Police officers have seen great changes in their equipment in recent years, with but one constant problem. They struggle most times with the removal of the equipment from the belts and placing them into action in a quick and easy fashion. This invention relates generally to an easy and quick access to the items held on a police officer's belt, more particularly to the non-lethal weapons and ammunition clips, but not limited to these in anyway. Hereinafter the term officer refers to a police officer.
The modern police officer carries a variety of implements that reflect new technologies and new policing philosophies. The police officer of a generation ago wore a belt having a holster for a 0.38 caliber revolver, a ring to carry his hand-carved espontoon and a loop to carry handcuffs. Today the belt is used to carry a variety of devices, including a semiautomatic pistol, an additional ammunition magazine, an expandable “ASP®” tactical baton (an extendable baton, usually in three sections, available in various lengths and made by Armament Systems and Procedures, Appleton, Wis.), a flashlight and a pepper spray canister in addition to handcuffs and a radio. The magazine, baton, flashlight and pepper spray must be readily accessible with one hand when needed, but otherwise securely mounted.
Since police departments converted from the traditional espontoon to the ASP® baton, numerous designs have been put forward for holstering the baton.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,104,076 is directed to a reconfigurable article holder formed from strips of hook and loop material (Velcro™).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,217,151 discloses a belt mountable scabbard having a “front pocket” having an open top and a closed bottom for holding a baton in the closed position and a “back pocket” for holding a baton in the extended position.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,263,619 is directed to a tubular holder for a telescoping baton characterized by a shoulder ring into which the outer baton section seats in either the folded or open positions.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,551,610 is directed to a holster for a truncheon having a handle grip and a cross guard characterized by a clamshell shape swivally mounted on a belt so that the elongated staff of the truncheon may be worn upwardly or downwardly depending whether the police office is seated or standing.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,647,591 describes a pin and socket bayonet-type connection mechanism for connecting police accessories to an ASP® baton but does not disclose use of the connection mechanism for attaching the accessories to a belt.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,699,943 discloses a belt-mounted flashlight holder using a flexible moveable jaw and cradle which can be rotated to several detented positions and allows for a breakaway when jerked strongly.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,839,630 discloses a holster for a “side-handled” baton which has a cradle for the side handle and a shaft cradle. Snap and hook and loop fasteners secure holding tabs projecting vertically above the side handle.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,906,303 is addressed to a ring-type baton holder having a resilient coating to hold the baton in place.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,947,352 describes a baton holder of the scabbard type which attaches to belt and suspenders and allows the wearer to release the baton with a single upward hand motion.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,267,279 describes a holster for elongated hand weapons using a standardized track structure in the holster and complimentary slides on opposite faces of the device to be holstered.
Armament System and Procedures Inc. also sells a snap out flexible holster for their baton which is a slotted tapered tubular carrier sold under the name ASP Sidebreak Holster.
Rapid Access Technology (R.A.T.), as it relates to weapons and items carried on the belt of an officer or into a combat situation, enhances the need and ability to quickly and easily bring weapons, such as ASP® baton or pepper spray containers into action, or the ability to insert an ammunition clip into an automatic pistol using only (if need be) one hand with no loss of speed or control of the weapon. Other commonly used items such as flashlight and handcuffs can also be carried using this system.
R.A.T. works on the need to keep these items secure until the weapon or ammunition clip is needed. When the officer unlatches the holder, the R.A.T. activates the carrier allowing gravity or spring assist to swing down pulling a locking hinge into position where it rests at an angle of 20-60°. The item inside is held in place by a slip fitting, a dovetail, or any other locking device to allow easy retrieval of the needed item. A different holder may be used for each item.
Using R.A.T. for the reloading of the automatic pistol, the office unlatches the ammunition clip holder latch and the drop bottom swings down (this can also be pushed outward with a spring), pulling the locking hinge into place at an angle just away from the body. After expelling the used clip the officer aligns his weapon over the fresh ammunition clip and slams it into his weapon, pushing forward or backward to release the clip without the need to first remove the ammunition clip from his belt or turn over the new clip. The ammunition clip is held in a base down position. The access attachment holds the ammunition clip securely while allowing for the handle of the weapon to slide over the ammunition clip until it locks into place. This arrangement can be used by both left or right handed officers. When used for the other items, ASP® baton and the pepper spray container, the R.A.T. carrier holds the items securely and when engaged, the items are held at an angle where the officer can grasp, hold the item and place it into action in a fraction of the time from case holders used today and/or described in the prior art described supra.
Profile of R.A.T. carrier, which can be made of many materials and shapes depending on what holder is being used, will have a metal or plastic backing plate with an angled lock on the hinge where the back will stop the hinged floor at an angled position. The hinged floor, also made of metal or plastic, with a connection means attached to the floor, holds the item in the carrier until the officer removes it. A latch strap or cover is wrapped around the item holding it in a secure position in a normal manner. When the latch is released the weight of the held item uses gravity or a spring assist to fall and pulls the floor down until its stop hits the backing plate which will hold it at the angle needed to allow access to the items.
The invention is directed to systems which secure weapons and other accessory items to an officer's belt and which allow rapid, singe-handed access to those weapons and accessory items. The rapid access technology, R.A.T., uses systems for attaching items to the belt which allows for interchangeability of items in the same holder and which are adaptable to both left and right-handed persons.
As it relates to the weapons and items carried on the belt of an officer or into a combat situation where the need and ability to quickly and easily bring weapons, such as but not limited to ASP® baton or pepper spray canister, into action, or the ability to insert an ammunition clip into an automatic pistol using only one hand with no loss of speed or control of the weapon.
When closed, the system keeps these items secure until the weapon or ammunition clip is needed. When the officer unlatches the holder, R.A.T. activates. The carrier allows gravity or spring assist to cause the holder to swing down pulling a locking hinge into position where it rests at an angle between 20-60 degrees to the vertical. The item inside is held in place by a quick release attachment means to allow easy retrieval of the item the officer needs. A different holder is used for each item based on its shape.
An alternative embodiment of a holder for handcuffs as shown in
The floor containing the dovetail socket 102 is attached to flat plate 103 through a hinge pin 109 inserted through bore hole 110 and the bore hole 210 of 102 as in the previous embodiments. As shown in
Finally, the dovetail connection may be used with other types of police equipment. As shown in
In a further utility, the ASP® may be used to steady the weapon by sliding the socket 173 of the baton onto dovetail pin 104. Such an arrangement reduces fatigue in standoff situations.
In each embodiment, the implement can be accessed with one hand with a minimum of motions and quickly re-secured when no longer needed.
The flat plate 3, 103 and floor 7, 107 may be formed from a metal or an engineering plastic such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polyurethane, polyvinyl chloride and polycarbonate. The attaching means or holder should be an engineering plastic. Strap 13, cover 113 and latch 15, 115 may be a flexible plastic such as polyethylene or polypropylene.
The invention has been described in terms of preferred embodiments which illustrate in a non-limiting way, the concept of the invention. Additions and modifications of the invention will be obvious to those skilled in the art and are included within the scope and spirit of the invention.
This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/961,775 filed 18 Sep. 2001.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 09961775 | Sep 2001 | US |
Child | 10460827 | Jun 2003 | US |