Ball-firing cartridge and method

A novel cartridge for conventional shot gun and other weapons, suitable for training and other applications, and containing a thin-walled ball encapsulating a substance to be ejected upon the ball hitting the target, provided with a folded fan enclosure for the ball and its holder within the cartridge which, upon expulsion of the ball-holder-fan unit upon firing, causes the ball to separate and continue to the target, while the folded fan segments spring open in free flight into an air-resistant disc and then pinwheel with the holder harmlessly to the ground within a short distance of the gun.

The present invention relates to gun cartridges and the like, and 
particularly, though not exclusively, to shot gun cartridges, and to 
projectiles fired therefrom that are in the form of thin-walled balls 
containing substances that are ejected upon impact of the fired ball, such 
as marking dyes, or paints or irritants, such as pepper or teargas or the 
like. 
BACKGROUND 
Gun cartridges containing paint and other fluid-containing ball projectiles 
have been widely used for target practice and for games, as described, for 
example, in magazines entitled "Action Pursuit Games", "Pursuit Games", 
"Paint Ball Pursuit", "Paintball Sports". Such devices are particularly 
useful for training applications by police, the military, SWAT teams and 
other law enforcement agencies for such purposes as riot and crowd 
control, rapid marking of objects, animals, trees, people and the like, 
and for precise delivery of the desired substance contained within the 
ball. 
Special training guns are often required to accomodate the cartridge 
constructions, as distinguished from use in the actual weapons customarily 
employed by police, military or others for which these special marking 
cartridges are not adapted. 
Prior ball cartridges, moreover, introduce the danger of injury to the 
party at which such are fired, by virtue of the propulsion out of the 
cartridge of the generally plastic or other ball-holding insert that often 
hits and hurts such parties. 
Underlying the present invention is the modification of the ball - carrying 
cartridge construction to enable its use in such actual weapons, such as, 
for example, conventional shot gun type weapons, instead of special 
training weapons, including compressed air or gas - tank expulsion guns, 
and that insures the harmless dropping of the ball insert to the ground 
within a short distance of the gun. This also enables ready distinction of 
the ball-cartridges from live ammunition, so that mistakes are unlikely. 
OBJECTS OF INVENTION 
An object of the present invention, accordingly, is to provide a new and 
improved substance - containing ball-firing cartridge and the like and 
method of operation thereof, that are not subject to the above limitations 
but that, to the contrary, enable training or use with actual not 
training, weapons, and that prevent damage to the target by being struck 
by the ball-holding insert, and that further enable clear distinguishment 
from the appearance of live ammunition. 
Other and further objects will be explained hereinafter and are more fully 
delineated in the appended claims. 
SUMMARY 
In summary, however, from one of its important aspects, the invention 
embraces a substance-containing, thin-wall ball projectile cartridge 
having, in combination with a base powder charge, in seriatim within the 
cartridge housing, gas seal means, shock absorbing means, and a 
ball-holding cup mounted upon the shock absorbing means and contained 
together with the ball within, and enveloped by, a thin folded segmented 
fan adapted, upon the firing of the charge and the resulting explosion of 
the ball-cup-fan unit, for the folded fan segments to open promptly into a 
flat air-resistant disc. 
Preferred operational methods and best mode designs are later explained.

For purposes of illustration, the invention is illustrated as applied to a 
shot-gun type cartridge of standard shot gun hull or casing diameter (12 
gauge or bore)--approximately 4/5 inch) useful with conventional shot gun 
weapons, and having a plastic, metal or paper outer hull housing 1 of 
length, however, as later discussed, considerably shorter than the 
conventional live pellet ammunition shot-gun cartridge (2 5/8 to 3 1/2 
inches) to avoid confusion with the same. The base 3, as of brass, steel 
or other suitable material, as in conventional shot gun ammunition, holds 
the gun-firing pin and primer unit 5 that, on detonation, ignites the main 
powder charge 7, as is well known. Across the top of the powder charge 7, 
a gas-sealing disc 9 is provided in seriatim to prevent the gas generated 
by the ignition of the powder from passing up or along the inner walls of 
the cartridge. Upon the gas seal 9 is then mounted, in turn, a 
shock-absorbing disc 11, as of resilent foam plastic or rubber or the 
like, to absorb the initial shock of the firing. 
In accordance with the invention, a ball-carrying plastic cup or similar 
cradle insert 13, receiving the thin-walled ball projectile 15 containing 
the substance S that is to be dispersed upon shattering impact, is mounted 
upon the shock absorber disc 1; but the cup is secured to the bottom of 
and contained within an outer folded segmented fan 17, the petal-like 
conical segments of which are collapsed within the cartridge. As more 
particularly shown in the expanded view of FIG. 2, the overlapped fan 
segments C rise from base B up on the inner surface of which the cup 13 
rests, and when the units are assembled, FIG. 1, envelop the ball in its 
cup. The segmented fan 17 is preferably made of segmented paper or thin 
plastic with some resilience to the compression of the folding. 
By the term "ball", as herein used, is meant a spherical shell or capsule 
containing the substance to be ejected upon the hitting of the target and 
the fracturing of the shell or capsule. 
When the shell is fired, the unit of the fan-enveloped ball and its holding 
cup is expelled at high velocity. When, however, the unit is in free 
flight, the fan segments spring open and catch the wind, FIG. 3, acting as 
an air brake to provide a substantial air resistance symmetrical circular 
planar disc surface that causes the opened fan and cup promptly to 
pinwheel and drop harmlessly to the ground while the separated ball 15 
continues to the target. Thus, unlike prior ball holders, as before 
described, there is no danger of the holder continuing toward and striking 
tile target. 
The open end of the cartridge or hull may be closed with a serrated or 
segmented cover layer 19. 
Prototype cartridges of this construction have been sucessfully constructed 
and fired for the above purposes, having a conventional or standard 12 
bore diameter shot gun hull 1, of length about 1.75 inches (43.75 mm), 
about 2/3 to 1/2 the length of conventional or standard live ammunition 
shotgun shells (order of 2 5/8- 3 1/2 inches) length, and is considerably 
lighter. The ball 15 is of 17.55 mm outer diameter, made of gelatin or 
gelatin encapsulating material containing 2.5 cc of fluid paint for 
marking experiments, and having a weight of about 51 grains. The gas seal 
disc 9 was a disc of Mylar (or Teflon) of 0.0075 inch (6 mm) in thickness, 
and the shock-absorbing disc 11 was of rubber composition about the same 
thickness. The ball cup 13 was of styrofoam, and the segmented fan 17 was 
of Mylar sheet material. With a powder charge 17 of 2.5 grains, such balls 
effectively had a muzzle velocity of about 295 feet per second and reached 
targets up to distances of about 35 feet, with the expanded fan-cup 
falling to the ground within 8-10 feet of the gun muzzle. 
Further modifications will, of course, occur to those skilled in this art, 
and such are considered to fall within the spirit and scope of the 
invention as defined in the appended claim.