Ball-Bearing Muzzle Assembly for Secure Quick Attachment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing quick-connect mechanisms for removably securing muzzle devices to firearm barrels allow undesirable movement, lack secure indication of attachment, and can lead to inadvertent loosening or removal, posing challenges in maintaining a stable and secure connection.
Innovation Solution
A muzzle assembly featuring a mount and muzzle device with ball bearings and protrusions that engage detents and stops to prevent rotational and longitudinal movement, providing tactile and audible feedback for secure attachment, and a frustoconical surface for alignment, ensuring a stable and indicated securement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If quick-connect mechanisms are used to removably secure a muzzle device to a firearm barrel, then mounting and removal speed is improved, but connection stability and resistance to inadvertent movement deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The ball bearing mechanism transitions from a static threaded connection to a dynamic quick-connect system. The ball bearings are contained within recesses that allow them to move and engage with detents on the barrel, enabling rapid attachment while maintaining stability through the engagement of multiple ball bearings with corresponding detents.
Solution Approach 2:
The ball bearings act as intermediary elements between the muzzle device and the barrel. Instead of direct contact between mating threads or surfaces, the ball bearings serve as mediators that transfer and distribute the connection forces across multiple contact points, improving both speed and reliability of the connection.
2Reliability
If threaded connections are used to secure a muzzle device to a firearm barrel, then connection strength and stability are improved, but mounting and removal time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The connection mechanism is segmented into multiple independent ball bearings that can engage with detents separately. This segmentation allows the connection to be established through multiple simultaneous engagement points rather than requiring sequential threading operations, significantly reducing mounting and removal time while maintaining connection strength through distributed load bearing.
Solution Approach 2:
The traditional threaded mechanical connection system is replaced with a ball-bearing-and-detent mechanism. This substitution eliminates the need for rotational threading motions, allowing for rapid linear insertion and removal while the ball bearings engage with detents to provide secure attachment, thereby reducing time loss without compromising connection strength.
3Ease of operation
If quick-connect mechanisms allow rapid attachment, then ease of operation is improved, but resistance to inadvertent loosening or removal deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The detent features on the barrel are positioned and shaped to preemptively counteract any forces that might cause inadvertent loosening or removal. As the ball bearings engage with these pre-configured detents, they create mechanical interference that opposes any unintended movement, providing resistance to inadvertent removal while maintaining ease of intentional attachment and removal.
Solution Approach 2:
The ball bearings serve as intermediary elements that provide both the ease of quick connection and the resistance to inadvertent removal. Their spherical geometry allows for easy engagement and disengagement, while their engagement with the detent features creates a mechanical lock that prevents unintended movement, thus resolving the contradiction between ease of operation and resistance to inadvertent removal.
4Reliability
If a secure connection mechanism is implemented, then connection stability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The ball bearings serve multiple functions simultaneously: they facilitate rapid attachment by allowing smooth engagement, provide connection stability through distributed contact with detents, and resist inadvertent removal via the mechanical lock created by detent engagement. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate components for each function, thereby limiting the increase in device complexity while achieving improved connection stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The ball bearings are contained within recesses or cavities in the muzzle device body, nesting them within the overall structure. This nesting approach integrates the ball bearings into the device design rather than adding them as external components, thereby providing secure connection stability while minimizing the increase in device complexity through efficient space utilization and integrated design.
Data Source
AI summary
A muzzle device for a firearm may include a device body and a plurality of ball bearings. The device body may be configured to be removably secured to a mount body of a mount configured to be secured to a barrel of the firearm, the mount body including a plurality of lugs each extending radially outward relative to a longitudinal axis of the mount and including a stop and a detent. The device body may include a plurality of protrusions each extending radially inward relative to a longitudinal axis of the muzzle device and configured to engage the stop of a respective lug of the mount to prevent rotation of the muzzle device relative to the mount in a first direction. The ball bearings each may be configured to move relative to the device body and to engage the detent of a respective lug of the mount to inhibit rotation of the muzzle device relative to the mount in a second direction opposite the first direction.