Abstract:
The present invention is related to weapons systems. In particular, the present invention is directed to accessory attachment systems for rifles and small arms weapons that enable attached accessory devices to draw power from a central power source and communicate with the user and/or other devices. The present invention embodies firearm systems comprising at least one mounting rail comprising at least one power connection, at least one power source, at least one rail accessory, wherein the at least one rail accessory receives electrical power from the power source.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    The present invention is related to weapons systems. In particular, the present invention is directed to accessory attachment systems for rifles and small arms weapons that enable attached accessory devices to draw power from a central power source and communicate with the user and/or other devices. 
         [0002]    The current rifles and small arm weaponry in use by US armed forces can be equipped with numerous combat optics, laser designators/sights, and flashlights; all comes with different power requirements and battery supplies. The result is a heavy weapon and a heavier field load of batteries to accommodate the various accessories, which ultimately impacts the soldiers&#39; effectiveness, particularly on longer missions. One of the US Army focus areas is improving the performance of their soldiers&#39; combat equipment while reducing the load that each soldier has to carry. One of these efforts is concentrated on providing advanced technologies to demonstrate the feasibility of an innovative communications rail and power transfer system. The resulting system will be backwards compatible with current mission support devices and accessories that mount to small arms weapons during operational procedures and it will reduce the overall weight penalties of the current system. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    It is an object of the present invention to obviate or mitigate at least one disadvantage of previous firearm accessory rails. 
         [0004]    It is an object of the present invention to provide an accessory attachment system for rifles and small arms weapons that enables attached accessory devices to draw power from a central power source and communicate with the user or other devices without exposed wires. 
         [0005]    In a first embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a firearm accessory mounting rail for attachment of a firearm accessory to the barrel of a firearm. The accessory rail may provide a connection for the firearm accessory. 
         [0006]    The present invention embodies firearm systems comprising at least one mounting rail comprising at least one power connection, at least one power source, at least one rail accessory, wherein the at least one rail accessory receives electrical power from the power source. 
         [0007]    Another embodiment of the present invention provides an accessory attachment system for rifles and small arms weapons that enables attached accessory devices to draw power from a central power source and communicate with the user or other devices without exposed wires. 
         [0008]    Other aspects and features of the present invention will become apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art upon review of the following description of specific embodiments of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying figures. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES 
         [0009]      FIG. 1  shows a system connection in accordance with the present invention. 
           [0010]      FIG. 2  shows a power connector assembly in accordance with the present invenion. 
           [0011]      FIG. 3  shows a pin contact assembly in accordance with the present invention. 
           [0012]      FIG. 4  shows an upper rail connector in accordance with the present invention. 
           [0013]      FIG. 5  shows a lower rail connector in accordance with the present invention. 
           [0014]      FIG. 6  shows a pin contact/pcb contact assembly in accordance with the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0015]    For simplicity and illustrative purposes, the principles of the present invention are described by referring to various exemplary embodiments thereof. Although the preferred embodiments of the invention are particularly disclosed herein, one of ordinary skill in the art will readily recognize that the same principles are equally applicable to, and can be implicated in other compositions and methods, and that any such variation would be within such modifications that do not part from the scope of the present invention. Before explaining the disclosed embodiments of the present invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of any particular embodiment shown, since of course the invention is capable of other embodiments. The terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation. Further, although certain methods are described with reference to certain steps that are presented herein in certain order, in many instances, these steps may be performed in any order as may be appreciated by one skilled in the art, and the methods are not limited to the particular arrangement of steps disclosed herein. 
         [0016]    Prior to this invention, powered rail accessories needed to provide their own power, as no centralized rail power distribution system existed. This situation necessitated carrying large numbers of batteries of different types and sizes and in some cases special tools to change them in the field. The present invention overcomes these limitations by providing a single, uniform and standard method for the accessories to get power from a common source, thereby reducing or eliminating the need for each accessory to provide its own unique power. 
         [0017]    The present invention enables attached accessory devices to draw power from a central power source and enables communication with the user or other devices without exposed wires. 
         [0018]    The present invention allows existing non-powered rails to provide power to, and communicate with, accessories which are attached to the rails. 
         [0019]    Weapons Rail, Command and Control Systems in accordance with the present invention allows digital command and control to powered rail mounted accessories using embedded microprocessors in accessory modules and control modules. It embodies hardware, firmware and command structure. 
       Power Distribution 
       [0020]    PPI has developed of a fully functional power and communication system for soldier weapons. This development incorporates design that meets the military environmental specification and accessory functional requirements without modifications to the weapon ergonomic and handling properties. 
         [0021]    The main challenge in this design was how to transfer electrical power and communication signal from the battery pack in the buttstock to the picatinny rails fore-grip and hand rail system. This power transfer system must be durable and robust to withstand constant abuse to which firearms are subjected in the battlefield environment, plus the need for simplicity in construction and use of the weapon. The present design has fulfilled these areas while providing the art of incorporating a rail system that connects electrical power along the upper receiver, the buttstock and to the powered foregrip rails. 
         [0022]    During development PPI identified several challenges in providing electrical power and communication through the fore grip rail. One example is that the rifle upper receiver in  FIG. 1  does not allow sufficient space to house mechanical or electrical components such as bus wires, cables and connectors. PPI developed solutions that does not compromise the safety or alter the functionality of the rifle. 
         [0023]    In  FIG. 1 , the electrical wire is routed from the battery pack [ 102 ] in the buttstock [ 103 ] to the powered foregrip rail upper [ 104 ] and lower [ 105 ] assemblies. The external wiring is housed inside a durable and impact resistant rigid polymer shroud [ 106 ] that conforms to the lower receiver [ 107 ]. The shroud is securely retained by a quick connect/disconnect pivot and takedown pin [ 108 ] as well as the bolt release roll pin [ 109 ] or in the trigger/hammer pins [ 110 ]. The shrouded power cable [ 106 ] runs from the battery power connector [ 112 ] at the buttstock [ 103 ] to the foregrip power connector [ 113 ]. The design provides an easy access for replacement or repair of the cable assembly and eliminates snag hazards or interferences with the rifle operation and requires no modifications to the rifle lower receiver [ 107 ] housing. 
         [0024]    The rifle upper receiver [ 101 ] assembly is attached to the lower receiver [ 107 ] assembly by the pivot pin [ 111 ] and held securely in closed position by the takedown pin [ 108 ]. When the takedown pin [ 108 ] is withdrawn at the stop position, the upper receiver [ 101 ] can pivot to open the rifle. Both pins can be withdrawn to stop positions which completely disassemble the upper [ 101 ] and lower [ 107 ] receivers. 
         [0025]    The rail system consists of upper and lower picatinny rail foregrip assembly and rail electrical interconnects and input power connectors. The lower rail foregrip assembly is removable to accommodate the M203 or the new M320 grenade launcher assembly while maintaining full function of the upper foregrip rail assembly. 
         [0026]    The power connector is design to operate under military small arms test conditions such as shock, vibration, temperature cycling, salt water spray and immersion, petroleum derivatives, industrial gas, all the while insuring low milli-volt drop and low contact resistance. 
         [0027]    The power connector shown in  FIG. 2  is a one piece housing [ 201 ] and ruggedized power connector [ 202 ] where sealing integrity is maintained during underwater immersion and exposure to outside contaminants. It consists of a metallic body, contact pin receptacle [ 203 ] with a press-fitted multi-finger spring contact [ 204 ] assembled into a machined shell body. The multi-finger contact [ 204 ] provides compliance to the environmental and mechanical tolerance variance of the mating pin ensuring continuous current carrying capacity of the connection. The shell body of the receptacle pin [ 203 ] includes a solder tail portion for soldering the cable wires. The bottom panel insulator mounts [ 205 ] the pin receptacles with the bottom part and fitted over the connector metallic body [ 203 ], potted together with a sealing compound or overmold to complete the assembly. A quarter turn fastener [ 206 ] and retaining ring [ 207 ] are placed, securing the connector assembly into the rail pin contacts. Alternatively the connector assembly can be made from one solid polymer overmold process. 
         [0028]      FIGS. 3 ,  4  and  5  show the connection scheme which comprises a two conductive pin connector [ 301 ] and electrical buses [ 302 ] which are designed to interface with connector receptacle assembly ( FIG. 2 ). The contact pin [ 301 ] includes a terminal portion at one end that is pressed into the appropriate hole on the interconnect electrical bus [ 302 ] and can be soldered into the electrical bus [ 302 ] and can be over molded together into one piece mold body which provides a sealed housing. The two quad o-ring seals [ 303 ] are for watertight connection between the power connector assembly. 
         [0029]    The assembly is mounted at rear end of the PCB assembly [ 307 ] which the tail section of the electrical conductive buses [ 302 ] are soldered into the top and side printed circuit board (PCB) terminal pads [ 304 ]. Retaining clips [ 401 ] are made of a resilient metallic spring material, which are anchored on the upper over molded upper rail connector housing [ 305 ], a clamp hook feature of the retaining clip will be use to securely hold lower rail connector assembly [ 306 ]. 
         [0030]    The assembly is then encapsulated together with PCB contact assembly shown in  FIG. 6  with the upper [ 601 ] and lower [ 602 ] rail connected together and secured with the retaining clips [ 401 ]. The encapsulant material will be made of a durable, high temperature and impact resistant polymer designed to withstand submersion in 20 meters (66 feet) of salt water and resistant to a mechanical shock and vibration environment. The profile of the encapsulation design is to minimize protrusion and maximize current carrying capacity and provide a degree of serviceability to the overall connection. 
         [0031]      FIG. 5  shows the lower rail foregrip connector assembly. It consists of spring pin contacts [ 501 ] and electrical buses [ 302 ] and polymer material over mold. The connector is removable and can be easily mounted through the retaining clips [ 401 ] which provide positive retention and a means of securing the connector halves. Mated connector pairs have tab features which captivate the clips. 
         [0032]    These and other embodiments will be apparent to those of skill in the art, all within the scope of the present invention, which is defined solely by the claims appended hereto.