Obviousness

To analyze the obviousness of US patent 12274807 under 35 U.S.C. § 103, we will identify combinations of prior art references that would render the claims obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art (POSA) at the time of the invention (priority date January 10, 2022).

The core inventive concept of US12274807, as articulated in Claim 1, combines:

1. A hammer-forced trigger reset.
2. A locking member that prevents early hammer release (e.g., "hammer follow").
3. A three-position safety selector (safe, standard semi-automatic, and forced reset semi-automatic), where in the "forced reset semi-automatic" position, the safety selector prevents the disconnector from catching the hammer, allowing the user to fire without manually releasing the trigger after each shot.

Identified Prior Art Combinations and Obviousness Rationale:

A combination of US Patent No. 10,514,223 to Graves (Wolf Tactical Llc) and US Patent No. 8,112,928 to Keough would render the claims of US12274807 obvious.

1. Primary Reference: US Patent No. 10,514,223 (Graves / Wolf Tactical Llc)

• Priority Date: September 29, 2017 (prior art to US12274807's priority date of January 10, 2022).
• Disclosure: The background section of US12274807 explicitly states that US Pat. Nos. 10,514,223 and 11,346,627 describe devices where "the hammer forces the trigger to the set position, and a locking bar prevents early hammer release."
  • This directly teaches:
    • A hammer having a sear catch and a hook, adapted to be pivoted rearward by a bolt carrier (standard fire control component, also implicitly part of the hammer-forced reset).
    • A trigger member having a sear, with a surface positioned to be contacted by the hammer during rearward pivoting, causing the trigger member to be forced to its set position.
    • The engagement and disengagement of the sear and sear catch. (Standard fire control operation).
    • A disconnector with a hook for engaging the hammer hook (standard for semi-automatic firearms to prevent full-auto fire).
    • A locking member (described as a "locking bar") that prevents early hammer release and is activated/deactivated by the bolt carrier's movement, specifically disengaging when the bolt carrier reaches a substantially in-battery position.
• Remaining elements for Claim 1: What is not explicitly covered by US10514223B1 (or US11346627B1) is the three-position safety selector and its specific function of preventing the disconnector hook from catching the hammer hook in the "forced reset semi-automatic" mode. These references describe a mechanism for a forced reset and anti-hammer-follow, but within the context of standard semi-automatic fire where the user must release the trigger to reset the disconnector.

2. Secondary Reference: US Patent No. 8,112,928 (Keough)

• Priority Date: July 5, 2007 (prior art to US12274807's priority date of January 10, 2022).
• Disclosure: Keough describes a "Trigger-controlled select fire for M-16 rifle." M-16 rifles are well-known AR-pattern firearms equipped with a safety selector that includes "Safe," "Semi-Automatic," and "Full-Automatic" positions. In the full-automatic mode of an M-16, the disconnector is bypassed or otherwise disabled, allowing the hammer to follow the bolt carrier and achieve continuous fire as long as the trigger is held. This demonstrates a multi-position selector capable of controlling the disconnector's function to achieve different firing rates.

Motivation for a Person Having Ordinary Skill in the Art (POSA) to Combine:

A POSA in firearm trigger mechanisms, understanding the desire to increase the rate of fire in a semi-automatic weapon (as noted in the background of US12274807 regarding "bump firing" and other devices), would be motivated to combine the teachings of Graves and Keough.

The Graves patent provides a robust mechanism for a forced trigger reset and prevents dangerous out-of-battery firing via a locking member. However, for a higher rate of fire on a continuous trigger pull (mimicking the feel of "bump firing" but through an internal mechanism), the disconnector, which is designed to prevent multiple shots per pull, must be bypassed or disabled. The Keough patent, by demonstrating a safety selector in an AR-pattern firearm (M-16) that disables the disconnector in its "full-automatic" mode, provides a clear teaching and motivation for how to implement such a disconnector-disabling feature.

A POSA would readily understand that integrating a three-position safety selector (Safe, Standard Semi-Automatic, and a "rapid semi-automatic" or "forced reset semi-automatic" position) into the Graves-type forced reset trigger would allow the user to select between conventional semi-automatic operation (where the disconnector functions and requires manual trigger release) and a rapid-fire mode. In this rapid-fire mode, the safety selector would be configured to prevent the disconnector from catching the hammer (similar to how an M-16's full-auto selector disables its disconnector), thereby enabling the hammer-forced trigger reset mechanism to function continuously without requiring the user to manually release the trigger, achieving a higher rate of fire. This combination addresses the "further improvement in forced reset triggers" desired by the inventors of US12274807.

Obviousness of Dependent Claims:

• Claim 2: This claim specifies that the safety selector contacts the disconnector to prevent it from catching the hammer hook. This is a common and obvious mechanical implementation for disabling a disconnector in selectable fire mechanisms, as seen in various prior art designs, including those of M-16 type firearms.
• Claim 3: This claim adds a spring biasing the trigger member towards the set position. The description of US12274807 itself notes that the "trigger member 38 is spring biased by a compression spring 59" This is a conventional component in trigger mechanisms to ensure reliable return and would be an obvious design choice for a POSA.
• Claim 4: This claim states that the trigger member pivot axis and the disconnector pivot axis are the same. This is a common arrangement in AR-pattern firearm trigger groups, as acknowledged in the detailed description of US12274807 where "A disconnector 60 is pivoted on the hollow transverse pin 32 upon which the trigger member 38 pivots."
• Claim 5: This claim specifies that the safety selector is pivotably mounted. Pivotable safety selectors are standard in AR-pattern firearms, as exemplified by US Patent No. 5,760,328 to Colt's Manufacturing Company, Inc., which describes a "Four position firearm fire control selector" that pivots.
• Claim 6: This claim states that the locking member is pivotably mounted. While the locking member could be slidably mounted, a pivotable mounting is a common and obvious mechanical design choice for a lever-type blocking mechanism, consistent with the functionality described in Graves.
• Claims 7 and 8: These claims describe a housing with transversely aligned openings for pivot pins (for the hammer, trigger member, and locking member). The concept of a "drop-in" trigger module with its own housing and internal components retained by pins, designed to fit into a receiver, is well-established in the prior art (e.g., US Pat. No. 6,722,072 to McCormick and US Pat. No. 7,421,937 to Gangl). Adapting the combined mechanism into such a modular housing would be a routine engineering task for a POSA.

Therefore, the combination of US Pat. No. 10,514,223 (Graves) for the forced reset and locking member features, with the known principle of disconnector disabling in multi-position safety selectors as taught by US Pat. No. 8,112,928 (Keough), would render the claimed invention of US12274807 obvious to a POSA.