U.S. patent application number 12/689439 was filed with the patent office on 2010-07-22 for rifle accessory rail, communication, and power transfer system - power distribution.
This patent application is currently assigned to PROTOTYPE PRODUCTIONS, INC.. Invention is credited to Eric Cabahug, James Dodd, Ben Feldman.
Application Number | 20100180485 12/689439 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 42335816 |
Filed Date | 2010-07-22 |
United States Patent
Application |
20100180485 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Cabahug; Eric ; et
al. |
July 22, 2010 |
RIFLE ACCESSORY RAIL, COMMUNICATION, AND POWER TRANSFER SYSTEM -
POWER DISTRIBUTION
Abstract
The present invention is related to weapons systems. In
particular, the present invention is directed to accessory
attachment systems for rifles and small arms weapons that enable
attached accessory devices to draw power from a central power
source and communicate with the user and/or other devices. The
present invention embodies firearm systems comprising at least one
mounting rail comprising at least one power connection, at least
one power source, at least one rail accessory, wherein the at least
one rail accessory receives electrical power from the power
source.
Inventors: |
Cabahug; Eric; (Fairfax,
VA) ; Feldman; Ben; (Reston, VA) ; Dodd;
James; (US) |
Correspondence
Address: |
SULLIVAN & WORCESTER LLP
1666 K Street NW
Washington
DC
20006
US
|
Assignee: |
PROTOTYPE PRODUCTIONS, INC.
Ashburn
VA
|
Family ID: |
42335816 |
Appl. No.: |
12/689439 |
Filed: |
January 19, 2010 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
61145228 |
Jan 16, 2009 |
|
|
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
42/90 |
Current CPC
Class: |
F41C 27/00 20130101;
F41G 11/003 20130101; F41C 23/22 20130101; F41C 23/04 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
42/90 |
International
Class: |
F41C 27/00 20060101
F41C027/00 |
Claims
1. A firearm power distribution system comprising: at least one
mounting rail comprising an electrical contact; at least one power
source; and wherein the at least one rail receives electrical power
from the power source.
2. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one powered mounting
rail is a detachable mounting rail.
3. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one powered mounting
rail a Picatinny rail.
4. The system of claim 1, further comprising a butt stock assembly
wherein the buttstock assembly comprises the power source.
5. The system of claim 1, further comprising an external power pack
wherein the external power pack comprises the power source.
6. The system of claim 1, wherein the power source is located in a
pistol grip.
7. The system of claim 1 further comprising: a first rail accessory
mechanically connected to the at least one mounting rail and
electrically connected to the at least one power connection; a
second rail accessory mechanically connected to the at least one
mounting rail and electrically connected to the at least one power
connection.
8. The system of claim 1 wherein a rigid plastic conformal shroud
encapsulates wires alongside the weapon, without requiring
permanent modifications to the weapon
9. The system of claim 1 wherein a quick-release fastener provides
electrical connection between the upper and lower receiver
assemblies of a weapon
10. The system of claim 1 wherein a flexible metal conduit protects
cabling which runs between upper and lower receivers of a
weapon.
11. The system of claim 1 wherein multiple rail power assemblies
are interconnected by an encapsulated bus wire system
12. The system of claim 2 wherein a removable connection assembly
allows power to be transferred from the upper handguard to the
lower handguard.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention is related to weapons systems. In
particular, the present invention is directed to accessory
attachment systems for rifles and small arms weapons that enable
attached accessory devices to draw power from a central power
source and communicate with the user and/or other devices.
[0002] The current rifles and small arm weaponry in use by US armed
forces can be equipped with numerous combat optics, laser
designators/sights, and flashlights; all comes with different power
requirements and battery supplies. The result is a heavy weapon and
a heavier field load of batteries to accommodate the various
accessories, which ultimately impacts the soldiers' effectiveness,
particularly on longer missions. One of the US Army focus areas is
improving the performance of their soldiers' combat equipment while
reducing the load that each soldier has to carry. One of these
efforts is concentrated on providing advanced technologies to
demonstrate the feasibility of an innovative communications rail
and power transfer system. The resulting system will be backwards
compatible with current mission support devices and accessories
that mount to small arms weapons during operational procedures and
it will reduce the overall weight penalties of the current
system.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0003] It is an object of the present invention to obviate or
mitigate at least one disadvantage of previous firearm accessory
rails.
[0004] It is an object of the present invention to provide an
accessory attachment system for rifles and small arms weapons that
enables attached accessory devices to draw power from a central
power source and communicate with the user or other devices without
exposed wires.
[0005] In a first embodiment of the present invention, there is
provided a firearm accessory mounting rail for attachment of a
firearm accessory to the barrel of a firearm. The accessory rail
may provide a connection for the firearm accessory.
[0006] The present invention embodies firearm systems comprising at
least one mounting rail comprising at least one power connection,
at least one power source, at least one rail accessory, wherein the
at least one rail accessory receives electrical power from the
power source.
[0007] Another embodiment of the present invention provides an
accessory attachment system for rifles and small arms weapons that
enables attached accessory devices to draw power from a central
power source and communicate with the user or other devices without
exposed wires.
[0008] Other aspects and features of the present invention will
become apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art upon review
of the following description of specific embodiments of the
invention in conjunction with the accompanying figures.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
[0009] FIG. 1 shows a system connection in accordance with the
present invention.
[0010] FIG. 2 shows a power connector assembly in accordance with
the present invenion.
[0011] FIG. 3 shows a pin contact assembly in accordance with the
present invention.
[0012] FIG. 4 shows an upper rail connector in accordance with the
present invention.
[0013] FIG. 5 shows a lower rail connector in accordance with the
present invention.
[0014] FIG. 6 shows a pin contact/pcb contact assembly in
accordance with the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0015] For simplicity and illustrative purposes, the principles of
the present invention are described by referring to various
exemplary embodiments thereof. Although the preferred embodiments
of the invention are particularly disclosed herein, one of ordinary
skill in the art will readily recognize that the same principles
are equally applicable to, and can be implicated in other
compositions and methods, and that any such variation would be
within such modifications that do not part from the scope of the
present invention. Before explaining the disclosed embodiments of
the present invention in detail, it is to be understood that the
invention is not limited in its application to the details of any
particular embodiment shown, since of course the invention is
capable of other embodiments. The terminology used herein is for
the purpose of description and not of limitation. Further, although
certain methods are described with reference to certain steps that
are presented herein in certain order, in many instances, these
steps may be performed in any order as may be appreciated by one
skilled in the art, and the methods are not limited to the
particular arrangement of steps disclosed herein.
[0016] Prior to this invention, powered rail accessories needed to
provide their own power, as no centralized rail power distribution
system existed. This situation necessitated carrying large numbers
of batteries of different types and sizes and in some cases special
tools to change them in the field. The present invention overcomes
these limitations by providing a single, uniform and standard
method for the accessories to get power from a common source,
thereby reducing or eliminating the need for each accessory to
provide its own unique power.
[0017] The present invention enables attached accessory devices to
draw power from a central power source and enables communication
with the user or other devices without exposed wires.
[0018] The present invention allows existing non-powered rails to
provide power to, and communicate with, accessories which are
attached to the rails.
[0019] Weapons Rail, Command and Control Systems in accordance with
the present invention allows digital command and control to powered
rail mounted accessories using embedded microprocessors in
accessory modules and control modules. It embodies hardware,
firmware and command structure.
Power Distribution
[0020] PPI has developed of a fully functional power and
communication system for soldier weapons. This development
incorporates design that meets the military environmental
specification and accessory functional requirements without
modifications to the weapon ergonomic and handling properties.
[0021] The main challenge in this design was how to transfer
electrical power and communication signal from the battery pack in
the buttstock to the picatinny rails fore-grip and hand rail
system. This power transfer system must be durable and robust to
withstand constant abuse to which firearms are subjected in the
battlefield environment, plus the need for simplicity in
construction and use of the weapon. The present design has
fulfilled these areas while providing the art of incorporating a
rail system that connects electrical power along the upper
receiver, the buttstock and to the powered foregrip rails.
[0022] During development PPI identified several challenges in
providing electrical power and communication through the fore grip
rail. One example is that the rifle upper receiver in FIG. 1 does
not allow sufficient space to house mechanical or electrical
components such as bus wires, cables and connectors. PPI developed
solutions that does not compromise the safety or alter the
functionality of the rifle.
[0023] In FIG. 1, the electrical wire is routed from the battery
pack [102] in the buttstock [103] to the powered foregrip rail
upper [104] and lower [105] assemblies. The external wiring is
housed inside a durable and impact resistant rigid polymer shroud
[106] that conforms to the lower receiver [107]. The shroud is
securely retained by a quick connect/disconnect pivot and takedown
pin [108] as well as the bolt release roll pin [109] or in the
trigger/hammer pins [110]. The shrouded power cable [106] runs from
the battery power connector [112] at the buttstock [103] to the
foregrip power connector [113]. The design provides an easy access
for replacement or repair of the cable assembly and eliminates snag
hazards or interferences with the rifle operation and requires no
modifications to the rifle lower receiver [107] housing.
[0024] The rifle upper receiver [101] assembly is attached to the
lower receiver [107] assembly by the pivot pin [111] and held
securely in closed position by the takedown pin [108]. When the
takedown pin [108] is withdrawn at the stop position, the upper
receiver [101] can pivot to open the rifle. Both pins can be
withdrawn to stop positions which completely disassemble the upper
[101] and lower [107] receivers.
[0025] The rail system consists of upper and lower picatinny rail
foregrip assembly and rail electrical interconnects and input power
connectors. The lower rail foregrip assembly is removable to
accommodate the M203 or the new M320 grenade launcher assembly
while maintaining full function of the upper foregrip rail
assembly.
[0026] The power connector is design to operate under military
small arms test conditions such as shock, vibration, temperature
cycling, salt water spray and immersion, petroleum derivatives,
industrial gas, all the while insuring low milli-volt drop and low
contact resistance.
[0027] The power connector shown in FIG. 2 is a one piece housing
[201] and ruggedized power connector [202] where sealing integrity
is maintained during underwater immersion and exposure to outside
contaminants. It consists of a metallic body, contact pin
receptacle [203] with a press-fitted multi-finger spring contact
[204] assembled into a machined shell body. The multi-finger
contact [204] provides compliance to the environmental and
mechanical tolerance variance of the mating pin ensuring continuous
current carrying capacity of the connection. The shell body of the
receptacle pin [203] includes a solder tail portion for soldering
the cable wires. The bottom panel insulator mounts [205] the pin
receptacles with the bottom part and fitted over the connector
metallic body [203], potted together with a sealing compound or
overmold to complete the assembly. A quarter turn fastener [206]
and retaining ring [207] are placed, securing the connector
assembly into the rail pin contacts. Alternatively the connector
assembly can be made from one solid polymer overmold process.
[0028] FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 show the connection scheme which comprises
a two conductive pin connector [301] and electrical buses [302]
which are designed to interface with connector receptacle assembly
(FIG. 2). The contact pin [301] includes a terminal portion at one
end that is pressed into the appropriate hole on the interconnect
electrical bus [302] and can be soldered into the electrical bus
[302] and can be over molded together into one piece mold body
which provides a sealed housing. The two quad o-ring seals [303]
are for watertight connection between the power connector
assembly.
[0029] The assembly is mounted at rear end of the PCB assembly
[307] which the tail section of the electrical conductive buses
[302] are soldered into the top and side printed circuit board
(PCB) terminal pads [304]. Retaining clips [401] are made of a
resilient metallic spring material, which are anchored on the upper
over molded upper rail connector housing [305], a clamp hook
feature of the retaining clip will be use to securely hold lower
rail connector assembly [306].
[0030] The assembly is then encapsulated together with PCB contact
assembly shown in FIG. 6 with the upper [601] and lower [602] rail
connected together and secured with the retaining clips [401]. The
encapsulant material will be made of a durable, high temperature
and impact resistant polymer designed to withstand submersion in 20
meters (66 feet) of salt water and resistant to a mechanical shock
and vibration environment. The profile of the encapsulation design
is to minimize protrusion and maximize current carrying capacity
and provide a degree of serviceability to the overall
connection.
[0031] FIG. 5 shows the lower rail foregrip connector assembly. It
consists of spring pin contacts [501] and electrical buses [302]
and polymer material over mold. The connector is removable and can
be easily mounted through the retaining clips [401] which provide
positive retention and a means of securing the connector halves.
Mated connector pairs have tab features which captivate the
clips.
[0032] These and other embodiments will be apparent to those of
skill in the art, all within the scope of the present invention,
which is defined solely by the claims appended hereto.
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