WEAPON ACCESSORY MOUNTING ADAPTER
A weapon accessory mounting adapter that increases the accessory mounting capacity of a weapon by utilizing a bipod stud or picatinny rail to attach accessories. This in turn, makes the weapon and its operator more responsive to changing shooting scenarios. The weapon accessory mounting adapter utilizes the bayonet mounting lug and flash suppressor of the weapon for temporary attachment of the accessories. This configuration allows the retention of weapon ergonomics when the weapon accessory mounting adapter is attached and maintains a low weapon weight when detached. Good ergonomics and low weight are important considerations in regard to effective weapon handling.
This application claims Benefit of Provisional application Ser. No. 61/339,678 filed Mar. 8, 2010.
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThis invention relates generally to the field of firearms and more particularly to an improved weapon accessory mounting adapter.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Prior ArtThe development of one conventional weapon, the M16-series rifle, has recently oriented toward a mission adaptable concept. A system of rails has been integrated into the weapon as a permanent installation to allow a variety of accessories to be added. Refer to U.S. Pat. No. 5,142,806 to Swan titled Universal Receiver Sleeve. The addition of accessories, as facilitated by these permanent rails, allows end-users to adapt the weapon for specific uses. Typical accessories include: (1) short and long range optical sights; (2) night vision sights including image intensification and thermal imagery; (3) backup iron sights; (4) infrared (IR) laser aiming and illumination devices; (5) visible light flashlights; (6) vertical pistol grips; (7) bipods; and (8) tactical cameras.
With such an assortment of accessories to install on the weapon, issues concerning available rail space, weight of the weapon and ergonomics of the weapon arise. In particular, the available rail space becomes scarce. The weight of the weapon is increased or becomes imbalanced, reducing mobility of the weapon for rapid target engagements. The ergonomics of the weapon are reduced, degrading weapon versatility and operator shooting speed and accuracy. Regarding scarcity of available rail space, weapons manufacturers have addressed this issue by designing and manufacturing devices intended to be permanently installed that expand the available rail space. While such devices have expanded accessibility of available rail space to varying degrees, at the same time they have not addressed concerns about the other issues of increase of weapon weight and reduced weapon ergonomics because of the particular locations of the permanently installed devices and accessories.
For instance, some devices and the accessories they mount are located along the rifle barrel where they tend to imbalance the weapon and/or interfere with the desired position of the non-firing hand of the operator. Also, the position of such mounted devices and accessories is adjacent to the space reserved for a bayonet thereby obstructing mounting of the bayonet. Refer to U.S. Pat. No. 4,821,356 to Finn titled Military Bayonet and Scabbard. One such permanently mounted device utilizes, and occupies the space about, a bayonet mounting lug. While an accessory installed on such device can be quickly attached and detached the permanent mounting of the device to the bayonet mounting lug prevents installation and utilization of the bayonet on the weapon. Related patents include U.S. Pat. No. 6,289,621 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,385,892 both to Vendetti.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention addresses the aforementioned issues by providing additional rail space and mounting capability for various accessories without requiring a permanent installation. The present invention relates to a weapon accessory mounting adapter that provides this additional rail space by temporarily utilizing the bayonet mounting lug and temporarily occupying the location normally occupied by installation of the bayonet.
There is disclosed herein a weapon accessory mounting adapter comprising a front bracket, rear latch device, an adapter body, a plurality of socket cap screws, a plurality of hex nuts, a plurality of fastener inserts, a plurality of roll pins, and a rail insert or bipod insert with bipod stud.
The adapter body consists of two mateable right-hand and left-hand panels or a single piece that provides structural support for the weapon accessory mounting adapter. Four small socket cap screws with hex nuts mate the panels thru transverse holes in the adapter body. In the upper half of the adapter body, two large fastener inserts are positioned within two panel recesses. These fastener inserts accept the two large socket cap screws that fixedly attach the front bracket and rear latch device to the forward and rearward ends of the adapter body respectively. A large hole in the upper half of the front bracket accepts the flash suppressor of the weapon's barrel. Three holes in the lower half of the front bracket accommodate the socket cap screw and two roll pins that attach and align the adapter body respectively. The rear latch device utilizes two spring-loaded levers to engage the bayonet mounting lug of the weapon. Three holes in the rear latch device accommodate the socket cap screw and two roll pins that attach and align the adapter body respectively.
In the lower half of the adapter body, two small socket cap screws secure one of two selectable inserts. The first, a rail insert, consists of a picatinny rail that accepts any picatinny rail mountable weapon accessory. Two attachment points of the insert are positioned in recesses within the adapter body and accept the small socket cap screws. The second, a bipod insert, only accommodates the mounting of a weapon bipod. This is accomplished by utilization of a bipod stud to mount the bipod. The two attachment points of this insert allow coupling to the adapter body in the same manner as with the rail insert.
In a second embodiment, the adapter body is redesigned to be compatible with a longer barreled weapon and to only provide mounting of a weapon bipod. The region of attachment of the bipod to the adapter is moved downward and rearward. Additionally, the lower half of the adapter body is restructured to accommodate the bipod. A third, smaller fastener insert is positioned within two panel recesses at the bottom surface of the adapter. This insert accepts the bipod stud that is utilized for mounting the bipod.
Referring to
Referring to
In
In
In
In
In
In
Referring to
In
In
In
These flanges 27 prevent the fastener from twisting or extracting the insert. The fastener insert 26D allows the installation of the 10-32 NF fastener 30A in the form of a “bipod stud”, refer to
Claims
1. A weapon accessory mounting adapter that increases accessory mounting capacity without requiring a permanent installation comprising: Wherein said front bracket is located at the forward end of said adapter body and said rear latch device is located at the rearward end of said adapter body thereby allowing attachment to the flash suppressor and bayonet mounting lug of a weapon; and Wherein said socket cap screws fixedly attach said front bracket and said rear latch assembly to said adapter body by threading into said fastener inserts located within said adapter body and said roll pins located adjacent to said socket cap screws align said front bracket and said rear latch device to said adapter body; and Wherein said plurality of socket cap screws located transversely in the upper and lower portions of said adapter body along with said plurality of hex nuts couple the two panels of said adapter body; and Wherein said plurality of socket cap screws located transversely and adjacent to the lower portion of said adapter body along with said plurality of hex nuts fixedly attach said rail insert or said bipod insert thereby allowing attachment of weapon accessories; and Wherein said bipod stud is located on the bottom surface of and centered from the sides of said bipod insert and rearward from the forward edge of said bipod insert a distance corresponding to the mounting of a bipod.
- a. A front bracket;
- b. A rear latch device;
- c. An adapter body;
- d. A plurality of socket cap screws;
- e. A plurality of hex nuts;
- f. A plurality of fastener inserts;
- g. A plurality of roll pins;
- h. A rail insert; or
- i. A bipod insert; and
- j. A bipod stud
2. The weapon accessory mounting adapter of claim 1 wherein said front bracket has an upper hole large enough to allow through a weapon flash suppressor.
3. The weapon accessory mounting adapter of claim 1 wherein said front bracket is comprised of a material selected from the group consisting of a metal, a polymer, a fiberglass composite, a ceramic and any composite or combination of these.
4. The weapon accessory mounting adapter of claim 1 wherein said rear latch device is comprised of a material selected from the group consisting of a metal, a polymer, a fiberglass composite, a ceramic and any composite or combination of these.
5. The weapon accessory mounting adapter of claim 1 wherein said adapter body is comprised of two complementary mateable right-hand and left-hand panels.
6. The weapon accessory mounting adapter of claim 5 wherein said adapter body panels are comprised of a material selected from the group consisting of a metal, a polymer, a fiberglass composite, a ceramic and any composite or combination of these.
7. The weapon accessory mounting adapter of claim 1 wherein said adapter body is comprised of a single piece of a material selected from the group consisting of a metal, a polymer, a fiberglass composite, a ceramic and any composite or combination of these.
8. The weapon accessory mounting adapter of claim 1 wherein said fastener insert comprises a flange shape, when viewed widthwise, selected from the groups consisting of circular, oval, elliptical, rectangular, and any combination of these.
9. The weapon accessory mounting adapter of claim 1 wherein said fastener insert is comprised of a material selected from the group consisting of a metal, a polymer, a fiberglass composite, a ceramic and any composite or combination of these.
10. The weapon accessory mounting adapter of claim 1 wherein said rail insert comprises the form of a picatinny rail.
11. The weapon accessory mounting adapter of claim 1 wherein said rail insert is comprised of a material selected from the group consisting of a metal, a polymer, a fiberglass composite, a ceramic and any composite or combination of these.
12. The weapon accessory mounting adapter of claim 1 wherein said bipod insert comprises a curve shaped bottom surface, when viewed widthwise, of a 1″ radius, the circle for which has a center centrally aligned on the bipod insert between the two sides thereof.
13. The weapon accessory mounting adapter of claim 1 wherein said bipod insert comprises a bottom surface shape, when viewed widthwise, selected from the groups consisting of oval, elliptical, rectangular, and any combination of these.
14. The weapon accessory mounting adapter of claim 1 wherein said bipod insert is comprised of a material selected from the group consisting of a metal, a polymer, a fiberglass composite, a ceramic and any composite or combination of these.
Type: Application
Filed: Mar 3, 2011
Publication Date: Sep 8, 2011
Inventor: TIMMY LEE GREEN (SMYRNA, TN)
Application Number: 13/040,260