FOLDABLE OPPOSABLE GRIP ASSEMBLY FOR A FIREARM

Abstract

In various embodiments, an apparatus is provided, the apparatus comprising: a foldable opposable grip assembly to couple to a firearm, the foldable opposable grip assembly including: an opposable grip device movably attachable to a mount that is attachable to, or integrated with, the firearm, to foldup the opposable grip assembly; and a surface grippable using a thumb of a support hand when the foldable opposable grip assembly is coupled to the firearm and unfolded. Other embodiments may be disclosed and/or claimed.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE

This non-provisional application claims benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/424,392 filed on Nov. 10, 2022, which is incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND

Opposable grip accessories (e.g., the Gas Pedal®) may be installed in place of original equipment (e.g., in place of the takedown lever in a Sig® P365®) to reduce the time needed to make accurate follow up shots. Specifically, with an opposable grip accessory, a user may stabilize the firearm (e.g., counteract firearm recoil by applying a compensating force to the accessory with their thumb), which allows the user to quickly re-engage the target.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A illustrates an exploded rear isometric view of a foldable opposable grip assembly, according to various embodiments.

FIG. 1B illustrates an exploded front isometric view of the foldable opposable grip assembly of FIG. 1A.

FIG. 2A illustrates a firearm assembly including the foldable opposable grip assembly of FIG. 1A in the open position.

FIG. 2B is a detail A of the firearm assembly of FIG. 2A.

FIG. 2C is a top view of the foldable opposable grip assembly of FIG. 2A in the open position.

FIG. 3A illustrates a firearm assembly including the foldable opposable grip assembly of FIG. 1A in the closed position.

FIG. 3B is a detail B of the firearm assembly of FIG. 3A.

FIG. 3C is a top view of the foldable opposable grip assembly of FIG. 3A in the closed position.

FIG. 4A is an isometric view of the foldable opposable grip assembly of FIG. 1 in the open position.

FIG. 4B is a bottom view of the foldable opposable grip assembly of FIG. 4A.

FIG. 4C is a top view of the foldable opposable grip assembly of FIG. 4A.

FIG. 4D is a section view of the foldable opposable grip assembly of FIG. 4C taken along section line D-D of FIG. 4C.

FIG. 5A is an isometric view of the foldable opposable grip assembly of FIG. 1A in the closed position.

FIG. 5B is a bottom view of the foldable opposable grip assembly of FIG. 5A in the closed position.

FIG. 6A is a top isometric view of the mount of FIG. 1A.

FIG. 6B is a side view of the mount of FIG. 6A.

FIG. 6C is a front end view of the mount of FIG. 6A.

FIG. 6D is a top view of the mount of FIG. 6A.

FIG. 6E is a detail C of the mount of FIG. 6C.

FIG. 7A is a top view of the opposable grip device of FIG. 1A.

FIG. 7B is a bottom view of the opposable grip device of FIG. 7A.

FIG. 7C is a front view of the opposable grip device of FIG. 7A.

FIG. 7D is a side view of the opposable grip device of FIG. 7A.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Some known opposable grip accessories may use a compact thumb grip area to minimize the amount of width added to the firearm by the accessory. Even with the reduced width (due to the compact thumb grip area), firearms employing these accessories may still be too wide for use with some holsters. Also, some users may desire a larger thumb grip area than these compact grip areas provide.

Various embodiments described herein may include a foldable opposable grip assembly. A firearm including the foldable opposable grip assembly may have a narrower width when the opposable grip assembly is closed (e.g., folded up) than when the opposable grip assembly is open (e.g., folded out). In various embodiments, the opposable grip assembly may collapse in response to holstering the firearm. A spring may be arranged to cause the opposable grip assembly to unfold in response to unholstering the firearm.

FIG. 1A illustrates an exploded rear isometric view of a foldable opposable grip assembly 100, according to various embodiments. FIG. 1B illustrates an exploded front isometric view of the foldable opposable grip assembly 100 of FIG. 1A. The foldable opposable grip assembly 100 includes an opposable grip device 20 that is movably coupled (e.g., hingably coupled) to a mount 10 using a spring 30 and a pin 40.

In this embodiment, the mount 10 is an installable in place of original equipment of a firearm. Namely, the mount 10 is arranged to install in place of the takedown lever of a firearm—a user may remove a takedown lever from the firearm, and install the mount 10 in its place. However, in various embodiments, a mount may have any of the features described herein and may be any of:

• • an accessory that installs in place of original equipment of the firearm;
  • an accessory to operate in addition to the original equipment of the firearm; or
  • original equipment of the firearm.

The illustrated embodiment includes a spring 30, which urges the foldable opposable grip assembly 100 to unfold. In this example, the spring 30 is a torsion spring mounted on the pin 40, but other embodiments may use other types of springs, or some other urging mechanism. One end of the torsion spring 30 may engage the opposable grip device 20 and the other end of the torsion spring 30 may engage the mount 10. Also, one of opposable grip device 20 or the mount 10 may include a groove 22 to receive one of the ends of the torsion spring 30, to retain the torsion spring 30 in place.

Referring again to FIG. 1A, the pin 40 may be press fit into one of the opposable grip device 20 or the mount 10. The other of the opposable grip device 20 or the mount 10 may rotate with respect to the pin 40.

FIG. 2A illustrates a firearm assembly 200 including the foldable opposable grip assembly 100 of FIG. 1A in the open position. FIG. 3A illustrates a firearm assembly 200 including the foldable opposable grip assembly 100 of FIG. 1A in the closed position. Referring to FIGS. 2A and 3A, when the foldable opposable grip assembly 100 is folded out (FIG. 2A), a grip surface 21 is exposed so that a user can apply force with the thumb of their offhand to mitigate recoil to reduce the time needed to make accurate follow up shots.

When the foldable opposable grip assembly 100 is folded up (FIG. 3A), a profile of the firearm assembly 200 is different (e.g., a width is narrowed), which allows the firearm assembly 200 to be used in combination with a wide variety of holsters. FIGS. 2C and 3C include a dashed line indicating a position of a side of a slide/frame of the firearm assembly 200 (FIG. 2A), which indicates the folded out width (FIG. 2C) and the narrower folded up width (FIG. 3C).

The spring 30 (FIG. 1A) is collapsed in the closed position. This urges the foldable opposable grip assembly 100 to return to the open position when movement of the opposable grip device 20 is not restricted (e.g., unholstered). In the open position, the spring 30 may apply less spring force than in the closed position (in some embodiments, the spring force may be zero, or some other amount in the open position). Referring briefly to FIG. 4D, the foldable opposable grip assembly 100 may be arranged to provide engagement 49 to limit rotation to a threshold maximum angle (e.g., at ninety degrees, in this embodiment).

Referring to FIG. 3B, an underside 24 of the opposable grip device 20 may have a smooth area, which is arranged to slidingly engage with a surface of a holster as the firearm is unholstered. For foldup, the illustrated chamfered edges and/or angle geometry may guide the opposable grip device 20 to foldup when the edge of the opposable mount device contacts a surface of the holster, as the firearm is holstered. This guided, sliding engagement into and out of the holster may collapse the spring 30 as the firearm is holstered, and may allow sliding foldout without requiring any manipulation of the opposable grip assembly 100 by the user (the user may need to do nothing more than draw the firearm from the holster as the user would draw known firearms).

FIG. 4A is an isometric view of the foldable opposable grip assembly 100 of FIG. 1 in the open position. FIG. 4B is a bottom view of the foldable opposable grip assembly 100 of FIG. 4A. FIG. 4C is a top view of the foldable opposable grip assembly 100 of FIG. 4A. FIG. 4D is a section view of the foldable opposable grip assembly 100 of FIG. 4C taken along section line D-D of FIG. 4C.

FIG. 5A is an isometric view of the foldable opposable grip assembly 100 of FIG. 1A in the closed position. FIG. 5B is a bottom view of the foldable opposable grip assembly 100 of FIG. 5A in the closed position.

FIG. 6A is an isometric view of the mount 10 of FIG. 1A. FIG. 6B is a side view of the mount 10 of FIG. 6A. FIG. 6C is a front end view of the mount 10 of FIG. 6A. FIG. 6D is a top view of the mount 10 of FIG. 6A. FIG. 6E is a detail C of the mount 10 of FIG. 6C.

The mount 10 includes a front end to mate with the opposable grip device 20 (FIG. 1), and a back end that includes a lever shaft 16. The lever shaft 16, illustrated in detail C of FIGS. 6D and 6E, may be identical to known lever shafts. e.g., a lever shaft of an original equipment takedown lever. This may allow the mount 10 to be installed in place of the original equipment takedown lever, which allows the foldable opposable grip assembly to operate as a takedown lever.

Referring again to FIG. 6A, the front end of the mount 10 includes a hole 11 for inserting the pin 40 (FIG. 1A) and a cavity 12 in which the spring 30 (FIG. 1A) is locatable. The hole 11 may be sized for fixably attaching the pin 40 into the hole 11 (e.g., a press fit), in some examples. A cover 13 is also provided on the front end (FIG. 2B illustrates how the cover may extend over part of the frame of the firearm).

The lever shaft 16 provided on the back end of the mount 10 allows the mount 10 to be used in place of a takedown lever. In other examples, a mount may have any of the front end features illustrated and described herein, but have a backend to mate with a dedicated attachment mechanism of a firearm (e.g., a post, a dedicated port of a firearm, fastener holes, or the like, e.g., the mount 10 may be attached to the dedicated attachment mechanism in front of, or behind, to a takedown lever). In these examples, the mount 10 may be an accessory or original equipment of the firearm. In these examples, the mount 10 may be integrated with the frame of a firearm, or removably attachable to the frame of a firearm using fasteners (e.g., screws may attach the mount 10 to a frame of a firearm, and an opposable grip device may attach to the mount 10 in a similar way to the illustrated embodiment.

FIG. 7A is a top view of the opposable grip device 20 of FIG. 1A. FIG. 7B is a bottom view of the opposable grip device 20 of FIG. 7A. FIG. 7C is a side view of the opposable grip device 20 of FIG. 7A. FIG. 7D is a front view of the opposable grip device 20 of FIG. 7A.

The opposable grip device 20 includes a first section with a grip surface 21 and a second section to mate with the mount 10. The second section includes a cavity 26 to receive the corresponding part of the mount 10. The second section also includes a hole 29 for receiving the pin 40 (FIG. 1A). The hole 29 may have a different size than the hole 11 (FIG. 6A), so that one of the opposable grip device 20 and the mount 10 fixably receiver the pin 40, and the other is rotatable with respect to the pin 40 (this is not required, however, in some examples the holes may be the same size and a pin may have sections with different diameters).

The illustrated embodiments include a mechanism for urging (e.g., a spring) a foldable opposable grip assembly to unfold. In other embodiments, a foldable opposable grip assembly may include a mechanism for urging (e.g., a spring) a foldable opposable grip assembly to fold and/or remain in the closed position.

In yet other embodiments, a foldable opposable grip assembly may not include the urging mechanism. For example, one embodiment of a foldable opposable grip assembly may have a mechanism for manually unfolding (e.g., pivotable, hingable, or the like) a foldable opposable grip assembly into a desired positon. These embodiments may include a locking device (e.g., a latch) to fix a position of an opposable grip device relative to the mount once in the desired position (until unlocked). Other variations may be possible and practical.

We claim all modifications and variations coming within the spirit and scope of the following claims.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a foldable opposable grip assembly to couple to a firearm, the foldable opposable grip assembly including: an opposable grip device movably attachable to a mount that is attachable to, or integrated with, the firearm, to foldup the opposable grip assembly; and a surface grippable using a thumb of a support hand when the foldable opposable grip assembly is coupled to the firearm and unfolded.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising means for urging the foldable opposable grip assembly to fold into a closed position or unfold into an open position.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the urging means comprises a torsion spring.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the opposable grip device is hingably couplable to the mount.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the foldable opposable grip assembly further comprises a pin, wherein one of the first and second attachment devices is rotatably coupled to the pin and the other of the first and second attachment devices is fixably coupled to the pin.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the pin is press-fit to the fixably coupled one of the first and second attachment devices.

7. The apparatus of claim 5, further comprising a spring mounted on the pin, the spring arranged to urge the foldable opposable grip assembly to unfold into an open position.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein an underside of the opposable grip device comprises a smooth surface arranged to slidingly engage an interior of a holster as the firearm is unholstered.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the mount comprises a first section to mate with the opposable grip device and a second section comprising a lever shaft.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the foldable opposable grip assembly, when installed on the firearm, is operable as a takedown lever.

11. An apparatus, comprising:

a foldable opposable grip assembly to pivotably or hingably couple to a firearm assembly, the foldable opposable grip assembly including: an opposed grip device device to mate with a mount that is attachable to, or integrated with, a firearm; means for urging the opposable grip assembly, when pivotably or hingably coupled to the firearm, from one of an open position or a closed position to the other of the open position or the closed position, wherein in the closed position the opposable grip assembly has width that is less than a width of the opposable grip assembly in the open position; and a surface grippable using a thumb of a support hand when the foldable opposable grip assembly is mounted on the firearm and in the open position.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the foldable opposable grip assembly further comprises a pin, wherein one of the opposed grip device and the mount is rotatably coupled to the pin and the other of opposed grip device and the mount is fixably coupled to the pin.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the pin is press-fit to the fixably coupled one of the opposed grip device and the mount.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the urging means comprises a spring mounted on the pin.

15. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the urging means comprises a torsion spring.