Abstract:
The invention is a height adjustable gun rest that can be attached, and carried folded, on a rifle&#39;s fore-end. Known gun rests are in particular unsuitable on snow, and therefore unsuitable for grouse top-hunting for instance. Loud or awkward folding, or unsuitable exterior form (for carrying the rifle on the back), are other problems relevant to this kind of hunting. The invention includes a supporting leg  1 , a bearing plate  2 , and a pivot catch  3 . The fore-end  101  can be imagined as the upper horizontal bar of a “Z” where the supporting leg, pivoted to the fore-end, is the inclined line and the bearing plate, pivoted to the supporting leg, is the lower horizontal bar. This arrangement facilitates compact and simple folding. The bearing plate provides large contact surface. The pivot catch fix the leg&#39;s inclination angle; that is, one of the angles of the “Z” is constant while the other is variable. The pivot catch may in particular be a crossbar, between the leg and the fore-end, whose attachment along the fore-end is adjustable.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Technical Field  
         [0002]     The invention is a gun rest (also referred to as an aiming rest). A typical example of use is “top hunting” for wood grouse or black grouse T, which is a hunting form characterized by the hunter J using a rifle G and being postured lying on snow, illustrated in  FIG. 1   a . The invention classifies as a foldable, portable, and adjustable gun rest. Basically it is also a kind of single leg stand (also called monopod). The invention belongs to the category of gun rests intended to be carried attached to the rifle&#39;s fore-end  101 , also known as forearm stock, illustrated in  FIG. 1   b.    
         [0003]     2. Technical Problem Solved by the Invention  
         [0004]     The invention solves in particular the problem of gun rests&#39; unsuitability on snow-covered ground. “Top hunting” is carried out during wintertime when the snow is deep and wood grouse and black grouse graze up in pine trees and birches. The distance to the bird, when top hunting, is comparably large: occasionally around 200 meters. It is customary to place a brought rucksack on top of the snow and form it as a support for the rifle. The rucksack is comparably large and its color tends to contrast against the snow; the bird may therefore discover the rucksack&#39;s movement when the hunter arranges it for support. Ordinary gun rests, whether they are monopods or bipods, are usually not used for this kind of hunting because they are unsuitable for use on snow. Disturbing sounds when the gun rest is folded out, awkward height adjustment, and uncomfortably protruding parts, are other common problems with gun rests for this kind of hunting.  
         [0005]     3. Prior Art  
         [0006]     A gun rest is described in U.S. Pat. No. 1,426,967. This gun rest includes a supporting leg—a long narrow bar named “leg  26 ”—having a closed position and an extended position. In the closed position the leg is situated under, and closely along, the rifle&#39;s fore-end. In the extended position the leg projects, about right-angled, out from the fore-end. In this position another thin bar (called “bar  30 ”) may be pulled out from the short side of the supporting leg and thus, in several steps, elongating the leg.  
         [0007]     U.S. Pat. No. 64,765 describes another gun rest. It includes a supporting leg, a bar named “rod G”, consisting of two parts (marked “a” and “b”) joined by means of a hinge (at the point marked “x”). The gun rest has a closed position in which the bar is placed under and closely along the rifle&#39;s fore-end. In the extended positions the parts “a” and “b” may, on one hand, be collapsed together (giving a short support) or may, on the other hand, be folded out (giving a tall support); there are no positions in-between.  
         [0008]     There are also other kinds of foldable gun rests—ranging from one to three supporting legs with two legs being the most common—intended for attachment on a rifle&#39;s fore-end. The bipods in U.S. Pat. No. 5,852,892 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,289,622 may be mentioned because they, when collapsed, lack protruding parts. Other gun rests differs, as far as we know, to a greater extent from the invention. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
     Advantages Provided by the Invention  
       [0009]     Lying down in the snow the hunter may, by means of the invention, obtain a good support for the rifle. Neither U.S. Pat. No. 1,426,967 nor U.S. Pat. No. 64,765—despite them both having a component that have some similarity with the bearing plate that is a characteristic of the invention—are suitable for use on snow. The gun rests having double legs described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,852,892 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,289,622 are not either suitable on snowy ground.  
         [0010]     Good height adjustability for lying-down shooting postures is obtained. The gun rest in U.S. Pat. No. 1,426,967, and also to a certain extent the gun rest in U.S. Pat. No. 64,765, have—in common with the invention—the advantages of having a smooth exterior, being compact in collapsed position, and being easy to fold out with a single-hand movement. However they are, in contrast to the invention, not very adjustable: the supporting leg can in particular only be positioned right-angled to the fore-end. It is true that there are other gun rests that in fact, similar to the invention, are easy to set at several height levels, but as mentioned, no one is suitable as a rifle support on ground covered by snow.  
         [0011]     The rifle&#39;s existing attachment places can be used; in particular the places for attaching the front action-screw  102  and the sling swivel stud  103 , indicated in  FIG. 1   b . The gun rest in U.S. Pat. No. 1,426,967 includes a cassette, housing the pivot of the leg and a spring, inlayed into the rifle&#39;s fore-end  101 . For the other here mentioned patents: U.S. Pat. No. 64,765, U.S. Pat. No. 5,852,892, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,289,622, the gun rest is an integral part of a modified fore-end (that is, the rest is not a separate part attached to an existing fore-end). There are other gun rests that are attached to the rifle using existing fittings such as the sling swivel stud (Harris Bipod and others not listed here); but the ones we know are difficult to fold out, not suitable for snow-covered ground, and have protruding parts that renders the rifle, attached with the folded-up gun rest, uncomfortable to carry on the back.  
         [0012]     The gun rest can be extended and set to height rapidly and quietly with a single-handed manipulation. The gun rests with double legs such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,852,892 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,289,622, on the contrary, requires the legs to be extended one by one.  
         [0013]     The rifle, with mounted gun rest, can be carried comfortably on the back. While the other four gun rests here mentioned also have this feature, they are as mentioned either difficult to extend or are not settable at varying-height prone shooting postures.  
       EMBODIMENTS  
       [0014]     A first embodiment of the gun rest is shown in  FIG. 2 . Its function is explained with the help of  FIG. 3 .  
         [0015]     First embodiment. The gun rest in its entirety is show in  FIG. 2   b  and a few parts are shown in  FIG. 2   a . The gun rest has two parallel strips  1 , a lower plate  2 , a crossbar  3 , and a number of cuts  51  in the bottom of an upper plate  4 . The two parallel strips  1  thought of as a single part is named “supporting leg”, the lower plate  2  is called “bearing plate”, and the upper plate  4  is referred to as “attachment plate” or occasionally as “attachment element”. The oblong hole  42  and the round hole  44  are intended for the rifle&#39;s front action-screw  102  respectively sling swivel stud  103 . A torsion spring  6  pushes the crossbar&#39;s tip  61  against the attachment plate; the crossbar  3  thereby becomes fixed in place because the tip locks at one of the recesses  51 . When the hunter, with his one hand, removes the tip out of the recess, the supporting leg can be turned, around the front axle  14 , up against the attachment plate. There it can be anchored by means of a clasp  71  that hooks onto a slot  71 * of the attachment plate. This closed position is illustrated in  FIG. 3   a . At any of the folded-out positions the bearing plate may be turned, around the lower axle  12 , till the clasp  71  can hook onto a slot  71 ′* of the bearing plate. This position is illustrated in  FIG. 3   c.    
         [0016]     The gun rest&#39;s function is as follows (see  FIG. 3 ). In closed position the supporting leg  1 , the bearing plate  2 , and the crossbar  3  are lying flat against the rifle&#39;s fore-end—like an oblong box—according to  FIG. 3   a . The gun rest is adjustable to a number of extended positions. In these positions, the bearing plate is situated flat against the ground (for example snow), thereby increasing the contact surface of the supporting leg against the ground. In such a position, the rifle&#39;s shooting angle can be changed by turning the leg-attached rifle around the lower axle  12 . An example of an extended position is shown in  FIG. 3   b ; the number of stops  51  determines the number of folded-out positions. The bearing plate can be turned around to act as an elongation of the supporting leg, as is shown in  FIG. 3   c . In this position, the shooting angle may be changed by tilting the leg-attached rifle around the toe part of the bearing plate.  
         [0017]     Second embodiment. Another concretisation of the invention is shown in  FIG. 4 . Contrary to the first embodiment, the front axle  14  is movable along the attachment plate  4  while the rear axle  34  is fixed. A rail  5  is placed at bottom of the attachment plate. By pushing the lever  62 , the tooth  61  is pushed into the block  41  on which the supporting leg is hinged. While the tooth is in pushed-in condition, the block may be freely moved along the rail. When the lever is released, the tooth automatically reappears (pushed out by a spring inside the block) and can therefore lock into one of the recesses  51 .  
         [0018]     Third embodiment. A third embodiment of the invention is illustrated in  FIG. 5 . The supporting leg consists of two parts  1   a ,  1   b  movable along each other in a rail  5 . The upper leg part  1   a  and the crossbar  3  are both hinged to the attachment plate  4 ; they are hinged by the front axle  14  respective the rear axle  34 . The middle axle  13 , hinging the lower leg part  1   b  to the crossbar, can be moved along the rail. The gun rest is adjusted as follows. An adjustment device  6  has some kind of tooth (not visible in the drawing) that normally locks into one of the recesses  51 . The tooth is unlocked from a recess by pushing the lever  62  towards the supporting leg  1   a ,  1   b . The lever is then moved, in pushed-in condition, along the supporting leg, resulting in a change of the height of the gun rest.  
         [0019]     In all of the previously described embodiments, the attachment element  4  could be exchanged for two joinable parts. The joinable parts may for example have the form of profiles  45 ,  45 * insertable into each other as shown in  FIG. 6   a . The upper coupling element  45 * typically has two holes  42 ,  44  for screw fastening it into the screw holes for the front action-screw respective the sling swivel stud. This arrangement certifies that the gun rest can be removed from the weapon without touching any of the action screws; indeed the barrel or action screws should not be unnecessarily turned because changes in the screw torque may alter the weapon&#39;s sight setting. In addition it is faster and easier to attach the gun rest if a profile  45  simply can be inserted onto a rifle-attached profile  45 *, instead of the gun rest having to be attached by screws. Another embodiment of the bearing plate and of the attachment plate is shown in  FIG. 6   b . The toe end of the bearing plate has a rabbet  22 . In closed position the block  41  fits into the rabbet; and the bearing plate is therefore stably held in place by the block. In addition, the two tips framing the rabbet, yields a good grip against soil or frozen ground when the gun rest is in a fully extended position (refer to  FIG. 3   c ). This embodiment also features a peg  46  on the attachment plate that fits into a hole of the bearing plate block  21 , for the purpose of stably securing the bearing plate when the gun rest is in the closed position.  
         [0020]     Yet another concrete form of the bearing plate is illustrated by  FIG. 7 . The bearing plate  2  is here attached to the bearing plate block  21  by means of a screw  8 . The bearing plate has a first position as shown in  FIG. 7   b . In this position a peg  24  on the block, fits into a hole  24 * of the bearing plate. When the screw is tightened, the bearing plate block is clamped to the bearing plate. When the screw is loosened, the peg may be lifted out of the hole, and the bearing plate can then be turned to a new position as shown in  FIG. 7   a . In this position the peg works as the one leg of a tripod, where the other two legs  23  are placed at opposite ends of the bearing plate.  
         [0021]     Recesses, for instance the kind of recesses  51  shown in  FIG. 2 , may also be placed directly into the rifle&#39;s fore-end; the fore-end may in particular be designed with recesses formed already at the fabrication stage. In such a case, the first embodiment of  FIG. 2  could be modified such that the attachment element  4  only includes the front block  41 . That is, the front block is attached to the fore-end and the crossbar tip will then be able to attach at any of the recesses in the fore-end. In this context, observe that the arrangement consisting of the notched rail  5  and the adjustment device  6 , illustrated in  FIG. 4 , may be exchanged for the in  FIG. 2  shown row of recesses  5  and adjustment device  6 , or vice versa. Thus it is feasible also for embodiments where the front axle  14  is movable, as in  FIG. 4 , to have a fore-end with recesses at which the front axle bearing—that is the block  41 —can attach. This implies that the attachment element only has to include the rear axle bearing—that is the pair of rear blocks  43  that is attached directly into the fore-end.  
       General Description  
       [0022]     Several concrete—but dissimilar—embodiments of the invention were described above. This part summarizes these, and other possible embodiments of the invention, in a definition. We will mainly refer to  FIG. 8 . The black dots in this drawing symbolize pivots.  
         [0023]     The invention—a gun rest for rifles—includes a supporting leg  1 , a bearing plate  2 , and a pivot catch  3 . The supporting leg is at its first end attached, by a first pivot, to the rifle&#39;s fore-end  101 . The supporting leg can be turned, on the pivot, from a collapsed position, at which the two ends of the leg is situated close to the fore-end, to folded-out positions at which the leg&#39;s second end is parted from the fore-end. The invention is particularly characterized by the fact that the supporting leg at its second end is attached, by a second pivot, to the bearing plate. The invention is further characterized by the pivot catch, that it belongs to one of the pivots, and that it makes the supporting leg settable at fixed inclined angles to either the fore-end or to the bearing plate, as indicated in  FIG. 8   a  respectively  FIG. 8   b.    
         [0024]     Particular embodiments of the in  FIG. 8   a  shown pivot catch are illustrated in  FIGS. 8   c ,  8   d ,  8   e ,  8   f . In these four drawings, a crossbar  3  holds the supporting leg  1  at a fixed inclined angle to the fore-end  101 . The corresponding embodiments for the in  FIG. 8   b  shown pivot catch comprising a crossbar, is however not shown in any drawing. The supporting leg is, in the general case, set to a folded-out position by, with the pivot catch released, inclining the leg to a position where the pivot catch once again can lock the leg. More specifically, this may be accomplished by the crossbar&#39;s upper end being settable along the fore-end according to  FIG. 8   c ; a more detailed and concrete example is illustrated in  FIG. 2 . Or it may be accomplished by moving the supporting leg&#39;s first end along the fore-end according to  FIG. 8   d  or, more concretely, according to  FIG. 4 . A third type of embodiment is shown schematically in  FIG. 8   e , and a concrete example is given in  FIG. 5 . A forth embodiment is shown in  FIG. 8   f . Observe that the dotted line on one of the triangle&#39;s sides symbolizes that this side has a variable length. The arrow—which is not part of the invention but help for understanding the drawings—symbolises that the pivot close by the arrow can be moved in the direction of the arrow. The attachment element  4  may be regarded as being part of the pivots that attach to the fore-end. The stand  5  corresponds to the dotted segment.  
       Drawings and Parts  
       [0000]    
       
           FIG. 1  Example of use  
           FIG. 2  First embodiment  
           FIG. 3  Function  
           FIG. 4  Second embodiment  
           FIG. 5  Third embodiment  
           FIG. 6  Other embodiments  
           FIG. 7  Another form of bearing plate  
           FIG. 8  Parts schematically drawn  
          T Shooting target (grouse for instance)  
          G Rifle  
          J Hunter  
           101  Fore-end (a.k.a. forearm stock)  
           102  Front action-screw (a.k.a. front guard-screw)  
           103  Sling swivel  
           104  Magazine  
           1  Supporting leg  
           2  Bearing plate  
           3  Pivot catch (crossbar for example)  
           4  Attachment element (plate with holes, for example)  
           5  Stand with positions (rail with recesses, for example)  
           6  Adjustment device (can be locked to the stand)  
           7  Clasping device  
           8  Fastener (screw for instance)  
           1   a  Supporting leg, first part  
           1   b  Supporting leg, second part  
           12  Axle  
           13  Axle  
           14  Axle  
           21  Block (or other bearing for an axle)  
           22  Rabbet  
           23  Peg (or other protrusion)  
           24  Peg (or other protrusion)  
           24 * Hole (or other recess)  
           34  Axle  
           41  Block (or other bearing for an axle)  
           42  Hole for a screw  
           43  Block (or other bearing for an axle)  
           44  Hole for screw  
           45  Coupling element  
           45 * Coupling element  
           46  Peg  
           51  Recess (or other position in the stand)  
           61  Tooth (or other thing able to lock at the stand&#39;s positions)  
           62  Lever  
           71  Clasp  
           71 * Slot for clasp  
           71  ′*Slot for clasp  
           72  Compression spring