Ordnance – Waging war
Reexamination Certificate
2000-05-12
2003-06-10
Carone, Michael J. (Department: 3641)
Ordnance
Waging war
C042S084000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06575073
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of non-lethal weapons for immobilizing a live target for capture and more specifically to such a weapon having two projectiles and configured for long distance usage. Wires tethered to a high voltage source, employ a pair of connectors to apply the voltage across the target, the distance between the connecters on the target being the result of divergence of the connectors in flight.
2. Prior Art
TASER® is the trademark for currently manufactured ballistic weapons which output electrical power pulses to immobilize and capture human and other animal assailants and which have a lower lethality than conventional firearms. Beginning in the late 1970's, law enforcement agencies began to employ TASER weapons as a firearm substitute in certain confrontational situations which could otherwise have justified the use of deadly force, for example against knife wielding assailants at close range. These agencies have also employed the TASER weapon successfully to avoid injury to peace officers, assailants, and innocent bystanders in situations where the use of conventional firearms would have been either impractical or unjustified. The TASER weapon's characteristic near instantaneous incapacitating power, has been employed to disable an assailant holding jagged glass to a hostage's throat without any physical injury occurring to the hostage. It has also been used to prevent a raging parent from hurling his infant from a high rise and to prevent a suicidal man from leaping from a high rise and to subdue unarmed combatants without serious physical injury to the peace officer or assailant. TASER weapons also prevent heartbreak to family and/or friends, and the expense to the community for medical treatment, lost time, and/or the permanent disability of previously productive community members. Moreover, unlike conventional firearms, the TASER weapon can be used to thwart air highjackings without the risk of an errantly discharged projectile depressurizing the cabin.
Numerous United States patents have issued for ballistic and manual contact electrical capture weapons. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,523,538 to Shimzu; U.S. Pat. No. 3,803,463 to Cover; U.S. Pat. No. 4,253,132 to Cover; U.S. Pat. No. 4,688,140 to Hammes; U.S. Pat. No. 5,193,048 to Kaufman et al; U.S. Pat. No. 5,473,501 to Claypool; U.S. Pat. No. 5,654,867 to Murray; U.S. Pat. No. 5,698,815 to Ragner; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,831,199 to McNulty et al.
Experiments reported in U.S. Pat. No. 5,841,622 also issued to McNulty, established that the TASER weapon connectors must be spaced a sufficient distance apart on a human or animal target if the targets are to be reliably incapacitated by the weapon's pulsed electrical output. The minimum spread that can reliably disable, is presumed to be 7 inches.
The TASER weapon was originally conceived as a hand-held and potentially concealable device. One purpose of the TASER weapon was to create an easily concealable weapon of light weight, which could be employed to thwart aircraft highjackings without risk of a weapon projectile penetrating and depressurizing the aircraft with ensuing catastrophic consequences. Accordingly, as a practical matter, the electrically opposing projectiles which were contained with their trailing wires in a single compact ammunition round, could not be adequately spaced apart from each other upon leaving the launching portion of the weapon. The weapon's developers, therefore, designed the weapon so that projectiles and their trailing wires would continuously spread apart from each other while in flight between the weapon's launching device and the target.
As manufactured to date, the TASER weapon's receivers contain one or more ports into which an ammunition cartridge is inserted. When the TASER is activated, a common propellant expels from dual bores in the single cartridge, two electrically conductive darts whose trailing conductive wires are attached to the TASER weapon's electrical power supply. The darts depart through separate exit bores which have diameters of 6 mm and which are spaced approximately 6 mm apart from each other. One exit bore is positioned along the horizontal plane of the launcher. The second exit bore is in a position spaced vertically from the first bore and propels a dart at an acute angle relative to the other dart. The bore's angle originates within the cartridge. As the darts leave their respective bores, they continuously spread an increasing distance from each other as they approach the target. When the darts strike a human target, high voltage, low amperage, and low power electrical pulses of brief period, pass through the target between the darts and as a result of the electrical current's physiological effect upon the skeletal muscle and/or pain compliance, the target experiences a temporary ambulatory incapacitation.
This method of establishing the darts' divergence from each other has a serious drawback. It greatly limits the TASER weapon's range. Both minimum and maximum range are limited. For example, the bore axes of current TASER weapons intersect within the cartridge at an angle of 12 degrees. Therefore, for every 5 feet the dart connectors travel toward the target, the connectors will spread approximately 1 foot further apart from each other. If the connectors contact a target within 2.8 feet of the flight path from the launcher, the TASER weapon would not likely be effective at disabling the target. The minimum effective spread of seven inches between the connectors would not yet have been achieved. At a distance of 15 feet from the launcher, the connectors are spread approximately 3 feet apart and would not likely both embed in a human or small animal target to complete the circuit. The TASER weapon's best operational range is from 3 to 12 feet. Increasing the effective spread between the connectors at close range, causes a corresponding undesired increase in the spread of the connectors at long range. Decreasing the spread between the connectors at maximum range decreases the connector's effective spread at closer ranges. Thus, long range effectiveness is sacrificed for close range effectiveness and vice versa. The weapon, therefore, has limited tactical application.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,654,867 to Murray, FIG.
12
and more specifically
FIG. 13
, illustrates the operation of existing TASER ammunition cartridges. Current, through the circuits detonating branch, ignites the ammunition's primer and propels darts
27
and the pin from the ammunition. The release of the propellant and the subsequent flight of darts
27
to a remote conducting target, act to first switch off the detonating branch of the circuit and, then, to mechanically extend the branch to a remote conducting target where it is reconnected through the target and switched back on. As illustrated, constrained by the length of the TASER receiver's ammunition chamber (see
FIG. 1
, item
20
of the Murray patent), when the electrically opposed darts first exit the ammunition's bores, they are insufficiently distant from each other to effectively disable a human target (as actually manufactured, only 6 mm apart at the bores).
Therefore, it is highly desirable to provide a weapon for immobilization and capture with extended range capabilities, broader tactical application, and, therefore, application to a larger number and wider range of otherwise potentially lethal capture situations.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention comprises an improvement for a weapon containing a high tension power supply of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,253,132 issued to John Cover or an adapter for such receiver. The receiver or adapter also contains two ports, one positioned above the other along a vertical line. The invention comprises two cartridges, one cartridge intended for insertion into a first port and the other cartridge intended for insertion into the remaining unoccupied port. Each cartridge
McNulty Be Tu
McNulty, Jr. James F.
Nickey Kenneth Alan
Whelan Timothy Lee
Carone Michael J.
Tachner Leonard
Thomson M
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