Projectile dispersing apparatus
A projectile is provided which may evenly disperse an inhibiting substance upon impacting a target. The projectile may comprise a shell having a plurality of grooves formed on the shell's exterior surface about an axis of symmetry. The grooves may be equidistantly spaced apart from adjacent grooves. The shell defines an interior cavity that may be filled with a mixture comprising an inhibiting substance and filler with the inhibiting substance being operative to inhibit the motor function of a person and the filler being an inert material which does not react with the inhibiting substance. Preferably, the inhibiting substance will comprise substantially less than 50% of the shell's interior cavity, and preferably about 2% to 1% of the shell's interior cavity. The projectile may be shot at the target such that the projectile breaks open at the grooves to form a cloud of the inhibiting substance such that the target inhales the inhibiting substance and is passivated.
Not Applicable
STATEMENT RE: FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH/DEVELOPMENTNot Applicable
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention is related to projectiles having an external configuration for enhancing the disbursement of motor inhibiting substances.
As is well known, police and other law enforcement personnel are issued side arms (e.g., pistols) for the purpose of handling life threatening situations during their daily work, such as responding to armed bank robberies, handling dangerous criminals, and other similar situations and persons. However, law enforcement personnel are also often called upon to handle situations that do not require use of deadly force, such as crowd control at a demonstration. Nonetheless, law enforcement personnel typically still carry a side arm to handle both life threatening situations as well as non-life threatening situations. Accordingly, the wide range of situations which law enforcement personnel are called upon to handle may place the law enforcement personnel in a dilemma as to whether to use lethal force in a non life threatening situation. Even though lethal force is clearly not warranted in many such instances, law enforcement will nonetheless use excessive lethal weaponry due to lack of any viable alternative. In such situations, it is often imperative that law enforcement personnel be provided tools having varying levels of force (i.e., both non-lethal weapons and lethal weapons) in order to deal with the wide variety of situations in which they are called to handle so that they are not placed in such dilemma.
Fortunately, there are non-lethal force devices to assist law enforcement personnel in handling non-life threatening situations. Exemplary of such devices include non-lethal projectiles that are operative to deliver an inhibiting substance to a living target, which expressly includes those projectiles disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,145,441 to Woodall, et al., issued Nov. 14, 2000 entitled FRANGIBLE PAYLOAD-DISPENSING PROJECTILE, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,965,839; 6,546,874, and 6,393,992, all being issued to Vasel, et al., on Oct. 12, 1999, Apr. 15, 2003 and May 28, 2002, respectively, all entitled NON-LETHAL PROJECTILE FOR DELIVERING AN INHIBITING SUBSTANCE TO A LIVING TARGET. The teachings of all such references are expressly incorporated herein by reference. Generally, such projectiles are operative be shot at a person to quickly passivate the person who may be irate or non-compliant with the law enforcement personnel's request. In particular, the shell bursts open upon impacting the person and releases the motor inhibiting material. The person inhales the material and is passivated by the motor inhibiting material.
Unfortunately, prior art non-lethal force devices do not evenly dispersed the motor inhibiting material into the air upon impacting the person. As such, certain portions of the cloud which forms upon impact lack a sufficient amount of motor inhibiting material such that the person to be passivated (i.e., target) does not inhale a sufficient amount of the motor inhibiting material. In such instances, after the person is shot with the prior art device, the person may walk away to escape inhaling a sufficient amount of inhibiting material to passivate him/her.
To address the possibility that the person to be passivated does not inhale or otherwise come into contact with a sufficient amount of the motor inhibiting material, prior art devices typically increase the amount of toxic motor inhibiting material contained within the shell to ensure that the person inhales a sufficient amount of motor inhibiting material. The use of additional toxic material substantially increases the danger in manufacturing, shipping and handling of such projectiles, which are typically subject to government regulation. Moreover, in using such projectiles, the targeted person can often inhale more than a sufficient amount of motor inhibiting material so as to expose the person to toxic levels of the material thereby leading to physical injury or even death. The reason is that the cloud which forms around the person's nose/mouth may contain a high concentration of the motor inhibiting material.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an improved projectile.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIn an aspect of the present invention, an improved projectile is provided. The projectile may comprise a shell and a mixture of a motor inhibiting substance and filler. The shell encapsulates the mixture such that the inhibiting substance may be delivered directly to a person to be passivated (i.e., the target). For example, the projectile may be shot at the target via a gun such as an air operated piston (e.g., paint ball gun).
The shell may be spherical in nature and have grooves formed on its exterior surface which extend between north and south poles of the shell, with the north and south poles being at opposed ends of the shell. The grooves assist in dispersing the inhibiting substance by splitting open when the projectile impacts the target and providing passageways for the inhibiting substance to escape the cavity of the shell and form a cloud proximate the point of impact. The cloud may be inhaled by the target and the target's motor function may be inhibited by the inhibiting substance.
The shell grooves may be formed about an axis of symmetry wherein adjacent grooves are equidistant to each other. Alternatively, each groove may be formed equidistantly spaced apart from adjacent pairs of grooves. These configurations assist the projectile in evenly dispersing the inhibiting substance despite the orientation of the shell grooves when the projectile impacts the target. In this regard, the grooves form passageways evenly in all directions despite the orientation of the grooves when the projectile impacts the target.
In another aspect of the present invention, the inhibiting substance may be inserted into the shell's cavity along with an inert material. More particularly, the inhibiting substance may be mixed with an inert material (i.e., filler) and the resultant admixture may be inserted into the shell's cavity. The inhibiting substance may be evenly distributed within the filler such that the inhibiting substance is evenly distributed within the cloud formed upon impact of the projectile onto the target. As such, the probability the target will inhale a lethal or toxic dose of the inhibiting substance is reduced. Also, the probability that the target will not inhale a sufficient amount of the inhibiting substance is reduced.
Further, the amount of inhibiting substance within each of the projectiles will be substantially less than 50% by volume with respect to the shell's cavity volume. More particularly, the amount of inhibiting substance within each of the projectiles may about 2% by volume with respect to the shell's cavity volume, and preferably around 1% or less by volume.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSThese as well as other features of the present invention will become more apparent upon reference to the drawings wherein:
The drawings referred to within this description of the present invention are merely for purposes of illustrating the preferred embodiments or aspects of the present invention and not for the purposes of limiting the same. Accordingly, alternative embodiments with respect to the various aspects discussed herein are also contemplated within the scope of the present invention.
Referring now to
The shell 12 may have a substantially spherical configuration such as shown in
The axis of symmetry 32 may be vertically oriented and pass through the center of the shell's volume, as shown in
The plurality of grooves 14 may be spaced equidistant from each other about the axis of symmetry 32 which provides wide dispersion of the substance 22 on and around the target 26 despite orientation of the grooves 14 when the projectile 10 impacts the target 26. As shown in
The cavity 18 of the shell 12, as shown in
Despite the low ratio of inhibiting substance 22 to inert filler 24, dispersion of the substance 22 on and around the target 26 is uniform so as to be effective in passivating the target 26 when the projectile 10 impacts the target 26. As such, the projectile 10 of the present invention utilizes substantially less inhibiting substance 22 than prior art projectiles, which in turn greatly facilitates the ability to manufacture, ship and transport such projectiles 10. As is well-known, substantial regulations exist with respect to the manufacture, shipment and use of projectiles containing high concentrations of inhibiting substances and the projectiles 10 of the present invention are believed to require far less regulatory oversight as to their manufacture, use and handling by virtue of the lower amounts of inhibiting substance 22 utilized therein.
Along these lines, the inhibiting substance 22, as stated above, may be pepper spray. More broadly, the substance 22 may be any type of motor inhibiting substance, non-lethal substance or including but not limited to pepper spray, oleoresin capsicum powder, tear gas, smoke or the like so as to impair a person's motor skills. Alternatively, the substance 22 may be a lethal substance which is mixed with the filler 24 to reduce its toxicity to a level such that the mixture 20 of the substance 22 and filler 24 is non-lethal to the target 26. The substance 22 may be provided in many different forms (e.g., gelatin or liquid) but is preferably provided in powder or particulate form. The filler 24 may be an inert material which does not chemically react with the substance 22 so as to chemically change the substance's chemical characteristics. For example, the inert filler 24 should not react with pepper spray to disable the motor impairing characteristic of pepper spray. Also, the filler 24 may be provided in many different forms such as gelatin or powder form. By way of example and not limitation, the filler 24 may be corn starch or talcum powder.
As stated above, the substance 22 may be about one to two percent by volume of the cavity 18 or one percent by volume of the filler 24 plus substance 22. The substance 22 is preferably evenly distributed within the filler 24. For example, if the filler 24 is a gelatanious material, then the substance 22 is evenly distributed within the gelatanious material. If the filler 24 is a powder, then the substance 22 is evenly distributed within the powder. Accordingly, when the projectile 10 breaks apart upon impact with the target 26, the filler 24 along with the substance 22 escapes the shell's cavity 18 radially, contacts the target's surface 38 and forms a cloud containing the substance 22, as shown in
The shell 12 will preferably be fabricated from a frangible material such that the shell 12 breaks apart upon impact with the target 26. Although the frangible material will break apart upon impact with the target 26, the frangible material is sufficiently strong to allow the projectile 10 to accelerate to full speed through the barrel 28 without breaking apart. As an example, the shell 12 may be fabricated from a polymer material such as thermoplastic linear polymer. Also, the polymer material may be reinforced with fibers that may be aligned to the direction of the grooves 14 such that the fibers fall in line with the grooves 14. This helps propagate any cracks 40 (see
More particularly, referring to the grooves 14 of the shell 12, as shown in
As stated above, the shell's exterior surface 16 may have a spherical configuration. In particular, the plurality of peaks 44 may collectively form the spherical surface, as shown in
The grooves 14 may have a variable depth along the length of the grooves 14. As discussed above, the groove 14 may extend between the north and south poles 34, 36 which define the shallowest depth of the grooves 14. In particular, the grooves 14 may be less deep nearest the north and sole poles 34, 36 compared to the groove depths at the equator 50 (i.e., middle; see
Referring back to
Additional modifications and improvements of the present invention may also be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. Thus, the particular combination of parts described and illustrated herein is intended to represent only certain embodiments of the present invention, and is not intended to serve as limitations of alternative devices within the spirit and scope of the invention.
Claims
1. A projectile comprising:
- a) a shell having a plurality of grooves extending between a south pole and a north pole on its exterior surface and an inner cavity; and
- b) an inhibiting substance disposed within the shell's cavity in an amount equal to about 2% or less of the cavity volume;
- c) wherein the projectile may be fired from an projectile projecting device and breaks up upon impact with a target thereby releasing the inhibiting substance in a cloud form such that the target inhales the inhibiting substance and the target is physically affected.
2. The projectile of claim 1 wherein the shell is fabricated from a polymer material.
3. The projectile of claim 1 wherein the inhibiting substance is a powder, particulate, gelatin, or liquid.
4. The projectile of claim 1 wherein the inhibiting substance inhibits motor functions of a human being.
5. The projectile of claim 4 wherein the inhibiting substance is pepper spray, oleoresin capsicum powder, tear gas or smoke.
6. The projectile of claim 1 wherein each groove has a V shaped configuration.
7. The projectile of claim 6 wherein bottom portions of the grooves have flat bottoms.
8. The projectile of claim 6 wherein the grooves are joined by peaks collectively forming a spherical surface.
9. The projectile of claim 8 wherein the spherical surface formed collectively by the peaks are concentric with an interior surface of the shell.
10. The projectile of claim 1 further comprising an inert filler disposed within the shell's cavity.
11. The projectile of claim 10 wherein the filler and the inhibiting substance fills the entire cavity of the shell.
12. The projectile of claim 1 wherein the plurality of grooves are equidistantly spaced apart about an axis of symmetry.
13. The projectile of claim 12 having eighteen grooves.
14. The projectile of claim 1 wherein the plurality of grooves is a plurality of grooves pairs which are equidistantly spaced apart from adjacent groove pairs.
15. The projectile of claim 1 wherein the shell has a spherical configuration.
16. The projectile of claim 1 wherein the grooves have a linear configuration, squiggly configuration or a saw tooth configuration.
17. The projectile of claim 1 wherein the inhibiting substance is present in the shell's cavity in an amount equal to approximately 1% by volume of said cavity.
Type: Application
Filed: Mar 31, 2005
Publication Date: Oct 12, 2006
Inventors: Michael Skellern (Newport Coast, CA), Dennis Cole (Cardiff By The Sea, CA)
Application Number: 11/094,982
International Classification: F42B 14/06 (20060101);