Mechanical guns and projectors – Fluid pressure – With control for discharge of fluid pressure
Reexamination Certificate
2002-04-09
2003-10-28
Jordan, Charles T. (Department: 3641)
Mechanical guns and projectors
Fluid pressure
With control for discharge of fluid pressure
C124S076000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06637420
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is in the field of mechanical guns and projectors in which the projectile impelling apparatus utilizes a nonexplosive propelling agent. More specifically, the present assembly relates to devices provided with a chamber for containing pressurized gas and include a check valve to admit or release the gas from the chamber to cause the projectile to be positioned in or expelled from a paintball gun.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
“Paintball” is a currently popular recreational sport in which members of opposite teams attempt to mark opponents with paint, thereby removing them from the game. Marking is accomplished by using a paintball marker gun to shoot a projectile (paintball) containing paint or other appropriate marking material at an opponent. Paintballs are spherical capsules filled with paint or other marking material which burst upon impact. Upon contact with a player, the paintball ruptures, thus marking the player. Once a player is marked, he/she is out of the game.
A variety of different types of paintball marker guns exist in the field, using a variety of mechanisms for accomplishing their purpose of projecting paintballs. Two of the types of actions used on marker guns are the open bolt action and the closed bolt action. The open bolt type of action is used on simple, relatively inexpensive types of marker. In the open bolt action, the gun body comprises two parallel tubular bores. The upper bore contains the bolt, while the lower bore contains the hammer. The bolt and hammer components are connected together, allowing their moving parts to move in concert. The bolt and hammer assembly is held in the cocked position via a trigger sear, which catches the hammer portion of the assembly. In this position, the breach is open and a paintball is able to drop into position in front of the bolt. When the trigger is pulled, the sear releases the hammer and a spring drives the hammer and bolt forward. As the bolt moves forward, it chambers a paintball into the barrel of the marker gun. Simultaneously, the hammer moves forward to strike a poppet valve as the bolt closes on the chamber. The poppet valve releases a burst of high pressure gas into and through the bolt, expelling the paintball from the barrel. A bleed-off of the burst of high pressure gas then propels the hammer and bolt backwards. The hammer is then caught by the trigger sear, and the marker is again in a cocked configuration and ready to be fired again. This type of action is called an open bolt action because when the marker is in the cocked configuration the bolt is in the open position. Because of its early and inexpensive design, marker guns utilizing the open bolt action represent a significant proportion of the marker guns in use.
However, open bolt action has certain disadvantages. Since the paintball is forcibly moved forward by the bolt milliseconds before the air release to the barrel, the paintball may be damaged by causing distortions in the paintball's surface. This leads to adverse effects on the paintball's flight path and decreases accuracy. Another problem occurs when the bolt catches a paintball that is halfway loaded and chops it in half (“ball chop”). This can coat the barrel with paint, greatly ruining accuracy and potentially jamming the marker. This jamming requires the marker be disassembled for cleaning before continued use.
The closed bolt action overcomes these disadvantages. The closed bolt action differs from the open bolt action in that in the closed bolt action, when the marker gun is in the cocked configuration the bolt is in the closed position, and a paintball is already chambered in the barrel. Also, in a closed bolt action, the hammer is no longer connected to nor moves in concert with the bolt. Because when the gun is fired, only the hammer moves, there are fewer inertial forces at play during the actual discharge of the marker. Additionally, the paintball is not impacted by the bolt immediately before it is discharged from the marker gun, and therefore, the paintball should experience less surface distortion. This combination of fewer inertial forces and reduced distortion of the surface of the projectile should improve precision and accuracy of a closed bolt marker over the same marker using an open bolt action.
Examples of paintball marker guns used in the field include Anderson, U.S. Pat. No. 5,515,838 (paintball gun with a passage for porting pressurized gas to a ball projectile); Lukas et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,613,483 (a gas powered gun with a piston and cylinder assembly for ejecting projectiles from the gun) and Lotuaco, III, U.S. Pat. No. 6,065,460 (gas-powered paintball gun with two pressure regulators; one for supplying lower pressure for loading paintballs and one for high pressure for expelling the paintball from the barrel.)
Currently, the investment to own even an open bolt action marker gun is substantial. Moving to the next level of marker gun with a closed bolt action, is an even greater expense. Therefore, the field has been motivated to develop means for converting or modifying for a number of purposes, including converting an open bolt action marker gun to closed bolt action type gun.
One example of a conversion kit is Fusco, U.S. Pat. No. 5,503,137. Fusco describes a conversion kit for converting a pump-action type compressed gas gun to a semi-automatic type compressed gas gun. The kit includes an actuating mechanism, a gas distributing mechanism, and an activating mechanism. The parts are removably connected to the gun, allowing for the gun to be returned to its original configuration upon removal. Another attachment to modify a paintball gun is described by Jones, U.S. Pat. No. 5,413,083. This attachment allows the gun to fire in automatic, semiautomatic or any other pattern of fire. The attachment includes a mechanical mechanism for manipulating a protrusion on the gun, such as the bolt handle, a programmable pulse generator for determining the pattern of fire, and an electromagnetic device for converting signals from the pulse generator into a mechanical motion for driving the mechanical mechanism.
Therefore, it would be beneficial to enable the owner of an open-bolt marker gun to convert the marker to a closed bolt marker, and avoid the expense of having to purchase a new marker gun in order to take advantage of closed bolt action technology. It would be further beneficial if the conversion did not require the structural modification of the original marker gun, so that the marker gun could be returned to its original configuration.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is a closed bolt action assembly for an existing gas operated paintball marker gun. Typically, a marker gun includes two primary structural components: the receiver (or marker gun body) and the trigger group (or marker gun frame). The present closed bolt action assembly can be used in the production of new units of the existing paintball marker gun or it can be used to replace the action assembly in a prior production unit. A paintball marker gun typically is made up of two major structural components: a marker gun body and a frame. Existing paintball marker guns that comprised body and frame combinations that were compatible with the present invention without structural modification of the body or frame include: the KINGMAN SPYDER™, and AVALON's GT COMMANDO. Other existing marker guns with which the present invention is intended to be compatible include the REBEL™ by 32DEGREES; PMI's PIRANHA, NPS's GT2000, and VIEWLOADER's GENESIS. It is anticipated that the present invention will be generally compatible with any paintball marker gun having receiver and frame structural characteristics analogous to these marker guns.
The present closed bolt action assembly comprises a combination bolt and hammer assembly, an actuator assembly and a pressure control assembly. The bolt and hammer assembly is releaseably containable in the marker gun body. The marker body is a pair of parallel cylindrical tubes integrally fix
Jordan Charles T.
Pernia Sherman D.
Zerr John W.
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