Firearms – For discharging a stunning agent
Reexamination Certificate
1999-01-25
2001-07-10
Jordan, Charles T. (Department: 3644)
Firearms
For discharging a stunning agent
C361S232000, C089S001110
Reexamination Certificate
active
06256916
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a class of weapons for immobilization and capture which are referred to as “stun guns” and more specifically to a subclass of those weapons having a pair of electrically opposed target probes between which a current is generated to disable a human or other animal target when the probes are manually placed in contact with such target and the weapon is energized.
2. Prior Art
Manually connected electrical discharge weapons are intended to be hand held, concealable upon the person, and conveniently portable. Accordingly, such a weapon's height is normally less than 7″, its width is normally less than 2.75″, and its depth is about 0.75″. The target contacts are typically spaced about 2.5″ apart along the weapon's width. The weapons shock with circuits similar to those described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,253,132, titled Power Supply For Weapon For Immobilization And Capture and issued to John Cover in February, 1981, for inclusion in stun guns with ballistic delivery systems.
Numerous U.S. Patents have been granted for improvement of these manually connected weapons. U.S. Pat. No. 4,688,140 issued to Hammes in August, 1987; U.S. Pat. No. 4,872,084 issued to Dunning, et al, in October, 1989; U.S. Pat. No. 5,193,048 issued to Kaufman, et al, in March, 1993, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,654,867 issued to Murray in August, 1997.
According to a report at page 41 of Volume 33, Number 6, that is the June, 1985 copy of the journal
Law and Order
, during a portion of a field test of the manually connected weapons conducted by the Dallas, Tex. Police Department, the weapons were found to be ineffective at helping to control suspects an astounding 63% of the time. In fact, some officers participating in the study stated that use of the weapons did little more than further incite already violent suspects. Experiments reported in U.S. Pat. No. 5,841,622 establish that the typical probe spacing on the manually connected shock weapons is inadequate for immobilizing a human target. At least several additional inches of space is needed between the contacts or the weapon shock may be insufficient to cause a sustained involuntary contraction of the target's muscle, which contraction is sufficient to rigidly fixate joints and hamper ambulation. Targets may (but cannot be predicted to) submit during stun gun applications as the result of pain compliance. Moreover, experimental observations also disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,841,622 establish that at safe power levels of 5 watts or less, even with adequate spacing between the contacts, the shocks are insufficient to cause muscular contractions that will move limbs. During or prior to the shock, the target must first contract muscle to flex or extend the limb where the additional electrically stimulated contraction is sufficient to fixate the limb, preventing antagonist muscles from returning the limb to its previous position. A target may pull away from the shock before this happens.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention comprises a stun gun having an electrically insulated protuberance that extends to a height above the line between the vertical terminations of the exposed target contacts. This invention resolves both problems described above. Before the weapon's target probes can be brought in contact with the target, the insulative protuberance compresses the target's muscle. This action shortens the length of the muscle while increasing the area of tissue involved in a subsequent shocking discharge. This, in turn, increases the likelihood of a sustained involuntary flexing or extending contraction of the muscle. The weapon height need not be significantly increased. In fact, in one preferred embodiment where the probes are positioned diagonally from each other across the weapon's square head, the weapon size need not be increased at all. Moreover, a rectangular ammunition bay may be placed in the weapon with a portion of one partially exposed probe touching the ammunition's negative contact and a portion of the other partially exposed probe touching the ammunition's positive contact. In the event of a ballistic deployment failure, without the addition of any circuitry, the weapon can still act as a manual contact weapon. Stun guns with ballistic delivery systems do not have this capacity as the ammunition detonating and target disabling circuitry is usually inaccessible absent the addition of circuitry.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore a principal object of the present invention to provide an improved hand-held electrical stun gun having a wider discharge gap for increasing effectiveness.
It is another object of the invention to provide a stun gun configuration wherein the electrical target contacts therefor are located on opposing sides of a mechanical protrusion.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a stun gun configuration wherein the shape of the end of the gun which contacts a target, promotes more effective muscle reaction to the ensuing electrical discharge.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2208852 (1940-07-01), Mongan
patent: 4688140 (1987-08-01), Hammes
patent: 5282332 (1994-02-01), Philips
patent: 5467247 (1995-11-01), de Anda
patent: 5654867 (1997-08-01), Murray
patent: 5973477 (1999-10-01), Chang
Electronic Medical Research Laboratories Inc.
Jordan Charles T.
Lofdahl J
Tachner Leonard
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