Pieper Bayard

Here you can see the “automatic safety” which serves to lock the hammer when the slide is out of battery.  It consists of a rocker arm (or pawl) with a lobe on the front that is pressed downward when the slide is in its forward position.  The picture shows the lobe not depressed and so the rear portion of the arm is locked into a detent in the side of the hammer, holding it back.