Integral Spring Bottom Latch Recoil Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Rifles with hinged floor plates and heavy recoil often cause unintentional actuation of the floor plate release mechanism due to recoil, leading to unwanted ejection of cartridges, which can result in loss, damage, or safety hazards during shooting.
Innovation Solution
An integral spring bottom metal latch system with a latch body, movement arm, and a thin, webbed spring that provides primary resistance to the release of the floor plate or magazine, preventing unintentional actuation by the shooter's trigger finger during recoil.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a hinged floor plate with release mechanism is used, then cartridges can be easily unloaded and magazines can be detached, but heavy recoil causes unintentional actuation of the release mechanism
Solution Approach 1:
The spring is pre-compressed during assembly to store potential energy, creating preliminary resistance that must be overcome before the floor plate can be released. This preliminary action ensures that normal recoil forces cannot accidentally trigger release, while deliberate user action can overcome the spring force when needed
Solution Approach 2:
The spring provides a counteracting force that opposes the movement caused by recoil. This preliminary anti-action is designed to be strong enough to prevent unintentional release during normal operation, but can be overcome when the user intentionally applies force to the release mechanism
2Reliability
If the floor plate release mechanism is made more secure to prevent unintentional actuation, then reliability improves, but ease of operation deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The release mechanism transitions from a static locked state to a dynamic release state through user interaction. The spring provides dynamic resistance that adapts to the applied force - maintaining secure retention during normal recoil while allowing intentional release when sufficient force is applied by the user
Solution Approach 2:
The spring constant and pre-compression force are carefully selected to create an optimal balance between retention strength and release ease. The parameters are tuned so that normal recoil forces are insufficient to trigger release, but deliberate user action can easily overcome the spring force when needed
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
Prevents unintended release of cartridges or magazines by absorbing recoil energy, ensuring secure retention and controlled ejection, enhancing shooter safety and reducing interruptions during firing.
Implementation Method 1
a spring that operates as resistance to release of a floor plate
Data Source
AI summary
An integrated spring bottom metal latch is disclosed that obviates the problem of rifles having heavy recoil from erroneously and unintentionally opening and dropping shells or magazines upon firing. The integrated spring allows for exact manufacturing versus compression springs. As a result, the presently disclosed invention may be utilized to address specific recoil requirements as found in any number of rifles exhibiting different recoil.