Patent Publication Number: US-5896850-A

Title: Paintball gun with sight rail cover

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates generally to paintball guns, and specifically to paintball guns having a cocking mechanism. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Paintball guns which pneumatically project a round projectile containing a gelatinous colored material have become enormously popular within the last fifteen years. 
     Most paintball guns presently sold on the market operate by providing a short burst of compressed gas behind a paintball in the gun&#39;s paint ball chamber (firing chamber) using a compressed gas valve which is opened by an impact device known as a &#34;striker.&#34; When the trigger is pulled, the striker impacts an impact opener on the compressed gas valve, thereby causing the valve to open briefly and release a short burst of compressed gas into the paint ball chamber. The striker can be operated by purely mechanical means, for example by use of a coil spring, or by pneumatic means whereby the striker is energized by a portion of the compressed gas. 
     In almost all paintball guns of this type, operation of the gun is initiated by &#34;cocking&#34; the striker by use of a manual cocking pin. The cocking pin draws the striker away from the impact opener on the compressed gas valve against the biasing pressure of a coil spring and the cocking pin and/or striker is latched in that position, ready for activating the firing mechanism. When the trigger is pulled, the latching mechanism is released, allowing the striker to impact the impact opener on the compressed gas. This causes the valve to release a burst of compressed gas into the paint ball chamber, thereby propelling a first paintball down the barrel of the gun. The striker is then retracted to the cocking position, either manually (by again use of the cocking pin) or pneumatically (by use of a portion of the compressed gas). 
     The cocking pin is generally disposed in an elongated slot in the body of the gun. This slot is generally open to the air. Several problems arise from this configuration. First, the exposed slot allows dirt and grime to enter the body of the gun. This is an important problem because most paintball gun tournaments are conducted outdoors. Second, the exposed cocking pin can easily be inadvertently bumped or jarred, thereby causing the gun to misfire. 
     Accordingly, there is a need for a paintball gun which simply and inexpensively eliminates these problems associated with the exposed cocking pin and slot. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention satisfies this need. The invention is a paintball gun of the &#34;cocking type&#34; having a cocking pin disposed within an elongated slot, the improvement comprising the installation of the cocking pin and elongated slot on the top of the gun and covering the cocking pin and elongated slot with a sight rail cover. The sight rail cover can have a smooth flat top surface so that the sight rail can be used as an aiming sight in the operation of the gun. A cocking link is slidably disposed within the sight rail cover, but protruding out the rear end of the sight rail cover. At the rearward end of the cocking link is disposed a cocking knob. At the forward end of the cocking link is an elongated slot, sized and dimensioned to slip over the cocking pin so as to engage the cocking pin and allow the cocking link to draw the cocking pin rearwardly, so as to cock the gun, by pulling rearwardly on the cocking knob. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     These and other features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following description, appended claims and accompanying drawings where: 
     FIG. 1 is a side view of a paint ball gun having features of the invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a second paint ball gun having features of the invention; 
     FIG. 3 is a perspective detail view of a paint ball gun having features of the invention; and 
     FIG. 4 is a side view in partial cross-section of a paint ball gun of the prior art. 
     &#34;FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of a portion of prior art FIG. 4.&#34; 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The following discussion describes in detail one embodiment of the invention and several variations of that embodiment. This discussion should not be construed, however, as limiting the invention to those particular embodiments. Practitioners skilled in the art will recognize numerous other embodiments as well. For a definition of the complete scope of the invention, the reader is directed to the appended claims. 
     The invention is an improvement in a paint ball gun 10 of the &#34;cocking type,&#34; as illustrated in FIG. 4. By &#34;cocking type,&#34; it is meant that the paintball gun 10 has a body 12, a barrel 14, a paintball chamber 50, a compressed gas cylinder 18 and a gas valve 52 which is opened by the impact of a movable striker 54 against an impact opener 56. The moveable striker 54 is biased to impact the impact opener 56 by a biasing means 58, such as a coil spring. The striker 54 can be manually retracted away from the gas valve 52 by movement of a cocking pin 20 attached to the striker 54 and slidably disposed within an elongated slot 22 in the body 12. 
     In a paintball gun 10 of the &#34;cocking type,&#34; once the striker 54 is retracted to the cocked position, the striker 54 is latched into place by a releasable cocking latch 62. A trigger 24 is operatively connected to the releasable cocking latch 62 so that, when the trigger 24 is pulled, the releasable cocking latch 62 is released and the striker 54 is caused to impact the impact opener 56 on the gas valve 52, thereby briefly opening the gas valve 52 to allow a burst of compressed gas to flow from the compressed gas cylinder 18 into the paintball chamber 50. 
     In a sophisticated version of such paintball gun 10--called a &#34;blow type gun&#34;--a portion of the compressed gas released by the gas valve is used to re-cock the striker. This provides a semi-automatic gun which can be repeatedly fired by repeatedly squeezing the trigger 24. However, in such sophisticated paintball guns, such as &#34;blow type&#34; guns, the gun 10 must generally be initially operated by manually cocking the striker. 
     The invention is an improvement to such cocking type paintball guns 10, wherein the cocking pin 20 and the elongated slot 22 in the body 12 is located at the top of the gun 10 and the cocking pin 20 and the elongated slot 22 are covered with a sight rail cover 26. 
     As best illustrated in FIG. 3, the sight rail cover 26 can be a generally U-shaped element. The sight rail cover 26 can be made from any suitable rigid material, such as plastic or metal. In a typical embodiment, the sight rail cover 26 is made from an extruded aluminum. 
     The sight rail cover 26 is typically screwed into place over the cocking pin 20 and the elongated slot 22 in the body 12 so as to minimize the amount of dirt and grime entering the paintball gun 10 via the elongated slot 22 and to minimize misfiring of the gun 10 by inadvertent bumping of the cocking pin 20. 
     Slidably disposed within the sight rail cover 26 is a cocking link 28 having a forward end 30 and a rearward end 32. The rearward end 32 protrudes out of the rearward end 34 of the sight rail cover 26. At the rearward end 32 of the cocking link 28, a cocking knob 36 is disposed which facilitates the gripping of the rearward end 32 of the cocking link 28. Preferably, the cocking knob 36 is knurled to facilitate its gripping by the thumb and forefinger of the user. 
     At the forward end 30 of the cocking link 28, the cocking link 28 has an elongated cocking link slot 38 which is preferably about the same length as the elongated slot 22 in the body 12 (in which the cocking pin 20 is disposed). The elongated cocking link slot 38 is sized and dimensioned to surround the cocking pin 20 such that, when the gun 10 is fully assembled, the cocking link 28 can be drawn rearwardly by manually pulling the cocking knob 36 rearwardly. 
     Preferably the cocking link 28 is biased to slide forward in the sight rail cover 26 by a cocking link spring 40. The cocking link spring 40 tends to bias the cocking link 28 forward into the sight rail cover 26 when the cocking link 28 is not in use so that the cocking knob 36 covers the rearward end 34 of the sight rail cover 26 to minimize dirt and grime getting into the gun 10 from this location. 
     In one embodiment, the sight rail cover 26 has a smooth, flat top surface 42, so that the sight rail cover 26 can be used as an aiming sight for aiming the gun 10. 
     In a preferred embodiment, the sight rail cover 26 further comprises attachment sites, such as opposed external grooves 44, to facilitate the attachment of a scope 46, such as a telescope, a point dot scope or a laser-assisted scope. 
     The invention provides a simple and inexpensive means for avoiding the problems with cocking type paintball guns of the prior art.