Firearm Safety Lever Eccentric See-Through Window
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing safety selector levers for firearms do not reliably indicate the mode of the firearm, such as safety or ready-to-fire, due to complex designs that obscure visibility of safety markings, especially in poor visibility conditions.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating a see-through region in the head section of the safety selector lever, positioned eccentrically to the rotation axis, allows visibility of safety markings depending on the lever's rotation position, enhancing optical recognition of the firearm's mode through transparent or opaque materials and integrated light sources.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If the head section is made opaque to improve structural integrity and visual contrast, then the visibility of safety markings is blocked when the lever is positioned over them
Solution Approach 1:
The head section is segmented into opaque and transparent regions, allowing different parts to serve different functions: the opaque portions provide structural integrity and visual contrast, while the transparent portion enables visibility of safety markings when the lever is in the safe position
Solution Approach 2:
The head section has non-uniform optical properties with most areas being opaque for structural strength and contrast, while a specific local region is made transparent to allow viewing of safety markings, creating local quality variation to resolve the contradiction
2Illumination intensity
If complex features are added to the lever section to enhance optical visibility, then the lever becomes more visually prominent, but the associated safety marking recognition becomes unreliable
Solution Approach 1:
The visibility function is extracted from the lever section features and relocated to the transparent region in the head section, which directly exposes the safety markings without obstruction, separating the visibility enhancement from the potentially confusing lever features
Solution Approach 2:
The transparent region acts as an optical intermediary that directly transmits light from the safety markings to the user's eye, providing a clear unobstructed view that mediates between the marking and the user, eliminating the reliability issues caused by complex lever features
3Device complexity
If the see-through region is positioned centrally on the rotation axis, then the design is simplified, but the safety marking visibility is not optimized for the safe position
Solution Approach 1:
The see-through region is positioned asymmetrically offset from the rotation axis toward the circumference, specifically optimized to align with safety markings when the lever is in the safe position, creating an asymmetric design that prioritizes the critical safe position visibility
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
This design enables clear and reliable identification of the firearm's mode, improving safety and handling by ensuring the user can intuitively understand the firearm's status, even in adverse conditions, without modifying other components.
Implementation Method 1
a gaseous tritium light source (GTLS) mounted in the lever section, which through continuous illumination
Implementation Method 2
the opacity of the head section is interrupted by at least one see-through region between the front side and back side
Data Source
AI summary
A safety selector assembly for retrofitting a manual firearm safety of a firearm and a safety selector lever for the manual firearm safety. So that the safety and/or fire mode of the firearm can be clearly read, the invention proposes for the opacity of the head section to be interrupted by at least one see-through region between the front side and back side positioned eccentrically to the rotation axis in order to thus enable visibility of at least one safety marking of the manual firearm safety.