Stealth Laser Sighting System For Firearms
A stealth laser sighting system for a firearm includes a non-visible laser and night imaging device with display. The stealth laser sighting system combines all of the features required for stealth laser sighting within a self-contained accessory. The stealth laser sighting system provides for an optional visible laser system. and can include features such as electronic calibration, laser rangefinder compensation, target zoom, projected graphic laser marking, and windage and elevation adjustments on a graphical overlay. The stealth laser sighting system can be packaged as an accessory or all of the features can be integrated into a firearm.
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Many people own small firearms, such as revolvers, pistols, and rifles for sport and for protection. The United States Constitution and state laws permit people to protect themselves. A person may use force, even deadly force, against another person when he/she reasonably believes that such force is immediately necessary for the purpose of protecting him/herself against the use of unlawful force by such other person. For a firearm to be used in this manner it needs to be quickly and accurately discharged or else it may provoke return fire and result in personal injury or even death.
A very simplified process describing the discharge of a firearm, such as a handgun, is to load with ammunition, aim the gun at a target, and fire the gun by actuating a trigger. The most common means to aim a gun is the visual alignment of a target with front and rear mechanical sights typically located along the top barrel of the gun. While aiming, the top of the front sight should be level with the top of the rear sight and the front sight should be centered left/right within the horizontal opening of the rear sight. Accurate firing using mechanical sighting requires that the target location, front sight, and rear sight be carefully aligned on the optical axis of the shooters eye to achieve success. This is not a process that lends itself to rapid response in an emergency situation. Many times a gun will need to be discharged rapidly and is aimed in an intuitive process where the gun is pointed at the target without mechanical sighting and then discharged. The accuracy when firing in this manner is marginally effective at short distances and relatively ineffective at longer distances.
The aiming accuracy problem has been addressed with the advent of the development of a laser sight. U.S. Pat. No. 5,179,235, entitled “Pistol Sighting Device”, issued Sep. 10, 1991 to Toole, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,934,086, entitled “Recoil Spring Guide Mounting for Laser Sight”, issued Jun. 19, 1990 to Houde-Walter, illustrate the utility of lasers for aiming firearms, such as guns and rifles. After a laser is calibrated to a firearm, a visible red laser dot shines on the target at the location that a bullet will strike when fired upon. The firearm can rapidly acquire a target and be fired from positions not requiring mechanical sighting. The laser system overcomes the aforementioned limitations for rapid firing and accuracy and provides a viable means to protect oneself with a firearm. It will be appreciated that laser sights are currently available as accessories for firearms and are available as factory integrated features on stock firearms. When purchased as an accessory there are a host of universal attachment methods known in the art to fasten the laser assembly to a firearm. Many firearms even come with accessory mounts built in. Sometimes the lasers are mounted below the firearm's barrel, sometimes above the firearms barrel, and sometimes along side the firearm's barrel. Additionally the calibration of the laser to the firearm needs to take into account basic targeting variables such as range (elevation) and windage. These adjustments are generally made with mechanical alignment set screws or thumb screws to position the laser to shine at the point of bullet impact and are also well known in the art. To assist in the calibration, range finders that calculate the distance from the firearm to a target are readily available. Some rangefinders are simple optical sights, some use sound waves, and some use modulated laser light. Laser sights require power that generally is provided by batteries, such as Alkaline or lithium batteries. Some laser sight models take into account power conservation and have a momentary push button activated by the thumb on the firearm's grip. Other laser sight models conserve power by pulsing the laser instead of simply leaving the laser on steady state. Most laser sights, however, just have on/off slide switches that steadily drain the batteries.
One of the statistics that is important concerning use of firearms for protection is that over 80% of shootings happen in low light situations. Many accessories for firearms contain either a visible flashlight or an IR flashlight for night vision. The ability to aim in low light situations with a visible flashlight introduces another dangerous issue. While the visible light allows the shooter to aim effectively, it also creates a clear target for an intruder to aim back. To circumvent the risk of illuminating oneself as a target for your opponent, U.S. Pat. No. 5,584,137, entitled “Modular Laser Apparatus”, Dec. 17, 1996 issued to Teetzel, includes the use of IR lighting and IR laser sights. When a shooter does not wish to endanger themself as a target, they switch to IR illumination and IR laser sighting. While no visible signature illuminates the shooter to an opponent, the shooter must now wear night vision seeing technology, preferably in goggle form, to view the intruder. Typical night vision equipment consists of a low light-level CCD camera with an image display. Night vision equipment has in the past been bulky and is certainly not designed for rapid response. Upon engagement with an intruder, a person seeking to protect themselves would have to power up the night vision equipment, put the night vision goggles on, locate their weapon, and power on the IR laser, to be in a readiness state. Not only is the time required for this sequence potentially hazardous, the additional motions required can also disclose your location and intent. What is ideally needed is a rapidly actuated firearm for protection that is equipped with a compact calibrated laser sight that can be used in a stealth mode that utilizes non-visible laser illumination and has built in night vision capability for sighting. It will be appreciated that such a firearm of this nature, while portrayed as a weapon of self-defense has many applications for law enforcement and military use as well. As an offensive weapon, this sighting technology facilitates stealth approach and targeting. It can be used with a host of military firearms, such as the M4 carbine and the M16 rifle.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIt is therefore an aspect of the present invention to provide stealth non-visible laser sighting for a firearm.
It is further an aspect of the present invention to provide both visible laser sighting and stealth non-visible laser sighting for a firearm.
It is further an aspect of the present invention to provide an attached means to image and display the non-visible laser.
It is further an aspect of the present invention to provide stealth laser sighting capability integral to a firearm.
It is further an aspect of the present invention to provide a compact stealth laser sighting apparatus as an accessory that can be retrofitted to firearms not factory equipped.
It is further an aspect of the present invention to provide mounting interchangeably above or below the barrel of the weapon.
It is further an aspect of the present invention to provide rapid or automatic actuation of all laser sighting and imaging means.
It is further an aspect of the present invention to provide mechanical or electronic adjustment for calibrating the laser to the gun barrel.
It is further an aspect of the present invention to provide mechanical or electronic adjustment for calibrating range (elevation) and windage.
It is further an aspect of the present invention to provide automatic detection of range and electronic adjustment of sighting.
It is further an aspect of the present invention to provide image zoom capabilities to accurately sight long-range targets.
It is further an aspect of the present invention to provide a laser crosshair that projects range and windage adjustments on a target.
It is further an aspect of the present invention to provide memory means to record targeting and shooting events.
The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given herein below and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus are not limitations of the present invention, and wherein:
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It will thus be seen that the description set forth above, and those made apparent from the preceding descriptions, are effectively attained and since certain changes may be made in the above construction without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings, shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.
It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all generic and specific features of the invention herein described and all statements of scope of the present invention, which as a matter of language, might be said to fall there between.
Claims
1. A laser sighting system for use with a firearm, the firearm having a barrel having provision for detachably attaching the laser sighting system, the laser sighting system comprising:
- at least one laser disposed and aimed in parallel to an axis of the barrel along which a bullet is discharged, said at least one laser projecting a laser spot on a target;
- an imaging device imaging the laser spot projected on the target, said imaging device generating there from a real-time image stream;
- an imaging display displaying the real-time image stream being generated, said imaging display oriented to provide a firearm user a direct view of said imaging display while the firearm is aimed and discharged;
- the laser spot projected by said at least one laser being aligned with a location where the bullet discharged from the firearm will strike the target; and
- a controller controlling a supply of power to said at least one laser, imaging device, and imaging display to facilitate operation.
2. The laser sighting system according to claim 1, wherein said at least one laser projects a non-visible laser spot on the target in a stealth operating mode.
3. The laser sighting system according to claim 1, wherein said at least one laser projects selectively a non-visible laser spot on the target in a stealth operating mode, and projects a visible laser spot on the target in a non-stealth operating mode.
4. The laser sighting system according to claim 1, wherein said imaging device is a low light level CCD video camera that generates a real time video stream to said imaging display, said imaging display comprising an LCD.
5. The laser sighting system according to claim 1, further comprising a memory for storing and recalling the real time image stream generated by said imaging device.
6. The laser sighting system according to claim 3, wherein said at least one laser produces the visible laser spot and the non-visible laser spot confined within a single optical path.
7. The laser sighting system according to claim 1, wherein the laser spot projected by said at least one laser is aligned with the location where the bullet discharged from the firearm will strike the target using at least one of a mechanically controlled adjuster to adjust said at least one laser in its horizontal and vertical relationship to the axis of the barrel of the firearm and an electronically controlled adjuster to adjust a graphic overlay on the said imaging display to provide a visual reference to where the bullet will strike the target, said graphic overlay includes a graphic indication of sighting adjustments for range and windage.
8. The laser sighting system according to claim 7, wherein said electronically controlled adjuster includes a laser range finder used to adjust a location of said graphic overlay on the said imaging display to provide the visual reference to where the bullet will strike the target.
9. The laser sighting system according to claim 1, wherein said at least one laser includes an aperture to project a graphical laser spot, said graphical laser spot provides calibrated marks used for range and windage adjustment.
10. The laser sighting system according to claim 1, wherein said controller further controls at least one of a manual activation of digital zoom and variable zoom lens attached to said imaging device.
11. The laser sighting system according to claim 1, wherein said controller includes an accelerometer to allow rapid power-up of the laser sighting system upon detection of motion of the firearm.
12. A firearm with integral laser sighting system comprising:
- at least one laser disposed and aimed in parallel to an axis of a barrel along which a bullet is discharged, said at least one laser projecting a laser spot on a target;
- an imaging device imaging the laser spot projected on the target, said imaging device generating there from a real-time image stream;
- an imaging display displaying the real-time image stream being generated, said imaging display oriented to provide a firearm user a direct view of said imaging display while the firearm is aimed and discharged;
- the laser spot projected by said at least one laser being aligned with a location where the bullet discharged from the firearm will strike the target; and
- a controller controlling a supply of power to said at least one laser, imaging device, and imaging display to facilitate operation.
13. The firearm with integral laser sighting system according to claim 12, wherein said at least one laser projects a non-visible laser spot on the target in a stealth operating mode.
14. The firearm with integral laser sighting system according to claim 12, wherein said at least one laser projects selectively a non-visible laser spot on the target in a stealth operating mode, and projects a visible laser spot on the target in a non-stealth operating mode.
15. The firearm with integral laser sighting system according to claim 12, wherein said imaging device is a low light level CCD video camera that generates a real time video stream to said imaging display, said imaging display comprising an LCD.
16. The firearm with integral laser sighting system according to claim 12, further comprising a memory for storing and recalling the real time image stream generated by said imaging device.
17. The firearm with integral laser sighting system according to claim 14, wherein said at least one laser produces the visible laser spot and the non-visible laser spot confined within a single optical path.
18. The firearm with integral laser sighting system according to claim 12, wherein the laser spot projected by said at least one laser is aligned with the location where the bullet discharged from the firearm will strike the target using at least one of a mechanically controlled adjuster to adjust said at least one laser in its horizontal and vertical relationship to the axis of the barrel of the firearm and an electronically controlled adjuster to adjust a graphic overlay on the said imaging display to provide a visual reference to where the bullet will strike the target, said graphic overlay includes a graphic indication of sighting adjustments for range and windage.
19. The firearm with integral laser sighting system according to claim 18, wherein said electronically controlled adjuster includes a laser range finder used to adjust a location of said graphic overlay on the said imaging display to provide the visual reference to where the bullet will strike the target.
20. The firearm with integral laser sighting system according to claim 12, wherein said at least one laser includes an aperture to project a graphical laser spot, said graphical laser spot provides calibrated marks used for range and windage adjustment.
21. The firearm with integral laser sighting system according to claim 12, wherein said controller further controls at least one of a manual activation of digital zoom and variable zoom lens attached to said imaging device.
22. The firearm with integral laser sighting system according to claim 12, wherein said controller includes an accelerometer to allow rapid power-up of the laser sighting system upon detection of motion of the firearm.
Type: Application
Filed: Sep 8, 2006
Publication Date: Mar 13, 2008
Applicants: (Boca Raton, FL), (Boca Raton, FL)
Inventors: Jerrold Scott Pine (Boca Raton, FL), Paul M Michaels (Boca Raton, FL)
Application Number: 11/530,070
International Classification: F41G 1/00 (20060101);