U.S. patent application number 11/338114 was filed with the patent office on 2007-07-26 for paintball marker having unitary regulated pressure and utilizing a spring to load paintballs.
Invention is credited to Glenn Forster, David Zinkham.
Application Number | 20070169765 11/338114 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 38284323 |
Filed Date | 2007-07-26 |
United States Patent
Application |
20070169765 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Forster; Glenn ; et
al. |
July 26, 2007 |
Paintball marker having unitary regulated pressure and utilizing a
spring to load paintballs
Abstract
A paintball gun that operates entirely under a single stage of
gas pressure and uses fewer parts thereby resulting in lower
manufacturing costs and higher reliability without any significant
impact on its firing sequence rate. The paintball gun employs a
mechanical spring to reset the ram. Resetting of the ram by a
mechanical spring being returned to a less compressed condition,
does not appear to have any significant effect on firing and
reloading sequence rates as compared to resetting the ram with
pneumatic operation. Employing a mechanical spring to reset the
ram, reduces the complexity of the pneumatic valve. The less
complex pneumatic valve can readily operate under higher gas
pressure such as up to 300 psig thereby making it unnecessary to
have a second stage of pressure.
Inventors: |
Forster; Glenn; (Los
Angeles, CA) ; Zinkham; David; (Ellwood City,
PA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
Leonard Tachner, a professional;law corporation
Suite 38-E
17961 Sky Park Circle
Irvine
CA
92614
US
|
Family ID: |
38284323 |
Appl. No.: |
11/338114 |
Filed: |
January 24, 2006 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
124/73 |
Current CPC
Class: |
F41B 11/723
20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
124/073 |
International
Class: |
F41B 11/00 20060101
F41B011/00 |
Claims
1. A paintball gun having a body forming an air chamber to which
there is an inlet for attachment to a compressed air source, an
electric circuit-controlled pneumatic valve controlling air flow
from the air chamber into a paintball firing chamber and a ram
controlling an air chamber exhaust valve for releasing compressed
air into the firing chamber for propelling a paintball toward a
remote target, the ram also controlling a bolt to open the firing
chamber for loading another paintball for subsequent firing from
the gun; the paintball gun comprising: a spring for returning said
ram to its ready position after said paintball is fired from said
firing chamber; and a pressure regulator for generating a unitary
pressure of compressed air for both activating said ram and firing
a paintball from said firing chamber.
2. The paintball gun recited in claim 1 wherein said spring is
configured to be compressed during activation of said ram.
3. The paintball gun recited in claim 1 wherein said unitary
pressure exceeds 150 psig.
4. The paintball gun recited in claim 1 wherein air pressure
applied to activate said ram is substantially equal to the air
pressure used to fire a paintball from said firing chamber.
5. The paintball gun recited in claim 1 further comprising a
quick-vent exhaust valve for rapidly releasing air from the ram
after a paintball has been fired.
6. The paintball gun recited in claim 1 wherein said pneumatic
valve comprises a poppet valve capable of operating at pressures
exceeding 150 psig.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention relates generally to apparatus
commonly referred to as paintball markers or guns. The invention
relates more particularly to a paintball gun which uses a single
operating pressure to both fire the paintball and activate a ram
and uses a spring to return the ram to its ready position.
[0003] 2. Background Art
[0004] Numerous prior art paintball guns employ an assembly
comprising a gas storage area with a controlled outlet known as an
exhaust valve, a pneumatic cylinder known as a ram and bolt that
opens a firing chamber allowing a paintball to be loaded into the
chamber for being fired by the sudden impulse of compressed gas.
Such prior art guns employ two pressure regulators. A first
regulator accepts high pressure gas from a storage container and
reduces the pressure to a first stage level suitable for firing the
paintball out of the firing chamber and through a gun barrel toward
a remote target. A second stage regulator then further reduces the
gas pressure that is used to activate and reset the ram. When
actuated, the ram impacts the exhaust valve to release first stage
gas into the firing chamber to fire the paintball. Second stage
pressure is controlled to then reset the ram for the next
paintball.
[0005] The use of two different regulators to produce two different
reduced levels of gas pressure has distinct disadvantages. First
and foremost it incurs a high cost of manufacture because of the
additional expensive parts. Second, it results in a higher rate of
maintenance problems. Historically, these disadvantages have been
tolerated primarily for certain reasons. One such reason is the
firing and re-loading sequence speed. It has been assumed that the
use of gas pressure to control the ram resetting is necessary for
achieving high speeds as opposed to a non-pressure mechanical
control such as the use of a spring for resetting. Another reason
for use of two distinct gas pressures in paintball guns is the
assumption that pneumatic valves cannot operate reliably over long
periods and over many sequences at pressures above 100 psig.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0006] The present invention belies the inaccuracy of the
aforementioned historical assumptions of the design of prior art
paintball guns. The paintball gun of the invention, in its
preferred embodiment, employs a mechanical spring to reset the ram.
Resetting of the ram by a mechanical spring being returned to a
less compressed condition, does not appear to have any significant
effect on firing and reloading sequence rates as compared to
resetting the ram with pneumatic operation. Finally, and perhaps
most significantly, the present invention recognizes that employing
a mechanical spring to reset the ram, reduces the complexity of the
pneumatic valve by, for example, permitting use of a three-way
poppet valve as opposed to a five-way spool valve. The less complex
poppet pneumatic valve can readily operate under higher gas
pressure exceeding 150 psig and up to as much as 300 psig thereby
making it unnecessary to have a second stage of pressure.
[0007] Thus the present invention provides a paintball gun that
operates entirely under a single stage of gas pressure and uses
fewer parts thereby resulting in lower manufacturing costs and
higher reliability without any significant impact on its firing
sequence rate.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0008] The aforementioned objects and advantages of the present
invention, as well as additional objects and advantages thereof,
will be more fully understood herein after as a result of a
detailed description of a preferred embodiment when taken in
conjunction with the following drawing in which:
[0009] FIG. 1 is a simplified schematic diagram of a preferred
embodiment of a paintball gun employing the inventive features
hereof.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0010] Referring to the accompanying figure, it will be seen that a
paintball gun 10 used to propel paintballs 5, comprises handgrip
21, a trigger 17 and a main body 12 forming a gas storage area 19
into which compressed air is released from an inlet 15. An airflow
control tube 13 separates the main body 12 from a firing chamber 14
which is aligned with a hopper 16 to receive a paintball 5. Firing
chamber 14 is aligned horizontally with a barrel 18 and a bolt 24,
the latter moveable in and out of the firing chamber 14 during
firing and subsequent thereto, respectively.
[0011] Airflow control tube 13 comprises a ram 22, an exhaust valve
20 and a return spring 28. A pneumatic valve 23 in main body 12
controls pressure into ram 22 at the appropriate time in the firing
sequence to force the bolt 24 into the firing chamber 14 and impact
the exhaust valve 20 to suddenly release compressed air from the
gas storage air 19, through the exhaust valve 20 and into the
firing chamber 14, to propel the paintball 5 through the barrel 18.
Passages 25 and 29 to permit the flow of gas to the firing chamber
and passage 27 permits airflow into the ram 22. After firing of a
paintball, return spring 28 returns the ram to its ready position
with the spring returning to a less compressed configuration.
[0012] Spring 28 is configured to compress more when the ram is
activated and less in returning the ram to its ready state. Using a
spring to reset the ram, permits simplification of the pneumatic
valve which allows use of a three-way poppet valve that can
withstand operation at high pressure. A quick-vent exhaust valve 30
allows the ram to be re-set rapidly and thus not affect the
sequencing rate.
[0013] Having thus disclosed a preferred embodiment, variations of
the inventive features will now be perceived by those having skill
in the relevant art. Accordingly, the scope hereof is to be limited
only by the appended claims and their legal equivalents.
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