Patent Application
20100275494
This disclosure relates generally to gun sights, and more particularly, to a gun sight mounting device for attachment of a gun sight to a gun.
Gun sights are typically configured on a gun for the purpose of enhancing its aim. Traditionally, iron sights have been used to enable aiming of the gun toward its intended target. Advances in optical and electronics technology, however, have led to the development of more sophisticated gun sights that enable enhanced visibility and/or magnification than traditional iron sights. One particular type of gun sight that may provide enhanced visibility is a night vision gun sight. The night vision gun sight generally includes an infrared camera that is operable to create an image from the infrared portion of the electro-magnetic spectrum for view by a user. This type of gun sight has enabled enhanced capability in that aiming of the gun may be accomplished in generally low light conditions.
In one embodiment according to the teachings of the present disclosure, an apparatus generally includes a gun mount portion and a sight mount portion that are coupled together by a resilient member. The gun mount portion provides attachment to a gun and the sight mount portion provides attachment to a gun sight. The resilient member is configured to allow, when attached to the gun, a linear displacement of the sight mount portion relative to the gun mount portion along a longitudinal axis of the gun.
Some embodiments of the disclosure may provide numerous technical advantages. Some embodiments may benefit from some, none, or all of these advantages. For example, according to one embodiment, the shock response spectrum experienced by the gun sight during the recoil action of the gun may be tailored to alleviate vibrational energy at certain frequencies. These frequencies may be natural resonant frequencies of certain components of the gun sight that may be damaged as a result of excess vibrational energy being transferred from the gun to the gun sight. These gun sights may therefore, be coupled to guns that were heretofore precluded from use due to excessive shock or vibrational energy being imparted onto the gun sight during operation of the gun.
Other technical advantages may be readily ascertained by one of ordinary skill in the art.
A more complete understanding of embodiments of the disclosure will be apparent from the detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
Advances in optical and electronics technology have enabled the development of gun sights having enhanced characteristics over traditional iron sights. To enable this enhanced capability, these gun sights may incorporate various optical or electronic components that may be generally intricate and/or delicate in nature. Gun sights having delicate components, however, may be precluded from use on certain guns that generate significant mechanical stresses, such as shock vibration introduced by recoil of the gun.
The gun 14 may be any suitable type that may be used in conjunction with gun sight 12. In one particular embodiment, gun 14 may be a military rifle, such as an M4 rifle. The gun sight mounting device 10 may be coupled to gun 14 by gun mount portion 16. Gun mount portion 16 may be any suitable coupling device. In one embodiment, the gun mount portion 16 may be a picatinny coupling that is compliant to military standard specification (MIL-STD-1913) and operable to be configured on gun 14 having a picatinny rail 26.
The gun sight 12 may be any suitable gun sight 12 and may be, for example, a telescopic gun sight, a night vision camera, or any other device that may enhance the visibility and/or aiming capability of a target for a user of the gun 14. The gun sight 12 may, or may not, have one or more intricate or delicate components that may be potentially damaged by vibrational forces generated by the gun 14. For example, a particular gun sight 12 that is operable to generate images in low-light conditions, such as a night vision camera, may have electronic or optical components that are susceptible to damage from these vibrational forces. Certain embodiments of the present disclosure may provide an advantage in that the gun sight mounting device 10 may enable use of various types of gun sights 12 that have been heretofore been precluded from use due to excessive vibrational forces placed upon the gun sight 12 during operation of the gun 14. The gun sight mounting device 10 may also enhance the durability of gun sights 12 in certain embodiments.
In this particular embodiment, resilient member 22 is a plurality of leaf springs 22a; however, resilient member 22 may be any generally resilient device that allows a linear displacement of the sight mount portion 20 relative to the gun mount portion 16 along the longitudinal axis 24 of the gun 14. In one embodiment, resilient member 22 may be any suitable device that is generally inflexible along other axes that are not parallel to the longitudinal axis 24 of the gun 14.
In one embodiment, the leaf springs 22a may have a cumulative spring constant such that the resonant frequency of the sight mount portion 20 and gun sight 12 are different from the resonant frequency of a particular component of the gun sight 12. For example, gun sight 12 may have an image sensing device with a particular natural resonant frequency. Excitation of the gun sight 12 with vibrational energy approximately at its natural resonant frequency may cause the sensing device to be damaged or result in reduced durability. By designing the leaf springs 22a to have a particular spring constant such that the resonant frequency of the sight mount portion 20 and gun sight 12 are different, vibrational energy at the natural resonant frequency of image sensing device may be effectively reduced.
Sight mount portion 20 may be any suitable mechanism for coupling the gun sight mounting device 10 to the gun sight 12. In the particular embodiment shown in
The material from which the gun sight mounting device 10 is made may be any suitable material that will maintain its structural characteristics and allow the resilient member 22 to have an a spring constant that remains within acceptable levels during normal use. In one embodiment, the sight mount portion 20, resilient member 22, and gun mount portion 16 are integrally formed together from one piece of material, such as aluminum.
Several embodiments of a gun sight mounting device 10 have been described that may reduce vibrational energy transferred from the recoil action of a gun 14 to a gun sight 12. This reduction in vibrational energy may be tailored by selecting the spring constant of the resilient member 22 to be different from the natural resonant frequency of one or more components in the gun sight 12. In this manner certain components of the gun sight 12 may be protected from damage from undue vibrational energy generated by a recoil action of the gun 14. Thus, use of the gun sight mounting device 10 that may enable use of certain gun sights 12 that may be potentially damaged by direct coupling to the gun 14
Although the present disclosure and its advantages have been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions, and alterations can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure as defined by the appended claims.
