This disclosure relates generally to firearms and, more particularly, to firearm identification devices.
A typical handgun includes, among other things, a hand grip, a frame extending from the hand grip, a trigger guard extending between the hand grip and the frame, a trigger within the trigger guard, a slide carried atop the frame, and a barrel carried between the slide and the frame. The frame may include an accessory mounting rail that is slotted to define spaced apart dovetail-shaped lugs and spaces therebetween. Various accessories, such as lights, laser pointers, and the like can be mounted to the mounting rail and can include a body that has a channel that slides over the lugs of the rail and that is fastenable to the rail with a set screw.
Additionally, some handguns have been known to include an electronic identification device, which may be carried in an interior space of a hand grip or embedded in the hand grip material, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,226,913 and EP 1729081. But such configurations can be complex, costly to implement, and require cooperation of handgun manufacturers.
Therefore, the apparent solution is to incorporate the electronic identification device into a handgun accessory body having a dovetail channel for sliding over the dovetail-shaped lugs of the accessory mounting rail, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,720,092 and US 2016/0033221. But such a configuration may have its own shortcomings.
In general, a firearm identification tag is configured to be carried in a space between lugs of an accessory mounting rail of a firearm. The firearm identification tag will be described with reference to its use with one or more examples of a handgun that includes a Picatinny rail. However, it will be appreciated as the description proceeds that the firearm identification tag is useful in many different applications and may be implemented in many other firearm embodiments, including rifles, shotguns, or any other firearms, which have a Picatinny rail, Weaver rail, NATO accessory rail, M-LOK rail, KeyMod rail, simple dovetail rail, or any other presently known or future type of accessory mounting rail suitable for use with the disclosed firearm identification tag. In this regard, and as used herein and in the claims, it will be understood that the term “firearm” refers not only to handgun applications, but also to any other firearm applications including any type of accessory mounting rail suitable for use with the disclosed firearm identification tag.
Referring specifically to the drawings,
With additional reference to
The rail 214 may include a plurality of lugs 216 and spaces 218 including a forward-most space 218a and a rearward-most space 218n that may be relatively proximate a firearm grip and relatively distal a firearm barrel end (not shown). Also, the accessory mounting rail 214 carries a firearm identification tag 230 in one of the spaces 218 between the lugs 216, for instance, entirely within a space 218, for example, the rearward-most space 218n of the rail 214. The tag 230 may have geometry that is complementary to corresponding geometry of the accessory mounting rail 214, for instance, as shown in
The firearm identification tag 230 may be carried by the rail 214 by fastening, adhering, and/or interference fitting the tag 230 into the space 218 between the lugs 216. For instance, a sight adjustment device may be used to press fit the tag 230 into place, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 9,784,535. In other embodiments, the tag 230 may be thermally fit to the rail 214, by heating the rail 214 and/or cooling the tag 230, sliding the tag 230 into the space 218, and allowing the temperature(s) to normalize to establish the fit. In any case, the tag 230 may be inserted into the space 218 in a direction transverse, if not perpendicular, to the longitudinal axis A of the rail 214.
In some embodiments, the tag 230 may include a housing 240, and an identification (ID) transmitter 242 separate from the housing 240 and carried in a void of the housing 240, for instance in a void open to the minor base 232 of the tag 230. The transmitter 242 may be recessed below the plane of the minor base 232. In other embodiments, the tag 230 may not include a separate housing 240 and, instead, may include an ID transmitter 242 in the shape of the housing 240 without the void.
In any case, the ID transmitter 242 may be a stand-alone transmitter, or may be part of a transponder, transceiver, or any other device suitable to transmit data, including ID data to a receiver (not shown). The ID transmitter 242 may include a contactless device, operable via electromagnetic radiation, such as via radio frequency identification device (RFID) technology adapted for any frequency range and protocol suitable for use with firearms. In other embodiments, the ID transmitter 242 may operate via optics, magnetics, or any other physical, or even chemical, phenomena suitable for use with firearms. For instance, the ID transmitter 242 may include a contact-type memory chip having contacts exposed for contact with any suitable type of memory reader. The ID transmitter 242 may be used to embody or store identifying information and/or to transmit energy, signals, data, or the like that may help, for example, locate firearms and/or regulate firearm use.
In
In any case, the sides 344, 346 of the tag 330 (
As shown in
With reference to
The presently disclosed subject matter may offer one or more of the following benefits. Complimentary geometry between the firearm identification tag and the firearm accessory mounting rail is streamlined such that it may not interfere with a holster in which the firearm is carried, with other firearm-mounted accessories, or with operation, sighting, or performance of the firearm. Also, the firearm identification tag is of extremely low weight such that it may not add much mass to the firearm and, thus, tends to not affect balance or shooting accuracy of the firearm. Additionally, the color of the firearm identification tag can be complimentary to the firearm frame so as be difficult to visually detect by users. Moreover, locating the firearm identification tag on the underside of the firearm promotes pointing of the firearm in a direction away from others (straight up or down) during reading of the tag.
As used in this patent application, the terminology “for example,” “for instance,” “like,” “such as,” “comprising,” “having,” “including,” and the like, when used with a listing of one or more elements, is open-ended, meaning that the listing does not exclude additional elements. Likewise, when preceding an element, the articles “a,” “an,” “the,” and “said” mean that there are one or more of the elements. Moreover, directional words such as front, rear, top, bottom, upper, lower, radial, circumferential, axial, lateral, longitudinal, vertical, horizontal, transverse, and/or the like are employed by way of example and not limitation. As used herein, the term “may” is an expedient merely to indicate optionality, for instance, of an element, feature, or other thing, and cannot be reasonably construed as rendering indefinite any disclosure herein. Other terms are to be interpreted and construed in the broadest reasonable manner in accordance with their ordinary and customary meaning in the art, unless the terms are used in a context that requires a different interpretation.
Finally, the present disclosure is not a definitive presentation of an invention claimed in this patent application, but is merely a presentation of examples of illustrative embodiments of the claimed invention. More specifically, the present disclosure sets forth one or more examples that are not limitations on the scope of the claimed invention or on terminology used in the accompanying claims, except where terminology is expressly defined herein. And although the present disclosure sets forth a limited number of examples, many other examples may exist now or are yet to be discovered and, thus, it is neither intended nor possible to disclose all possible manifestations of the claimed invention. In fact, various equivalents will become apparent to artisans of ordinary skill in view of the present disclosure and will fall within the spirit and broad scope of the accompanying claims. Features of various implementing embodiments may be combined to form further embodiments of the invention. Therefore, the claimed invention is not limited to the particular examples of illustrative embodiments disclosed herein but, instead, is defined by the accompanying claims.
This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 16/658,324, filed on Oct. 21, 2019 and published as U.S. Pub. No. 2020124368, which in turn claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/748,764 filed on Oct. 22, 2018. The entire contents of each of the aforementioned applications are hereby incorporated by reference.
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Entry |
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Department of Defense, “Dimensioning of Accessory Mounting Rail for Small Arms Weapons”, MIL-STD-1913 (AR), Feb. 3, 1995, 11 pages. |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20210010772 A1 | Jan 2021 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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62748764 | Oct 2018 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 16658324 | Oct 2019 | US |
Child | 17034229 | US |