U.S. patent application number 11/454347 was filed with the patent office on 2007-12-20 for non-lethal munitions having densified materials.
Invention is credited to John A. Kapeles.
Application Number | 20070289475 11/454347 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 38860319 |
Filed Date | 2007-12-20 |
United States Patent
Application |
20070289475 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Kapeles; John A. |
December 20, 2007 |
Non-lethal munitions having densified materials
Abstract
A non-lethal projectile having a nose component, a driving band
adjacent the nose component and a body component wherein one or
more of the projectile components comprises densified materials
such as elastomers and foam that incorporate a dense filler
material. The dense filler material is a heavy metal powder. The
body component of the projectile includes a stabilizing component
such as fins, drag stabilizing tails or streamers, or rifling bands
for spin stabilization.
Inventors: |
Kapeles; John A.; (Casper,
WY) |
Correspondence
Address: |
CHRISTIE, PARKER & HALE, LLP
PO BOX 7068
PASADENA
CA
91109-7068
US
|
Family ID: |
38860319 |
Appl. No.: |
11/454347 |
Filed: |
June 16, 2006 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
102/502 |
Current CPC
Class: |
F42B 12/74 20130101;
F42B 12/745 20130101; F42B 14/02 20130101; F42B 10/06 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
102/502 |
International
Class: |
F42B 14/06 20060101
F42B014/06 |
Claims
1. A non-lethal projectile comprising: a nose component; and a body
component, wherein at least one of the nose component or the body
component comprises a densified material comprising an elastomer or
foam having a densified powder filler.
2. The projectile of claim 1 wherein the non-lethal projectile
further comprises a driving band positioned on the body
component.
3. The projectile of claim 1 further comprising means for providing
aerodynamic stability of the projectile during flight.
4. The projectile of claim 3 wherein the means for providing
aerodynamic stability includes at least one of a fin, tail or
ribbon attached to the body component for drag stabilization.
5. The projectile of claim 1 wherein the elastomer of the nose or
the body portion is at least one of a polyurethane, polyolefin,
silicon rubber, polyvinyl chloride or polystyrene and the densified
powder filler is a heavy metal being at least one of tungsten, lead
or iron.
6. The projectile of claim 1 wherein the nose component is in
elastomeric foam densified by the mixture of a heavy metal
powder.
7. The projectile of claim 1 further comprising a shell casing for
receipt of the base component.
8. The projectile of claim 1 wherein the projectile is to be fired
from a 12 gauge launching system.
9. The projectile of claim 1 wherein the projectile is to be
launched from a 37 or 40 mm gas gun.
10. The projectile of claim 1 wherein the body component is molded
or machined polycarbonate.
11. The projectile of claim 5 wherein the filler has a mean
particle size of about 20 to about 150 microns.
12. A less-than lethal munition comprising a projectile having a
nose section and a body section wherein at least one of the nose
section and the body section comprises a polymer that is densified
by a powder filler to maximize kinetic energy delivered by the
munition.
13. The munition of claim 12 further comprising a driving band
positioned on the body section.
14. The munition of claim 12 further comprising a means for
providing aerodynamic stability comprising at least one of a fin,
tail, or ribbon attached to the body section of the munition for
drag stabilization.
15. The munition of claim 12 wherein the polymer is selected from
the group including polyurethane, polyolefin, silicon rubber,
polyvinyl chloride or polystyrene.
16. The munition of claim 12 wherein the nose section is a foam
polymer.
17. A method of manufacturing a non-lethal projectile comprising
the steps of: selecting a desired elastomer material for the
projectile; calculating a required amount of filler material for a
desired density of the projectile; compounding the selected
elastomer material and the calculated filler material; and molding
the compounded elastomer and filler materials into the
projectile.
18. The method of claim 17 further comprising molding a nose
component and a body component of the projectile.
19. The method of claim 18 further comprising the step of joining
the nose component and the body component by an adhesive or by over
molding.
20. The method of claim 18 wherein the step for molding the nose
component is by foaming.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] This invention relates to the field of non-lethal impact
munitions, and more particularly, to munitions having densified
materials used for portions of the projectile to provide a maximum
amount of kinetic energy delivered by the munition, as well as
providing a means to dissipate some of the energy through
compression upon impact with a target.
[0002] Non-lethal munitions are commonly used by law enforcement,
corrections, and military personnel to exert and maintain control
over non-compliant subjects without inflicting serious or permanent
bodily harm. They are used on individuals or in crowd control
situations to provide law enforcement personnel with more
alternatives for the "use of force" scale, which begins with verbal
commands on the low end and escalates to the use of lethal force on
the high end. To be effective, the less-than-lethal munition must
inflict enough pain through blunt impact to illicit compliance, but
the delivered energy to the subject must be controlled to prevent
penetration or serious bodily injury. Accurate shot placement is
critical to the effectiveness, because a non-lethal projectile can
produce a serious or lethal injury if fired at certain areas of the
human body, such as, for example, the head.
[0003] Previous non-lethal projectile designs exist which utilize
various materials to increase projectile mass, and to provide some
means to dissipate energy upon impact with a target. The kinetic
energy is defined as one-half the mass times the square of the
velocity, and these two quantities can be adjusted to increase or
decrease the kinetic energy of the projectile, which affects the
lethality characteristics. Impact munitions that deliver larger
amounts of kinetic energy are far more effective for controlling
subjects through pain compliance, but they also carry greater risk
of serious injury to the :subject. Maximizing the mass and velocity
of the projectile significantly affects the range and accuracy of
the round, which contributes to the safety of both the officer
shooting the projectile and the target through more accurate shot
placement at greater stand-off distances.
[0004] Clearly, it is desirable to increase the projectile mass and
velocity for maximum effectiveness and accuracy, up to the point
that serious injury would occur as a result of the kinetic energy
delivered to the subject. To address this problem, previous
projectile designs have incorporated features to dissipate energy
upon impact with a target. Examples of these features include
projectile noses made of compliant foam or rubber, or a nose
material that crushes, breaks or deforms upon impact to dissipate
energy. The compliant or deformable materials have inherently low
density, which makes it difficult to maximize the projectile mass.
In the case of fin or drag-stabilized projectiles, it is desirable
to keep the center of gravity as far forward as possible, and the
use of low-density nose materials makes this difficult. Other prior
designs also incorporate noses filled with fluid materials such as
lead shot, liquid or gel. These materials deform upon impact to
provide greater surface area contact between the projectile and the
target, and can provide some energy dissipation, especially if they
rupture on impact. However, their fluid-like behavior can result in
deformation when fired, causing interference as the projectile
leaves the shell or exits the gas gun. Additionally, deformation
prior to impacting the target can adversely affect the projectile
stability in flight.
[0005] The most direct way to increase the projectile mass is to
make the projectile out of a high-density material, such as a
metal. However, there are significant drawbacks to the use of
metals in these projectiles. In a non-lethal munition, fabricating
the projectile out of metal would be unacceptable because of
metal's inherent hardness and non-compliance. Further, use of a
metal slug in a projectile takes up volume that could be used for a
compliant nose material, and placement of the slug in the
projectile body dictates the location of the center of gravity.
Other options include using metal shot or powder, but these
materials tend to deform like a fluid rather than deforming with
dissipation of energy.
[0006] Historically, lead has been the material of choice used in
all types of bullets and projectiles because of its density and
ease of manufacturing. However, lead is recognized as a toxic
substance to the human body, and as an environmental hazard with
some degree of regulation on its disposal. For these reasons,
ammunition manufacturers are beginning to replace lead with other
substances that do not present these inherent problems. The
replacement material must have adequate density properties, be
available in sufficient quantities to be cost effective, and must
not introduce any additional hazards for use, storage or
disposal.
[0007] Thus there is a need for a less-than-lethal impact munition
that will allow the projectile mass to be maximized while
maintaining acceptable lethality properties. The projectile should
incorporate compliant component materials that will dissipate
energy upon impact with a target. The nose and body material
density and compliance should be adjustable through formulation and
processing changes to produce a projectile that will allow the
weight, kinetic energy, center of gravity and lethality
requirements to be met. The materials used in the projectile should
not pose significant health or environmental concerns, and should
be readily available at a cost suitable for high volume
production.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0008] The present invention addresses the drawbacks and problems
associated with prior non-lethal projectile designs and comprises a
projectile used as a non-lethal impact munition when fired from a
suitable delivery system such as a gas gun or shotgun. The
projectile includes a nose section and a body section and is
designed to deliver a prescribed amount of kinetic energy to a
particular target. The projectile body includes features to provide
aerodynamic stability during flight such as fins, tails or ribbons
for drag stabilization, and/or rings on the body to engage rifling
in the gun barrel to induce spin stabilization. The nose section of
the projectile is made of an elastomeric material that has been
formulated with a high-density powder, such as tungsten, to achieve
increased projectile mass while maintaining the compliant or
compressive qualities of the elastomer. The projectile design
allows the maximum amount of kinetic energy to be delivered to the
target as well as a means to dissipate some of that energy through
compression of the elastomer upon impact with the target.
[0009] The new projectile design of the present invention comprises
components made of densified materials such as elastomers and foams
which incorporate a dense filler material. The elastomers include,
but are not limited to, thermoplastic elastomers, such as
polyurethanes; polyolefins, such as polyethylene or polypropylene;
silicone rubber, such as room temperature vulcanizing silicon;
polyvinyl chloride and polystyrene. Any variation of these
elastomeric binders that are caused to foam by the introduction of
heat, gas or by chemical reaction are contemplated, whether the
resulting foam is flexible or rigid. The filler material can be any
dense powder additive. The projectile body can include any
structural flight body having stabilizing components such as fins,
drag stabilizing tails or streamers, or rifling bands for spin
stabilization. The contemplated launching system for these
projectiles can be shotguns, such as a 12 gauge, or 37 or 40 mm gas
guns. These launching systems are by way of illustration and are
not meant to limit the physical size, caliber or projectile weight
incorporating the novel aspects of the present invention.
[0010] The foregoing and other features of the present invention
are hereinafter more fully described and particularly pointed out
in the claims, wherein the following description setting forth in
detail certain illustrative embodiments of the invention, being
indicative, however of but a few of the various ways in which the
principles of the invention may be employed.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0011] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of a
non-lethal projectile of the present invention, typically used for
a 12 gauge shotgun;
[0012] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of a
non-lethal projectile of the present invention;
[0013] FIG. 3 is a third embodiment of a non-lethal projectile of
the present invention being a 40 mm projectile; and
[0014] FIG. 4 is a fourth embodiment non-lethal projectile of the
present invention, also a 40 mm projectile.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0015] FIG. 1 illustrates a non-lethal projectile 10 of the present
invention, for example, for a 12 gauge shotgun having a molded
projectile body 12 having a rifling band 14 for spin stabilization
of the projectile and a densified foam or polymer nose section 16.
The nose section, for example could be a tungsten powder filled
polyurethane. The projectile body, for example, could be a
densified base such as tungsten powder filled thermoplastic
elastomer (TPE). The projectile body 12 is a cylindrical body and
can also be molded or machined from polycarbonate and the rifling
band 12 is slightly larger in diameter than the cylindrical body.
The rifling band engages rifling in the barrel of a rifled-bore
shotgun or launcher and impart spin to the projectile as it travels
down the barrel.
[0016] To meet projectile weight, mass property, or stability
requirements, the nose, rifling band or body components can be
densified using density-enhanced polymer materials. This produces
components with strength and mass properties similar to the metal
filler material, but with hardness and compliance properties
similar to the polymer materials. The components are fabricated by
calculating the required amount of filler material to produce the
desired density in the finished projectile. The polymer/filler
material is then compounded prior to the molding operation to
assure a homogenous mold material. An example of a suitable source
of tungsteri powder is a product named TECHNON, which is 99.9% pure
tungsten metal powder and is sold by Tungsten Heavy Powders, Inc.
of San Diego, Calif. The powder has a mean particle size in the
20-150 micron range. Other metal powders can be used as the filler
material such as lead, iron or other heavy metals. The body is
molded using conventional production molding techniques. The molded
densified components of the present invention can be attached to
each other using a suitable adhesive, such as cyanoacrylate, or the
components can be molded in one piece using over-molding
techniques. The dense powder additive can also be materials other
than heavy metal, such as bismuth trioxide. The additive requires
particulates denser than the elastomer material.
[0017] FIG. 2 illustrates a second embodiment projectile 20 having
for example, a molded polyurethane finned body 22 and a densified
foam nose 24. The finned body 22 has a number of fins 26 uniformly
spaced around the circumference of the body. The densified foam
nose 24 is produced by a process which has been developed to
introduce a dense powder such a tungsten into the elastomer prior
to the foaming step, so that after foaming, a much denser foam
material is obtained. Due to the extremely high density of material
such as tungsten, addition of a dense powder to an elastomeric foam
has a dramatic effect on the material density and the resulting
projectile mass. The projectile mass and delivered kinetic energy
can be maximized without the use of solid metal slugs. The primary
benefit of using an elastomeric foam as a projectile nose material
is its compliant response when subjected to compression. This
compliance allows energy dissipation upon impact with the target,
minimizing the chance for serious injury. By controlling the amount
of dense powder added to the elastomer prior to foaming, the
compliant properties of the finished foam product can be
maintained, along with the projectile lethality benefits. By using
density-enhanced foam materials, the mass properties of the
projectile can be adjusted without giving up desired material
properties necessary for absorbing energy upon target impact.
[0018] A comparison of measured material properties for
density-enhanced foam is illustrated in the following table which
includes a comparison to a typical projectile foam nose material.
The primary figure of merit that was used to compare the materials
is a modified Indention Force Deflection (IFD, ASTM D3575)
measurement, which is an industry standard for measuring the
firmness of a foam sample by measuring the force required to
compress the sample by 25%. The industry standard IFD measurement
uses a sample that measures 15'' square by 4'' thick. Since this is
not practical for measurement of a foam nose for a projectile, the
test was modified to use a 1''.times.1'' cylindrical sample, and
compared this measurement to IFD numbers for a material which was
T600 olefin foam.
TABLE-US-00001 In-house ASTM Wt. % Density IFD D3575 Sample
Description Tungsten (lb/ft3) psi @ 25% psi @ 25% 1 Tungsten/ 94.84
241.9 144 PU foam 2 Tungsten/ 93.72 189.9 55 PU foam 3 Tungsten/
92.90 117.0 22.5 PU foam 4 PU Foam 0.00 7.62 1.25 5 Minicel 0.00
6.84 17 18 T600
[0019] As shown in sample 5, the in-house IFD measurement yielded
similar results to the ASTM test for the same -material, giving
some confidence to the measurement on the density-enhanced
materials.
[0020] FIG. 3 illustrates a third embodiment munition 30 having a
projectile 32 positioned within an aluminum 40 mm shell case 34 and
comprising a molded polycarbonate body 36 having appropriate
rifling bands 38 for spin stabilization and a densified foam nose
40. For example, the foam nose could be a tungsten-filled
polyolefin and the projectile body 36 could be a tungsten-filled
polycarbonate. The projectile is propelled from the casing by a
smokeless powder charge 42 positioned in the casing below the
projectile.
[0021] FIG. 4 illustrate a fourth embodiment non-lethal munition 50
having a projectile 52 positioned within a shell casing 54 having a
molded polycarbonate base 56 a densified material mid-section 58
and a rigid, crushable densified foam nose 60. For example, the
nose could be made of a tungsten filled polyurethane foam having a
hollow section 62 so that the nose is crushable.
[0022] One example of a propulsion system for the present invention
incorporates a blank cartridge 64 and a ruptured disc 66 positioned
into a high pressure chamber 68 located at one end 70 of the shell
casing. The high pressure chamber 68 is connected to a low pressure
chamber 72 by a vent hole 74. The projectile 52 is positioned in
the low pressure chamber 72 of the shell casing.
[0023] Although the present invention has been described and
illustrated with respect to four embodiments thereof, it is not to
be so limited since changes and modification can be made therein
which is in the full intended scope of the invention as hereinafter
claimed. For example, the projectile can be molded as a single
piece having a nose component and a body component or can be molded
as separate components and joined together.
* * * * *