MULTIPLE-CHARGE REMOTE-ACTING ELECTROSHOCK WEAPON
The utility model relates to a non-lethal police and civilian remote-acting electroshock weapon. The technical result consists in increasing the reliability and effectiveness of the performance of a remote-acting electroshock weapon, improving the likelihood of overcoming armed targets by using two pairs of current conducting wires simultaneously, and increasing the likelihood of arresting an offender. The present multiple-charge remote-acting electroshock weapon, with firing cartridges having pyrotechnic devices for unlocking the cartridges from the frame of the weapon, comprises locking mechanisms for the firing cartridges with forced unlocking of a firing cartridge from the frame of the weapon, a mechanical cartridge lock for preventing automatic unlocking from the frame of the weapon, and a member for the control of the operating time of an electronic circuit in the weapon, irrespective of the position of a trigger element after firing.
The utility model relates to multiple-charge remote-acting electroshock weapon (DESHO) with electrical strike system.
STATE OF THE ARTDESHO versions Taser X2 and Taser 7 from Axon Enterprise, Inc., which is the world leading company in the field of electroshock weapon (formerly “Taser Int.”, USA), are known [1] having the form of a pistol consisting of a frame comprising an electronic part with an electronic high voltage unit, which strikes the target (offender, biological target, bio-target) with an electrical current, and a special pocket (cavity at the front of the weapon) containing two firing cartridges. Firing cartridges are installed in the frame and held in it by means of locking mechanisms. The cartridges are in contact with the contact electrodes of the DESHO (electrodes for contact impact on the target by pressing against the target's body, without firing of firing cartridges). When firing, current conducting wires equipped with devices for holding them on the target (probes having needles with barbs) are thrown from firing cartridges into the target. Via the current conducting wires hit the target, the shock voltage of the high voltage electrical current generated by a high voltage unit is transmitted from the DESHO to the target. The advantage of analogues is the possibility of firing shots at the target with two cartridges one after the other (duplicate shot) and the possibility of making an arrest (seizure). More details about these functions of the DESHO are described below in the description of the prototype of the proposed DESHO.
The disadvantage of analogues is that the firing cartridges are locked to the weapon by locking mechanisms and are not automatically separated from the weapon after firing. This significantly limits the ability to quickly and accurately fire a second shot in the event that the next target appears behind the user of the weapon or in a plane behind the current conducting wires already stretched towards the first target. The current conducting wires stretched towards the first target do not allow the user to turn with the weapon to the target that has appeared behind his or her back, because strong current conducting wires fixed by the barbs of the probe needles on the clothes of the first target interfere with this. Said wires interfere with the physical rotation of the shooter and the rapid aiming of the weapon at the target. In addition, there may be current conducting wires from the previous shot stretched towards the first target on the line of the next shot, which will inevitably change the trajectory of the probes motion in the new shot, and they will not hit the target even with correct aiming. The production of two consecutive aimed shots is possible only in an arc, from left to right, which is specified by the sequence of initiation of cartridge shots (from left to right) with each pull of the trigger (trigger element). In the same way, the wires from the previous shot will deflect the flight path of the probes in the next shot when the next target appears in the plane behind the wires stretched towards the first target. The disadvantage of analogues is also that reloading the weapon requires from the user to remove spent cartridges from the DESHO using both hands. Removing the spent cartridge after firing automatically or using hand holding the weapon is not provided. Therefore, reloading the weapon in the situation when it is necessary to quickly continue firing, the user loses time for removing the spent cartridge using both hands.
As a prototype, DESHO was chosen according to the patent RU No. 2462678, in the form of 3-charge pistol with firing cartridges installed in its frame, which cartridges are spring loaded towards the direction of extraction from the frame and eject current conducting wires when fired, which current conducting wires, when they hit the target, exert an electroshock effect on the target with high voltage electric discharges generated by an electrical circuit of the shock voltage of electrical current with a power supply located in the pistol frame. Before the shot, the cartridges are fixed in the frame of the weapon with the first recesses of the cartridge case and the teeth of mechanical spring locks located in the frame of the weapon behind the trigger guard of the frame of the weapon, and with the second recesses of the cartridge cases and special hooks of the locking element located in the frame and engaging with the trigger, when fired. Firing cartridges comprise a propelling charge of a pyrotechnic substance being initiated from a low voltage electrical current supplied via special cartridge start contacts to the charge igniter when the trigger is pressed. The charge of the pyrotechnic substance throws out current conducting wires at the target, which current conducting wires have probes with barbs at the ends that hold them on the target's clothing. After the first shot is fired and before the second shot, the spent cartridge with current conducting wires is extracted from the pistol frame by a spring compressed when loading (installing) the cartridge into the pistol frame. After firing the second shot and before the third shot, the second spent cartridge with current conducting wires is also ejected from the pistol frame by the spring compressed when loading (installing) the cartridge into the pistol frame.
The previously compressed spring also removes the third spent cartridge with current conducting wires from the pistol frame. In the prototype weapon, the extraction of cartridges is performed automatically, after releasing the trigger pressed when firing, after the user has convinced (visually) of the defeat of the target (usually falling to the ground). Automatic unlocking the spent cartridges from the frame of the weapon is carried out by pressing out the teeth of the mechanical spring locks located in the frame of the weapon from the first recess of the cartridge cases with a special piston of a gas engine extended from the cartridge case under the action of the pressure of combustion gases of the pyrotechnic propellant charge of the cartridge when firing (throwing probes with current conducting wires at the target). After releasing the trigger pressed by the user during the shot, the hook of the locking element engaging the trigger is pressed out from the second recess of the cartridge case, after which the cartridge is extracted from the frame of the weapon by the force of the expanding springs compressed with the cartridges when loading the cartridges. The advantage of the prototype is the absence of the disadvantages described in the analysis of the analogues of the utility model.
The disadvantage of the prototype DESHO is that the extraction of spent cartridges with current conducting wires during firing can be performed only after the gas engine of the cartridge has been fired. In case of its failure, for example, if the piston of the gas engine does not extend after the shot (due to seizing, sticking or blocking of gas engine parts resulted from the backwardness of domestic technologies in manufacturing precision, freezing (if moisture gets into the parts of the gas engine in the cold season)) or is not fixed in the extended position after firing, due to reasons similar to those described above or inaccuracies during the manufacturing of the piston or elements fixing it in the extended position, the cartridge will not be extracted.
The failure of extraction after the first shot of, for example, the first firing cartridge, makes the defeat of the second target by the second (and subsequent) shot ineffective, since the shock voltage of the electrical current that should be supplied to the second (and then subsequent) target after firing the second (and subsequent) cartridge at the target is bypassed by the first target, which was hit with the current conducting wires of the first cartridge being fired but not extracted. That is, in case of failure to extract one cartridge hit the target with current conducting wires, the next shot at the next target will be “short circuited” (bypassed), wherein the shock voltage of the electrical current that should be transmitted to the next target will be bypassed by the target hit first. Therefore, no damaging effect on the second and subsequent targets occurs. But even if the current conducting wires of the first shot do not hit the target, and the device for automatic extraction of the first shot cartridge fails, the second shot fired at the target will almost always be ineffective for hitting the target, since the current conducting wires from the first shot inevitably intersect when falling to the ground, both in the case of a miss with both current conducting wires and a miss on targets with one current conducting wire. In Russia, there are no technologies for the production of analogues of the high voltage current conducting wire DuPont™ Tefzel® ETFE [2] with an electrical insulation strength of 11-16 kV alternating current (for one core) used in all versions of the DESHO from “Axon Enterprise, Inc” company. The current conducting wires in all versions of Russian DESHO without exception are a usual mounting wire of the type MS, MSE or MGTF with sintered or twisted without sintering winding made of fluoroplastic-4D and designed for a rated voltage of 250-500 V alternating current (for a common core of a stranded wire). Therefore, in the case of intersection of the current conducting wires of the DESHO produced and used in Russia, taking into account the high voltage shock electrical current in the DESHO, an inevitable electrical breakdown of the insulation of the current conducting wires occurs in the DESHO forming corresponding short circuit of the current conducting wires with bypassing of the electrical current designated for damaging the target. For the second shot at the target unaffected by the first shot, it is necessary to quickly extract the spent cartridge with the current conducting wires crossed after the first shot.
In this case, the extraction of the cartridge with the failed gas engine from the frame of the prototype DESHO can be performed only with two hands of the user. The user must hold the weapon with one hand and must press a head (pressure piece) of a mechanical spring lock of the cartridge with the failed gas engine with the other hand to extract it. With one hand of the user holding the weapon during firing, the specified manipulation of extraction of the cartridge with the failed gas engine cannot be performed due to the location of the heads of the mechanical spring lock behind a trigger guard of the frame of the weapon and out of reach of the fingers of the hand holding the weapon and at the same time due to the need to press them perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the weapon from below to extract the cartridge. Due to the need for the user to use both hands in the event of the gas engine failure, the time for reloading with a new cartridge instead of the spent one increases, since the user is forced to use the second hand to extract the spent cartridge first and only then to install a new cartridge into the weapon. Given more than 25 years of the widest practice of using DESHO by the US police, it is known that in many cases of stopping offender's aggression, law enforcement officer uses his or her second hand to hold handcuffs, a flashlight or a firearm and therefore simply physically cannot quickly use it to extract the spent cartridge for subsequent reloading with a new cartridge. The disadvantage of the prototype DESHO also lies in the absence of the function of arresting (seizure) the offender, which function is already considered standard in the DESHO versions produced by “Axon Enterprise, Inc.” company, the world leading manufacturer of DESHO. The arrest function is implemented in all DESHO versions from “Axon Enterprise, Inc.” company, in which the firing cartridges, after firing, hitting the target and releasing the trigger by the user of the DESHO, are not automatically extracted from the DESHO, but are removed from the DESHO only manually. In such DESHO, when the trigger is released after a shot and hitting the target by the current conducting wires, the spent cartridges are not automatically removed from the weapon and still connect the DESHO to the target with the current conducting wires until the fired cartridge is manually removed, and the shock current voltage is still applied to the target after releasing the trigger, during the timer operation (up to 5-15 s) depending on the specific DESHO version or purpose (police or civilian). Therefore, the law enforcement officer hits the target, releases the trigger, puts the DESHO on the ground and handcuffs the immobilized offender, while the timer delivers the shock electrical current voltage to the target keeping the target immobilized. In this way, the main number of arrests (seizures) of offenders involving the use of DESHO has been made in the United States for more than 20 years. In Russia, the DESHO with the function of making an arrest has not yet entered service in security services. In the prototype DESHO, the cartridges are automatically extracted after releasing the trigger, and the mode of continuing operation of the electrical circuit of the shock electrical current voltage after releasing the trigger is also not provided, therefore, the arrest of the offender with the release of the weapon from the user's hands and the release of both hands for arrest actions is impossible.
The number of charges in the form of firing cartridges over 2 is currently considered excessive for the DESHO. “Axon Enterprise, Inc.” company previously produced the DESHO Taser X3 version designed for three firing cartridges. However, the use of three firing cartridges increases the dimensions of the weapon in thickness to unacceptable for comfortable wearing by law enforcement officers in a holster on the body. At present, the release of the Taser X3 version has been discontinued, because law enforcement and the US Department of Justice experts believe, based on the experience of using the Taser X3 in US law enforcement agencies, that two shot DESHO versions such as Taser X2 and Taser 7 are sufficient in police practice.
As follows from the multiple and long term practice of the use of DESHO by the US police, in most cases of the use of multiple-charge DESHO versions, a second shot at the target is carried out if the first shot for some reason did not hit the target (missing on the target with one or two current conducting wires, breakage of the current conducting wire, penetration of probes into thick folds of clothing, etc.). That is, the second shot is used mainly as a reserve or spare, although it can be used to defeat the second offender after the first one (Taser X2). For the reliability of hitting an aggressive and armed target, in order to exclude the possibility of not hitting the target with one cartridge and the loss of time for the law enforcement officer to realize that the target has not been hit (thereby with the possibility for the offender to use weapon), quick shots at the target with two cartridges one after the other are used (duplicate shot) as well as in the usual practice of using firearms in US law enforcement agencies (hitting a single target with several quick successive shots at once). However, quick reloading with new cartridges instead of the fired ones in the Taser X2 and Taser 7 versions is impossible, since the spent cartridges are not automatically removed from the weapon after the shots, and user must remove them using his or her second hand.
In the multiple-charge prototype DESHO, double hitting the target with quick successive shots is impossible, since when the trigger is released after the shots, the cartridges with the current conducting wires stretched towards the target are automatically extracted from the weapon.
The proposed utility model makes it possible to eliminate the disadvantages described for the prototype, therefore expanding the range of possibilities for the effective use of the DESHO.
Disclosure of Utility ModelThe technical result of the proposed utility model is to eliminate the disadvantages inherent in both the prototype DESHO and world best samples of the DESHO from “Axon Enterprise, Inc.” company, namely, to develop a multiple-charge DESHO with increased operational reliability and effectiveness, which consists in eliminating the effect of bypassing in the DESHO after a shot, increasing the speed of weapon reloading in case of failure of devices for automatic extraction of spent cartridges, the possibility to use firing cartridges of reduced cost, the possibility of hitting armed targets with two pairs of current conducting wires simultaneously, and the possibility of arresting the offender.
The desired goal is achieved with multiple-charge remote-acting electroshock weapon comprising a frame, a power source, an electronic circuit that generates a high voltage electrical current voltage that damages the target, a trigger element, firing cartridges equipped with thrown current conducting wires and pyrotechnic devices for unlocking the cartridges from the frame of the weapon located in the firing cartridges, spring extractors of the firing cartridges, an electronic circuit responsible for the sequence of the firing cartridges initiation, and at least one mechanical locking mechanism for the firing cartridges driven with a human-powered drive mechanism with forced unlocking of the firing cartridge from the frame of the weapon, which locking mechanism is actuated by finger of user's hand holding the weapon, at least one mechanical cartridge lock for preventing automatic unlocking from the frame of the weapon having a human-powered drive mechanism actuated with the finger of user's hand holding the weapon, and a member for the control of the operating time of the electronic circuit generating high voltage electrical current voltage that damages the target, irrespective of the position of the trigger element after firing.
An additional feature of the claimed device is that the locking mechanism with forced unlocking of the cartridges from the frame of the weapon is driven by a slider with a longitudinal movement relative to the frame of the weapon.
An additional feature of the claimed device is that the locking mechanism with forced unlocking of the cartridges from the frame of the weapon is driven by a slider with a transverse movement relative to the frame of the weapon.
An additional feature of the claimed device is that the locking mechanism with forced unlocking of the cartridges from the frame of the weapon is driven by a slider with a rotary movement.
An additional feature of the claimed device is that the electronic circuit responsible for the sequence of the firing cartridges initiation, has a selector switch for switching the sequence of the firing cartridges initiation.
The utility model is illustrated by drawings, which show:
A trigger 5 is designed to start operation of an electronic circuit in the DESHO, which circuit generates high voltage pulses of shock electrical current, to initiate firing of the firing cartridges 2 and fixing them in the frame 1 when fired and then for the time during which the target is damaged by the electrical current, and also to unlock the cartridges from the frame after firing. The firing cartridges 2 do not fundamentally differ from the firing cartridges according to the patent RU No. 2462678, but they have a gas engine which, unlike the cartridges according to the patent RU No. 2462678, does not push the protrusion out of the cartridge when fired, but pushes a movable protrusion 6 on the cartridge 2 into the cartridge case flush with the generatrix of the cartridge case. The cartridge case also has a recess 7 for fixing the cartridge in the frame 1 with the trigger 5 and a recess 8 for positive locking in the frame 1. Electrodes 9 and 10 are located at the front end of the frame 1. A removable battery 11 is located in the DESHO handle, a safety lock 12 and buttons 13 for controlling the modes of operation of the DESHO are located at the end of the frame 1, and also a display indicator 14 of the operation of electronic systems in the weapon can be located thereon.
In the frame 1, there is an electronic circuit 18 that generates the high voltage electrical current voltage that damages the target, which circuit includes an electronic circuit responsible for the sequence of the firing cartridges initiation, a timer for controlling the time of generating the voltage that damages the target, and the display indicator 14 of the operation of the electronic circuit, battery (and other information related to operation of the weapon), if necessary, and a battery 11 for the power supply of the DESHO.
5. The locking mechanism 15 can be driven from the slider 3 (buttons) with longitudinal movement relative to the length of the weapon or from the slider with transverse movement or rotary movement around a certain axis. Longitudinal, transverse or rotary movement of the slider relative to the frame of the weapon is determined by the designer. The two lower views on
If it is necessary to demonstrate a spark electric discharge to an offender to remove aggression or to use in a contact way (without shots), the user, using one of the buttons 13, disables the operation of the part of the electronic circuit 18 responsible for the sequence of the firing cartridges initiation for firing. In this case, the low voltage electrical current voltage that initiates the pyrotechnic charge of the firing cartridge is not generated and is not supplied to the electrical contacts 23 (see
The loading of the DESHO is carried out by inserting the cartridges 2 into the frame pocket located at the front, while the springs of the ejectors 17 are compressed, which ensure the extraction of the cartridges from the pockets after the shot or when the DESHO is unloaded. When the cartridges are inserted into the pocket, the protrusions 6 of the cartridges are pressed down relative to the frame of the weapon by the spring loaded locking mechanism 15, which, when the cartridges are fully inserted into the pockets, snap onto the protrusions 6, fixing the cartridges in the frame 1. The weapon is unloaded by pressing the sliders 3, and therefore the single device for manually unlocking the cartridges from the frame of the weapon performs both the function of a device, which is alternative to the automatic extraction, and a device for weapon unloading.
- 1. https://help.axon.com/hc/en-us
- https://global.axon.com/products/taser-x2;
- https://global.axon.com/products/taser-7
- https://www.taser.corn/2.
- 2. Ladyagin Yu. O. “Remote-acting electroshock weapons” Moscow: Stalingrad Foundation Publishing House, 2017, p. 173.
Claims
1. Multiple-charge remote-acting electroshock weapon comprising a frame, a power source, an electronic circuit that generates a high voltage electrical current voltage that damages the target, a trigger element, firing cartridges having thrown current conducting wires and pyrotechnic devices for unlocking the cartridges from the frame of the weapon located in the firing cartridges, spring extractors of the firing cartridges, an electronic circuit responsible for the sequence of the firing cartridges initiation, wherein the weapon comprises at least one mechanical locking mechanism of the firing cartridges having a human-powered drive mechanism with forced unlocking of the firing cartridge from the frame of the weapon, which drive is actuated by the finger of user's hand holding the weapon, at least one mechanical cartridge lock for preventing automatic unlocking from the frame of the weapon having a human-powered drive mechanism actuated by the finger of user's hand holding the weapon, and a member for the control of the operating time of the electronic circuit generating the high voltage electrical current voltage that damages the target, irrespective of the position of the trigger element after firing.
2. The weapon according to claim 1, wherein the locking mechanism with forced unlocking of the cartridges from the frame of the weapon is driven by a slider with a longitudinal movement relative to the frame of the weapon.
3. The multiple-charge remote-acting electroshock weapon according to claim 1, wherein the locking mechanism with forced unlocking of the cartridges from the frame of the weapon is driven by a slider with a transverse movement relative to the frame of the weapon.
4. The multiple-charge remote-acting electroshock weapon according to claim 1, wherein the locking mechanism with forced unlocking of the cartridges from the frame of the weapon is driven by a slider with a rotary movement.
5. The multiple-charge remote-acting electroshock weapon according to claim 1, wherein the electronic circuit responsible for the sequence of the firing cartridges initiation has a selector switch for switching the sequence of the firing cartridges initiation.
Type: Application
Filed: Oct 6, 2020
Publication Date: May 26, 2022
Inventor: Yuriy Olegovich LADYAGIN (Moscow)
Application Number: 17/599,886