Patent Application
20130061505
The present invention relates to devices for aiding in loading cartridges in magazines, in general and, in particular, to accessories for loading cartridges in pistol magazines.
Manual loading of cartridges in ammunition magazines in general, and in pistol magazines in particular, is time consuming and painful for the fingers.
There are known several devices for aiding the loading of cartridges into magazines having an open front. Since the body is open on the front side and the magazine protrudes therefrom, a user must hold both the device and the magazine, in order to retain the magazine in the body. These devices were not designed with ergonomics in mind.
There is also known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,355,606 to Origoni a device with a round housing with flanges that requires the user to grip the corners of the magazine, itself. The upper mount includes a pair of top flanges to engage the top and back of the magazine and the lower mount includes a pair of bottom flanges for engaging a middle portion of the clip. The distance between the side flanges is just slightly greater than the width of the clip so as to prevent lateral movement of the tool. With this device, a user must hold the clip or magazine inside the loader at all times while cartridges are loaded.
Many of these devices include cover elements adapted to be mounted on a magazine for manual motion relative to the magazine to depress the cartridges in the magazine and make space for an added cartridge.
There is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,377,436 to Switzer a device that includes a sleeve of two opposing side walls and a rear wall where a magazine is inserted from the top of the device and seated on an adjustable support member. This device is adapted to receive the magazine in seated relation during reloading, and includes a handle connected to the sleeve against which the clip lies when the clip is in operational relation with the reloader. A plunger is manually reciprocable to depress a top cartridge already seated in the cartridge clip to accommodate receiving another cartridge as a successor top cartridge in the cartridge clip. An operator arm connected with the plunger is pivotally mounted to the sleeve so as to push the plunger against the uppermost cartridges while pressing the operator arm. Here too, a user must hold the magazine inside the loader at all times while cartridges are loaded in the clip, in order to prevent the clip from falling out of the loader.
The device according to U.S. Pat. No. 6,817,134 to Newman includes a complex lever with cams for rotational motion. The lever is hinged to the sleeve and the cam member is operatively engaged with the lever to provide a highly leveraged action. Squeezing the lever towards the sleeve body rotates the cam member about the cam axis which, in turn, causes an integral finger extending from the cam member to engage and depress a bullet in the magazine. A spring urges the cam member back to the relaxed position upon release of the lever. According to this method of operation, the integral finger engages the bullet at a slight angle which can cause the bullet to shift and get stuck inside the magazine. According to one embodiment, tabs are provided to engage detents on a magazine, but since the holder has no front, the user must still hold the magazine in the loader during use. Thus, in all these devices a user must hold the magazine inside the loader at all times while cartridges are loaded in the clip.
Accordingly, there is a long felt need for a relatively simple but comfortable loading device for releasable locking on a magazine, and it would be very desirable to have such a device which does not require the user to hold the magazine in the loader.
There is provided according to the present invention a device for use in loading cartridges in a magazine, the device including a housing having the shape of a pistol grip defining therein a magazine receiving bore for receiving a magazine through the bottom of the housing, and a bore parallel to the magazine receiving bore, extending from the top of the housing and extending into the housing, a spring loaded plunger mounted in the parallel bore, and a magazine catch in the pistol grip extending into the magazine receiving bore for engaging a magazine.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the pistol grip includes an ergonometric shoulder extending from the top of the grip, configured and adapted to engage and hang from a hand of a user.
Further according to the invention there is provided a method for forming a device for use in loading cartridges in a magazine, the method including providing an ergonomically shaped housing, forming a magazine receiving bore through the housing for receiving a magazine from the bottom of the housing, forming a bore parallel to the magazine receiving bore extending from the top of the housing part way through the housing, mounting a spring-loaded plunger for linear movement in the parallel bore, and providing a magazine catch in the housing extending into the magazine receiving bore for engaging a recess in a magazine.
The present invention will be further understood and appreciated from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the drawings in which:
a is a schematic plan view illustration of a device for use in loading a magazine constructed and operative in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;
b is a schematic illustration of the device of
The present invention relates to devices for use in loading cartridges into pistol ammunition magazines that have a locking recess. The devices include an ergonomically shaped housing in the shape of a pistol grip having a through-going bore shaped to receive an ammunition magazine inserted through the bottom of the housing, as in a conventional pistol grip. It is a particular feature of the present invention is that the magazine receiving bore has a substantially rectangular cross section and is adapted to enclose the magazine from the front as well as the back and sides, so as to eliminate the necessity of gripping the magazine while loading cartridges therein. It is a particular feature of the invention that the housing includes a magazine catch extending into the bore, which may be substantially identical to the magazine catch in a conventional pistol, which engages the locking recess in the magazine so as to releasably lock the magazine inside the housing during loading. A releasable button or other release element provides means to facilitate the quick and easy release of the magazine catch from the magazine.
Parallel to the magazine-receiving bore is a second bore, extending from the top of the housing partially into the housing. A plunger is spring loaded in the second bore. The housing preferably includes a rounded, protruding shoulder extending from the top of the grip, which is adapted and configured to seat on and hang from a user's hand for ease of engaging the plunger while holding the device with one hand.
Referring now to
Housing 12 defines a second bore 20 extending from the top of the housing partially through the housing for receiving a spring loaded plunger 22 through the top. A spring 24 serves to urge plunger 22 outwards from housing 12 and away from magazine-receiving bore 14. Plunger 22 is configured to engage and press downwards a middle to rear portion of the uppermost cartridge in the magazine which protrudes upwards through the magazine receiving bore. Plunger 22 moves linearly through bore 20 to move the uppermost cartridge into the magazine and away from the top opening of bore 14, so as to permit the insertion of another cartridge into the magazine. The magazine catch 18 ensures that the magazine is in the correct location in relation to plunger 22. It will be appreciated that the linear movement of plunger 22 applies a direct pressure on a cartridge in the magazine, maintaining the alignment of the bullets inside the magazine, and no rotational force is applied to the cartridges.
Housing 12 includes a protruding shoulder 26 extending from the top of the grip, adapted and configured to seat on the hand of a user, between the thumb and the pointer, and permit easy access by the thumb of the user to the plunger 22. Thus, the loader seats on the user's hand during loading, leaving the user's fingers free. In this way, no effort need be exerted to hold onto the magazine to retain it in the loader during loading, and the user merely depresses the plunger with his thumb and inserts a cartridge with his other hand. When the magazine is full, the magazine catch is released and the magazine will slide out of the bottom of the device, in the same way it is released and slides from the grip of the pistol.
b is a schematic illustration of the device of
Referring now to
Housing 12 defines a second bore 20, parallel to bore 14 but extending only part way through housing 12, for receiving a plunger 22. Plunger 22 is spring loaded through the top of the housing and biased by a spring 24, which serves to urge plunger 22 outwards from housing 12 and away from magazine-receiving bore 14. Plunger 22 moves linearly in bore 20 and is configured to engage and press downwards the uppermost cartridge 29 in the magazine so as to permit the insertion of another cartridge into the magazine. Plunger 22 preferably includes a stop member, here shown as a protruding pin 23 which extends from the plunger through a slot 25 in housing 12. As plunger 22 moves up and down, its movement is limited by the movement of pin 23 in slot 25.
Housing 12 includes a protruding shoulder 26 extending from the top of the grip and adapted and configured to seat on the hand of a user and permit easy access by the thumb of the user to the plunger 22.
Operation of this embodiment is shown with reference to
It will be appreciated that the ergonomically designed housing, enclosing the magazine from the front side and forming a comfortable grip, allows the user to firmly hold the magazine loader without requiring him to also hold the magazine. It will further be appreciated that the housing of the magazine loader is open at the bottom and can accommodate magazines of different lengths. Thus, the structure of the device of the present invention uniquely provides the ability to operate the device solely with the use of one's hand and thumb and does not depend on the use of one's fingers to hold the magazine within the loader.
While the invention has been described with respect to a limited number of embodiments, it will be appreciated that many variations, modifications and other applications of the invention may be made. It will further be appreciated that the invention is not limited to what has been described hereinabove merely by way of example. Rather, the invention is limited solely by the claims which follow.
