Patent Application
20120180816
The present disclosure relates generally to a cleaning patch grip and cleaning patch system for cleaning a firearm barrel interior.
Carbon, soot, and other residue from gunpowder and from firearm discharge reactions accumulate on firearm components such as the firing chamber and interior of the barrel over time. Depending on usage, a firearm barrel may also accumulate dust, dirt, mud, sand, snow, and other debris. All of these contaminants pose deleterious effects on cleanliness, performance, and longevity of the firearm barrel interior. A firearm barrel interior therefore requires regular cleaning and lubrication to prevent such debris interfering with firearm performance or causing corrosion or other degradation of the barrel and other firearm components. However, many forms of debris are tenacious and difficult to remove even with typical cleaning methods.
A number of devices have been introduced for improved cleaning of the interior of firearm barrels. For example, a firearm barrel cleaner may have a flexible cable or rigid rod that may be pulled or pushed through the barrel, carrying implements for brushing or scraping, or retaining a cleaning patch, sometimes using different implements for dislodging debris and then clearing the debris from the barrel. However, numerous persistent challenges have remained in providing a capability for cleaning the interior of a firearm barrel effectively and rapidly. This may be a particularly compelling need in challenging environments of field use, such as military, law enforcement, and remote or extended hunting activities. A sudden need may arise to clean the barrel interior in a remote setting, and do so rapidly to have the firearm back in operable order quickly.
The discussion above is merely provided for general background information and is not intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.
A novel cleaning patch system comprising a novel patch grip for cleaning firearm barrels is disclosed. A patch grip includes an arbor and a plug. The arbor includes a base, a stem extending from the base, and an elongate crest connected to the stem. The plug includes an elongate passage therethrough that generally matches the dimensions of the elongate crest. The plug further comprises relatively recessed and/or protruding structures on a face of the plug adjacent the elongate passage that laterally engage with the crest of the arbor to resist inadvertent rotation of the plug on the arbor during cleaning processes. The patch grip may be used to securely grip a cleaning patch between the arbor and the plug, which may be put together in a very rapid and convenient manner well-suited for field use. The patch grip can be secured to a flexible cable or a rigid rod for drawing through a firearm barrel, to clean the interior of the firearm barrel.
This Summary is intended only to provide a brief overview of subject matter disclosed herein according to one or more illustrative embodiments, and does not serve as a guide to interpreting the claims or to define or limit the scope of the invention, which is defined only by the appended claims.
For a further understanding of the objects of the various illustrative embodiments, reference will be made to the following detailed description which is to be read in connection with the accompanying drawings.
The drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead generally being placed upon illustrating the principles of various embodiments. In the drawings, like numerals are used to indicate like parts throughout the various views.
A method of using the patch system 100 is explained below, after the features of the arbor 111 and plug 121 are depicted and described, as follows.
The patch 131 may be held in contact against one of the chamfers 123 along with the rim of plug 121, which may help maintain alignment of the plug 131 within the barrel, thus reducing the possibility of the patch grip 101 becoming stuck within the barrel. The chamfer 123 may also help maintain contact between the patch 131 and the plug 121 as well as between the patch 131 and the barrel interior during the cleaning process. In another embodiment, a plug may be used that is identical except that it lacks cavities 127, and the wings of the crest 119 of arbor 111 may rest against the face of the plug 121, for example.
When a user needs to clean a barrel interior, the user may access the patch 131 and the combined flexible cable 141 with handle 151 and arbor 111 already attached; slip the arbor through the opening in the patch 131; slip the crest 119 of the arbor 111 through the elongate passage 125 through plug 121, so that the plug 121 rests on the stem 117 of the arbor 111; then rotate the plug 121 by 90 degrees around the stem 117, and pull the plug 121 back a short space against the crest 119 of arbor 111, so that the wings of the crest 119 settle into the opposing cavities 127 positioned in the plug 121 to the sides of the elongate passage 125. The plug 121 then rests securely positioned relative to arbor 111, such that the patch 131 is also held around the plug 121 between the plug 121 and the base 113 of the arbor 111.
Plug 221 further includes opposing faces 222. At least one face may have recessed and/or protruding structures adjacent to the elongated passage 225.
The patch system 100 is then ready to pull the patch 131 through a firearm barrel (not depicted here). The handle 151 may be of a collapsible type that can be dropped through a gun barrel while attached to flexible cable 141, or may be secured to flexible cable 141 after the cable is dropped through the firearm barrel. The handle 151 may be passed through the barrel from the breech to the muzzle; then the user may take hold of the handle and use it to pull the patch grip 101 holding the patch 131 through the barrel from the breech to the muzzle. That is, the flexible cable 141 may, for example, be introduced through the chamber of the firearm (not shown), and advanced through the firearm in a breech-to-muzzle direction, i.e. through the chamber, shoulder, neck and barrel, until the handle 151 or the handle end of the flexible cable 141 emerges from the firing end of the firearm. The handle 151 may then be gripped and used to pull the patch grip 101 with attached patch 131 in a breech-to-muzzle direction, with the plug 121 keeping the patch 131 pressed against the entire diameter of the barrel interior as it is drawn through the barrel. The plug 121 may be sized for a particular firearm caliber or barrel diameter or range of similar calibers, such as 45 caliber, 10-12 gauge, 16-20 gauge, or 40 mm, for example, such that the plug 121 presses the patch 131 reliably against the entire diameter of the barrel interior as it passes through, thereby ensuring an effective cleaning of the barrel interior.
The plug 121 and arbor 111 therefore provide a way to have the patch 131 securely gripped with a very fast and simple motion, that does not require the patch to be folded and threaded through an eyelet, and does not require any components to be screwed together. These advantages may be particularly valuable in field usage, in which the user may be wearing gloves, may be in a disruptive environment, and may have very little time to be able to devote to cleaning the barrel interior.
The patch system 100 including patch grip 101 may be used in combination with other cleaning elements, bore solvent or lubricant (not depicted here), and other tools in various embodiments for achieving a complete cleaning of the interior of a firearm barrel. Bore solvent or other cleaning substance may be applied to patch 131 prior to patch grip 101 and patch 131 being drawn through the barrel interior. The bore solvent or other cleaning substance may be provided in a tube or other container contained in a kit together with the other elements of patch system 100 as depicted in
The arbor 111 may be made of any of various materials, including but not limited to metallic-based materials and alloys thereof. For example, the arbor may be made of brass, such as alloy 360 brass in an illustrative embodiment. The plug 121 may be made of a range of materials. For example, the plug 121 may be made of a resilient, durable, non-metallic material, which may reduce the possibility of the patch 131 becoming torn against the plug 121 during the cleaning process. For example, the plug 121 may be made from a rubber or plastic-based material.
While various embodiments have been particularly shown and described, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various combinations of the disclosed elements or changes in detail may be made without departing from the scope of the claims. Other variations may also be made within the realm of different embodiments. Although the present invention has been described herein with reference to details of various illustrative embodiments, it is not intended that such details be regarded as limiting the scope of the invention; that is, the foregoing description of the present invention is merely illustrative, and it should be understood that variations and modifications can be effected without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention.
Reference is made to and this application claims priority from and the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/433,256, filed on Jan. 16, 2011, entitled “CLEANING PATCH GRIP AND SYSTEM”, which application is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61433256 | Jan 2011 | US |
