Patent Application
20050037847
The invention is directed to a baton which may be carried by a person while walking and/or for self protection in the event of a threat of bodily harm.
A wide variety of batons have been devised for personal protection and for use by police officers. Batons have been devised with medially located grips for balance, with contact members to apply force against an assailant, with attached or incorporated pepper spray devices, with flashlight attachments, and with looped wrist straps to facilitate carrying the baton. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,522,398 and 5,086,377 provide batons having medially positioned grips recognizing the advantage of balanced weight distribution, the latter patent also describing the benefits of physically incorporating a flashlight mechanism and an aerosol spray device in the baton. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,160,140, 5,370,407, 5,919,093, 6,261,188 and 6,306,040 provide batons with end grips and telescoping shafts enabling the batons to have an extended reach. U.S. Pat. No. 5,728,003 provides a baton formed on an end with a contact member for applying force to an assailant's pressure point. Batons with built in pepper spray devices are described in some of the foregoing patents and in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,673,819, 6,386,726 and 6,499,855. Batons incorporating flashlight mechanisms are described in some of the foregoing patents and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,347,436. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,957,057, 5,733,195 and 5,938,532 provide batons with wrist straps.
As illustrated, for example by the aforesaid U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,347,436, 6,386,726 and 6,499,855, police batons are often formed with two grips, one on the stick portion, the other on a handle orthogonal to the stick portion, and various such batons contain a variety of the above-described features. Generally, only one grip is provided for batons without an orthogonal handle notwithstanding the incorporation of various of the above described pepper spray and flashlight devices. The grip is either medially located or on one end of the baton. In either case, the grip is not in an ideal position for use with one or the other of such devices.
The present invention provides a baton that can carry a pepper spray device and/or a flashlight mechanism without the above disadvantages. A dual grip walking and defense baton is provided which has a medially located grip as well as an end grip, both located axially along regions of a baton shaft or stick. The end grip is located adjacent a first end of the shaft while the medially located grip is located intermediate the first shaft end and the opposite, second shaft end. In specific embodiments, the shaft is telescopically extendible from the second end and the first shaft is fitted with a defense spray and/or a flashlight mechanism. In a further embodiment, a contact member is disposed on the second shaft end for applying force to an assailant's pressure point. In still further embodiments, a pedometer is affixed to the baton, one or more reflector bands are fitted to the baton, and a wrist strap is attached to the baton on or adjacent the end grip at a point distal from the first end of the shaft.
Referring to
The end grip 20 of the baton 10 is also formed with a plurality of configured members 28 defining finger holds 30 axially aligned along one side of the shaft, which extend outwardly of the shaft and are sized and positioned to accommodate the fingers of a user when the baton 10 is grasped by its end. In this embodiment, there are four configured members 28 defining three finger holds 30. The end grip 20 is formed of a pliable hollow material, such as neoprene slip-fit onto the first shaft end 22.
Referring to
In a particular embodiment, the centrally located grip 18 is about 3½ inches long, about 1⅜ wide at the configured members 24 and 1¼ inches at the finger holds 26 which extend about ½ inch between adjacent configured members 24. The end grip 20 is about 4⅜ inches long, about 1¾ wide at the configured members 28 and 1½ inches at the finger holds 26 which extend about ⅝ inch between adjacent configured members 28. The cylindrical members 14 and 16 of the shaft 12 are about 1¼ inch in outer diameters and the tubular member 32 is about 13½ inch long and 1 inch in outer diameter.
Referring to
A pedometer, shown schematically at 43, is affixed to the baton adjacent the rear of the release and retaining mechanism 34. Forward and rear reflector bands, respectively 45 and 47, are fitted to the baton 10.
Referring specifically to
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The baton 10 can be used without telescopically extending it or it can be extended quickly and easily. Referring to
Although the present invention and its advantages have been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions and alterations can be made herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. Moreover, the scope of the present application is not intended to be limited to the particular embodiments described in the specification. As one of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate from the disclosure of the present invention, means presently existing or later to be developed that perform substantially the same function or achieve substantially the same result as the corresponding embodiments described herein may be utilized according to the present invention. Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to include such means within their scope.
