The present invention relates to an improved firearms suppressor for reducing sound created when a gun is fired. More particularly, disclosed herein are new principles for designing firearms suppressors and novel designs utilizing the principles disclosed herein.
An exemplary embodiment of the present invention provides a suppressor for reducing noise and muzzle flash generated by a firearm, comprising: one or more blade chambers, wherein each of said one or more blade chambers comprises: an entrance wall on a first side of each said blade chamber, an exit wall on a second side of each said blade chamber opposite said first side, and an outer wall connecting said entrance wall and said exit wall; further wherein said entrance wall comprises an entrance hole and said exit wall comprises an exit hole: an interior space defined by said entrance wall, said exit wall, and said outer wall for containing propellant gases from said firearm; a plurality of coaxial blades disposed within said interior space for redirecting said propellant gases, each of said plurality of coaxial blades comprising an approximate conical frustum with a center hole in a center of each said approximate conical frustum, and having a narrow end and a wide end, wherein said narrow end of each said approximate conical frustum faces said entrance hole and said wide end of each said approximate conical frustum faces said exit hole; and one or more support members; wherein each of said one or more blade chambers is configured to be removably attachable to one or more of said firearm, a muzzle brake, and another said blade chamber; wherein said entrance hole, said exit hole, and each of said center holes are coaxial along a central axis and are capable of allowing a projectile fired from said firearm to pass through said entrance hole, each of said center holes, and said exit hole along said central axis; wherein said plurality of coaxial blades are configured to form a gap between each said wide end of each of said plurality of coaxial blades and said narrow end of each one of said plurality of coaxial blades that is immediately adjacent to said each said wide end; wherein each of said plurality of coaxial blades is affixed to at least one of said one or more support members and each of said one or more support members is affixed to an interior side of said outer wall of said blade chamber; and wherein placement of each of said plurality of coaxial blades forms a bypass for allowing gas flow between each said wide end of each of said plurality of coaxial blades and said outer wall of said interior space.
An exemplary embodiment of the present invention also provides a suppressor wherein each of said plurality of coaxial blades have approximately the same dimensions.
An exemplary embodiment of the present invention also provides a suppressor wherein each of said one or more support members is coplanar with said central axis.
An exemplary embodiment of the present invention also provides a suppressor wherein each said bypass is between approximately 8 percent and approximately 63 percent of a cross-sectional area of said interior space that is perpendicular to said central axis.
An exemplary embodiment of the present invention also provides a suppressor wherein each said bypass is between approximately 13 percent and 50 percent.
An exemplary embodiment of the present invention also provides a suppressor wherein each said bypass is between approximately 28 percent and 35 percent.
An exemplary embodiment of the present invention also provides a suppressor, further comprising at least two blade chambers.
An exemplary embodiment of the present invention also provides a suppressor, further comprising at least three blade chambers.
An exemplary embodiment of the present invention also provides a suppressor further comprising at least one suppressor chamber that is not one of said one or more blade chambers.
An exemplary embodiment of the present invention also provides a suppressor wherein said approximate conical frustum is curved.
An exemplary embodiment of the present invention provides a suppressor for reducing noise and muzzle flash generated by a firearm, comprising: one or more blade chambers, wherein each of said one or more blade chambers comprises a means for reducing cone shock.
An exemplary embodiment of the present invention also provides a suppressor wherein said means for reducing cone shock comprises a plurality of blades and each of said blades has approximately the same dimensions.
An exemplary embodiment of the present invention also provides a suppressor wherein said means for reducing cone shock comprises one or more support members and each of said one or more support members is coplanar with a central axis of said suppressor.
An exemplary embodiment of the present invention also provides a suppressor wherein each of said one or more blade chambers comprises an outer wall and wherein a minimum distance between said blades and said outer wall defines a bypass and said bypass is between approximately 8 percent and approximately 63 percent of a cross-sectional area of an interior space of each respective one of said one or more blade chambers, wherein said cross-sectional area is perpendicular to a central axis of said suppressor.
An exemplary embodiment of the present invention also provides a suppressor wherein each said bypass is between approximately 13 percent and 50 percent.
An exemplary embodiment of the present invention also provides a suppressor wherein each said bypass is between approximately 28 percent and 35 percent.
An exemplary embodiment of the present invention also provides a suppressor further comprising at least two blade chambers.
An exemplary embodiment of the present invention also provides a suppressor further comprising at least three blade chambers.
An exemplary embodiment of the present invention also provides a suppressor further comprising at least one suppressor chamber that is not one of said one or more blade chambers.
The images in the drawings are simplified for illustrative purposes and are not depicted to scale. Within the descriptions of the figures, similar elements are provided similar names and reference numerals as those of the previous figure(s). The specific numerals assigned to the elements are provided solely to aid in the description and are not meant to imply any limitations (structural or functional) on the invention.
The appended drawings illustrate exemplary configurations of the invention and, as such, should not be considered as limiting the scope of the invention that may admit to other equally effective configurations. It is contemplated that features of one configuration may be beneficially incorporated in other configurations without further recitation.
A firearms suppressor is a device designed to be affixed to the barrel of a gun for the purpose of reducing the sound and/or vibration caused by firing that gun. A variety of different designs for firearms suppressors exist, including, without limitation, designs discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,996,501 to Spencer et al. I believe that I have discovered acoustic-mechanical properties relating to flow and gas expansion resulting from firearm discharge.
Turning now to the figures,
I speculate that during the release of all the high pressure gun gas, when volumes of high pressure reach the exit of a suppressor (or the exit of a bare muzzle), rarefaction fan 330 has to expand wider to allow the high pressure to drop to ambient pressure, causing stronger compression waves 320. In other words, radial motion of the slip line 340 and associated compression waves 320 compress the ambient air and produce the undesired noise at third area 720 (see, e.g.,
I speculate that reverberation of higher pressure volumes inside a suppressor causes reverberation of cone shock 310 and that reverberation of cone shock 310 is a leading cause of sound produced by gunshots fired through traditional suppressors such as basic suppressor 400. In other words, suppressor designs that reduce reverberations of high pressure inside the suppressor also show improved suppressor performance.
As used herein, a blade 950 is a baffle for directing flow of gas inside blade chamber 900.
The measurements depicted in
Each blade 950 comprises a blade hole 951. Blade hole 951, entrance hole 915, and exit hole 925 are all large enough for a fired bullet or other projectile to pass through and have roughly the same inner diameter as diameter of the gun barrel 120 used.
Each blade 950 is generally shaped like the surface of a conical frustum, but the disclosed invention is not limited to conically-shaped blades 950. Varying shapes of blade 950 are discussed with reference with
While the depicted embodiment shows three blades 950, other numbers of blades may be used. For example, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, and twenty blade 950 configurations may be used for a blade chamber 900.
Varying dimensions of bypass 945 are discussed with reference to
In an exemplary embodiment, blade chamber 900 is made of stainless steel. Other suitable materials capable of maintaining form in view of pressures and temperatures experienced may be used.
The foregoing description with respect to the interior of each blade 950 provides a means for reducing cone shock of gas escaping from a suppressor as well as for reducing the resulting vibrations, cone shock reverberations, and sound.
Although this embodiment depicts three blade chambers 900, other numbers of blade chambers may be used, and blade chambers 900 can be used with other chambers, such as empty chambers or flat baffle chambers, non-limiting examples of which are depicted in
In the exemplary embodiments shown in
The simulations presented herein are created using a proprietary computational fluid dynamics software system known as CAMBER that I developed. CAMBER is a modelling code that uses Cartesian Adaptive Meshing for Blast, Explosion and Release scenarios. It applies hydrocode and Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) techniques to simulate a variety of problems to include simulation of high-pressure blast events, explosions and gas-phase combustion. For the suppressor scenarios, the high-pressure, high-temperature gas produced by the firing of the round is modeled. CAMBER solves the equations that govern fluid-dynamics and predicts key phenomena such as pressure and rarefaction wave formation and movement. Key aspects such as the mixing of the gun propellant gas with ambient air is also represented. I speculate that my simulations run with my CAMBER software system are suitable for modeling the disclosed suppressor designs.
I speculate that the underlying principle to the improved performance is the control of the pressure reverberations inside the suppressor which in turn controls the reverberation of the external cone shock. Disclosed herein are exemplary embodiments that include straight and curved blades 950 as well as various sizes of bypass 945. The exemplary embodiments shown have been designed for use with a typical 5.56×45 mm supersonic NATO round. I speculate that different calibers and types of rounds will produce different chamber pressures, resulting in different internal pressures and wave dynamics inside the suppressor. Thus, I speculate that, while the overall design and components would be similar, the exact dimensions of the components and design elements such as spacing or otherwise may differ in order to achieve optimal performance for other caliber, types of rounds, and gun propellant.
The foregoing description of the embodiments of the invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed, and modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of the invention. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to explain the principles of the invention and its practical application to enable one skilled in the art to utilize the invention in various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.
This invention is susceptible to considerable variation in its practice. Therefore the foregoing description is not intended to limit, and should not be construed as limiting, the invention to the particular exemplifications presented hereinabove. Rather, what is intended to be covered is as set forth in the ensuing claims and the equivalents thereof as permitted as a matter of law.
This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application Nos. 63/389,736 (Clutter) filed Jul. 15, 2022, 63/393,650 (Clutter) filed Jul. 29, 2022, and 63/438,912 (Clutter) filed Jan. 13, 2023, each of which is incorporated herein by reference as if set forth in full below.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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63438912 | Jan 2023 | US | |
63393650 | Jul 2022 | US | |
63389736 | Jul 2022 | US |