Trigger, Trigger, where is the Trigger?

[Ensign Ricky]

As some of you may, or may not, know, the TOS type-1 phaser had its firing trigger on the bottom. This button is present on the original working prop, the Art Asylum toy, the Master Replicas replica, and even the recent Wand Company Remote, all have it on the bottom of the phaser.

However, a lot of publications, online references, and guides have the targeting sight as the t-1's trigger.

So how can the merchandise get it so right and the "experts" get it so wrong?

 

[CrazyMatt]

Doesn't make sense that the trigger would be on the bottom... every time a person slapped it on their weapons belt, it would fire!

 

[Spock's Barber]

Doesn't make sense that the trigger would be on the bottom... every time a person slapped it on their weapons belt, it would fire!

Hmmmmmm...... maybe Crazy Matt isn't so crazy afterall.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I'd be concerned about it discharging when plugging it back into phaser-2

Note that the TNG version had the trigger on top as well.

EDIT: Don't we see the top button used as the trigger in TAS?

 

[Ensign Ricky]

Doesn't make sense that the trigger would be on the bottom...

But it is.

 

[CrazyMatt]

Hmmmmmm...... maybe Crazy Matt isn't so crazy afterall.

Whoda thunkit?

 

[Timo]

The trigger has to be at the bottom if it is to be, well, triggered when Type 1 is part of Type 2...

..Unless the 1 has a wireless trigger. Which is sorta scary at so many levels.

In "A Private Little War", we learn that an untrained operator has virtually no hope of finding the trigger, not even to literally save her life. OTOH, an untrained operator can stumble upon it as per "City on the Edge of Forever". Perhaps Type 1 indeed has two triggers, with the user required to press on both of them to fire the thing? Different users might choose a different button as their "safety catch", with some preferring the top one as the final "trigger", some the bottom one.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[DonIago]

Not having seen APLW in ages, is it possible Our Heroes did in fact engage some sort of safety on their phasers precisely so that they wouldn't inadvertently fire?

If we assume such a mechanism has to be deliberately engaged, then it makes some sense that crazy McCoy wouldn't have done so in City.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Perhaps Type 1 indeed has two triggers, with the user required to press on both of them to fire the thing? Different users might choose a different button as their "safety catch", with some preferring the top one as the final "trigger", some the bottom one.

The H&K P7 has lever built into the grip rather than a traditional safety. You have to squeeze the grip hard while pulling the trigger, or it will not fire:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heckler_&_Koch_P7#Features

It's an uncommon design, but users love it.

 

[Timo]

I remember that one from my roleplaying days - that is, we looked up the specs for all sorts of exotic guns for the characters to use. Never fired one. Doesn't the need to clench the three fingers cause trouble with using the fourth, i.e. with the aim?

Not having seen APLW in ages, is it possible Our Heroes did in fact engage some sort of safety on their phasers precisely so that they wouldn't inadvertently fire?

In this specific case, this is extremely improbable. Kirk had just finished using the gun for killing the mugato when Nona knocked him out and stole the phaser.

If there's a complex safety system of some sort, it's of the sort that automatically activates unless our heroes intervene, rather than something they need to turn on. But a complex and unintuitive user interface (say, the two-trigger setup) would also explain why Nona spent several seconds fumbling with this gun she had seen being used just moments earlier.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[drt]

So how can the merchandise get it so right and the "experts" get it so wrong?

Well, to be fair, all of that merchandise is relatively recent and the idea of the trigger being on top propagated from FJ's 70s Tech Manual* (which was created with no official input). I'm not sure when/what the "a-ha" moment was that let people determine the actual trigger was on the bottom.

* = which probably then influenced the design of the TNG phaser ones.

 

[Ensign Ricky]

Not having seen APLW in ages, is it possible Our Heroes did in fact engage some sort of safety on their phasers precisely so that they wouldn't inadvertently fire?

According to Star Trek: The Magazine v3n3, the phaser could not be fired until the targeting sight was raised.

 

[Timo]

...Which probably isn't "true" in closer analysis, but would count as a "double trigger", requiring combined use of thumb and forefinger.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Racer_X]

Correct. Check out the original phaser images by Matt Jefferies here. His statement was "trigger button inoperative until sight is open". You can see Kirk do this in "Return of the Archons".

 

[Ensign Ricky]

From APLW

Raised (note the depression on McCoy's index):

Lowered:

 

[Albertese]

As indicated above, the idea of the trigger being on top instead of the scope, came from the FJ Tech Manual. He based his drawings on photographs of the props that appear in The Making of Star Trek. These have no technical call-outs and you can see that he misinterpreted the shapes of several props to include things like shadows as part of the prop (carefully compare his Phaser II to the photo in TMoST). As it turns out the FJTM became the primary reference material for all the licensed materials for the next couple decades.

--Alex

 

[johnnybear]

Maybe it has a safety catch?
JB