Patent Application
20240398048
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The disclosure relates to firearm positioning system and more particularly pertains to a new firearm positioning system for spacing a butt of a firearm forwardly from a chest of a user.
When operating a rifle, shotgun, or other long arm, a butt of a stock of the firearm is positioned against the chest or shoulder of an individual. This positioning aids in maintaining the firearm in a fixed position and in facilitating the individual absorbing recoil from the firearm in a predictable and manageable manner. This positioning also affects the distance at which the trigger of the firearm is positioned in relation to the chest of the individual. The distance of the trigger from the chest has important ergonomic implications for the individual. Different factors-such as length of the individual's neck, breadth of the individual's shoulders, and thickness of the individual's chest and clothing-impact the ability of the individual to position the trigger at a distance from the chest which is safe, comfortable, and makes operation of the firearm easier.
Most stocks for such firearms are designed at a length to be adaptable to most individuals, but some individuals benefit from increasing the distance of the trigger from the chest without disengaging the butt of the firearm from the chest. The prior art includes devices which attach to the stock of the firearm to extend the distance of the trigger from the chest. Some of these devices suffer from failing to reliably secure to the stock of the firearm or not providing enough of an extension. Devices which permanently attach to or replace the stock can be expensive and typically require professional installation.
Other devices in the prior art include garments with padding, but these are directed more to absorbing the recoil of the firearm and not extending the distance of the trigger from the chest. These garments subsequently do not have padding thick enough for use as a positioning system, nor are do they provide interchangeable components for adjusting the thickness of the garment to adapt to different users, different stock lengths, changes in clothing thickness, and other factors impacting the distance of the trigger from the chest.
A system is therefore desirable which addresses this problem by providing pads of varying thicknesses into a garment to position the trigger of the firearm at a selected distance from the chest of the individual while maintaining engagement between the chest and the butt of the firearm.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a garment configured for being worn on a torso of a user. The garment has a pair of arm holes extending through the garment into an interior space bounded by the garment, and the arm holes of the pair of arm holes are positioned opposite each other. A pocket is coupled to the garment and is positioned on a front side of the garment nearer to an associated one of the pair of arm holes than another one of the pair of arm holes. The pocket is configured for being positioned over a chest of the user adjacent to an arm and a shoulder of the user. A pad is positionable in the pocket. The pad has a rear surface which faces the front side of the garment when the pad is positioned in the pocket and a front surface which faces away from the garment when the pad is positioned in the pocket.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.
The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
The pocket 22 comprises a front panel 24, a bottom panel 26, and a pair of lateral panels 28. The front panel 24 is spaced forwardly from the front side 20 of the garment 12. The bottom panel 26 is coupled to and extends between the garment 12 and the front panel 24. The bottom panel 26 is positioned on a bottom edge 30 of the front panel 24. The pair of lateral panels 28 is coupled to and extends between the garment 12 and the front panel 24. Each lateral panel 28 of the pair of lateral panels 28 is positioned on an associated lateral edge 32 of a pair of lateral edges 32 of the front panel 24. The front panel 24, the bottom panel 26, and the pair of lateral panels 28 may be integrally formed or coupled together via stitching or other conventional means. The front panel 24, the bottom panel 26, the pair of lateral panels 28, and the garment 12 define a cavity 34, and a top edge 36 of the pocket 22 and the garment 12 defines an opening 38 to the cavity 34.
The pocket 22 further comprises a flap 40 and a connector 46. The flap 40 is coupled to the front side 20 of the garment 12 adjacent the top edge 36 of the pocket 22. The flap 40 is movable between a closed position 42 and an open position 44 with respect to the opening 38. The connector 46 is coupled to the flap 40 and the front panel 24 to releasably connect the flap 40 to the front panel 24 in the closed position 42. The connector 46 comprises a first mating member 48 which is attached to the flap 40 and a second mating member 50 which is attached to the front panel 24. The connector 46 comprises a hook-and-loop fastener 52 but may comprise a snap fastener, a butt 80 on fastener, a zipper, or the like.
Each one of a plurality of pads 54 is interchangeably positionable in the pocket 22. Each pad 54 of the plurality of pads 54 has a rear surface 56 which faces the front side 20 of the garment 12 when the pad 54 is positioned in the pocket 22 and a front surface 58 which faces away from the garment 12 when the pad 54 is positioned in the pocket 22. Each pad 54 of the plurality of pads 54 has a thickness between the front surface 58 and the rear surface 56, and the thickness of each pad 54 of the plurality of pads 54 is different from the thickness of each other pad 54 of the plurality of pads 54. The thickness of each pad 54 of the plurality of pads 54 is between 0.25 inches and 4.0 inches. The plurality of pads 54 may, for example, have thicknesses at increments of 0.25 inches, wherein a thinnest pad 54 of the plurality of pads 54 has a thickness of 0.25 inches and a thickest pad 54 of the plurality of pads 54 has a thickness of 4.0 inches. The thickness of each pad 54 of the plurality of pads 54 is constant between a top surface 60 and a bottom surface 62 of the pad 54 and between a pair of lateral surfaces 64 of the pad 54.
Each pad 54 of the plurality of pads 54 has a height between the top surface 60 and the bottom surface 62 of between 7.0 inches and 9.0 inches and a width between said pair of lateral surfaces 64 of the pad 54 of between 3.5 inches and 5.5 inches. Each pad 54 of the plurality of pads 54 comprises a resiliently compressible material such that the pad 54 is configured for absorbing a force from a recoiling of a firearm 76. The resiliently compressible material comprises rubber but may comprise a polymer, a polymer foam, a woven natural or synthetic fiber, or the like.
In use, the firearm 76 positioning system 10 is used to space the firearm 76 forwardly of the chest 70 of the user 66. The firearm 76 may be a rifle, shotgun, or other long gun having a stock 78 with a butt 80 for bracing against the user 66 chest 70. The garment 12 is worn on the torso 68 of the user 66, and a selected one of the plurality of pads 54 is inserted into the pocket 22. The user 66 aims the firearm 76, which includes placing the butt 80 of the firearm 76 against the pocket 22. The selected pad 54 causes the butt 80 of the firearm 76 to be spaced forwardly from the chest 70 of the user 66. The selected pad 54 is chosen based on the selected pad's 54 thickness, which defines a distance from a trigger 82 of the firearm 76 to the chest 70 of the user 66.
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
