Patent ID: 9506718
Filing Date: 2016-11-29
CPC Classification: F41B

Claim Text:
1. A paintball loader comprising: a housing including a hopper for holding a supply of paintballs therein; said housing further including a downwardly extending outlet tube connected to said hopper and being adapted to be connected to the inlet tube of a paintball gun; an agitator within said hopper capable of directing paintballs within said hopper toward said outlet tube so that said paintballs may pass through said outlet tube downwardly and into said inlet tube of said paintball gun; electric motor means carried by said housing and connected to said agitator for moving said agitator; sensing means located at least partially within said outlet tube for sensing the movement of paintballs through said outlet tube; said sensing means including a rotatable wheel having a plurality of angularly spaced apart radially extending members, said rotatable wheel being rotatably mounted about a horizontal axis and being positioned relative to said outlet tube such that paintballs passing downwardly through said outlet tube engage said radially extending members and cause said wheel to rotate, said wheel being rotated by the weight of said paintballs engaging the same; said sensing means further including a plurality of magnets carried by said wheel and a Hall effect magnetic sensor carried by said housing and located so as to sense the movement of one of said magnets when said wheel is rotated by one of said paintballs passing downwardly through said outlet tube, and electronic circuit means associated with said magnetic sensor for activating said electric motor means in response to signals from said magnetic sensor.