Crank-Cable Airgun Cocking Mechanism for Lower User Effort
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing airguns face challenges in energy storage and propulsion efficiency, often requiring complex and costly mechanisms, high effort for manual cocking, and inefficient rapid-fire capabilities.
Innovation Solution
A crank-based system using gears and a cam or capstan mechanism to compress gas within a cylinder, coupled with a cable and piston, allowing for efficient energy storage and release for projectile launch without undue user effort.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a break barrel airgun uses a spring to store energy, then the airgun can be relatively simple in structure, but the user must exert significant force to pivot the barrel and prime the piston
Solution Approach 1:
A cable mechanism serves as an intermediary between the user's cranking action and the piston priming action. The cable transmits force from the crankshaft through a pulley system to the piston, providing mechanical advantage and reducing the direct force the user must apply to prime the piston.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the traditional break barrel pivot mechanism with a crankshaft-based mechanical system. Instead of pivoting a heavy barrel, the user rotates a crankshaft that drives a cam mechanism, substituting a different mechanical approach to achieve the same function of compressing the spring.
2Ease of operation
If a motorized crank system is used to cock the spring, then the ease of operation improves, but the device complexity and weight increase
Solution Approach 1:
The airgun system is designed to be self-priming through the interaction of the crankshaft, cam mechanism, and cable system. Once the user initiates the cranking motion, the mechanical interactions between these components automatically complete the priming action without requiring additional actuators or complex control systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The mechanical system is divided into distinct functional segments: the crankshaft for user input, the cam mechanism for motion conversion, the cable for force transmission, and the piston for spring compression. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized independently and simplifies the overall design compared to a monolithic motorized system.
3Ease of operation
If the piston carries structures to enable crank-driven movement, then the crank system can operate, but the piston mass increases creating inertial resistance
Solution Approach 1:
The cable mechanism acts as an intermediary that decouples the crankshaft from direct piston attachment. The crankshaft rotates to drive the cam, which through the cable transmits force to the piston. This intermediate transmission path allows the crankshaft to be lighter while still effectively driving the piston compression.
Solution Approach 2:
The cam mechanism provides dynamic motion conversion, transforming the rotational motion of the crankshaft into the linear reciprocating motion needed to compress the piston. This dynamic transformation allows efficient force transmission without requiring the piston itself to carry heavy crank-driven structures.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables efficient energy storage and launch of projectiles with reduced user effort, facilitating rapid firing and increased mechanical advantage, while minimizing complexity and cost.
Implementation Method 1
A crank-based system using gears and a cam or capstan mechanism to compress gas within a cylinder
Implementation Method 2
compress gas within a cylinder, coupled with a cable and piston, allowing for efficient energy storage and release
Data Source
AI summary
An airgun pressure system as described herein includes a pressure chamber comprising a cylinder extending along a length of an axis of the airgun parallel with an axis of a barrel of the airgun. The airgun also includes a piston disposed within the pressure chamber and translatable along a length of the cylinder to pressurize gas in the pressure chamber in response to an increase in force applied to the piston. The airgun also includes a rotating drum connected to a frame of the airgun, a cable operably connected to the piston and the rotating drum, and a crank handle operably connected to the rotating drum and configured to cause rotation of the rotating drum to increase tension on the cable and force on the piston to compress the gas in the pressure chamber.