Mechanical guns and projectors – Fluid pressure – With control for discharge of fluid pressure
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-27
2001-04-10
Poon, Peter M. (Department: 3643)
Mechanical guns and projectors
Fluid pressure
With control for discharge of fluid pressure
Reexamination Certificate
active
06213111
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention pertains to paintball guns and more particularly, to a gas holding chamber for use with CO
2
, nitrogen or compressed air powered paintball guns.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Today's high tech paintball guns generally run off of CO
2
, nitrogen or compressed air as a power source. These power sources require a specific volume of gas or a specific pressure of gas to fire the paintball at the correct velocity. You can use one or the other. Most paintball guns use the higher pressure/low volume method to shoot a paintball. Then, a few years ago, miniature pressure regulators became available for use on paintball guns allowing players to use a lower pressure gas to fire the paintball, thus relying on more volume of air to fire the paintball. But, the pressure never got below 500 psi into the air chamber of the paintball gun because valves at that time were not built for efficiency at lower pressures. At the same time paintball pressure regulators became available on the market, manufacturers and after-market customizers shortened the paintball guns to reduce weight by cutting off part of the air chamber, thus reducing the amount of stored gas. At that time there was no problem caused by reducing the length of the chamber because high pressure/low volume was being used. But as the newer, more gas efficient air valves that operate on a lower pressure/high volume (ranging from 100 psi to 400 psi) started to become available. The lack of air-chamber space has caused the paintball guns not to be able to shoot the paintball at the proper velocity using a lower pressure/high volume setting less than 500 psi.
What is needed is a reservoir chamber that couples into the air chamber of the paintball gun thus increasing the chamber's volume capacity to allow paintball guns to use the more efficient lower pressure/high volume air valves. The chamber should not significantly increase the weight or change the balance of the paintball gun and work without modifying the paintball gun by drilling out the air chambers. The air chamber needs to allow air to rush from the reservoir more rapidly through a substantially straight-line passage to the valve; unlike the previous mounting bolt that allows air to enter the gun
90
degrees from the valve and pass through a small hole in the front mounting block bolt thus restricting air flow.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention accomplishes these objectives in a first embodiment by providing a reservoir that can thread into an existing bolt hole on the air chamber of the paintball gun, replacing the old bolt. The air reservoir has threads for the bolt hole, inlet holes to allow air into the air-chamber, a flange to hold an o-ring on the gun to seal air inside, a large chamber space to store a large volume of air, a plug to seal the end of the chamber and provide means of tightening the air reservoir to the gun.
In the second through fifth embodiments, the present invention provides a reservoir that replaces the existing vertical mount coupled to the air chamber of the paintball gun, thereby providing internal gas communication between the reservoir and the air chamber. The air reservoir has a distal end with integrated o-ring seals that mounts into the mounting hole previously used by the vertical mount. One or more screws hold the reservoir in place. The reservoir further includes a large chamber space to store a large volume of gas, an inlet hole to allow air into the air chamber (or to mount a pressure regulator directly thereto), at least one transfer tube to transfer gas from the air reservoir to the air chamber in the gun in a substantially straight line, and a plug to seal the end of the reservoir.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3633560 (1972-01-01), DeFreitas
patent: 4038961 (1977-08-01), Olofsson
patent: 5381778 (1995-01-01), D'Andrade et al.
patent: 5515838 (1996-05-01), Anderson
patent: 5586545 (1996-12-01), McCaslin
patent: 5613483 (1997-03-01), Lukas et al.
patent: 5727538 (1998-03-01), Ellis
patent: 5769066 (1998-06-01), Schneider
patent: 5813392 (1998-09-01), McCaslin
patent: 5904133 (1999-05-01), Alexander et al.
Alexander Aaron K.
Alexander Larry G.
Bergin James S.
Poon Peter M.
Woodard Emhardt Naughton Moriarty & McNett
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