Reduced-Height Gun Magazine Base Pad with Sawtooth Grip Ribs
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing firearm magazine base pads with reduced height provide insufficient surface area for secure gripping during installation and removal, making it difficult for users to handle magazines efficiently.
Innovation Solution
Incorporation of enhanced gripping features such as upward extending walls, inward sloping surfaces, and longitudinally oriented sawtooth ribs on the base pad to enhance user grip, including notches and forward reliefs for positive hand orientation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Length of moving object
If the base pad height is reduced to decrease magazine overall height, then the magazine profile is improved and operational advantages are gained, but the surface area for user grip is reduced making handling difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent adds vertical dimension elements (upwardly extending walls) to the base pad structure. These walls extend upward from the top surface of the base pad, creating additional grip surfaces in the vertical dimension without increasing the horizontal footprint or overall magazine height. This resolves the contradiction by providing more grip area through dimensional expansion rather than increasing base pad height.
Solution Approach 2:
The base pad is segmented into multiple functional surfaces: the main top surface, upwardly extending walls, inward sloping surfaces, and sawtooth ribs. This segmentation allows each element to serve a specific grip function, maximizing the utility of the limited space available on a reduced-height base pad while maintaining overall magazine compactness.
2Ease of manufacture
If conventional smooth base pad surfaces are used, then manufacturing is simple, but users cannot securely grip the base pad during installation and removal
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies different surface qualities to different locations on the base pad. The main top surface remains relatively smooth for easy manufacturing, while localized areas feature upwardly extending walls with sawtooth ribs and inward sloping surfaces. This local quality variation provides enhanced grip exactly where the user's fingers contact the base pad, while maintaining manufacturing simplicity in other areas.
Solution Approach 2:
The inward sloping surfaces create angled, curved geometries that facilitate finger insertion and gripping. These sloped surfaces guide the user's fingers into proper positioning and provide mechanical advantage for gripping, combining manufacturing feasibility with improved operational security.
3Device complexity
If the base pad has minimal features, then the structure is simple and manufacturing is easy, but the user cannot rapidly exchange magazines without visual confirmation
Solution Approach 1:
The upwardly extending walls are positioned asymmetrically on the base pad, creating an inherently oriented structure that guides proper insertion and removal. This asymmetric design provides tactile feedback to the user, enabling rapid magazine exchange without visual confirmation, as the hands can feel the correct orientation through the asymmetric grip features.
Solution Approach 2:
The grip-enhancing features (walls, ribs, sloping surfaces) are pre-configured on the base pad to guide the user's hands into the correct gripping position before the magazine exchange action begins. This preliminary guidance reduces the time and cognitive load required for magazine exchange, improving productivity without significantly increasing structural complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A magazine base pad having enhanced gripping features. The base pad has a left side, a front, and a right side. A left wall extends upward along the left side, a front wall extends upward along the front, and a right wall extends upward along the right side. An inward sloping surface runs along the left wall and the right wall. An inward sloping surface preferably runs along the front wall as well. The left side opens into a left side notch. The right side opens into a right side notch. Each of these notches includes a plurality of longitudinally oriented ribs. The ribs are preferably a “sawtooth” design that allows an engaging finger or thumb to move easily upward across the ribs but tends to frictionally engage a finger or thumb when it is moved downward across the ribs. The notches, ribs, and inward sloping surface cooperate to enhance a user's grip on the base pad.