Non-lethal projectile belt and feeding apparatus

Abstract

A non-lethal projectile belt and feeding apparatus for improving prior art components of a non-lethal projectile launch system including the non-lethal projectiles and the non-lethal projectile feeding apparatus that are, when used in conjunction, mechanically deterministic, jam-free, gravitationally independent, cost efficient, while achieving a higher accuracy, a longer effective range, a feed rate not limited by gravity and maintaining a high capacity. These non-lethal projectiles are made of non-spherical and elongated outer shells 20 with tailfins 22 and index holes 21. The projectiles are either filled with an application-specific liquid or a powdered substance 29. In a paintball application, the shell is usually made of gelatin, filled with a water-based dye. The shell 20, index holes 21 and tailfins 22 are held together by a tape 27 with perforations 26 that define the boundaries between successions of the non-lethal projectile units. When the shell 20 is made of gelatin, the tape 27 may be made of the extra material that would otherwise be cut away during the manufacturing process of conventional unconnected non-lethal projectiles. In the desired embodiment, some material is retained for the tape 27 that holds the non-lethal projectiles together.

Description

PRIORITY [0001] The present invention claims priority under 35 USC section 119 and U.S. provisional application 60 / 648564 filed on Jan. 31, 2005.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] 1. Field of the Invention [0003] The present invention relates generally to non-lethal projectiles and more specifically it relates to a non-lethal projectile belt and feeding apparatus for improving prior art components of a non-lethal projectile launch system including the non-lethal projectiles and the non-lethal projectile feeding apparatus that are, when used in conjunction, mechanically deterministic, jam-free, gravitationally independent, cost efficient, while achieving a higher accuracy, a longer effective range, a feed rate not limited by gravity and maintaining a capacity comparable to prior art feeding devices. [0004] 2. Description of the Prior Art [0005] It can be appreciated that non-lethal projectiles have been in use for years. Typically, non-lethal projectiles are comprised of conventional...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The present invention provides a new non-lethal projectile belt and feeding apparatus that is mechanically deterministic, jam-free, gravitationally independent, cost-efficient, and achieves higher accuracy, longer effective range, and higher feed rate compared to prior art non-lethal projectile launch systems. The new apparatus includes a Projectile Belt, a Feeding Assembly, an Extractor, and a Magazine. The non-lethal projectiles have many of the advantages of conventional non-lethal projectiles, but with improved features such as higher accuracy, longer effective range, and higher feed rate. The new apparatus is not limited to the internal mechanism of the action and can be adapted to fire non-lethal projectiles supplied by existing pneumatic non-lethal projectile launch systems."

Problems solved by technology

The main problem with conventional non-lethal projectiles is that the spherical non-lethal projectiles are inaccurate.

Uncontrolled spinning of the projectiles causes imbalanced air pressure on one side of the projectile during flight versus the other.

Any of these ways are highly expensive, and is generally used only by enthusiasts.

However, these projectiles are practically unusable unless a proper receiver mechanism and / or magazine is developed.

They cannot be loaded directly into a conventional hopper or marker due to the fact that they need to be aligned with the gun barrel's longitudinal axis.

Another problem with conventional non-lethal projectiles are that hoppers H1 (see FIGS. 1 and 2), whether passive or active, by definition, are challenged by gravity, orientation of the device and / or the inability to properly align non-spherical projectiles.

The feed rates of prior art device that primarily rely on gravity are continuously being challenged by the ever increasing demand for higher cycle rates.

Another problem with the agitated hoppers and hoppers with conveyor mechanisms, like U.S. Pat. No. 6,502,567, U.S. Pat. No. 6,609,511 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,305,367 is that they may not be used up-side down.

Hoppers with conveyor mechanisms also suffer from not having a deterministic behaviors when the hopper is close to empty, due to the fact that the slots in the conveyor mechanisms cannot be completely filled when there are fewer projectiles than the number of slots available.

Not one of anti-jamming devices for hoppers described above guarantees continuous feeding down to the last projectile in the container.

Spring loaded hoppers, like U.S. Pat. No. 6,644,293 may be used up-side down but it may not be used to align and deliver non-spherical projectiles.

The linked projectiles in U.S. Pat. No. 5,448,951 partially addressed the rate problem but it is impractical until the proper receiver mechanism is developed.

The linked projectiles in U.S. Pat. No. 5,448,951 also produces debris during use, which is undesirable and would degrade the performance of the receiver over time.

Another problem with conventional non-lethal projectiles is that magazines or clips, U.S. Pat. No. 6,470,872, U.S. Pat. No. 6,701,909 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,273,079 may resolve the gravity problem but the capacity of one magazine is usually considerably below the amount required for a single uninterruptible event, such as a paintball game.

Frequent reloading of the clips hinders the performance of a human user.

While these devices may be suitable for the particular purpose to which they address, they are not as suitable for improving prior art components of a non-lethal projectile launch system including the non-lethal projectiles and the non-lethal projectile feeding apparatus that are, when used in conjunction, mechanically deterministic, jam-free, gravitationally independent, cost efficient, while achieving a higher accuracy, a longer effective range, a feed rate not limited by gravity and maintaining a capacity comparable to prior art feeding devices.

The main problem with conventional non-lethal projectiles is that the spherical non-lethal projectiles are inaccurate.

Uncontrolled spinning of the projectiles causes imbalanced air pressure on one side of the projectile during flight versus the other.

Any of these ways are highly expensive, and is generally used only by enthusiasts.

However, these projectiles are practically unusable unless a proper receiver mechanism and / or magazine is developed.

They cannot be loaded directly into a conventional hopper or marker due to the fact that they need to be aligned with the gun barrel's longitudinal axis.

Another problem is that hoppers H1 (see FIGS. 1 and 2), whether passive or active, by definition, are challenged by gravity, orientation of the device and / or the inability to properly align non-spherical projectiles.

The feed rates of prior art device that primarily rely on gravity are continuously being challenged by the ever increasing demand for higher cycle rates.

Another problem with the agitated hoppers and hoppers with conveyor mechanisms, like U.S. Pat. No. 6,502,567, U.S. Pat. No. 6,609,511 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,305,367 is that they may not be used up-side down.

Hoppers with conveyor mechanisms also suffer from not having deterministic behaviors when the hopper is close to empty, due to the fact that the slots in the conveyor mechanisms cannot be completely filled when there are fewer projectiles than the number of slots available.

Not one of anti-jamming devices for hoppers described above guarantees continuous feeding down to the last projectile in the container.

Spring loaded hoppers such as U.S. Pat. No. 6,644,293 may be used up-side down but it may not be used to align and deliver non-spherical projectiles.

The linked projectiles, U.S. Pat. No. 5,448,951 partially addressed the rate problem but it is impractical until the proper receiver mechanism is developed.

The linked projectiles such as found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,448,951 also produces debris during use, which is undesirable and would degrade the performance of the receiver over time.

Also, another problem is that magazines or clips, U.S. Pat. No. 6,470,872, U.S. Pat. No. 6,701,909 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,273,079 may resolve the gravity problem but the capacity of one magazine is usually considerably below the amount required for a single uninterruptible event, such as a paintball game.

Frequent reloading of the clips hinders the performance of a human user.

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