Patent Application
20240302128
The present disclosure is generally related to a toy projectile launcher, such as a toy pistol, gun, and the like, for launching toy projectiles, such as foam bullets, darts, balls, and the like, with an air piston assembly.
Traditional toy projectile launchers have utilized various forms of rifles, pistols, blasters, machine guns, and the like, for launching toy projectiles, such as foam balls, darts, to name a few. Such toy launchers have varied in size, power, storage capacity, to name a few. More specifically, toy launchers of foam projectiles—bullets (or “darts”), balls, and the like—have become ubiquitous. There have been various types of rifles, machine guns, and the like, that have been marketed for launching such foam projectiles.
A conventional air driven piston blaster has a piston, that is connected to an air exit tube, which is, in turn, used as the pusher rod to move a dart from the top of a magazine into the front firing barrel. When activated, the piston drives the air out from the piston cylinder, through the air exit tube, to exert force at the rear of the dart, to propel it out of the blaster.
Such air piston actuated launchers have some disadvantages. First, a long pusher rod is required. The top inwardly biased open arms to a standard magazine are fixed in position, and rigid because they need to prevent the top dart from exiting the magazine. As such, the pusher rod/arm must be at least the length of the dart or the width of the magazine in which the darts sit. The length of any blaster needs to factor in the dimensions of this mechanical construction. Moreover, there is air pressure loss during the travel inside the pusher rod. One could overcome this by using a stronger spring, which, of course, will mean a heavier force to load. However, for adult blasters, which already use strong springs, any increment to the loading force is a negative.
A second disadvantage is that the launcher needs to be primed or loaded before the magazine can be inserted/extracted. When the launcher is at rest, the pusher rod has moved forward, which prevents the magazine from being fully inserted and locked into place. Loading the blaster will move the pusher rod back (as the piston is moved back) and will clear the way for the magazine to be properly inserted. One way of overcoming this is to use a “skinny pusher” which is where the normally circular/round pusher rod is modified to have a diminished profile to allow it to move through the two rigid top arms of a magazine. As such, one could insert/extract a magazine without first having to prime/load the blaster. However, there will be loss of air pressure when the air has to pass through this constricted area in the pusher rod. Again, one could overcome this with the use of a stronger spring, but with the negative consequential heavier loading force.
There have been recent developments that address these issues. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 11,243,044 and PCT Publication No. WO2021/225524 disclose the use of “hinged fingers” to allow for the air piston cylinder to pass through. Both designs allow for the shortest possible air exit tube, thereby maximizing the outgoing air pressure as well as attaining a short blaster. However, both designs require dedicated magazines, and are not cross compatible with the host of available magazines in the market.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved air piston assembly that allows for use of standard magazines without negatively impacting air pressure for ejecting projectiles while allowing for a smaller overall launcher dimensional profile.
To address the above, exemplary embodiments of the present invention provide a launcher that has a piston mechanism that obviates the need for a pusher rod, which in turn allows for the design of a smaller launcher. The absence of the traditional air pusher rod means that the air from the piston cylinder would almost directly impact on the rear of a dart, thereby realizing the maximum use of the air pressure. This also has the benefit of keeping the loading strength required to its lowest level to prime/load a launcher in relation to the blaster's physical size.
Further, since a traditional pusher rod is absent, the magazine can be inserted/extracted without first having to load the launcher or to suffer an air pressure loss from a “skinny pusher”.
Still further, the space normally used for the traditional push rod can now be used to house a longer spring, which would lower the priming/loading force required, resulting in a more user-friendly launcher.
An air piston assembly according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention comprising: a piston cylinder comprising a main cylinder portion and a piston cylinder extension portion that extends from the main cylinder portion and that is configured to travel between extension arms of a standard projectile magazine; a piston head configured to travel in and out of the piston cylinder, the piston head comprising an extension that is aligned with the piston cylinder extension portion; a piston arm extending from the piston head; and a piston spring disposed around the piston arm.
In exemplary embodiments, the piston cylinder extension portion comprises an air exit hole.
In exemplary embodiments, the air piston assembly further comprises an O-ring disposed at the front of the piston head.
In exemplary embodiments, the air piston assembly further comprises an O-ring disposed at the front of the piston cylinder extension.
In exemplary embodiments, the air piston assembly further comprises an adapter for connecting the piston cylinder extension to a launch barrel of a toy projectile launcher.
In exemplary embodiments, the piston head is configured to be propelled forward by the piston spring upon release of the piston head from a locked position so as to drive air from the piston cylinder and out of the air exit hole to fire a toy projectile from a launcher.
A toy launcher in accordance with exemplary embodiments of the present invention comprises the air piston assembly as described above.
A toy launcher according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention comprises: a housing; a rear handle extending from the housing; a front handle slidably disposed on the housing and attached to a lever arm within the housing; an opening configured for insertion of a spring-loaded magazine holding projectiles; a trigger assembly comprising a trigger and a trigger arm attached to the trigger; and an air piston assembly comprising: a piston cylinder comprising a main cylinder portion and a piston cylinder extension portion that extends from the main cylinder portion and that is configured to travel between extension arms of a standard projectile magazine, the piston cylinder extension comprising an air exit hole and the piston cylinder being attached to the lever arm; a piston head configured to travel in and out of the piston cylinder, the piston head comprising an extension that is aligned with the piston cylinder extension portion; a piston arm extending from the piston head; and a piston spring disposed around the piston arm, wherein upon sliding of the front handle backwards, the air piston assembly is pushed backwards by the lever arm, the piston head is locked into a cocked position, and a top-most projectile within the magazine is pushed into a position within the launcher formerly occupied by the piston cylinder extension, wherein upon sliding of the front handle forwards the piston cylinder is pulled forward by the lever arm to thereby create a volume of air within the piston cylinder and to push the projectile into the launch barrel, and wherein upon activation of the trigger the piston head is released from the cocked position and is driven forward into the piston cylinder by the piston spring to thereby eject the volume of air from the piston cylinder and out of the air exit hole of the piston cylinder extension to fire the projectile from the launch barrel.
In exemplary embodiments, the toy launcher further comprises a latching assembly that locks the piston head in the cocked position.
In exemplary embodiments, upon activation of the trigger the trigger arm engages with the latch assembly to release the latching assembly from the piston head.
In exemplary embodiments, the toy launcher further comprises an O-ring disposed at the front of the piston head.
In exemplary embodiments, the toy launcher further comprises an O-ring disposed at the front of the piston cylinder extension.
In exemplary embodiments, the toy launcher further comprises an adapter for connecting the piston cylinder extension to the launch barrel.
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described with references to the accompanying figures, wherein:
The present invention is generally related to an air piston assembly and associated launcher that allows for use of commercially available standard magazines for loading of projectiles into the launcher. That is, the air piston assembly is configured to allow for insertion of conventional magazines into a launcher without requiring any modifications to the magazines to allow for functioning with the air piston assembly and other internal mechanisms of the launcher. As explained in detail herein, the air piston assembly according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention does not require a front protrusion or “air pusher rod” to move a projectile into a launch position, but instead achieves this function through the use of a piston cylinder extension that is configured to travel between the rigid upper arms of a standard magazine to allow a top-most projectile within the magazine to be spring-loaded into the launcher and be pushed into a firing position within a launch barrel of the launcher. The piston cylinder extension includes an air exit hole that ejects air upon triggering of the launcher to fire the projectile.
For clarity and simplicity in illustrating the key elements and mechanisms of the air piston assembly and launcher in accordance with exemplary embodiments of the present invention, portions that are not necessary to understand the scope and the spirit of the present invention are not shown. One of ordinary skill in the art would readily understand the supporting elements needed to house and support the various illustrated elements with various design choices that would not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
Although the present invention is described in the context of a manual spring-loaded launcher, it should be appreciated that the air piston assembly in accordance with exemplary embodiments of the present invention may also be used in a battery-operated piston driven launcher.
The piston cylinder assembly 1 further includes a piston 14 made up of a piston head 16 and a piston arm 18 extending from the piston head 16. A flange 41 is disposed at the rear of the piston head 16, which as described in more detail below allows for the piston 14 to be locked in cocked position. The front portion of the piston head 16 has a protrusion 17 that is in line with the piston cylinder extension 12. In exemplary embodiments, the piston head 16 may include a support wall 19 that reinforces the protrusion 17 as it travels forward to compensate for structural stresses. A piston spring 20 extends around the piston arm 18. A first O-ring 22 is disposed at the front of the piston head 16. A second O-ring 24 is disposed at the front of the bottom extension 12 and forms an air seal when the air exit hole 13 of the bottom extension 12 has been pushed into the rear of a launch barrel 212 of a launcher (as explained in more detail below). An adapter 26 may be disposed between the bottom extension 12 and the launch barrel to hold the launch barrel in place and also has a flared entrance at the rear to aid the insertion of a projectile, such as a dart 1000.
The air piston assembly 230 has the same construction as previously described, including a piston cylinder 232 with a piston cylinder extension 234. An air exit hole 236 is formed at the front of the piston cylinder extension 234. The piston cylinder extension 234 is configured to move between two rigid, inwardly biased upper arms 502 of the magazine 500.
The air piston assembly 230 further includes a piston 238 made up of a piston head 240 and a piston arm 242 extending from the piston head 240. A piston spring 244 extends around the piston arm 242. A first O-ring 246 is disposed at the front of the piston head 240. A second O-ring 248 is disposed at the front of the piston cylinder extension 234 and forms an air seal when the air exit hole 236 of the piston cylinder extension 234 has been pushed into the rear of the launch barrel 212 of the launcher. An adapter 250 may be disposed between the bottom extension 234 and the launch barrel 212 to hold the launch barrel 212 in place and also has a flared entrance at the rear to aid the insertion of a projectile, such as a dart.
The front handle 216 is slidably mounted on the housing 210 by a slide 218 that protrudes from an elongated opening at the bottom of the housing 210. The top of the slide 218 is attached to a lever arm 219, which in turn is attached to the front of the piston cylinder 232.
The trigger assembly 220 includes a trigger 222, a trigger arm 224 attached to the trigger 222 and a second spring 226 that biases the trigger assembly 220 forward. The trigger arm 224 extends backwards into the housing and engages with the latch assembly 252 upon a pull of the trigger to fire a projectile from the launcher 200, as explained in more detail below.
The piston cylinder assembly 300 further includes a piston 314 made up of a piston head 316 and a piston arm 318 extending from the piston head 316. A piston spring 320 extends around the piston arm 318. In operation, upon being driven forward by a trigger pull, the piston head 316 drives air forward and downward into the piston cylinder extension 312 and out of the air exit hole 313 of the piston cylinder extension 312, to thereby fire a dart from the launcher. In this regard, the piston cylinder extension 312 may include a sloped inner wall 320 that directs air flow towards the air exit hole 313.
While particular embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described in detail, it would be obvious to those skilled in the art that various modifications and improvements thereon may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. It is therefore intended to cover all such modifications and improvements that are within the scope of this invention.
