The present invention relates to a paintball loader, more particularly to a horizontally mounted spiral paintball loader to be mounted within a paintball hopper to feed paintballs to a paintball marker.
In the competitive game of paintball, it is important to have an uninterrupted supply of paintballs fed to a marker/gun at a pre-established speed. In a basic configuration without a loader, paintballs are housed in a hopper above the marker and are gravity-fed into the marker through a feeder tube. However, this variant is not suitable for competitive play because paintballs often get jammed in the hopper on their way to the feeder tube, requiring the player to give the marker a good shake to dislodge the paintball jam in order to continue playing.
During a game, time is precious and if a player has to stop to shake the marker, this delay can cost the game. Therefore, loader technology was introduced into the game of paintball to provide a player with a guaranteed steady stream of paintball ammunition at the squeeze of the trigger.
There is known U.S. Pat. No. 6,213,110 for a Rapid Feed Paintball Loader with a rotatable drive cone with a plurality of vertical fins. This apparatus feeds paintballs into the inlet or feeder tube of a paintball gun at a steady rate. However, the design of this invention necessitates a certain height to allow for the drive cone shape, and does not line up each paintball several balls in advance before feeding it into the feeder tube.
There is also known U.S. Pat. No. 6,415,781 for a Bulk Loader for Paintball Gun. This invention comprises a vertically-mounted screw configured to push paintballs into a feeder tube. This invention requires a relatively large screw mounted inside a paintball hopper; not only does this design consume valuable space intended for paintballs, but the apparatus relies on a microswitch to be activated.
There is also known U.S. Pat. No. 6,502,567 for a Rapid Feed Paintball Loader with Pivotable Deflector. As in U.S. Pat. No. 6,213,110, the device does not line up a set number of paintballs in advance for an assured stream of ammunition.
The present invention is designed to overcome the defects of the prior art. In a space efficient manner, the present apparatus arranges a plurality of paintballs in a line before feeding them into the feeder tube. This is accomplished by using a spiral channel configuration. The prior art inventions rely on a chance encounter between a turning vane on a spinning axis and a paintball; in an illustrative embodiment of the present invention, there are no vanes: instead, a channel arranged in a spiral collects gravity fed paintballs and feeds them surely into the feeder tube.
The mechanism is simple in construction, relatively compact, and does not need to be activated by a trip switch. In a particular embodiment the paintball loader comprises a housing with a spinning rotating spiraling wall, an immobilized feeder arm and a feeder hole; the housing abuts a lower portion of a paintball housing, and attaches to the inlet tube of a paintball marker. Paintballs inside the hopper fall, are caught by the rotating spiral channel, and are urged towards the feeder hole by the feeder arm that is stationary in relation to the rotating spiral channel. The probability that the paintballs will jam or break is reduced, and the apparatus is capable of constant, reliable, sufficient speed.
More specifically, in accordance with the present invention, there is provided a paintball loader for supplying a plurality of substantially similar paintballs to a paintball marker. The loader comprises a housing adapted to receive the plurality of paintballs, the housing defining a feeder tube in a base thereof, the feeder tube dimensioned to allow single passage of the paintballs, a paintball receiving member comprising an elongate receiving channel spiraling radially outward in a direction of rotation from the feeder tube and having an outlet adjacent the feeder tube, the channel comprising a pair of opposing side walls spaced to allow single passage of the paintballs, and a feeder arm positioned across at least a portion of the channel walls such that the feeder arm comes into contact with one of the plurality of the paintballs when in the channel. The channel is rotatable relative to the feeder arm about the feeder hole in the direction of rotation.
There is also disclosed a method for supplying a sequential stream of paintballs to an inlet tube of a marker. The method comprises positioning a feeder tube adjacent the inlet tube, arranging the paintballs in a row spiraling outward in a direction of rotation from the feeder tube, positioning a feeder arm such that the feeder arm comes into contact with a rearward one of the plurality of the paintballs when in the channel, and rotating the feeder arm relative to the row in the direction of rotation.
Other objects, advantages and features of the present invention will become more apparent upon reading of the following non-restrictive description of specific embodiments thereof, given by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings.
In the appended drawings:
The present invention is illustrated in further details by the following non-limiting examples.
Generally, the illustrative embodiment of the present invention arranges paintballs in a row prior to feeding them through the feeder tube to a paintball marker. A simple electric motor that is synchronized with a marker trigger assembly can be used to rotate a spiraling channel retaining the row of paintballs relative to a feeder arm and thus urge the paintballs to be propelled out of the channel towards the marker. The apparatus is typically interposed between hopper and feeder tube of a paintball marker.
Referring now to
r=D(½+θ/π) (1)
where D is roughly equivalent to the sum of the diameter of a paintball and the thickness of the wall and θ is measured in radians.
As seen on
Referring now to
Referring Back to
Various modifications are possible: for example, if more spiral turns are added to paintball receiving member 14, more paintballs 30 can be lined up for feeding through feeder hole 22. In another embodiment, paintball receiving member 14 can be stationary, for example directly molded into the bottom of the housing 12, and the feeder arm 20 can be rotating about the feeder hole 22 instead, thus pushing the paintballs 30 through the feeder hole 22.
Referring back to
Referring now to
Although the present invention has been described hereinabove by way of specific embodiments thereof, it can be modified, without departing from the spirit and nature of the subject invention as defined in the appended claims.
This application claims priority on U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 61/028,927 filed on Feb. 15, 2008 which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
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