Patent Publication Number: US-2006010751-A1

Title: Apparatus for attaching an accessory to a handgun

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention pertains to attaching accessories to handguns and, more particularly, to removably attaching a flashlight, laser pointer or the like to a handgun.  
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      The advantages of providing a light source easily attached to a handgun are well known. Attached lights have proven useful in nighttime and in other low-light situations.  
      Most law enforcement officials as well as others attempting to obtain accuracy when firing a handgun are taught to fire using a two-hand grip. Such a grip reduces recoil and has been found to provide greater accuracy when multiple shots must be fired. The two-hand grip works well when a suspect or other target is well illuminated. However, in low light situations, the two-handed grip may not be possible. Obviously, it is not possible if a flashlight must be held in one hand and the handgun in the other.  
      Police officers, security guards, and other such individuals are generally required to carry a light in performing their duties. However, with a detached light source, extraordinary coordination is needed between two hands, one unholstering, aiming, and possibly firing the handgun, while the other hand detaching or otherwise moving a flashlight or the like into an operational position and aiming the light at the target.  
      Several attempts have been made in the prior art to attach a flashlight or the like to a handgun so that the light and the handgun move as one, thereby overcoming the aforementioned disadvantageous situation.  
      U.S. Pat. No. 3,106,348 for FLASHLIGHT MOUNTING BRACKET, issued Oct. 8, 1963 to Brian Robinson provides one such solution. ROBINSON provides a bracket which is permanently attached to the handle of the firearm by screws or other suitable fasteners. The ROBINSON bracket is designed to slideably accept a companion bracket component which is permanently attached to a flashlight. The arrangement has at least three major disadvantages. First, bracket components are permanently attached to both the handgun and the flashlight. This can result in injury to the user or to someone in close proximity thereto. In addition, the possibility of a bracket protruding from the firearm catching as the handgun is withdrawn from a holster may critically slow the withdrawal, aiming and firing of the handgun when the flashlight is not attached. Third, in the ROBINSON arrangement, the flashlight is supported solely from a rear surface thereof and cantilevered forward, thereby unbalancing the handgun, possibly leading to awkward or inaccurate firing. The ROBINSON mounting arrangement probably precludes use of modern, powerful, long flashlights because of their excessive and unbalanced weight relative to a center of gravity of the handgun without the flashlight attached.  
      U.S. Pat. No. 2,450,584 issued Oct. 5, 1948 to L. H. Dodge teaches a mounting system which, although patented earlier, overcomes some of the deficiencies of the ROBINSON arrangement. DODGE suspends a flashlight using a two point suspension. A flashlight is cradled in a bracket attached both at the bottom of the handgun handle and from the handgun&#39;s trigger guard. While this arrangement provides better overall balance than does the ROBINSON mounting, the DODGE solution is still far from ideal. First, a user must slide his or her hand sideways into the space between the handgun and the attachment bracket, thereby making quick withdrawal of the handgun from its holster awkward at best. In addition, protrusion of bracket mounting hardware inside the trigger guard may also interfere with actually firing the handgun.  
      U.S. Pat. No. 5,167,446 for FLASHLIGHT HANDGUN GRIP ASSEMBLY, issued Dec. 1, 1992 to Vahe Harotunian teaches yet another flashlight mounting arrangement. HAROTUNIAN teaches an encircling bracket for supporting the flashlight and having a radially projecting, padded support which a user presses against the front of the handgun handle to secure the flashlight to the handgun. The major disadvantage of this arrangement is primarily that the shooter must spend considerable time getting the flashlight into an operational position before the flashlight may be used to illuminate a target such as a suspect.  
      U.S. Pat. No. 5,560,703 for HANDGUN LIGHT MOUNT, issued Oct. 1, 1996 to Lewis W. Capps, III teaches an arrangement whereby a flashlight may be supported on a handgun by a bracket partially encircling the grip portion of the handgun handle. The bracket is retained on the handgun handle solely by friction and, with a heavy flashlight supported thereby, the flashlight and its supporting bracket may possibly slide off the bottom of the handgun grip.  
      U.S. Pat. No. 5,628,555 for SWITCH ACTUATION MECHANISM FOR A FIREARM-MOUNTED FLASHLIGHT, issued May 13, 1997 to Raymond L. Sharrah features a light-retaining bracket permanently secured to the bottom of a handgun&#39;s grip and with a lever projecting upwardly therefrom useful for activating the flashlight. While the SHARRAH arrangement provides ease of turning the flashlight on or off, the aforementioned disadvantages of a permanently attached bracket are also present.  
      U.S. Pat. No. 5,816,683 for FLASHLIGHT ADAPTER FOR A HANDGUN, issued Oct. 6, 1998 to Ned F. Christianson teaches yet another solution for attaching a flashlight to the bottom of a handgun&#39;s grip. Again, a bracket permanently attached to the handgun has the disadvantages discussed hereinabove.  
      What is needed is a flashlight mounting system that uses a resilient, frictionally retained, grip encircling bracket to releasably suspend a flashlight from the grip of a handgun. The mounting arrangement should clip onto the handgun stock from the front, and a securing means should be included to overcome the tendency of the bracket to slide off the bracket from the weight of the flashlight.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention provides a flashlight attachment bracket useful for securing a flashlight or other similar device to a handgun. A resilient, grip-encircling arrangement is slid onto the handgun&#39;s grip from the front and secured against vertical movement (i.e., sliding off the bottom of the grip) by an opening adapted to receive a projection from the handgun. A flashlight-encircling novel support bracket slideably secures a flashlight so that the flashlight&#39;s front-to-back position may be adjusted for optimal balance and then the flashlight may be locked in place. No bracket components are permanently secured to the handgun; the inventive mounting system allows the weapon to be holstered and quickly withdrawn, without the flashlight attached thereto.  
      It is, therefore, an object of the invention to provide a bracket for removably attaching a flashlight to a handgun.  
      It is another object of the invention to provide a flashlight mounting system wherein no bracket or other mounting components are permanently affixed to the handgun.  
      It is an additional object of the invention to provide a flashlight mounting arrangement wherein the flashlight may be adjusted for optimal balance with the handgun.  
      It is a further object of the invention to provide a flashlight mounting arrangement wherein the handgun may be normally deposited in and withdrawn from a holster and then inserted into the bracket/flashlight assembly for use therewith.  
      It is yet another object of the invention to provide a flashlight mounting arrangement that provides little or no interference with a shooter&#39;s ability to draw, aim, and fire the handgun.  
      It is a still further object of the invention to provide a flashlight mounting arrangement having no portion extending inside a trigger guard of the handgun. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
      A complete understanding of the present invention may be obtained by reference to the accompanying drawings, when considered in conjunction with the subsequent detailed description, in which:  
       FIG. 1  is a bottom, front, perspective view of the flashlight mounting bracket of the invention in its intended operating environment attached to a handgun;  
       FIG. 2  is a side, elevational view of the arrangement of  FIG. 1 ;  
       FIG. 3  is a bottom, perspective view of the flashlight mounting bracket of the invention with a flashlight in place; and  
       FIG. 4  is an exploded view of the flashlight mounting bracket of the invention attached to a flashlight and poised for attachment to a handgun. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
      The present invention features a novel attachment system for removably securing a flashlight or similar accessory to a handgun.  
      Referring to  FIGS. 1, 2 ,  3 , and  4 , there are shown perspective, side elevational, bottom perspective, and exploded views, respectively of the flashlight mounting bracket  102  holding a flashlight  104  and a handgun  106 , generally at reference number  100 . Neither flashlight  104  nor handgun  106  form any part of the present invention. In addition, flashlight  104  is representative of any handgun accessory including, but not limited to laser devices, infrared sources, radar, sonar or other electronic apparatus, which may be suspended from the lower portion of the stock or grip  105  of the handgun  106 . Consequently, the inventive attachment is not limited to attaching the flashlight  104  chosen for purposes of disclosure.  
      A padded clamp  108  is attached to an elongated body  110  of flashlight mounting bracket  102 . Padded clamp  108  encircles flashlight  104  thereby retaining it in appropriate alignment with handgun  106  so that light, not shown, projecting from the forward face  116  of flashlight  104  is properly directed towards the target, not shown, at which handgun  106  is aimed.  
      A rear portion  112  of padded clamp  108  is adapted to tighten padded clamp  108  around flashlight  104  using a screw  114 . Screw  114  may be a machine bolt mating with an appropriate nut, not shown, or terminating in a threaded portion of the far side of rear portion  112  of padded clamp  108 . It will be recognized that other tightening arrangements may be used to secure flashlight  104  in padded clamp  108  and the exact tightening method chosen to tighten padded clamp  108  around flashlight  104  forms no part on the present invention which encompasses any suitable tightening devices and/or methods in addition to the screw  114  arrangement chosen for purposes of disclosure.  
      The elongated body  110  has a finger  118  adapted to rest against a trigger guard  120  of handgun  106 . Elongated body  110  is open along a first side  128  so as to receive the stock  105  of handgun  106 . As may best be seen in  FIG. 4 , handgun  106  snaps into open side  128  of elongated body  110  of flashlight mounting bracket  102  in a direction indicated by arrow  122  until a bottom surface  124  of the stock or grip  105  of handgun  106  rests against surface  126  of padded clamp  108 . When properly inserted into elongated body  110 , finger  118  rests against trigger guard  120  of handgun  106 . An opening  130  in a side of elongated body  110  opposite open side  128  is provided to receive a projection  132  of the stock  105  of handgun  106 .  
      When stock  105  of handgun  106  is snapped into hollow elongated body  110  of flashlight mounting bracket  102 , the stock  105  is both aligned and secured against motion. First, bottom surface  124  of stock  105  abuts surface  126  of clamp  108 . The abutment of finger  118  against trigger guard  120  further prevents movement. Finally, projection  132  retained in opening  130  prevents the weight of flashlight  104  retained in padded clamp  108  from pulling hollow body  110  off stock  105 .  
      Elongated body  110  is preferably made from a resilient polymer such as high impact plastic or metal. It will be recognized that any other suitable material may be used to form elongated body  110 . Elongated body  110  has a textured outer surface, not shown, to facilitate a shooter, not shown, in drawing, aiming, and/or shooting handgun  106  when elongated body  110  surrounds stock  105  of handgun  106 .  
      Since other modifications and changes varied to fit particular operating requirements and environments will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the invention is not considered limited to the example chosen for purposes of disclosure, and covers all changes and modifications which do not constitute departures from the true spirit and scope of this invention.  
      Having thus described the invention, what is desired to be protected by Letters Patent is presented in the subsequently appended claims.