POWERING FIREARM ACCESSORIES WITH A FALSE BATTERY
Electrically powered firearm mounting rails are designed to provide electrical power to firearm accessories. A power clamp can tap into the rail electrical power and pass it to other items requiring electrical power. Principal among those items are firearm accessories having battery compartments and designed to be powered by batteries. The power clamp can be connected to power terminals in the battery compartment directly through additional circuitry, through modified battery covers, through false batteries, or through dummy batteries. In this manner, the need to install batteries in the firearm accessory is relaxed and the weight balance of the firearm improved.
This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/286,835 titled “Battery Adaptive Device” and filed on Nov. 1, 2011 which is herein included by reference in its entirety.
TECHNICAL FIELDEmbodiments are generally related to firearms, Picatinny rails, firearm rail systems, batteries, and firearm accessories.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONFirearms, particularly military style carbines and rifles, are often outfitted with rail systems. Historically, Picatinny rails were attached to or formed into the upper receivers of M-16 style firearms to which sights such as scopes, red dots, and even iron sights have been mounted. Over time, more and more mounting rails have been added with current models having mounting rails on the receiver and four mounting rails on the forward hand guard. The reason is that a vast number of rail mountable firearm accessories have become available. Examples of these firearm accessories include the aforementioned sights, lasers, flashlights, bayonets, grenade launchers, sling swivels, cameras, bipods, vertical fore grips, and other items.
A number of the firearm accessories are electrically powered. Many solutions simply include battery compartments. For example, a flashlight accessory is basically a battery powered flashlight with rail compatible mount points. More recently, solutions are being developed for electrifying the firearms and rail systems. Hines (U.S. Pat. No. 7,627,975) and Thompson (US Patent Application 2011/0000120) teach bringing electrical power to forward mounted accessories, Darian (US Patent Applications 2010/0192446, 2010/0192448, and 2011/0131858) also teaches powering firearm accessories from a firearm rail. Among the advantages of electrified rail systems is that the batteries and the active components can be located separately to reduce the weight at the front of the firearm. A carbine can be unwieldy if it has numerous accessories with batteries attached to the fore grip. Electrified rail systems allow those forward mounted parts to be much lighter because the batteries are located elsewhere. A new generation of firearms having electrified rail systems and compatible accessories is being introduced.
There are a large number of parts and products for the previous non-electrified firearms systems already in production and in the field. Systems and methods providing forward and backward compatibility between different generations of electrified and non-electrified firearms and rail systems are needed.
BRIEF SUMMARYThe following summary is provided to facilitate an understanding of some of the innovative features unique to the present invention and is not intended to be a full description. A full appreciation of the various aspects of the embodiments disclosed herein can be gained by taking the entire specification, claims, drawings, and abstract as a whole.
There are a great number of battery powered firearm accessories on the market. Examples include laser designators and flashlights. They are designed to mount on a firearm rail and thereby enhance the function of the firearm. They also have battery compartments such that the firearm accessory can be electrically powered by batteries installed in the battery compartment. The firearm accessories have battery compartments because they are designed for a generation of firearms that lack electrically powered rail systems.
It is therefore an aspect of the embodiments to electrically power a firearm accessory by directing the electrical power from a powered firearm rail and into the firearm accessory's battery compartment. A battery compartment has at least one power terminal and typically has a positive terminal and a negative terminal that are intended to make electrical contact with the positive and negative poles (aka battery terminals) of batteries that are installed in the battery compartment. In many cases the battery compartment itself or its cover, the battery cover, contains circuitry (actually just electrically connected terminals) that connect batteries in series such that the accessory receives 3V when two 1.5V batteries are inserted in the battery compartment and the battery cover properly installed.
It is therefore an additional aspect of the embodiments that a power clamp attached to a powered firearm rail can accept electrical power from that powered firearm rail and pass it to the power terminals. The simplest embodiment would have insulated wires forming a direct electrical connection between the power clamp and the power terminals. Such an embodiment, however, could leave the battery compartment open to the environment. As such, a variety of means for powering the accessory from a power clamp are provided wherein the battery compartment is sealed. Some such means includes modification or replacement of the battery cover. Other such means include combinations of false batteries and seals that seal the gap between the false battery and sides of the battery compartment.
Further aspects of some embodiments include power matching circuitry that conditions the electrical power provided by the rail such that it is compatible with the firearm accessory. For example, the powered rail can provide 5V while a flashlight requires 1.5V and a laser requires 9V. DC-to-DC voltage converters can easily handle the required conditioning. Similar circuits that can help meet power conditioning needs include DC-to-AC converters and AC-to-DC converters.
The accompanying figures, in which like reference numerals refer to identical or functionally-similar elements throughout the separate views and which are incorporated in and form a part of the specification, further illustrate the embodiments and, together with the detailed description, serve to explain the embodiments disclosed herein.
The particular values and configurations discussed in these non-limiting examples can be varied and are cited merely to illustrate at least one embodiment and are not intended to limit the scope thereof.
Electrically powered firearm mounting rails are designed to provide electrical power to firearm accessories. A power clamp can tap into the rail electrical power and pass it to other items requiring electrical power. Principal among those items are firearm accessories having battery compartments and designed to be powered by batteries. The power clamp can be connected to power terminals in the battery compartment directly through additional circuitry, through modified battery covers, through false batteries, or through dummy batteries. In this manner, the need to install batteries in the firearm accessory is relaxed and the weight balance of the firearm improved.
Many devices have battery compartments with electrically conductive sidewalls or conductors along the sidewalls. Such devices often have battery covers that electrically connect one of the battery terminals to the sidewall. The false battery can have a sidewall facing terminal 207 that directly contacts the sidewall conductor, thereby effectively bypassing the need for a contact in the battery cover. Furthermore, the sidewall facing terminal 207 can be constructed to press against the battery compartment sidewall. Tightening a bolt or screw can squeeze rubberized material such that it presses the sidewall facing terminal 207 outward against the battery compartment sidewall. Similarly, a cam can be rotated to cause the needed expansion.
A set screw 206 in the power clamp 202 can be tightened to engage a mounting rail slot and also to press the clamp's electrical interface into contact with the rail's electrical interface to thereby electrically power the clamp.
For example, a prior art battery cover for an AA powered device can electrically connect the battery's negative terminal to the compartment sidewall and press the positive terminal into a positive terminal. A different battery cover 604 can include an external power connection 605 and electrically connect the negative pole from a power clamp 202 to the sidewall and the positive pole to an internal power connection 603. The electrical connection for the positive pole can be a wire between the battery cover 604 and the internal power connection 603 or can be any other conductor such as a dummy battery that merely conducts from one end to the other. The external power connection 605 can use an electrical plug/socket, a power jack, magnetically attracted terminals, or even a USB socket/plug arrangement.
An alternative arrangement is to design the powered accessory 601 to accept batteries or to receive electrical power from a connector plugged directly into the internal power connection and electrically connected to the battery cover 604. In any case, the removal of the battery opens up a small storage volume. Furthermore, false batteries and dummy batteries can contain small storage volumes.
It will be appreciated that variations of the above-disclosed and other features and functions, or alternatives thereof, may be desirably combined into many other different systems or applications. Also, that various presently unforeseen or unanticipated alternatives, modifications, variations or improvements therein may be subsequently made by those skilled in the art which are also intended to be encompassed by the following claims.
Claims
1. A system for supplying electrical power to a firearm accessory wherein the firearm accessory comprises a battery compartment that comprises at least one power terminal, wherein the firearm accessory is designed to obtain electrical power from at least one battery inside the battery compartment and electrically connected directly to the at least one power terminal, and the system comprising:
- a power clamp that clamps onto an electrically powered firearm rail, wherein the power clamp obtains electrical power from the powered firearm rail, and
- a means for transferring the electrical power from the power clamp and into the firearm accessory to thereby electrically power the firearm accessory from the power clamp.
2. The system of claim 1 wherein the electrically powered firearm rail meets the dimensional specifications of a Picatinny rail and wherein the clamp comprises a rail mount.
3. The system of claim 1 wherein the means for transferring the electrical power comprises an insulated wire between the power clamp and the firearm accessory.
4. The system of claim 1 wherein the means for transferring the electrical power comprises:
- a battery cover fitting over the battery compartment wherein the battery cover comprises an external power connection and an internal power connection, wherein the external power connection receives the electrical power from the power clamp, and wherein the at least one power terminal receives the electrical power from the internal power connection.
5. The system of claim 4 wherein a false battery passes the electrical power between the internal power connection and the at least one power terminal wherein the false battery has the same size and shape as the at least one battery.
6. The system of claim 5 wherein the false battery comprises a positive terminal, a negative terminal, and a direct electrical connection between the positive terminal and the negative terminal.
7. The system of claim 4 wherein at least one wire passes the electrical power directly between the internal power connection and the at least one power terminal.
8. The system of claim 1 further comprising a voltage sensor that electrically disconnects the power clamp from the at least one power terminal when at least one battery is installed in the battery compartment.
9. The system of claim 8 wherein the battery sensor comprises a voltage sensor.
10. The system of claim 8 wherein the battery sensor is not electrically powered.
11. The system of claim 8 further comprising a source indicator that indicates where the electrical power reaching the at least one power terminal is coming from.
12. The system of claim 1 further comprising a battery sensor that electrically disconnects the power clamp from the at least one power terminal when the at least one battery is installed.
13. The system of claim 12 wherein the battery sensor comprises a voltage sensor.
14. The system of claim 12 wherein the battery sensor is not electrically powered.
15. The system of claim 12 further comprising a source indicator that indicates where the electrical power reaching the at least one power terminal is coming from.
16. The system of claim 1 wherein the means for transferring the electrical power from the power clamp and into the firearm accessory comprises:
- a false battery having the same size and shape as the battery, wherein the false battery is installed in the battery compartment and wherein the false battery is electrically directly connected to the power clamp by at least one wire.
17. The system of claim 16 further comprising an expanding seal that seals the false battery within battery compartment.
18. The system of claim 17 wherein the false battery has a plurality of electrical terminals wherein at least one of the electrical terminals directly contacts at least one of the power terminals to thereby conduct the electrical power between the false battery and the firearm accessory.
19. The system of claim 18 wherein the expanding seal comprises a means for electrically connecting another of the at least one electrical terminals to another one of the at least one power terminals.
20. The system of claim 19 further comprising power matching circuit wherein the electrically powered firearm rail supplies electrical power that is not compatible with firearm accessory and wherein matching circuit conditions the electrical power to thereby provide the firearm accessory with compatible electrical power.
Type: Application
Filed: Mar 21, 2012
Publication Date: May 2, 2013
Inventor: Steve Hines (Edgewood, NM)
Application Number: 13/426,222
International Classification: F41C 27/00 (20060101);