U.S. patent application number 12/567735 was filed with the patent office on 2010-09-02 for dry marking system for ballistic pellets.
This patent application is currently assigned to GRUDGE TACTICAL INC.. Invention is credited to Ruben Kinet, Kevin Kirkpatrick.
Application Number | 20100218695 12/567735 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 42666433 |
Filed Date | 2010-09-02 |
United States Patent
Application |
20100218695 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Kirkpatrick; Kevin ; et
al. |
September 2, 2010 |
Dry Marking System for Ballistic Pellets
Abstract
A coating designed to transfer on impact from a ballistic
projectile onto a target. Due to the many possible applications for
which this might find use, it has been designed to allow as
open-ended a range of application as possible by separating the
requirements of the marking system from the requirements of the
projectile substrate. To this end the coating is designed to be
applied to a wide range of materials and shapes. The coating itself
is therefore independent of whatever carrier it is coated onto
which allows the carrier to be selected for its own suitability for
the application rather than conditional upon compatibility with the
marking system.
Inventors: |
Kirkpatrick; Kevin;
(Cincinatti, OH) ; Kinet; Ruben; (Rose Hill,
KS) |
Correspondence
Address: |
NIXON PEABODY LLP - PATENT GROUP
1100 CLINTON SQUARE
ROCHESTER
NY
14604
US
|
Assignee: |
GRUDGE TACTICAL INC.
Rose Hill
KS
|
Family ID: |
42666433 |
Appl. No.: |
12/567735 |
Filed: |
September 25, 2009 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
61100395 |
Sep 26, 2008 |
|
|
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
102/513 |
Current CPC
Class: |
C12Q 1/6813 20130101;
F42B 12/40 20130101; C12Q 2563/185 20130101; C12Q 1/6813
20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
102/513 |
International
Class: |
F42B 12/40 20060101
F42B012/40 |
Claims
1-3. (canceled)
4. A projectile comprising: a ballistic pellet; and at least one
frangible coating on an outer surface of the ballistic pellet
configured to provide a dry marking on impact with a target.
5. The projectile as set forth in claim 4 wherein the ballistic
pellet is made from at least one of a solid metal, plastic, and
biodegradable material
6. The projectile as set forth in claim 4 wherein the at least one
frangible coating further comprises one or more base pigments.
7. The projectile as set forth in claim 6 wherein the at least one
frangible coating further comprises one or more optical
brighteners.
8. The projectile as set forth in claim 6 further comprising
further comprising one or more additional pigments imprinted on the
at least one frangible coating, the one or more additional pigments
contrast from the one or more base pigments.
9. The projectile as set forth in claim 8 wherein the one or more
additional pigments are imprinted on the at least one frangible
coating to encode one or more identifying data fields in the at
least one frangible coating.
10. The projectile as set forth in claim 9 wherein at least one of
a size, shape and color of the one or more additional pigments is
used to encode the one or more identifying data fields in the at
least one frangible coating.
11. The projectile as set forth in claim 4 further comprising at
least one seal on the at least one frangible coating.
12. The projectile as set forth in claim 11 further comprising at
least one dry power lubricant on the at least one seal.
13. The projectile as set forth in claim 4 wherein the at least one
frangible coating further comprises at least one marker which is
only visible under a first range of wavelengths of light.
14. The projectile as set forth in claim 4 wherein the at least one
frangible coating comprise at least one fluorescent material.
15. The projectile as set forth in claim 4 further comprising one
or more trace elements imprinted in the at least one frangible
coating.
16. The projectile as set forth in claim 15 wherein the one or more
trace elements comprise DNA.
17. The projectile as set forth in claim 16 further comprising at
least one encapsulating material for the DNA.
18. The projectile as set forth in claim 16 wherein the at least
one frangible coating comprise at least one fluorescent
material.
19. A method of making a projectile, the method comprising:
obtaining a ballistic pellet; and coating at least one frangible
layer on an outer surface of ballistic pellet configured to provide
a dry marking on impact with a target.
20. The method as set forth in claim 19 wherein the obtained
ballistic pellet is made from at least one of a solid metal,
plastic, and biodegradable material
21. The method as set forth in claim 19 wherein the at least one
frangible layer further comprises one or more base pigments.
22. The method as set forth in claim 21 wherein the at least one
frangible layer further comprises one or more optical
brighteners.
23. The method as set forth in claim 21 further comprising further
comprising imprinting one or more additional pigments on the at
least one frangible layer, the one or more additional pigments
contrast from the one or more base pigments.
24. The method as set forth in claim 23 wherein the imprinting the
one or more additional pigments on the frangible layer further
comprises encoding one or more identifying data fields in the at
least one frangible layer with the imprinting.
25. The method as set forth in claim 24 wherein at least one of a
size, shape and color of the one or more additional pigments is
used to encode the one or more identifying data fields in the at
least one frangible layer.
26. The method as set forth in claim 19 further comprising coating
at least one seal on the at least one frangible layer.
27. The method as set forth in claim 26 further comprising coating
at least one dry power lubricant on the at least one seal.
28. The method as set forth in claim 19 wherein the at least one
frangible layer further comprises at least one marker which is only
visible under a first range of wavelengths of light.
29. The method as set forth in claim 19 wherein the at least one
frangible layer comprise at least one fluorescent material.
30. The method as set forth in claim 19 further comprising
imprinting one or more trace elements in the at least one frangible
layer.
31. The method as set forth in claim 30 wherein the one or more
trace elements comprise DNA.
32. The method as set forth in claim 30 further comprising
encapsulating the DNA with at least one encapsulating material.
33. The method as set forth in claim 30 wherein the at least one
frangible layer comprise at least one fluorescent material.
Description
[0001] This application claims benefit under .sctn.119 of U.S.
Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/100,395, filed Sep. 26,
2009, all of which are/is hereby incorporated by reference in their
entirety.
FIELD
[0002] This invention relates to a dry marking system for ballistic
pellets.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0003] FIG. 1 is a partial side and partial exposed interior view
of a ballistic pellet with a pigment transfer coating; and
[0004] FIG. 2 is a partial side and partial exposed interior view
of another ballistic pellet with a pigment transfer coating and an
imprinted identifier color code marking.
SUMMARY
[0005] A projectile comprising a ballistic pellet and at least one
frangible coating on an outer surface of the ballistic pellet
configured to provide a dry marking on impact with a target.
[0006] A method of making a projectile comprising obtaining a
ballistic pellet and coating at least one frangible layer on an
outer surface of ballistic pellet configured to provide a dry
marking on impact with a target.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0007] A frangible coating is applied to Airsoft BB's or other
forms of ballistic pellets as a visual marker system for both game
play and military and law enforcement training purposes. While it
is intended for use with Airsoft industry standard equipment, it is
equally applicable to other devices suitable for propelling the
BB's and other forms of ballistic pellets used in these devices.
BB's and larger or smaller contact devices may be coated in this
manner as a means of transfering pigment to the target, indicating
a "hit."
[0008] Surface:
[0009] The surface of this BB is improved by allowing random
surface character to develop in the coating process. This provides
small imperfections in the surface on the order of (10 -1 mm) to
(10 -2 mm). Smaller imperfections may also exist but are
irrelevent, the large scale imperfections of the surface coating
produces increased turbulent airflow across the surface when used
with any launching strategy designed to exploit the Bernoulli
Effect to increase range for the BB. The surface is frangible and
fragments into intensely colored dust on impact with a target. This
allows the BB to leave a visual mark of its passage for purposes of
scoring during game play or other situations which may require
markings. The coating may be applied as either discrete layers or
as a homogeneous formulated mixture.
[0010] This coating can be applied to pellets of either metal,
plastic or biodegradable formulation as shown in FIG. 1. The
coating does not depend upon which formulation is used.
[0011] This coating is composed of pigments and optional optical
brighteners which become bound to the binder surface. This surface
then disperses on impact with a target object leaving the pigment
behind as a visual indicator. The pigment surface may optionally be
sealed against damage from moisture and coated with a thin layer of
dry powder lubricant.
[0012] Ballistic pellets coated as described can be imprinted to
identify them uniquely by color coding as shown in FIG. 2. Unique
identification of pellets allows the competition venue to control
the ammunition used during play and may address safety issues,
revenue generation for the event, and quality and quantity of
ammunition available to the competitors.
[0013] Ballistic pellets prepared according to described
specifications are imprinted with speckles, bands or simple
geometric markings using contrasting pigments to those used in the
initial frangible coating. Multiple imprints allow a set of data
fields to be color encoded onto the surface. The data can be used
to identify the event, the team to which the markers were issued,
the manufacturing date, or simply to provide an interesting
appearance to the ballistic marker pellet.
[0014] The imprinting introduces small scale color patterns into
the surface. The size, shape, and color of the markings may each
hold a significant bit of data which interpreted as a whole allows
batches of pellets to be identified uniquely from other batches of
pellets as a color coded serial/lot number or the unique encoding
may be repeated for multiple batches and used to uniquely identify
the venue or competition event purchasing them.
[0015] It may also be used to give special visual impact to a
ballistic marker pellet for novelty, such as imprinting the pellets
with red, white and blue patterns, or imprinting "camouflage"
colors onto the pellet.
[0016] Ballistic pellets coated as described can be additionally
coated with an indelible security marker dye visible only under
select wavelengths of light. An adhesive filler would be
substituted for any pigments visible in normal lighting.
[0017] The mark left by such a pellet would be invisible to the
unaided eye, but would fluoresce under illumination by a light
source in the dye's excitation range.
[0018] Markers of this type could be used as a delivery system to
mark the clothing and skin of a criminal suspect. They could be
propelled either by manually operated ballistic devices, or loaded
into non-injurious automated systems for dispersion singly or in
bulk. They could be driven by spring loading, pressurized gas or
gravity, striking the suspect and leaving a dye stain on his
clothing and exposed skin.
[0019] Additional trace elements could be added to the pigment to
increase specificity and extend the period that an identifiable
mark remained. Micro-encapsulated DNA from diverse species of
plants and marine life which could be easily identified, would be
imprinted on the surface as described in GTBKM-002 with the
exception that it would not leave a visible color coding imprint
but would carry multiple sets of the tracking material, making the
combination of chemical markers unique to the batch of marker
pellets.
[0020] The encapsulating material would both protect the DNA
chemical marker from degradation, and provide an adhesive surface
to cling aggressively to clothing and skin.
[0021] The marker would leave no visible mark on clothing and
nothing other than a possible impact mark on exposed skin, but an
excitation light source would reveal the mark, and a DNA sample of
the impact site on clothing or skin would reveal a DNA signature
including as contributions each DNA imprinting element included in
the manufacture.
[0022] A coating designed to transfer on impact from a ballistic
projectile onto a target. Due to the many possible applications for
which this might find use, it has been designed to allow as
open-ended a range of application as possible by separating the
requirements of the marking system from the requirements of the
projectile substrate. To this end the coating is designed to be
applied to a wide range of materials and shapes. The coating itself
is therefore independent of whatever carrier it is coated onto
which allows the carrier to be selected for its own suitability for
the application rather than conditional upon compatibility with the
marking system.
* * * * *