U.S. patent application number 12/926389 was filed with the patent office on 2011-05-19 for pneumatic toy gun for shooting soft balls and nozzle therefor.
Invention is credited to Thomas Appleton.
Application Number | 20110113539 12/926389 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 44010185 |
Filed Date | 2011-05-19 |
United States Patent
Application |
20110113539 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Appleton; Thomas |
May 19, 2011 |
Pneumatic toy gun for shooting soft balls and nozzle therefor
Abstract
The pneumatic toy gun has a nozzle through which a soft ball
travels. At one end of the nozzle there is an outlet from which the
ball is expelled and at the other end there is an inlet for receipt
of a stream of gas under pressure. Four or more fins are mounted
within the tube and function to inhibit the use of the gun to fire
balls having a diameter smaller than that of balls which are
intended to be shot from the gun.
Inventors: |
Appleton; Thomas; (Oshawa,
CA) |
Family ID: |
44010185 |
Appl. No.: |
12/926389 |
Filed: |
November 15, 2010 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
2/463 ;
124/73 |
Current CPC
Class: |
F41B 11/73 20130101;
F41B 11/89 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
2/463 ;
124/73 |
International
Class: |
A41D 13/05 20060101
A41D013/05; F41B 11/00 20060101 F41B011/00 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Nov 16, 2009 |
CA |
2685644 |
Claims
1. A pneumatic toy gun including: a nozzle having an outlet defined
by an annular wall, said outlet being adapted to receive an
impellable ball having a flexible outer wall and a diameter
slightly greater than that of said outlet such that said impellable
ball sealingly engages said annular wall when pressed into contact
therewith; a conduit through which compressed gas flows, said
conduit extending to an inlet of said nozzle, said inlet having a
diameter less than that of said outlet; a valve for controlling the
flow of compressed gas through said conduit; a trigger for causing
said valve to open with resulting flow of said compressed gas to
said nozzle for causing said impellable ball to be impelled from
said outlet; and at least one fin disposed within said nozzle for
both spacing a smaller ball than said impellable ball apart from
said inlet and for diverting a substantial portion of compressed
air issuing from said inlet away from said smaller ball.
2. The pneumatic toy gun of claim 1 further including a chamber for
compressed gas, said conduit extending from said chamber to said
nozzle.
3. The pneumatic toy gun of claim 1 wherein said one fin and a
plurality of other like fins are arrayed around said inlet and
converge downstream of said compressed gas flow within said nozzle,
said fins terminating short of said outlet and remaining spaced
apart from each other throughout their lengths such that a portion
of compressed air issuing from said inlet flows between said
fins.
4. The combination of claim 1 further including a vest adapted to
be worn by a player of game played with said pneumatic toy gun,
said vest being equipped with an impact detector.
5. The combination of claim 4 further including at least one light
which illuminates when said impact detector detects an impact
thereon by said impellable ball.
6. In combination, a pneumatic toy gun and an impellable ball, said
pneumatic toy gun including: a nozzle having an outlet defined by
an annular wall, said outlet being adapted to receive said
impellable ball, said impellable ball having a flexible outer wall
and a diameter slightly greater than that of said outlet such that
said impellable ball sealingly engages said annular wall when
pressed into contact there--with; a conduit through which
compressed gas flows, said conduit extending to an inlet of said
nozzle, said inlet having a diameter less than that of said outlet;
a valve for controlling the flow of compressed gas through said
conduit; a trigger for causing said valve to open with resulting
flow of said compressed gas to said nozzle for causing said
impellable ball to be impelled from said outlet; and at least one
fin disposed within said nozzle for both spacing a smaller ball
than said impellable ball apart from said inlet and for diverting a
substantial portion of compressed air issuing from said inlet away
from said smaller ball.
7. The pneumatic toy gun of claim 6 further including a chamber for
compressed gas, said conduit extending from said chamber to said
nozzle.
8. The pneumatic toy gun of claim 6 wherein said one fin and a
plurality of other like fins are arrayed around said inlet and
converge downstream of said compressed gas flow within said nozzle,
said fins terminating short of said outlet and remaining spaced
apart from each other throughout their lengths such that a portion
of compressed air issuing from said inlet flows between said
fins.
9. The combination of claim 6 further including a vest adapted to
be worn by a player of game played with said pneumatic toy gun,
said vest being equipped with an impact detector.
10. The combination of claim 9 further including at least one light
which illuminates when said impact detector detects an impact
thereon by said impellable ball.
11. For use in conjunction with a pneumatic toy gun, a nozzle
comprising: an outlet defined by an annular wall, said outlet being
adapted to receive an impellable ball having a flexible outer wall
and a diameter slightly greater than that of said outlet such that
said impellable ball sealingly engages said annular wall when
pressed into contact therewith; an inlet through which compressed
gas enters said nozzle; and at least one fin disposed within said
nozzle for both spacing a smaller ball than said impellable ball
apart from said inlet and for diverting a substantial portion of
compressed air issuing from said inlet away from said smaller
ball.
12. The pneumatic toy gun of claim 11 further including a chamber
for compressed gas, said conduit extending from said chamber to
said nozzle.
13. The pneumatic toy gun of claim 11 wherein said one fin and a
plurality of other like fins are arrayed around said inlet and
converge downstream of said compressed gas flow within said nozzle,
said fins terminating short of said outlet and remaining spaced
apart from each other throughout their lengths such that a portion
of compressed air issuing from said inlet flows between said
fins.
14. The combination of claim 11 further including a vest adapted to
be worn by a player of game played with said pneumatic toy gun,
said vest being equipped with an impact detector.
15. The combination of claim 14 further including at least one
light which illuminates when said impact detector detects an impact
thereon by said impellable ball.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] This invention relates to toy guns and more particularly to
a pneumatic toy gun which shoots harmless balls from a gun of
conventional design such as a paint ball gun. The toy gun is
suitable for use in a game in which two or more players each have a
like toy gun and each is wearing a garment having an impact sensor
or detector. When the impact detector or sensor is struck by a
ball, it activates a display such as a light, score board and the
like to record a hit.
[0002] The invention relates not only to a pneumatic toy gun but to
an attachment which my be connected to other commercially available
pneumatic toy guns to convert them to ones which shoot harmless
balls.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] Games are well known in which players have various forms of
guns for shooting each other with harmless solid objects, liquids
or beams of light and for recording the number of hits for
determining the winners of the games. Such games can cause
disagreements among the players for various reasons such as whether
a hit has occurred or where a hit took place. For example, if the
only way in which a hit is detected is whether the hit is seen by
the person who shoots the gun that causes the hit or by the person
who feels the hit, then disagreements about whether there was or
was not a hit or where a hit occurred are bound to occur. Such
disagreements can spoil a game that was otherwise enjoyed by the
players.
[0004] Toy guns have been designed to detect a hit in such a way
that there can be no dispute about whether it occurred or not. A
paint ball gun for example shoots balls which rupture on impact and
spray paint over the area where the impact takes place. The
presence of the paint cannot be denied nor can its location.
Questions about who was hit and by whom are answered quickly and
with little or no arguments. However the consequences of a hit by a
paint ball are not pleasant. The paint can permanently stain the
players' clothing, enter his eyes or mouth and be very
uncomfortable if it flows down his sleeves or down his neck and
under his shirt.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0005] I have invented a toy gun which shoots harmless balls from a
gun of conventional design such as a paint ball gun or from a gun
which is specifically designed for the purpose. The ball is
composed of soft foam rubber or like soft material so that it does
no harm to the person who is hit by it. The toy gun may be composed
of a gun of conventional design such as a paint ball gun in which a
nozzle of my design is substituted for the barrel of the paint ball
gun. The toy gun may be used in a game in which the players each
has one such gun and each wears a garment with an impact detector
or sensor. When a ball hits the impact detector or sensor, the hit
is displayed in such a way that there can be no dispute about
whether it occurred or not. Finally, there is no trace of the hit
on the person who was hit, the only evidence of it is on the
display.
[0006] Briefly, the toy gun of my invention has a nozzle provided
with an outlet defined by an annular wall. The outlet is adapted to
receive an impellable ball having a flexible outer wall and a
diameter slightly greater than that of the outlet such that the
ball sealingly engages the annular wall when pressed into contact
with it. The toy gun has a conduit through which compressed gas
flows. The conduit extends to an inlet of the nozzle. The inlet has
a diameter less than that of the outlet. A valve controls the flow
of compressed gas through the conduit. A trigger causes the valve
to open with resulting flow of compressed gas to the nozzle for
causing ball to be impelled from the outlet. At least one fin is
disposed within the nozzle for both spacing a smaller ball than the
impellable ball apart from the inlet and for diverting a
substantial portion of compressed gas issuing from the inlet away
from the smaller ball.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0007] The invention is described with reference to the
accompanying drawings in which:
[0008] FIG. 1 is an elevation of a known paint ball gun;
[0009] FIG. 2 is an elevation of the paint ball gun of FIG. 1 in
which the nozzle of the invention has been substituted for the
barrel of the gun;
[0010] FIG. 3 is an elevation of the nozzle from a side;
[0011] FIG. 4 is an elevation of the nozzle from an end;
[0012] FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the nozzle;
[0013] FIG. 6 is a section of the nozzle;
[0014] FIG. 7 is an elevation of a conventional sponge rubber
ball;
[0015] FIG. 8 is an elevation of the ball in conjunction of the
nozzle of the invention; and
[0016] FIGS. 9 and 10 are elevations of two embodiments of the vest
of the invention.
[0017] Like reference characters refer to like parts throughout the
description of the drawings.
DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0018] With reference to FIG. 1, a toy gun, generally 10, is used
to shoot paint balls and is typical of such guns. The toy gun is
not the subject of the present invention. Paint balls are stored in
a magazine (not illustrated) and are fed into the breech formed in
the housing 14 of the gun through a feed tube 16. A passageway is
formed in the housing which extends from the breech to the bore of
the barrel 18. The barrel is removably attached to the housing by
threads on its outer wall which mate with threads formed on the
wall which defines the passageway in the housing.
[0019] A gas cylinder 20 containing carbon dioxide or air under
pressure is attached to the bottom of the handle 22 of the toy gun.
Gas from the cylinder flows through a hose 24 to an elbow 26 at the
bottom of a hand grip 28 and from there flows through a tube in the
hand grip to a compressed gas chamber 30 for holding the volume of
gas necessary for each firing of the gun.
[0020] When the trigger 32 of the gun is pulled, one paint ball in
the breech of the gun is driven by the compressed gas through the
passageway in the housing and through barrel 18 and discharges
through the open end of the barrel.
[0021] In FIG. 2, the barrel of the gun has been removed by
unwinding it from housing 14 of the toy gun and has been replaced
by the nozzle 40 of the invention. The nozzle is illustrated in
more detail in FIGS. 3 to 6. With reference first to FIGS. 3, 5 and
6, the nozzle has a hollow cylindrical wall 44 which is open at an
outlet 46 and is partially closed at the other end 48 by an annular
end wall 48a. Attached to the end wall is a cylindrical connector
50 having a longitudinal axis which is coaxial with the
longitudinal axis of the cylindrical wall of the nozzle. The two
axes are identified as 50-50.
[0022] The diameter of the inlet 51 and the inside passageway 52 of
the connector is smaller than that of the inner passageway 54 of
the cylindrical wall. The two passageways 52, 54 are in fluid-flow
communication with each other. The outer wall 56 of the connector
is threaded for mating with the threads of the housing. The latter
threads serve to connect the barrel of the gun to the housing.
[0023] With reference to FIGS. 4 and 6, mounted within the
cylindrical wall of the nozzle is a number of fins or prongs 60.
The fins extend radially outward from the annular wall 62 which
defines the inside passageway 52 of connector 50. Each fin is
integral with end wall 48 of the nozzle and has an inner edge 66
which converges with like edges of the remaining fins. The outer
edges 68 of the fins narrow toward their downstream ends. Each fin
is spaced apart from the adjacent fins throughout its length
[0024] The fins are constructed and oriented such as to cause a
laminar flow of pressurized gas through the nozzle. The fins have
however another purpose which is to inhibit a toy gun equipped with
the nozzle from being used to fire balls which are smaller than
those intended to be shot from the gun. For example paint balls
which are smaller than the intended balls travel only a short
distance when shot from the gun. To this end, the inside edges of
the fins converge as indicated above so that a paint ball cannot be
pushed into the passageway 52 of the connector and fired from
there. If a paint ball is pushed against the downstream ends 70 of
the fins in order to harness the force of pressurized gas flowing
straight downstream from the connector, a substantial proportion of
the pressurized gas will flow not against the ball but radially
outwardly through the space between the fins and a relatively
little of the gas will flow against the ball. The fins accordingly
function to divert compressed gas issuing from the connector away
from a small ball and not against it.
[0025] With reference to FIGS. 7 and 8, ball 74 which the toy gun
is designed to shoot when equipped with the nozzle of the invention
is about the size of a golf ball. Foam rubber balls having a
diameter of about 5 cm. are suitable and are widely available. If
such balls are used, the diameter of the inner passageway or bore
54 of the nozzle should be about 4.7 cm.
[0026] The ball is sometimes referred to below and throughout the
claims as an "impellable ball" since it is impelled by compressed
air from the nozzle of the toy gun. The ball should be composed of
light weight, soft material. The core of the ball need not be soft
but preferably is since harder material tends to weigh more than
soft material and acts to slow the speed of the ball. Softness and
light weight are preferred attributes of the ball since the purpose
of the game which is played with the toy gun and ball involves
shooting balls at players, Obviously the game will not be enjoyable
if players are hurt or injured by the balls.
[0027] With reference to FIG. 8, loading of the ball involves
pushing it inward into the fully open end or outlet 46 of the
nozzle in order to sealingly engage the ball to the outlet. The
diameter of the annular wall which defines the outlet should be
slightly less than the diameter of the ball so that the ball will
stay put in the nozzle when it is pushed against it. The ball
should remain attached to the nozzle no matter how the toy gun is
held and should only disengage from the outlet out when the ball is
subjected to a blast of compressed gas.
[0028] With reference to FIG. 9, a vest 80 is adapted to be worn
over the chest of a player of the game played with the toy gun of
the invention. The vest is equipped with a conventional impact
detector 82, a belt 84 for holding the vest to the body of the
player, lights 86a,b in the shoulder areas of the vest, a pouch 88
for extra gas cylinders of CO 2 or air and a pouch 90 for batteries
and a radio transmitter.
[0029] A more simplified vest is illustrated in FIG. 10. In that
drawing, vest 92 provided with lights 94a,b, an impact sensor 96,
pouches 98 for balls and a belt 100 to which the pouches for balls
are attached. However, pouches for batteries, radio transmitter and
gas cylinders are dispensed with in vest 92.
[0030] When the impact indicators are struck by a ball, they
activate lights 86a,b and 94a,b on the vests and also, with respect
to vest 80, a display (not illustrated) remote from the vest. The
display indicates the number of hits and also the identity of the
player whose ball struck impact indicator 82. The display can also
be on vest 80 itself or on a scoreboard.
[0031] The scoreboard is preferably separate from vest 80 and is
activated by radio signals from the radio transmitter which in turn
is activated by impact indicator 82. The scoreboard accordingly
indicates the number of hits on vest 80 and the source of each hit
The scoreboard can also have an timer for recording the time when
the hits occurred and for timing the length of each game.
[0032] There are a number of impact indicators which are suitable
for detecting and communicating hits on a vest. U.S. Pat. No.
5,092,607 to Ramsay et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,575,479 to Ayres and
U.S. Pat. No. 4,440,400 to Neuberger all describe impact indicators
which are suitable for this purpose.
[0033] It will be understood, of course, that modifications can be
made in the nozzle and vests of the invention without departing
from the scope and purview of the invention as defined in the
appended claims.
* * * * *