Patent Publication Number: US-3880283-A

Title: Package for telescopic gunsights

Description:
United States Patent [191 Flaherty et al.  
 PACKAGE FOR TELESCOPIC GUNSIGHTS Inventors: Danny F. Flaherty; Donald R. Payton, both of El Paso. Tex.  
 W. R. Weaver Company. El Paso. Tex.  
 Filed: Dec. 17, 1973 Appl. No.: 425,36!  
 Assignee:  
 US. Cl 206/316: 206/4519 Int. Cl B651! 85/38; 865d 5/50 Field of Search 206/4514. 45.34, 45.19,  
  References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Kendall ct al 206/4534 Murphy, Jr. 206/4519 Apr. 29, 1975 3,l82.790 5/l965 Bieganousky 206/4534 3.370.697 2/[968 Cevey et al. v. 206/4534 3,467,245 9/[969 Kawawada 206/523 3.519,]23 7/1970 Nagle et al 206/4534 3,533,503 10/[970 Wood 206/4519 3.589.5ll 6/l97l Britt A.  
 3.822.78l 7/1974 Bruginctz r. 206/4534 Primary E.\&#39;uminerWilliam l. Price Assistant Eraminer-Allan N. Shoap Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Donald R. Motsko; William W. Jones [57] ABSTRACT A package for telescopic gunsights or scopes which permits scopes of different length to be packaged in the same size cartons and prevents the scopes from moving when packaged in the cartons.  
 2 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PACKAGE FOR TELESCOPIC GUNSIGl-ITS This invention relates to a package for telescopic gun sights or scopes of the type having windage and elevation turrets.  
  The package includes a tray which may be made of vacuum formed plastic, cardboard, or the like. The tray is sized so as to fit snugly within a box of predetermined size, the tray having a low profile base portion which engages the side and end walls of the box so as to be held snugly therein. The tray also includes a central raised portion having an upwardly open concave surface with upwardly extending side walls forming a cradle which receives the main barrel portion of the scope. At least one of the side walls on the raised portion of the tray is provided with a notch which receives one of the scope turrets so that engagement between the turret and notch prevents the scope from sliding longitudinally on the cradle. A U-shaped cap member may also be included which overlies the raised portion of the tray and the scope and which includes a recessed area to receive the other scope turret. The cap is sized so as to snugly engage the top wall of the box so that the cap is held in place on the tray and prevents the scope from moving vertically off of the cradle.  
  It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a package for holding telescopic gun sights of different length in a common sized box.  
  It is a further object of this invention to provide a package of the character described which includes a tray having a base portion sized to snugly fit within the box and a raised cradle portion on which rests the barrel part of the scope and which engages at least one of the scope turrets to hold the scope against longitudinal movement on the tray.  
  It is yet another object of this invention to provide a package of the character described which further includes a cup member which overlies the cradle and scope and snugly engages the top wall of the box to prevent the scope from moving upwardly off of the cradle.  
  These and other objects and advantages of the invention will become readily apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment thereof taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:  
  FIG. I is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of a packaging tray formed in accordance with this invention and particularly adapted for packaging a telescopic gunsight (shown in phantom) in a box (also shown in phantom);  
  FIG. 2 is a plan view of the tray of FIG. 1; FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of the tray of FIG. 1;  
  FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a cap member preferred for use with the tray of FIG. I, which view is taken from the bottom of the cap; and  
  FIG. 5 is an end elevational view of the tray of FIG. I showing the cap in place.  
  Referring now to FIGS. [-3, there is shown a preferred embodiment of a packaging tray for telescopic gunsights made in accordance with this invention. The tray, denoted generally by the numeral 2 is designed to fit snugly within a box 4 (shown in phantom). The tray 2 includes a low lying base portion 6 which is sized so as to snugly engage the side walls 8 and end walls 10 of the box 4, so that the tray will be held firmly within the box 4 but can be manually slid out of the box ifdesired. Centrally with respect to the tray base 6 there is positioned a raised portion 12 having a concave upwardly open surface which forms a cradle 14 in which the scope 16 (shown in phantom) rests. It will be noted that the main barrel portion I8 of the scope l6 rests in the cradle 14. The cradle 14 is elevated above the tray base 6 sufficiently so that while the scope barrel l8 rests on the cradle 6, the radially enlarged ocular 20 and objective 22 ends of the scope I6 are either slightly elevated above or rest upon the tray base 6. It will further be noted that the scope 16 includes turrets 24 which house windage and elevation adjustment mechanisms. The side walls 26 of the cradle 14 extend upwardly so as to embrace the scope barrel l8 and at least one of the cradle side walls 26 is formed with a notch 28 which receives one of the scope turrets 24. Thus the scope I6 is held on the tray 2 against longitudinal movement with respect thereto by reason of the turret 24 being received within the notch 28. The scope is also held against lateral movement with respect to the tray by reason of the cradle side walls 26 engaging the scope barrel [8.  
  It will be readily apparent that the scope I6 is firmly held in place against lateral and longitudinal movement with respect to the box 4 by reason of the snug engagement provided between the tray base 6 and the side and end walls 8 and 10 respectively of the box. It will also be readily apparent that a single size box large enough to hold the longest scope made can be used to package all of the scopes made by a manufacturer so long as they have windage and elevational turrets. This is so because the cradle will receive the barrel of any length scope and the scope turrets will be used to locate and hold the scope on the tray, which tray, of course, is sized to fit snugly within the single size box.  
  In order to provide even a better package for the scopes, there is preferably also included a generally U shaped cap member 30 shown in FIG. 4. The cap 30 includes spaced apart legs 32 and 34 interconnected by a web 36. A recess or opening 38 is formed in the web 36 to receive the other scope turret 24. The cap 30 is sized so as to straddle the cradle-forming raised portion 12 of the tray and overlie the scope. The thickness of the cap web 36 is chosen so as to enable the web 36 to snugly engage the top wall of the box, thus the cap 30 is pressed down onto the tray and scope by the box wall. In this manner the scope is prevented from moving upwardly off of the cradle 14.  
  The tray 2 may be readily made from vacuum-formed plastic, paper, or other relatively strong material, and the cap 30 may be made from molded plastic, such as styrene, or the like. The package is of light weight, is relatively strong, and can be easily assembled and disassembled when packing and unpacking scopes. Use of the tray of this invention permits a commonly sized box to be used to package scopes of many different sizes, and whatever the size of the scope, it is held firmly in place within the box.  
  Since many changes and variations of the disclosed embodiment of the invention may be made without departing from the inventive concept, it is not intended to limit the invention otherwise than as required by the appended claims.  
 What is claimed is:  
 I. A package assembly comprising in combination:  
 a. a box having top. bottom, side, and end walls;  
 b. a tray in said box, said tray having a flat, low lying base portion having edges snugly engaging said side an optical gunsight of the type having a barrel and windage and elevation adjustment turrets, said barrel being positioned upon said cradle with one of said windage and elevation turrets being positioned in said notch, whereby said gunsight is held against both lateral and longitudinal movement with respect to said tray.  
 2. In combination with the package assembly of claim 1, a generally U-shaped cap member having downwardly extending offset legs connected by a laterally extending web, said legs being laterally adjacent to said raised portion of said tray and said web including a recessed area receiving the other turret of said gunsight. it