Abstract:
A magazine comprises a firing compartment, a spring system, a reservoir compartment, and a gate and is adapted for the semi-automatic loading of ammunition from the reservoir compartment into the firing compartment. The transfer of ammunition to the firing compartment is made possible when the gate is in the open position; alternatively, the gate serves as a wall to separate the two compartments while in the closed position.

Description:
[0001]     This application is converted from U.S. provisional application No. 60/750,397, filed on Dec. 15, 2005  
       FIELD OF INVENTION  
       [0002]     This invention relates to spring-piston air guns and ammunition magazines for use therewith. This invention also relates to the method of semi-automatic loading of ammunition in magazines.  
       BACKGROUND OF INVENTION  
       [0003]     Magazines used for containing ammunition are important for normal operation of guns and loading of ammunition into magazines plays an important role in maintaining the fluency and smoothness of gun operation, either in practical applications or for leisure purposes. In spring-piston air guns, the conventional magazines only contain a relatively small amount of ammunition and reloading is a painfully tedious exercise of inserting the ammunition (usually in forms of small beads) into a small orifice one by one. As a result, the fun part of shooting becomes partly obliterated due to the frequency and tediousness by which reloading has to occur.  
       SUMMARY OF INVENTION  
       [0004]     In the light of the foregoing background, it is an object of the present invention to provide improved air guns and related magazines.  
         [0005]     Accordingly, the present invention, in one aspect, is a magazine comprising a firing compartment, a spring system, a reservoir compartment, and a gate. The firing compartment is used for containing ammunition for firing when the magazine is properly loaded into a spring-piston air gun. The spring system is situated inside the firing compartment and used for positioning the ammunition in a predetermined position in the firing compartment. The reservoir compartment juxtaposes the firing compartment and is used for storing additional ammunition whereas a gate is provided between the firing and reservoir compartments and used for controlling the movement of ammunition between the two compartments. The gate is movable between the open and closed positions. When the gate is in the open position, it allows additional ammunition to be transferred by a user to the firing compartment, whereas the gate in the closed position forms a wall separating the firing and reservoir compartments.  
         [0006]     In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the firing compartment is an elongated chamber and further contains a firing orifice on the first end. The spring system is provided on the opposing second end such that the ammunition can be consecutively aligned along the firing compartment. The ammunition can then be discharged through the firing orifice consecutively upon each firing of the gun under normal operation.  
         [0007]     In another preferred embodiment, the magazine is further provided with two pairs of slides running longitudinally between the firing and reservoir compartments. The gate is slidably inserted between the slides such that a user can pull the gate into the open position to allow transfer of ammunition between the two chambers. The user can also push the gate back into the closed position to reform the wall.  
         [0008]     In another implementation, the spring system further comprises a spring and a spring head with a spring head notch disposed thereon. In a more preferred implementation, the gate is further provided with a beveled end, a flanged end and a gate notch juxtaposing the beveled end. The beveled end and the flanged end are close to the first end and the second end of the firing compartment respectively. In the preferred embodiment, the gate notch is configured to interact with the spring head notch such that a pulling action on the flanged end of the gate by a user would cause the gate to the open position, and to induce a corresponding compression movement by the spring. The spring movement would create an enlarged space in the firing compartment in which ammunition is allowed to be transferred to the firing compartment.  
         [0009]     According to another aspect of the present invention, a spring-piston air gun comprises a gun body, a handle and the above-described magazine. The gun body is provided with a barrel for directing ammunition out of the air gun and contains a spring-piston system for propelling the ammunition through the barrel out of the gun. The handle connects to the gun body and contains a magazine chamber and a magazine lock. The magazine can be loadable into the magazine chamber.  
         [0010]     In a further aspect of the present invention, a method is provided for the semi-automatic loading of ammunition in a magazine as described above by first pulling the gate to the open position. The ammunition is then transferred from the reservoir compartment to the firing compartment, and the gate is returned to the closed position upon such transfer. In another preferred implementation, the transferring step is performed when the magazine is loaded inside the gun. In yet another preferred implementation, the transferring step is performed by a tilting motion of the magazine by a user. In a variation of the above method, the reservoir compartment contains a reservoir door such that further steps of opening the reservoir door and filing the reservoir compartment with additional ammunition are provided.  
         [0011]     There are many advantages to the present invention. For instance, the improved magazine has the capacity to store a larger amount of ammunition with the equipped reservoir compartment. Thus, the frequency of magazine reloading can be decreased and the smoothness of normal operation, with the fun brought along, can be preserved. In addition, loading of ammunition into the firing compartment is made easy and convenient by the simple manipulation of the gate and tilting motion of the magazine. In one embodiment of the present invention, such loading can also be performed when the magazine is inside the gun.  
         [0012]     Another advantage of the present invention is that due to the large opening on the reservoir compartment, a vast amount of ammunition can be filled simultaneously into the reservoir compartment of the magazine.  
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES  
       [0013]      FIG. 1  is a side cross-sectional view of a magazine without the spring system and the gate for ease of illustration according to one embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0014]      FIG. 2  is a back cross-sectional view across line A-A of the magazine of  FIG. 1  according to the same embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0015]      FIG. 3  is a side cross-sectional view of a magazine showing the gate in a closed position with an empty firing compartment and the reservoir filled with ammunition according to one embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0016]      FIG. 4  is a side cross-sectional view of a magazine showing the gate in an open position according to one embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0017]      FIG. 5  is a side cross-sectional view of a magazine showing the gate in a closed position with ammunition fully loaded into the firing compartment according to one embodiment of the present invention 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0018]     As used herein and in the claims, “comprising” means including the following elements but not excluding others.  
         [0019]     Referring first to  FIGS. 1 &amp; 2 , the first embodiment of the present invention is a semi-automatically loadable magazine  20 , found in a spring-piston air gun, containing a firing compartment  22  for storing ammunition (not shown) for firing and a reservoir compartment  26  for storing additional ammunition (not shown). In between the two compartments are two pairs of slides  44  disposed on the two side walls defining a sliding channel  24 . As shown in  FIG. 1 , the firing compartment  22  is an elongated chamber comprising a first end  54  and an opposing second end  56 . A firing orifice  58  is situated on the first end  54  through which ammunition (not shown) can be propelled out of the firing compartment  22  and delivered to a spring-piston system consecutively upon each firing of the gun. The reservoir compartment  26 , juxtaposing the firing compartment  22 , also comprises two ends: an internal end  78  and an external end  80  whereat a reservoir door  48  is disposed.  
         [0020]     Referring now to  FIG. 3 , the functional magazine  20  further comprises a spring system (individual components to be shown separately) and a gate  28 . The spring system is attached to the second end  56  of the firing compartment  22  and, in the most preferred embodiment as shown, contains a spring head  38  and a spring  42 . In the illustration shown in  FIG. 3 , the ammunition  46  is shown in the form of beads to illustrate how the beads are consecutively aligned on the spring head  38  for discharging out of the firing compartment  22  during operation. Further, the gate  28 , slidably inserted within the sliding channel  24 , contains a beveled end  30  and a flanged end  32 . In the most preferred embodiment as shown, the gate  28  is further provided with a gate notch  34  next to the beveled end  30  that extends towards the firing compartment  22  for interacting with an oppositely faced spring head notch  40  provided on the spring head  38 . In the embodiment as shown in  FIG. 3 , the gate  28  is in the closed position and acts as a wall to separate the firing compartment  22  and the reservoir compartment  26 .  
         [0021]     During use, the gate  28  can be moved into the open position, as illustrated in  FIG. 4 , by a pulling action on the flanged end  32  by a user. Such pulling action on the gate  28  would induce a corresponding contraction movement by the spring  42  through the interaction of the oppositely facing gate notch  34  and spring head notch  40 . Consequently, the wall originally created by the closed gate would be pulled away. Furthermore, an enlarged space in the firing compartment  22  will be generated by the contracting spring, so that beads of ammunition  46  can be transferred from the reservoir compartment  26  to the firing compartment  22  through a tilting action of the user. Once the space is filled, the user can return the gate to the closed position in preparation for firing, as illustrated in  FIG. 5 . The beveled end  30  of the gate assists the gate closing process by facilitating the separation of the beads by cutting a passage through the beads that may be lodged near the sliding channel  24 . Once the gate is closed, the elongated shape of the firing compartment defines the position of the beads such that they are aligned consecutively one bead after another on the spring head  38  of the compressed spring  42 .  
         [0022]     Clearly, the method of semi-automatic loading of ammunition in the magazine as described above can be carried out either when the magazine is loaded inside the gun or with the magazine detached from the gun.  
         [0023]     When the reservoir is empty, a user can fill the reservoir compartment  26  with additional ammunition  46  by opening the reservoir door  48  situated on the external end  80  of said reservoir compartment  26 . The opening created on the external end  80  is large enough for quick filling of a vast amount of ammunition  46  into the reservoir compartment  26 . In the embodiments shown in  FIGS. 3, 4  &amp;  5 , the reservoir door  48  is pulled outwards from the external end  80 , followed by flipping the reservoir door  48  out of the base  84  of said magazine  20  to create such opening on the external end  80 . As with the gate  28 , this reservoir door  48  may be opened and closed with the magazine  20  either attached or detached from the gun.  
         [0024]     The preferred embodiments of the present invention are thus fully described. Although the description referred to particular embodiments, it will be clear to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced with variation of these specific details. Hence this invention should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein.  
         [0025]     For example, the spring is described as being attached to the firing compartment but it is clear that the spring may also be anchored by other means or simply positioned there without attachment. Further, ammunition may be transferred to the firing compartment from the reservoir compartment by means other than tilting the magazine, such as rotating or shaking. The reservoir door is described as similar to a trap door that can be pulled and flipped opened, but it is clear that other closing means may be designed by one of ordinary skilled in the art based on the teaching provided herein. The gate is described as having a beveled end for the purposes of facilitating the closing process, but it is clear that a rectangular end would also fall within the scope of the present invention. The opening mechanism of the gate may also be sliding or screwing.