Patent ID: 7882829

Claim:
A launcher for a projectile comprising: an enclosure adapted to be held by a human hand, the enclosure including a barrel aperture a forward end thereof, a pump aperture, and a trigger aperture; a pump assembly comprising a pump piston traversing the pump aperture of the enclosure and having at a distal end thereof a grasping element, a proximal end of the pump piston including a piston sealing means and adapted to slide within a piston cylinder, the piston cylinder fixed within the enclosure, the piston sealing means adapted to let air from outside of the enclosure enter through the pump aperture, past the piston sealing means and only into but not out of the piston cylinder; a compression chamber in fluid communication with the piston cylinder through a check valve that only allows air to pass from within the piston cylinder into the compression chamber; a trigger including a manual actuator traversing the trigger aperture and fixed with a rearward end of a trigger piston, the trigger piston including a forward seal means at a forward end thereof and a rear seal means slidably engaged with a rear trigger piston cylinder proximate the rearward end thereof; a barrel in fluid communication with the compression chamber through a trigger valve at a proximal end thereof and traversing the barrel aperture at a distal end thereof, the trigger valve including a valve aperture that allows fluid communication between the barrel and the compression chamber when the trigger piston is in a retracted position, and prevents such fluid communication when the trigger piston is in a forward position and the forward seal is engaged with the valve aperture; whereby with the projectile fixed within the barrel and the pump piston actuated forward and backward several times within the piston cylinder to compress air within the compression chamber, the manual actuator of the trigger may be pulled rearward to slide the trigger piston rearward until the compressed air can exit the compression chamber and enter the barrel, the compressed air pushing the trigger piston rearward against the rear seal means to snap open the trigger valve, the compressed air then exiting the valve aperture to blow the projectile out of the distal end of the barrel.