Firearms – Implements – Sight devices
Reexamination Certificate
2002-04-10
2004-03-16
Jordan, Charles T. (Department: 3644)
Firearms
Implements
Sight devices
C042S124000, C042S125000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06705037
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to telescopic sights and methods for mounting telescopic sights and, more particularly, to a detachable telescopic sight with a fixed reticle (internal crosshairs, posts, etc.) that may be mounted on more than one firearm without requiring resighting of the firearm after it has been moved from one firearm to another.
2. Description of the Invention Background
It is reported that Sir Isaac Newton was the first person to put a telescope on a gun with which he is said to have experimented extensively for distant shooting. From the early involvement of the renowned physicist in the late 17
th
and early 18
th
centuries with a form of an unadjustable telescope permanently mounted to the barrel of the gun, there has been much change and experimentation giving rise to considerable improvement in the optics, adjustability and precision for firearms. This may be similarly true for devices employing the same technology such as surveyor sights. However, even in this 21
st
century anyone even casually familiar with scoped firearms would note the basic similarity of what is used today with what was used many hundreds of years ago.
Over the years, it appears that roughly three general phases have evolved and coexisted for firearm scopes. These stages were telescope sights with no adjustment, telescope sights with external adjustment and telescope sights with internal adjustment. Originally, following the efforts of Sir Isaac Newton, the gun barrel had affixed permanently to it a form of telescope which was initially adjusted so as to be “zeroed” to whatever range the customer wanted. If the marksman were to shoot at any other range, he would have to aim the firearm off of the target or bulls eye in some fashion to compensate.
It is reported that by the 1860's, the beginning of the second phase had started where an external “elevation” adjustment had developed for raising and lowering the point of impact to compensate for distance and the gravitational effects on the bullet. This was generally accomplished with the use of threaded and clamp screws permitting the rear of the scope to be raised and lowered and/or permitting the front of the scope to be so adjusted.
The exploits of scope equipped sharpshooters in the American Civil War were well reported and are believed to have been a cause for the public's interest thereafter in scope sighted rifles. The movie “Gettysburg” shows General Reynolds being shot from a considerable distance by a Confederate sniper using what appeared to be a British Whitworth rifle fitted with one of the various British supplied scopes which permitted this rudimentary elevation adjustment.
The second “phase” commenced mostly after the Civil War when firearm scopes were devised that allowed “external” adjustment of the scope to permit changes in elevation, as well as changes in windage (left to right movement of the point of impact of the projectile). The third phase, and essentially the presently existing phase, started in about the 1930's when an internal adjustment was provided so that the reticule within the tube of the scope could be moved (originally only for elevation).
Today, most all rifle scopes manufactured in the United States and abroad are of the “internal adjustment” variety. In these, the tube holding the optical lenses is attached securely with mounts and rings to the rifle (usually the receiver) so that the scope itself cannot move. The required reticule adjustment for elevation and windage occurs internally within the tube by use of knobs on the outside of the tube. The internal adjustment scope of today has certain advantages, particularly in size and sleekness of appearance with fewer outside features. Notwithstanding these advantages it has several notable deficiencies from the more modern externally adjusted variety, which in the target shooting community in the middle 20
th
century came to be known as “return to battery” type rifle scopes.
A return to battery type scope typically has a front and rear mount attached to the rifle and the scope tube is free to move forward and then backwards within these mounts. The stability of the tube is maintained by points (including springs) located in each ring. While any number of contact points could be utilized, the preferred approach would be three contact points under pressure thereby utilizing the principle of the “three legged stool” effect, to thereby assure that the scope tube is returned to where it had been adjusted. Upon recoil of the rifle, the scope moves somewhat forward relative to the rifle as the rifle jolts backward. The scope then is pushed back by the marksman so that it “returns to battery.” This permitted movement is useful in preserving the optics from breaking or “shaking loose.” The scope itself is often pushed back or “returned to battery” by a spring around and on the outside of the tube of the scope. On the rear mount there is a precision type of industrial micrometer on the top and side which puts pressure on the side of the scope tube to push and hold the scope left or right (windage adjustment) or move it up or down for elevation adjustment. U.S. Pat. No. 2,208,913 to Unertl and U.S. Pat. No. 2,336,107 to Litschert disclose mounting arrangements for return to battery types of scopes.
One optical advantage of the return to battery type scope is that the sighting reticule (often referred to as “crosshairs”) is always centered in the middle of the lens since it cannot move. This is the point where optical performance is believed to be optimal. As is commonly known from photographic experience, the further an image approaches the edge of a lens the more diminished in quality it becomes. With the internal adjustment scopes of today in order to get the point of impact adjusted adequately a shooter often has the scope's reticule very far off center of the lens. In addition to this optical advantage, the external adjustments of return to battery type scopes permit a greater range of adjustment thereby permitting much longer accurate shots. It is for this reason that many of the return to battery type scopes manufactured in the United States over the last 50 or so years have been sold to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Marine Corps and the Secret Service.
Over the 20
th
century more and more improvements were made to rifle scopes, including objective lens adjustments to deal with parallax, multiple lens coatings to improve optics, internal reticule adjustments (for both elevation and windage), devices to secure such adjustments from recoil movement, centering of the reticule after adjustment, different types of reticule, lighter weight, stronger materials, computer improved optics, etc. These improvements and changes have made the rifle scopes used by today's hunters and target shooters a much more usable and effective devise for improving the accuracy of firearms in general, whether for sporting, police or military application.
While much has occurred in the last 100 years to improve rifle scopes, one key aspect has remained the same and unchanged and that is the practice of designing scopes and their mounting mechanisms such that one scope is intentionally and practically “wedded” to one rifle. When moving a scope from one firearm to another, the scope must be resighted to the new rifle, most often quite laboriously. It is not uncommon to spend two or three hours or much more and 20 to 80 shells (which could cost $50 to $100 or more) to “sight in” a scope newly put on a rifle. It has been said that a good rule of thumb for a hunter or target shooter is to spend at least as much on a scope as on the rifle to which it is to be affixed. This presently is a reasonable rule of thumb, and it is easy to see how expensive this becomes if a hunter or a marksman has several rifles to shoot different type and size cartridges for entirely different purposes.
Thus, there is a need for an apparatus and mounting methods whereby a single scope may be moved from firearm to firear
Hayes Bret
Jordan Charles T.
Kirkpatrick & Lockhart LLP
LandOfFree
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