Abstract:
A paintball launching device generally includes a launch head having a plurality of ports therein, each port being adapted to receive a paintball. A launching mechanism, including a connector for coupling the launch head to a source of compressed gas, is provided. A manifold within the launch head provides a flow path for expansion of the compressed gas upon activation of the device, causing the paintballs to be simultaneously propelled from the ports.

Description:
The present invention generally relates to a paintball gun for use in sporting and recreational activities, and specifically relates to a multi-port paintball gun. 
     Paintball guns which use pneumatic force to propel a projectile, specifically a “paintball”, at a target or opponent, are well known. A paintball is a fragile, generally spherical shell containing a colored, viscous, nontoxic paint. Paintball guns have long been used for recreation activities, as well as combat training purposes. 
     The present invention is specifically directed toward a recreational paintball gun, for example, for use in the popular recreational game known as simply “Paintball” or “Survival”, in which teams of competitors, or individual competitors, are supplied with paintball guns and a number of paintballs for use as ammunition. When a competitor is hit with a paintball fired from a gun, the paintball ruptures, leaving dramatic, colorful evidence of the hit, without substantially injuring the competitor. Such games have become enormously popular in recent years and improved variations of both paintball guns, and paintballs, have been developed. Conventional paintball guns typically fire paintballs using bursts of compressed air, CO 2  or nitrogen. 
     Notably, it is not uncommon for a quarter million balls to be fired in a single, large scale game of “Paintball”, indicating that a paintball launching device which facilitates rapid, high quantity discharge of paintballs would be desirable. This is one object of the present invention. 
     Paintball guns have been developed which enable rapid and successive firing of paintballs. These guns add to the level of excitement of the game by enabling an player to fire at several competitors which may be simultaneously approaching the player&#39;s flag or protected basecamp. Ideally, the successive firing gun will operate to rapidly discharge successive paintballs without need for the operator to reload the gun between successive shots. In general, successive firing paintball guns are operated by first feeding a supply of paintballs, i.e. a “round”, into a storage compartment or “magazine”. Individual paintballs descend along a feed path into a firing chamber and are successively discharged by the participant as needed. Firing of the gun is initiated by “cocking” a striker by use of a manual cocking pin, and pressing a trigger to cause a short burst of compressed air into the firing chamber holding the individual paintball, thereby propelling the paintball down a barrel of the gun and toward the target competitor. 
     One well known problem with conventional paintball guns with successive firing function is that individual paintballs do not always smoothly descend into the firing chamber, or they may roll move out of position. In some instances, the paintballs may become jammed as the operator attempts to fire the gun. It is known that such malfunction of the gun will sometimes cause the fragile paintballs to tear and spill liquid paint into the gun interior, resulting in frustration for the operator during the game where, as can be appreciated, timing is critical. 
     Although paintball guns have been developed with the object of correcting these and other problems with conventional paintball guns, there is still a need for an improved paintball gun which will add new variety and excitement to the game without merely improving on the successive firing function of conventional guns. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Accordingly, this is a primary object of the present invention. The present invention provides a useful paintball launching device which enables simultaneous expulsion of multiple paintballs by means of a single actuation thereof. In addition, the invention provides a launching device capable of launching multiple paintballs in a distinct, preselected discharge pattern, or alternatively, in a random discharge pattern. 
     Generally, the device comprises a launch head, a launching mechanism providing paintball expulsion means, and a controller. A plurality of ports are defined in said launch head, each port being adapted to receive a paintball. 
     In a preferred embodiment, the launch head includes one substantially planar face in which the ports are disposed in a selected pattern. For example, the multiple ports may be disposed in a side by side relationship within the face, with each port being substantially parallel to one another. Alternatively, the ports may be disposed at angles to one another, for example, at divergent or convergent angles to effect a wide dispersion or a relatively focused dispersion of paintballs respectively. 
     On the launch head face, the ports may define a generally linear pattern, a matrix pattern, a circular pattern or an angular pattern. Depth of the ports may be selected to provide a predictable range of flight of the paintballs. Each port pattern and port depth may provide distinct advantages in the playing field. 
     Other possible launch head designs are contemplated. For example, the launch head may be provided with a plurality of angulated faces with each face including one or more ports therein. Rather than a planar face, the launch head may include a concave or convex face having corresponding angulated ports. 
     One feature of the invention provides a launch head having a base member and a plurality of interchangeable cartridges adapted to be snap fitted to the base member. The base member may be adapted to engage two or more cartridges at a time. 
     The present invention is preferably pneumatically powered and includes means for coupling the device to a source of compressed gas. The source of compressed gas may be connected to the plurality of ports by means of a manifold integrated into the launch head. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The objects and advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood with reference to the following Detailed Description when considered in conjunction with the following Drawings of which: 
     FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of an embodiment of a paintball launching device in accordance with the invention, including a launch head having a face and multiple ports for receiving paintballs as well as means for launching the paintballs therefrom; 
     FIG. 2 shows an alternative type of the launch head shown in FIG. 1 having removable and interchangeable paintball cartridges; 
     FIG. 3 shows a cross sectional view of the launch head of FIG. 2, taken along line  3 — 3  of FIG. 2; 
     FIG. 4 shows a front view of a launch head face wherein the plurality of ports define a 4×4 matrix in the face; 
     FIGS. 5 and 6 show alternative faces of the launch head wherein the plurality of ports define a circular pattern and a triangular pattern, respectively; 
     FIG. 7 shows an alternative launch head having multiple angulated faces and a selected number or arrangement of ports within each of the angulated faces; 
     FIGS. 8 and 9 shows different cross sectional views of the launch head shown in FIG. 4, to show a feature of the present invention in which the ports are disposed at angles to one another to effect a broad dispersion of paintballs; 
     FIG. 9A represents a cross section of a launch head including ports disposed at converging angles to one another to effect a generally focused dispersion of paintballs; 
     FIG. 10 shows a diagram of a paintball launching device in accordance with the invention which enables selective discharge of individual or subgroups of paintballs; 
     FIG. 11 shows a face view plot of a vertical wall that has been marked by paintballs launched simultaneously toward the wall by means of a multiport paintball launching device in accordance with the present invention; and 
     FIG. 12 shows a side view plot of the vertical wall shown in FIG.  11   
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Turning now to FIG. 1, a paintball launching device, in accordance with the present invention, is shown generally at  10 . The device  10  generally comprises a launch head  12  having a face  14 , and a controller  16 . The launch head  12  includes a plurality of ports  18  disposed in the face  14 , each individual port  18  being adapted to receive a paintball (not shown in FIG. 1.) Additionally, the device  10  comprises a launching mechanism  24 , disposed in an operative relationship with the launch head  12  as means for propelling each paintball from its respective port  18 . The controller  16  is adapted to enable operator controlled actuation of the launching mechanism  24  and may be provided by a simple manual push button  26 , or a more complex assembly including signal receiving means  27  enabling remote control of the device  10 . Advantageously, as will be described in detail hereinafter, the present paintball launching device  10  is designed to enable multiple paintballs to be simultaneously launched toward a target (not shown). 
     The launch head  12  may be made of any suitable metal or plastic, and the ports  18  are made by machine boring. The bores  18  are then each wet polished and buffed to a high polish or mirror surface finish of about  16  RMS finish or better. 
     Turning now as well to FIG. 2, in one embodiment of the present invention, the launch head  12  may be comprised of one or more cartridges  28  removably and interchangeably coupled to a base member  30 . Each cartridge  28  includes at least one port  18  for receiving a paintball. 
     In addition, the base member may be adapted to accommodate two or more cartridges  28  at a time such as shown in FIG. 2, in which four different cartridges  28  are coupled with the base member  30 . Each cartridge  28  may be secured to the base member  30  by snap fit engagement. 
     FIG. 3 shows a cross sectional view of the device  10  in which a paintball has been inserted into each port  18 . Paintballs of various sizes are commercially available. Preferably, the ports  18  of the present invention are sized accordingly to accommodate a commercially manufactured paintball  32 . Paintballs are typically made of an elastin, gelatinous capsule filled with liquid paint, and are thus deformable. The ports  18  may therefor be made to be slightly smaller in diameter than the paintball itself to assure that the paintball is easily insertable into the port  18  but will be securely held therein prior to discharge. In FIGS. 2 and 3, cartridges  28  having different port diameters are shown, corresponding to different sized paintballs  32 . 
     Preferably, the present device  10  operates by pneumatic means, for example, by means of compressed gas expulsion. For example, (as shown in FIG. 1) a cylinder  34  of carbon dioxide, nitrogen or compressed air may be connected to the launching mechanism  24  by a suitable coupling member  36 . Other possible launching mechanisms are contemplated, for example, the use of spring mechanisms or other mechanical means (not shown). 
     In the preferred embodiment, the launch mechanism  24  includes a manifold  40  within the launch head  12 . The manifold  40  may include a plenum  46 , defined for example by the base member  30 , and multiple flow lines  48  connecting the plenum  46  to each of the ports  18 . 
     The “call for launch”, a term understood by those skilled in the art, is initiated by manually pressing the trigger or button  26 , which operates a valve member  52  coupled to the source of compressed gas, thereby allowing a burst of the compressed gas to be introduced into the plenum  46  and rapidly expanded through the manifold  40 . Dissipation of the gas from an initial pressure of about  50  atmospheres causes expulsion of the paintballs  32  from the ports  18  with velocity dependent on paintball size, port depth and other factors understood by those skilled in the art. 
     With appropriate modification to the present device as described, other expulsion means are also possible, including an electropneumatic valve utilizing a battery device for providing power thereto. 
     In lieu of, or in addition to, the push button actuator  26 , the device  10  may be designed to enable remote controlled launching of paintballs  32 . For example, the controller  16  may include a remote actuator  56 , including a key pad  57 , capable of transmitting signals, for example radiowave signals, to the receiver  27  mentioned briefly hereinabove, said receiver being adapted to respond to the signals by activating the launch of paintballs from the launch head  12 . The remote actuator  56  and receiver  27  may be of any conventional design. 
     The device  10  may further comprise means for enabling launch of paintballs having different ranges of flight. It will be appreciated that there are many different ways to modify the launch head and/or launching mechanism to accomplish this, a few examples being described hereinafter. For example, a depth of the port  18  can be modified to effect a desired launch velocity, and thus a desired range of flight. Generally, a longer port depth will effect a higher launch velocity relative to a shorter port depth. Thus, still referring to FIG. 3, it is shown that different length ports  18  may be provided in the launch head  12  to effect different of flight ranges, i.e. distances from a point of expulsion, of the multiple paintballs. Advantageously, by providing various port depths in a single launch head  12  (or several cartridges  28  each having distinct port depths) actuation of the device  10  will result in a spray of multiple paintballs over a wide distance. 
     Alternatively, the means for enabling launch of paintballs with different ranges may comprise different length flow lines  48  and/or flow lines of different diameters to effect the force of propulsion behind each paintball. In addition still, the means for enabling launch of paintballs with different ranges of flight may comprise ports  18  of different diameters for accommodating different size paintballs  32 . 
     Turning now to FIGS. 4-6, the ports  18  may be disposed in a side by side relationship within the launch face  14 , for example to form an array or matrix of ports  18  such as the 4×4 matrix shown in FIG.  4 . Alternatively, the ports  18  may be disposed in a substantially circular pattern or a substantially triangular pattern, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 respectively. 
     A player/operator may select a launch head  12  having a desired port arrangement after considering various factors such as size of a playing field, the number of opponents (potential targets) and even the positions of advancing opponents in the playing field, particularly when the device  10  includes the interchangeable cartridge  28  feature described hereinabove. In the same respect, the device  10  may be made available with several different designs for suiting different games, different rules of play, number of players, etc. It should be appreciated therefor that many other arrangements are possible and that the examples shown and described herein are not to be considered limiting of the scope of the present invention. 
     An alternative launch head  60  is shown in FIG. 7, wherein the launch head  60  includes a plurality of faces  64  disposed at angles to one another, and the plurality of ports  18  are disposed in the angulated faces  64 . As shown, each face  64  may define a specific number of ports  18 , for example one, two or more ports  18  within each angulated face  64 . Other launch head designs may include for example, launch heads having one or more convex and/or concave faces. The launch head  60  shown is designed to effect a random pattern of paintball dispersion. 
     Notably, although the Drawings show launch heads  12  with generally planar, rectangular faces, it should be appreciated that rounded faces, curved faces or other face shapes and surface contours may alternatively be provided. 
     Turning now to FIGS. 8 and 9, it is shown that rather than the ports  18  being aligned parallel to one another and perpendicular to the launch head face  14  (such as shown in FIG.  3 ), the plurality of ports  18  may be disposed at angles to one another to effect different angles and spans of paintball projection. For example, the ports  18  may be disposed in diverging or converging angles to one another within said launch head  12 , in order to effect a wide dispersion or a relatively focused dispersion of paintballs respectively. 
     FIGS. 8 and 9 show cross sectional views of the ports  18  of the launch head  12  of FIG. 4, in which the ports are generally divergent to one another to effect a wide dispersion of paintballs toward a target. Obviously, this feature may be desirable in a “Paintball” game situation where a wide playing field is used or where many opponents (i.e. potential targets) are simultaneously approaching the player/operator from a wide span. 
     FIG. 9A shows an example of a cross section taken from a different launch head cartridge  28  having multiple, generally converging ports  18 . 
     Turning now briefly to FIG. 10, a structural diagram is shown representing another feature of the present invention which enables selective launching of individual or subgroups of paintballs. For example, a launch head  70  may be provided which includes a concentric port arrangement having both center ports  72  and outer ports  74  disposed therein (see for example FIG. 5 which illustrates a concentric port arrangement). 
     Although disposed in a common launch head  70 , the center ports  72  and the outer ports  74  make up distinct subgroups of ports having distinct advantages, and each subgroup may therefor be operated independently. Referring back now to FIG. 10, this feature may be provided as shown. Flow lines  76 ,  78  are connected between the plenum  46  and the center ports  72  and outer ports  74  respectively. The plenum  46  is coupled to the source of compressed gas  34  by suitable means  79 . Valves  80 ,  82  are coupled to the flow lines  76 ,  78  respectively. Each valve  80 ,  82  may electronically or manually opened or closed independently of the other, thus enabling an operator to launch either only those paintballs in the center ports  72  (by opening valve  80  and closing valve  82 ) or only those paintballs in the outer ports  74  (by opening valve  82  and closing valve  80 ) for example. Alternatively, if both valves  80 , 82  have been opened, all of the paintballs will be simultaneously launched upon actuation of the device  10 . The valves  80 ,  82  may be electronically operable by means of the controller  16  as shown, or they may simply be manually opened and closed by means of knobs or the like (not shown) mounted on the launch head  70 . 
     The advantages of the feature hereinabove described and shown in FIG. 10 will be readily appreciated by those familiar with the game of “Paintball”. If an operator of the present device  10  is unable to accurately judge the approach of an opponent, or several opponents are approaching simultaneously, he may choose to launch paintballs disposed in ports adapted for effecting a broad dispersion thereof, for example the outer ports  74 . On the other hand, if a single opponent is sighted and the operator believes he is able to accurately judge the position thereof, he may choose to conserve paintballs and fire only those few paintballs disposed in the center ports  72  for example. 
     Turning now to FIGS. 11 and 12, data collected from actual operation of the a paintball launching device  10  in accordance with the invention is presented. The paintball launching device used included a launch head having about a 5 inch by 5 inch square face and a  4 × 4  matrix of generally divergent ports (16 ports total) therein. Ports were approximately 1.5 inches deep and made to accommodate a paintball of about 0.35 inch radius. In FIG. 11, each paintball mark is numbered  1 ′- 16 ′ to represent a paintball that was launched from a corresponding port  1 ″- 16 ″ in the matrix arrangement shown in FIG.  4 . FIG. 11 plots the sixteen paintball marks  1 ′- 16 ′ made against a vertical wall  90  (in plane of the page) upon a substantially simultaneous launch of the paintballs from the device  10 . Numeral  92  represents ground level. As shown, the span of paintballs, represented by A and B respectively, is about 14 feet wide and about 5 feet in height. The device  10  was positioned at ground level  92  at a distance C of about 30 feet from the vertical wall. FIG. 12 represents a side view of the same launch event, showing that all paintball marks on the wall were made between about height D, 12 inches (1 foot) to about height A, 60 inches (5 feet) above ground level  92 . 
     Although there has been hereinabove described a multiport paintball projecting device, in accordance with the present invention, for the purpose of illustrating the manner in which the invention may be used to advantage, it will be appreciated that the invention is not limited thereto. Accordingly, any and all modifications, variations, or equivalent arrangements which may occur to those skilled in the art should be considered to be within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.