Patent Application
20070266883
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
The present invention relates in general to a non-lethal weapon used for access denial and crowd control in riots and other environments such as urban warfare, hostage rescue and embassy security in which combatants are interspersed with non-combatants.
A stingball delivery system with enhanced overall distraction and deterrence effectiveness is provided. The stingball delivery system includes an exterior housing employing continuously self-righting features that encourage proper orientation of the device for improved control over the stingball trajectory. A plurality of submunitions contained within the housing are sequentially dispersed in random locations about the housing. Each submunition then disperses the stingball payload from the corresponding random location after a delay time after the dispersion thereof. This results in a nearly continuous string of loud reports, punctuated by frequent volleys of high-velocity stingballs from different locations. Further, the submunition employs multiple discrete barrels arrayed about a central axis of the housing to control both velocity and trajectory of the stingballs. The barrels are angled to control the trajectory of the stingballs, such that the stingballs can be targeted to lower portions of the body to avoid permanent injury such as eye injury.
As provided, the system includes an exterior housing, a plurality of submunitions, and a plurality of stingballs contained within the housing. The exterior housing has a cylindrical tube and a plurality of curved segments fitted to the cylindrical tube. The cylindrical tube has a fixed end cap and a removable end cap. The submunitions are stacked within the channel defined by cylindrical tube. When the removable end cap is ejected by a pyrotechnic fuze, a plurality of pyrotechnic charges eject the submunitions from the housing individually and sequentially. The ejection of each submunition exerts a force to raise the housing several feet into the air. Each of the submunitions includes a plurality of radially distributed barrels for packaging the stingballs and additional pyrotechnic charges therein. After the submunitions are ejected from the housing, the stingballs are pyrotechnically expelled from the submunitions along predetermined trajectories.
These and other features and advantages of the various embodiments disclosed herein will be better understood with respect to the following description and drawings, in which like numbers refer to like parts throughout, and in which:
Referring to
In one embodiment, the barrels 8 can be designed with various dimensions for holding the stingballs 7 with multiple calibers. The stingballs 7 may be fabricated from n-butyl, other rubber material, polycarbonate or other plastic balls. In addition, each of the stingballs 7 may contain pepper powder or other powder, a malodrant, a laychramator, paint, dye or liquids, a bio-fluorescent, fluorescent or other marking material.
Upon deployment, the removable end cap 3 is ejected from the circular tube 1 by a pyrotechnic fuze 5. The pyrotechnic fuze 5 may be replaced with other electronic devices or compression structure that provides the same effect. Once the removable cap 3 is ejected 3, the submunitions 6 are individually and sequentially forcefully ejected at predetermined intervals. In the preferred embodiment, this ejection force is provided by pyrotechnic charges packaged inside each submunition. However, the pyrotechnic charges may be replaced with other electronic devices or compression structure that provides the same effect. Due to the self-righting action of the curved segments 4, the stingball grenade is upright at the time that the submunitions 6 are ejected. The force exerted by each ejection raises the whole stingball grenade several feet into the air, whereupon the stingball grenade falls down and rolls to a random location. In this manner, the submunitions 6 are dispersed throughout the operation area of the invention. Once each of the submunitions 6 is ejected, the submunition 6 expels its payload of stingballs 7 after a short delay. In the preferred embodiment, this ejection force is provided by pyrotechnic charges packaged inside each submunition. However, the pyrotechnic charges may be replaced with other electronic devices or compression structure that provides the same effect. Therefore, a separation event and a stingball expulsion event are provided for each submunition 6, which increases the distraction effect. In an alternate embodiment, all submunitions 6 may be ejected at once, and thus dispersed throughout the operation area in a single event. In this embodiment, each submunition 6 would have a different duration time delay, such that the stingball expulsion events would occur in an unpredictable sequence. As mentioned above, the stingballs 7 are packaged in the barrels 8 which are arrayed about the central axis of the submunition 6 like spokes on a wheel. This packaging method allows the velocity of the stingballs 7 to be tightly controlled. In addition, each barrel 8 is tilted above the horizontal plane by a specific angle, allowing the stingball 7 trajectory to be carefully controlled. The design of the submunitions 6 allows more stingballs 7 to strike the target in a safer portion of the body. Therefore, the deterrent effect is improved, while the chance of permanent injury is reduced.
The above description is given by way of example, and not limitation. Given the above disclosure, one skilled in the art could devise variations that are within the scope and spirit of the invention disclosed herein. Further, the various features of the embodiments disclosed herein can be used alone, or in varying combinations with each other and are not intended to be limited to the specific combination described herein. Thus, the scope of the claims is not to be limited by the illustrated embodiments.
