Patent Publication Number: US-2015076181-A1

Title: Removable Sling Pad

Description:
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/880,054 filed Sep. 19, 2013, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference. This invention relates a weapon sling and in particular a removable pad for a weapon sling. 
    
    
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention seeks to provide a removable pad for a weapon sling that wraps around conventional rifle slings and secures to the sling mount. The sling pad has an elongated padded body that wraps around the rifle sling and is secured by overlapping hook and loop fasteners. The removable sling pad has an elongated padded body, a pair of side flaps and an end flap. The end flap is inserted through the rifle&#39;s sling swivel and folded back over the outside of the rifle sling. The side flaps fold over the end flap and each other so that opposed sides of hook and loop material on the overlapping flaps interconnect. With the end flap inserted through the sling swivel, the removable sling pad is secured in place and will not slide along the length of the rifle sling. 
     The above described features and advantages, as well as others, will become more readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art by reference to the following detailed description and accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The present invention may take form in various system and method components and arrangement of system and method components. The drawings are only for purposes of illustrating exemplary embodiments and are not to be construed as limiting the invention. The drawings illustrate the present invention, in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of an embodiment of the removable sling pad of this invention shown with a sling swivel; 
         FIG. 2  is a front view of the removable sling pad of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is a rear view of the removable sling pad of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 4  is a perspective view of the removable sling pad of  FIG. 1  with a rifle and sling; 
         FIG. 5  is a perspective view of the removable sling pad, rifle and sling of  FIG. 4  with the rifle showing the end flap being inserted through the sling swivel; 
         FIG. 6  is a perspective view of the removable sling pad, rifle and sling of  FIG. 4  and a rifle showing the removable pad fitted over the rifle sling; and 
         FIG. 7  is a sectional view of the removable sling pad fitted to the rifle sling of  FIG. 6 . 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     In the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration specific preferred embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, and it is understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that logical, structural, mechanical, electrical, and chemical changes may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. To avoid detail not necessary to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, the description may omit certain information known to those skilled in the art. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present invention is defined only by the appended claims. 
     Referring now to the drawings,  FIGS. 1-4  illustrate an exemplary embodiment of the removable sling pad of this invention, which is designated generally as reference numeral  100 . Sling pad  100  may be adapted for use with a variety of firearms, such as rifles and shot guns, and may be adapted to attach to conventional rifles/weapons that have various sling swivels and connectors. For simplicity of explanation, an embodiment of the sling of this invention is illustrated and described herein used with a typical AR-15 style semi-automatic rifle, but may be used with other types of firearms, such as bolt action rifles, pump action and semi-automatic shotguns within the teachings of this invention. As shown, rifle  2  has a fixed sling ring  4  mounted to the rear of the buttstock to which rifle sling  10  is connected. 
     As shown in  FIGS. 1-3 , removable sling pad  100  has an elongated padded body  110 , a pair of side flaps  120  and an end flap  130 . Padded body  110  is generally constructed of a closed cell foam or padding encased by a durable fabric of nylon or cloth. Padded body  110  provides the overlying cushion for sling  10 . As shown in  FIG. 3 , the back of padded body  110  is covered with hook and loop fastener material. Side flaps  120  and end flap  130  are formed ideally from VELCRO® ONE-WRAP®, which is a dual sided hook and loop material sold by Velcro USA, Inc. of Manchester, N.H. While VELCRO® ONE-WRAP® is a dual sided material with hook and loop fastening on opposite sides, it provides an ideal material for a light-weight single layered flap. Nevertheless, side flaps  120  and end flap  130  may also be constructed in other embodiments of this invention from elongated backing panels of nylon or cloth fabrics with patches of hook and loop fastening material sewn or bonded to the panels. 
       FIGS. 4-6  illustrate how removable sling pad  100  is fitted to a rifle  2  with a conventional rifle sling  10 . First, sling pad  100  is oriented so that the hook and loop backing of the padded body  110  overlies the inside face of sling  10  ( FIG. 4 ). Next, end flap  130  is inserted through sling swivel  4  and folded back over the outside of sling  10  ( FIG. 5 ). Finally, side flaps  120  are folded over end flap  130  and each other so that the opposed sides of hook and loop material on the overlapping flaps interconnect. With end flap  130  inserted through sling swivel  4 , removable sling pad  100  is secured in place along the buttstock end of rifle sling  10  and will not slide along the length of the sling. When fitted to rifle sling  10  through the rifle&#39;s buttstock sling swivel  4 , removable sling pad  100  is positioned to ride over the user&#39;s shoulder with the weapon in a “muzzle-down” carry orientation. It should be noted that the overall length of removable sling pad  100  is selected to cover the desired amount of rifle sling  10 . In addition, removable sling pad  100  may be connected to the sling swivel at either end of the rifle for using the sling in a “muzzle-up” or “muzzle-down” orientation as desired. 
     In other embodiments, the body of the sling pad may be fashioned in the form of a tubular sleeve that slides over, instead of folding around the sling strap. The tubular sleeve has an end flap or similar locking mechanism that engages the sling swivel. Furthermore, the end flap connection can be performed by a variety of structures, such as but not limited to cord ties, butterfly strap connections, or end straps with buckles, buttons, snaps and toggles. 
     It should be apparent from the foregoing that an invention having significant advantages has been provided. While the invention is shown in only a few of its forms, it is not just limited but is susceptible to various changes and modifications without departing from the spirit thereof. The embodiment of the present invention herein described and illustrated is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed. It is presented to explain the invention so that others skilled in the art might utilize its teachings. The embodiment of the present invention may be modified within the scope of the following claims.