperated in a novel manner to provide a relatively safe, releasable supplementary locking arrangement which would normally frustrate attempts of a child to unlock, but which is readily releasable by an older, more mature person.

A general object is to provide a rack in which the parts serve multiple functions of not only supporting the gun, but also in maintaining the parts in locked condition. A more specific object is to provide a rack which comprises a frame mounting resilient pins at one of their ends, the free end of the pins extending through openings in a locking bar and the pins being sprung transversely and urging the bar into locking position with an associated locking member secured to the frame, the bar being adapted to be moved endwise by flexing the pins to withdraw the bar from the locking member.

The invention comprehends a novel and easily fabricated gun rack which may be collapsed for shipping and in which the parts are arranged in mutually supportive relation.

These and other objects and advantages inherent in and encompassed by the invention will become readily apparent from the specification and the drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of the novel structure, showing rifles mounted therein:

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the novel gun rack;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view of one end of the gun rack showing the parts in locked position;

FIG. 4 is a vertical cross-sectional view taken substantially on line 4--4 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a vertical cross-sectional view taken substantially on line 5--5 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a horizontal cross-sectional view taken substantially on line 6--6 of FIG. 4; and

FIG. 7 is a horizontal cross-sectional view taken substantially on line 7--7 of FIG. 4.

The gun rack generally designated 2 in the drawings comprises a rectangular, preferably steel frame 3 which includes a pair of laterally spaced upright standards stiles or bars 4 and 5.

The standard 4 is preferably a flat bar having flat inner and outer sides 6 and 7. The inner side of bar 4 is adapted to lay against the wall surface 10 of wall 11 and is secured thereto as by screws 12 which also extend through openings in the adjacent ends of upper and lower cross-members of bars 14 and 16 of the rectangular frame. A vertically spaced series of C-shaped gun-barrel holders 18,18, each of which is secured at its base section 20 (FIG. 5) as by welding at 21,21 to the front side 7 of the standard 4. The upper and lower end portions or jaws 22,23 of each holder or clamp 18 are vertically displaced to provide an access space 24 for a gun barrel 25 of an associated gun mounted therein which rests within the crook 26 of the lower jaw 23. However, the space 24 may be less than the diameter of the gun barrel and the gun withdrawn and inserted endwise.

The other end portions 29,30 of the horizontal cross bars 14,16 are offset outwardly and are connected by offset portions 31,32 to the respective bars 14 and 16. The offset portions 31,32 seat against the external side of one of the legs 34 of the upright stand 5 which is U-shaped in cross-section having its bight portion 35 bearing against the wall surface 10 and secured thereto by screws 37,37 which extend through openings in the portion 35 and thread into the wall. The U-shaped standard 5 has an outer leg or flange 38 which is caterminous at edge 39 with edge 40 of leg or flange 34 and provides a flat seat therewith to mount a retaining-reinforcing bar 42 thereagainst.

The bar 42 has a series of vertically spaced holes 44, one for each resilient mounting pin or rod 45, equal in number to the C-shaped holders or sockets 18,18 and positioned generally in horizontal alignment with the respective thereof.

Each pin 45 is preferably a resilient steel member and is secured as by welding at its inner end 47 (FIG. 4) to the inner side of the bight portion 35 of standard 5, and each pin extends intermediate its ends through a respective aperture 44 in the retaining and reinforcing bar 42. Each pin has a free end 48 and is deflectible vertically as well as laterally. The pins each extend through a trigger guard 49 of the rifle 50 in front of the trigger 52 thereof and the free ends of the pins extend through horizontally aligned openings 54 in a locking bar 55.

The locking bar 55 is positioned outwardly of the guns as best seen in FIGS. 1 and 4, and at its lower end is provided with a narrow, rectangular locking lug 56 which fits loosely into a complemental vertical rectangular slot 57 in the outer end of a horizontal securing lug 58, which at its inner end is secured as by welding to the inner side of bight portion 35 of standard bar 5 directly below the lower edge of the end portion 30 of the lower member 16 of the frame rack whereat said portion 16 is secured to the bar 42. The bar 42 is secured as by screws 62 to the member 5, which in order to make the same non-removable may be welded to bar 5.

An L-shaped locking member 65 is provided at the upper end of the mounting bar 5 and comprises a vertical leg 66 which is welded at 67,68 to the upper end and front of the portion 35 and upright 5 between the legs thereof. The locking member 65 has a horizontal leg 66 which extends outwardly of the frame and is superposed over a horizontal inwardly extending leg 67 at the upper end of the locking bar 55. A pair of vertically alignable holes 70,71 are provided in the legs 66,67 to receive the hasp 72 of a key lock 75.

In opening the rack the lock hasp is removed and the locking bar is moved outwardly, it being understood that sufficient clearance is provided between the upper and lower ends of the locking bar and the cooperating locking elements. In angling the locking bar the pins are sprung downwardly resisting removal of the locking bar whereby inhibiting young children from access to the guns since the parts must be pryed open. After the locking bar clears the pins, the guns may be removed. In locking the guns they are placed barrel end into the respective holders and the gun swung toward the wall to admit the respective pin through the trigger guard. The lower end lug is entered into the slot 57 and the pins 45 are serially entered into their respective openings 54 from bottom to top, springing each pin down into alignment with its respective opening 54, until the lug 67 is pushed under the leg 66 by springing or deflecting all of the pins down. The openings 70,71 are aligned and the lock is applied.

It will be noted that by locating the reinforcing bar intermediate the ends of the pins, excessive stresses on the weld connections of the pins are eliminated and that the reinforcing bar serves as a cover for the screws securing standard 5 to the wall to resist removal.

Having described a preferred embodiment of the invention, various modifications of the invention will now become apparent which come within the scope of the appended claims.