Patent Abstract:
The present invention relates to a variable magnification device and a telescopic sight using the same, and more particularly, to a variable magnification device which is capable of easily adjusting a magnification of a telescopic sight. The variable magnification device includes: a rotation bunch which has a ring shape conforming to the circumference of a barrel of a telescopic sight and includes a bent end formed on one side of the circumference of the rotation bunch; and a rod which is connected to the bent end and is bendable in the longitudinal direction of the barrel. The magnification of the telescopic sight can be adjusted with an aiming posture maintained, thereby allowing immediate hit on a target. In addition, a leverage effect can be used to easily and finely adjust the magnification of the telescopic sight with one hand, thereby preventing distortion of an aiming posture as maximally as possible.

Full Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims the benefit of Korean Application No. 10-2010-0041935, filed on May 4, 2010, with the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a variable magnification device and a telescopic sight using the same, and more particularly, to a variable magnification device which is capable of easily adjusting a magnification of a telescopic sight under a condition where a shooter aims for a target with a telescopic sight, and a telescopic sight using the same. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     A telescopic sight refers to a sighting telescope which is a device which magnifies and aims for a remote target precisely with it attached to a firearm such as a rifle 
     As used therein, the term “rifle” refers to a personal firearm which has a bored barrel loaded with bullets, shoots with it put on a shoulder of a shooter, and which is capable of hitting a target precisely with an elaborative sight 
     Such sight of the rifle is generally obtained by alignment of a line of sight aimed at a target, which is an important step of determining precise shooting in which a front sight located at an end of barrel is aligned with a back sight located in a main body of the rifle. 
     However, since the front sight and the back sight are very small and their alignment may be in disorder due to small shaking, a shooter requires extreme concentration for alignment of the line of sight. 
     In addition, as the shooter is excessively concerned about the alignment of the line of sight, the shooter&#39;s eyes are focused on the front sight and the back sight rather than the target and forward situations, which results in a narrow field of vision. 
     In addition, the line-of-sight alignment takes a relatively long time, which is against the nature of shooting that a secured target has to be instantaneously hit. 
     Accordingly, to overcome these problems, in the related art, a telescopic sight has been attached to a rifle. 
     Such a telescopic sight eliminates the need of separate line-of-sight alignment by adding coordinate lines or points to the telescopic principle and can aim at a remote target by increasing a magnification from low to high. 
     A structure of this telescopic sight will be described in brief below with reference to  FIG. 1 . 
     A conventional telescopic sight may have a body consisting of a series of objective barrel  10 , middle barrel  20  and ocular barrel  30 . The objective barrel  10  includes an objective bunch  11 , the middle barrel  20  includes a creak bunch  21  and an internal bunch  23 , and the ocular barrel  30  includes an ocular bunch  31  and a reticle bunch  33 . 
     Optical lenses are respectively mounted within the objective bunch  11 , the internal bunch  23  and the ocular bunch  31  and a zoom lens  25  is mounted within the internal bunch  23 . 
     The zoom lens  25  is moved by a zoom front wheel rotated along the circumference of the middle barrel  20 , thereby changing a magnification of the telescopic sight. 
     That is, the magnification of the telescopic sight is adjusted by the rotation of the zoom front wheel  27 . 
     However, it is difficult for the zoom front wheel  27  to be rotated at an aiming posture. 
     This is because it is not easy to find a position of the zoom front wheel  27  only with the feel of hands at the aiming posture at which the eye is concentrated on the inside of the ocular barrel  30 . 
     In addition, it is difficult for the zoom front wheel  27  to turn with one hand since it is stiffly mounted such that it is not randomly rotated by shooting vibration of the rifle. 
     In the end, the shooter has to turn the zoom front wheel  27  with one hand after the shooter takes his/her eye off the ocular barrel  30  and distracts his/her aiming posture. 
     Moreover, the zoom front wheel  27  has to be finely turned with one hand for an elaborate focus adjustment, which is not an easy work in the aiming posture. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In the light of the above circumstances, it is an object of the present invention to provide a variable magnification device which is capable of easily adjusting a magnification of a telescopic sight with one hand of a shooter in an aiming posture where a rifle is put on a shoulder of the shooter, and a telescopic sight using the same. 
     It is another object of the present invention to provide a variable magnification device which is capable of easily adjusting a focus of a telescopic sight, and a telescopic sight using the same. 
     To achieve the above objects, according to an aspect of the invention, there is provided a variable magnification device including: a rotation bunch which has a ring shape conforming to the circumference of a barrel of a telescopic sight and includes a bent end formed on one side of the circumference of the rotation bunch; and a rod which is connected to the bent end and is bendable in the longitudinal direction of the barrel. 
     Preferably, the bent end includes a body which projects upwardly from the rotation bunch, provides a space in which a tail end of the rod is accommodated, and includes an opened upper portion and one opened lateral perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the barrel and a shaft which traverses both laterals adjacent to the one lateral, wherein the rod is adapted to be rotated around the shaft. 
     Preferably, an inner side of the body, which is perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the barrel, extends upwardly from the rotation bunch. 
     Preferably, the variable magnification device further includes an elastic means mounted within the bent end and a horizontal pushing end which is placed above the elastic means and contacts the tail end of the rod. 
     Preferably, an end edge of the rod is beveled. 
     According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a telescopic sight including: the above-described variable magnification device; a barrel mounted with the variable magnification device; and a zoom lens which is mounted within the barrel and is horizontally moved based on adjustment of the variable magnification device. 
     The present invention has an advantage in that the magnification of the telescopic sight can be adjusted with an aiming posture maintained, thereby allowing immediate hit on a target. 
     The present invention has another advantage in that a leverage effect can be used to easily and finely adjust the magnification of the telescopic sight with one hand, thereby preventing distortion of an aiming posture as maximally as possible. 
     The present invention has another advantage in that the rod provided to apply the leverage effect can be bent and laid down along the barrel of the telescopic sight for easy receipt. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The above and/or other aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which: 
         FIG. 1  is a partial sectional view showing a conventional telescopic sight; 
         FIG. 2  is a front view showing a variable magnification device according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 3  is a perspective view showing a telescopic sight using the variable magnification device according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 4  is a side sectional view showing a variable magnification device according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 5  is a perspective view showing a bent end of a variable magnification device according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 6  is a side sectional view showing an operation state of a variable magnification device according to an embodiment of the present invention; and 
         FIG. 7  is a perspective view showing an operation state for receipt of a telescopic sight using a variable magnification device according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following detailed description of the present invention, concrete description on related functions or constructions which was shown in  FIG. 1  will be omitted if it is deemed that the functions and/or constructions may unnecessarily obscure the gist of the present invention. 
     As shown in  FIG. 2 , a variable magnification device  100  includes a rotation bunch  120  having a bent end  110  placed at one side of its circumference, and a rod  130  connected to the bent end  110 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 3 , in the variable magnification device  100 , a zoom front wheel  27  is combined at the same position as the conventional zoom front wheel  27  in a barrel of a telescopic sight  200 . 
     Accordingly, when the rotation bunch  120  is rotated, a zoom lens  25  within a barrel  210  is horizontally moved. 
     In this case, the rod  130  acts as a handle to rotate the rotation bunch  120  easily. 
     Accordingly, in the variable magnification device  100 , since the rotation bunch  120  can be easily rotated with the rod  130  held with one hand, a magnification of the telescopic sight  200  can be easily adjusted with one hand without distracting an aiming posture. 
     As a result, it is possible to quickly hit a target after magnification adjustment with aim at the target maintained when the magnification of the telescopic sight is adjusted. 
     In addition, the rod  130  is bent to face the barrel  210  of the telescopic sight  200 . 
     Accordingly, the rod  130  is closely adhered to or similarly placed on the barrel  210 , which facilitates receipt of the telescopic sight  200  or a rifle (not shown) attached with the telescopic sight  200 . 
     In this embodiment, preferably, the variable magnification device  100  may be a part of the telescopic sight  200 , which is incorporated into the telescopic sight  200 , without separate attachment/detachment. 
     Details of the variable magnification device  100  will be described below. 
     The rotation bunch  120  is placed on the circumference of the barrel  210  in order to adjust the magnification of the telescopic sight  200 , like the conventional zoom front wheel  27 , and is rotated along the circumference to horizontally move the zoom lens  25  placed within the telescopic sight  200 . Preferably, as shown in  FIG. 2 , the rotation bunch has a ring shape surrounding the circumference of the barrel  210  of the telescopic sight  200 . 
     In this case, the bent end is placed at one side of the circumference of the rotation bunch  120 . 
     The rotation bunch  120  is tightly mounted on the circumference of the barrel  210  to prevent the rotation bunch  120  from being randomly rotated due to shooting vibration of the rifle. 
     The bent end  110  connects the rod  130  to the rotation bunch  120  in a bendable manner. Preferably, as shown in  FIG. 4 , the bent end  110  includes a body which projects upwardly from the rotation bunch  120  and provides an internal space in which a tail end of the rod  130  is accommodated. 
     In this case, the body  111  includes an opened upper portion, an opened lateral perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the barrel  210 , and a shaft  112  traversing both laterals adjacent to the one lateral. 
     To this end, as shown in  FIG. 5 , the body  111  includes first, second and third side walls  114 ,  115  and  116  which are placed in three laterals except the one lateral and project upwardly by a predetermined length from one side of the circumference of the rotation bunch  120 , and a through hole  113  in which the shaft  112  is horizontally fixed to the first and third side walls  114  and  116 . 
     Accordingly, the tail end of the rod  130  is accommodated between the first, second and third side walls  114 ,  115  and  116  and the rod  130  is connected to the shaft  112  and is rotated to stand in the opened upper portion or lie in the one lateral. 
     In this case, preferably, the rod  130  is configured to have a predetermined length to allow it to be easily held and rotated with one hand, such that it does not project outwardly beyond the ocular barrel  30  when it lies along the longitudinal direction of the telescopic sight  200 . 
     As a result, the rod  130  acts as a handle to turn the rotation bunch  120  when it stands up, and is closely adhered to or similarly placed on the barrel  210  of the telescopic sight  200  for easy receipt when it lies down. 
     In this case, preferably, the second side wall  115  provides an inner side extending upwardly from the rotation bunch  120 , so that the second side wall  115  can support the erected rod  130 , with one side of the erected rod  130  closely adhered to the inner side. 
     In addition, preferably, a gap between the first and third side walls  114  and  116  corresponds to a width of the rod  130 . Accordingly, when a force is exerted on the rod  130  to turn the rotation bunch  120 , a rotation force can be delivered to the rotation bunch  120  with no gap. 
     In addition, preferably, the shaft  112  passes through the first and third side walls  114  and  116  and the tail end of the rod  130  and the rod  130  is tightly connected to the shaft  112  to prevent the rod  130  from being randomly bent due to shooting vibration of the rifle. 
     Further, preferably, a pushing end  117  may be provided to prevent the rod  130  from being randomly rotated. 
     The pushing end  117  is mounted and vertically moved in the inside of the bent end  110  and receives a pushing-up force from an elastic means  118  provided below the pushing end  117 . 
     In this case, preferably, the elastic means  118  is a compression spring. 
     In correspondence, preferably, the tail end of the rod  130  has right-angled edges and an end face  131  or lateral face  132  of the tail end is closely adhered to the pushing end  117  when the rod  130  is rotated. 
     Accordingly, the pushing end  117  receives an elastic force from the elastic means  118 , pushes up the end face  131  when the rod  130  is erected, thereby fixing the erected rod  130 , and pushes up the lateral face  132  when the rod  130  is horizontally bent, thereby fixing the rod  130  horizontally. 
     In this case, as shown in  FIG. 6 , preferably, a running groove  119  may be formed in the inner side of the second side wall  115  such that the angled edges of the rod  130  are rotated without collision. Alternatively, without the running groove  119 , the angled edges of the rod  130  may be beveled with a predetermined width. 
     Accordingly, while the rod  130  is rotated around the shaft  112  by the pushing end  117 , the rod  130  can be fixed to take two horizontal and vertical postures and maintain these postures against the shooting vibration of the rifle. 
     Although it has been illustrated in the above that the bent end  110  is formed to project from the rotation bunch  120 , the rotation bunch  120  may be formed to be thick and the bend end  110  may be formed to be indented into one side of the rotation bunch  120 . 
     Hereinafter, an operation state of the variable magnification device  100  and the telescopic sight  200  using the same will be described. The following description will be given with reference to  FIG. 7  in conjunction with  FIGS. 1 to 6 , in which the like elements are denoted by the same reference numerals. 
     First, prior to putting the rifle on a shoulder for shooting, the rod  130  is rotated and erected t be closely adhered to the inner side of the second side wall  115 . 
     Under this state, when a target is captured, an aiming posture aiming the target through the telescopic sight  200  with a neck of the rifle (not shown) grasped with one hand is taken, and then the rod  130  is rotated with the other hand to adjust the magnification and focus of the telescopic sight  200 . 
     Thereafter, upon completion of the adjustment, a trigger is pulled to hit the target. 
     In this case, if a different target is captured at a different position and a different distance, with the rifle (not shown) aimed at the different target, the rod  130  is again rotated with one hand to adjust the magnification and focus of the telescopic sight  200 , so that the different target can be immediately hit. 
     Accordingly, the shooter can immediately readjust the magnification and focus of the telescopic sight  200  based on a position and distance of a target for shooting by rotating the rod  130  with one hand with the rifle (not shown) put on the shoulder. 
     After completion of shooting through this procedure, as shown in  FIG. 7 , the rod  130  can be folded not to get in the way when the telescopic sight  200  or the rifle (not shown) attached with the telescopic sight  200  is moved or stored. 
     In addition, this facilitates receipt of the telescopic sight  200  or the rifle (not shown) attached with the telescopic sight  200  in a case. 
     While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. The exemplary embodiments are provided for the purpose of illustrating the invention, not in a limitative sense. Thus, it is intended that the present invention covers the modifications and variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.

Technology Classification (CPC): 5