Training aid for such side arms as revolvers and pistols

• US 5,004,423 A
• Filed: 06/23/1989
• Issued: 04/02/1991
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/1988
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Kurt U. Bertrams
• Original Assignee: Kurt U. Bertrams
• Inventors: Bertrams, Kurt U.
• Primary Examiner(s): Apley, Richard J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Richman, Glenn
• Application Number:
  US07/370,533
• Time in Patent Office: 648 Days
• Field of Search: 434/22, 434/21, 273/312, 273/310, 273/311, 362/111
• US Class Current: 434/22
• CPC Class Codes: F41A 33/02 Light- or radiation-emitting guns ; Light- or radiation-sensitive guns; Cartridges carrying light emitting sources, e.g. laser
• CPC Class Codes: F41G 3/2655 in which the light beam is sent from the weapon to the target
• CPC Class Codes: F41J 5/02 Photo-electric hit-detector systems comprising a light-emitting device for simulating the firing of a gun F41G3/2622; detecting by optical means G01V8/10

Abstract

A training aid (10) for such side arms as revolvers and pistols that comprises a transmitter (18) in the form of a replaceable cylinder (14, when the weapon is a revolver) or of a replaceable insert (114, when the weapon is a pistol or similar piece) and a receiver (16), whereby the transmitter has a release (22) that is activated by the impact of the weapon'"'"'s hammer (20) and causes the transmitter to emit simultaneously with the impact a brief and narrowly collimated beam (24) of infrared light, the receiver is positioned at a desired distance away and produces a signal when it receives the beam, the beam of infrared light is generated by a diode (66) accomodated in a tube, and the release is at one end of the tube and a device (68, 70, or 168) that focuses the beam is at the other end. The tube is accommodated in or consists of a housing (48 or 148) that is externally shaped like a conventional cylinder or insert and has at least two adjacent cylindrical chambers (50 and 52 or 150 and 172) with their axes (56 and 58) paralleling that (62) of the weapon'"'"'s barrel, whereby each chamber accommodates a tube (64), a diode, or a system of batteries (72 and 172) and is demarcated at one end by a plate (96 or 196) that is accommodated in another chamber (84 or 184) and has the electronic circuitry (FIG. 9) for the transmitter mounted on it and whereby the three chambers constitute mutually displaced spaces enclosed in one-piece housing (48 148).

Claims

1. In a training aid (10) for such side arms as revolvers and pistols that have a barrel and hammer and comprise a transmitter (18) in the form of a replaceable cylinder (14, when the weapon is a revolver) or of a replaceable insert (114, when the weapon is a pistol or similar piece) and a receiver (16), wherein the transmitter has a release (22) that is activated by the impact of the weapon'"'"'s hammer (20) and causes the transmitter to emit simultaneously with the impact a brief and narrowly collimated beam (24) of infrared light, the receiver is positioned at a desired distance away and produces a signal when it receives the beam, the beam of infrared light is generated by a diode (66) accommodated in a tube, and the release is at one end of the tube and means (68, 70, or 168) that focuses the beam is at the other end, the improvement wherein the tube is accommodated in or consists of a housing (48 or 148) that is externally shaped like a conventional cylinder or insert and has at least two adjacent cylindrical chambers (50 &

52 or 150 &

     172) with their axes (56 and

     58) paralleling that (62) of the weapon'"'"'s barrel, wherein each chamber accommodates a tube (64), a diode, or a system of batteries (72 &

     172) and is demarcated at one end by a plate (96 or

     196) that is accommodated in another chamber (84 or

     184) and has electronic circuitry (FIG.

     9) for the transmitter mounted on it and wherein the three chambers constitute mutually displaced spaces enclosed in the one-piece housing (49 or

     148).

2. Training aid as in claim 1, characterized in that the infrared diode (66) is an infrared-laser diode.

3. Training aid as in claim 1, wherein the housing (148) is a replaceable insert (114) for a pistol (112), having three chambers (150, 184, &

152) which are cylindrical and axially aligned, the chambers being mutually displaced by discontinuously increasing diameters and the housing (148) is diecast from metal.

4. Training aid as in claim 3, characterized in that the chamber (150) with the shortest diameter accommodates an optical system, which consists of a diode (66) and focusing device (168), in that the chamber (184) behind it and having the mid-length diameter accommodates a plate (196), and the subsequent chamber (172) with the longest diameter accommodates a battery system (172).

5. Training aid as in claim 4, characterized in that the chamber (152) for the battery system (172) is closed off with a plug (203) inserted into the end of the chamber and in that the release (220) is mounted on a plug.

6. Training aid as in claim 1, wherein the housing (48) is a replacement cylinder (14) for a revolver, characterized in that the two cylindrical chambers (50 and 52) are two bores accommodated in a body that consists of a solid round piece of metal and are displaced approximately 180°

around the axis (60) of the body and in that the other chamber (84) consists of a depression that has a bottom (90) and deviates inward from the face (88) of the round metal body (86).

7. Training aid as in claim 6, characterized in that a sickle-shaped projection (92) projects into the other chamber and has an annular shoulder (94) around it, against which a circular disk-shaped plate (96) rests on one circular inner edge, and the other circular inner edge is secured in position by an annular projection (98) that rests on a housing lid (100) covering another chamber (84).

8. Training aid as in claim 7, characterized in that the annular projection (98) constitutes a supporting surface for the housing lid (100) and the cup-shaped part and the housing lid are screwed (102) or riveted (202) together.

9. Training aid as in claim 8, characterized in that the parts are screwed or riveted together with a hollow bolt (102) or hollow rivet (202), whereby a pin that snaps into the revolver or extends out of it comes to rest inside the bolt or rivet.

10. Training aid as in claim 7, characterized in that the housing lid (100) consists of insulating material and has a sickle-shaped leaf spring (106) that is secured at the end (108) to the housing and spring (206) isolated at a slight distance away and (109) secured to the housing lid that is mechanically connected to a firing pin (120) accommodated in a perforation (122) through the lid.

11. Training aid as in claim 1, characterized in that the replacement cylinder (14) weighs approximately as much as the conventional cylinder used with that revolver when full of cartridges.

12. Training aid as in claim 1, characterized in that the battery system (72) includes a metal projection (74), a tubular rivet for example, that rests on the plate (96) and acts as a support for one face of a battery (76), the other end of the battery rests against a compression spring (78) that is secured in position by a lid (80), preferably in the form of a screw with a thread that extends around a head with a slot (82), that closes off the cylindrical chamber (52).

13. Training aid as in claim 1, characterized in that the transmitter (18) has the following structure:

(a) One contact of the release (22) is connected to operating voltage (+UB) and the other contact of the release is connected by way of a chain (204) of resistors and pulse-shaping connecting stages to the clocking terminal of a D flip-flop.

(b) The output (Q) from the D flip-flop is connected, optionally by way of a pulse-shaping or polarity-inverting connecting stage (20), to the setting terminal (S) of another D flip-flop (214), the output (Q) from which is connected, optionally by way of pulse-shaping or polarity-inverting connecting stage, to the gate of a driver transistor (216), that connects the laser diode (66) to operating voltage (UB).

(c) The clocking input terminal of the second D flip-flop (214) is also connected by way of a chain circuit comprising further connecting stages and including RC stages to the output terminal of the first flip-flop.

14. Training aid as in claim 13, characterized by a multistage asynchronous binary counter, especially a twelve-stage binary counter (212), the clocking input terminal (terminal 10) of which is activated by the output signal from the connecting-stage circuit (210) and the resetting input terminal (terminal 11) of which is activated by the output (Q209) from the first D flip-flop (208), and which is connected from the two or more binary-stage output terminals (e.g Q12, terminal 1, and Q8, terminal 12) by way of a plug-in channel switch (206) with the setting terminal (S) of the first D flip-flop (208), making it possible to select two (or more) different numbers of light pulses for each release procedure.

15. Training aid as in claim 1, characterized in that the receiver (16) has the following structure:

(a) One terminal of the receiving diode (28) is at an LC stage (214) that can be tuned to a prescribed modulation frequency and at the base of a transistor (216).

(b) The collector or output terminal of the transistor circuit (216) controls the series switching of two operations amplifiers (218 and

     220), generating an amplified output signal at a signal output terminal (222) that is connected to the input terminal (224) of electronic controls (FIG.

     11) for the receiver (16).

16. Training aid as in claim 15, characterized in that the electronic controls (FIG. 11) contain decoders (228 &

230) that identify the beam of light from the transmitter (18), wherein the decoder comprises an asynchronous, multistage binary counter, especially a twelve-stage binary counter (228), the clocking input terminal (terminal

     10) of which is supplied with the input signal by way of a connecting stage (226) and the resetting terminal (11) of which is activated by a monostable or astable multivibrator (230) that is likewise triggered by the input signal (terminal

     8) and forwards another input in the form of an external resetting signal to the connecting stage (226), which is supplied with the input signal, whereby the first output (Q8, terminal

     12) and another output (10, terminal

     14) from corresponding stages in the binary counter are forwarded by way of further connecting stages (232 and

     234) to the clocking input terminal of a D flip-flop (236) and directly to the clocking input terminal of another D flip-flop (240), the outputs (Q and Q) of which activate, by way of further connecting stages (238, 242, and

     244) and their associated driver transistors, light-emitting diodes (34 &

     36) or audio equipment (30).

17. Training aid as in claim 16, characterized in that another input of the connecting stages (238, 242, and 242) is supplied to activate the signal devices (34, 36, and 30) by one output (Q) from a third D flip-flop (252), the clocking input terminal of which is connected to the output (Q, terminal 10) of a monostable-astable multivibrator (248), said output constituting a readiness signal that is also forwarded by way of a transistorized driver to another signal diode (38), said flip-flop (248) being activated by way of a connecting stage (246) by the output from the second D flip-flop (240) and by the output from the multivibrator (230), and the trigger input terminal (terminal 8) of which is activated at one output (output Q3, inlet 7) of a decimal counter (240) with preferably ten decoded outputs, and the output (Q, terminal 11) of which is supplied in the form of another terminal to the connecting stage of the decoder and to the resetting terminal of the associated multivibrator (230).

18. Training aid as in claim 17, characterized in that the clocking input terminal (terminal 14) of the decimal counter (250) is connected to the output from a clock-generating module (258), its resetting input terminal (terminal 15) by way of a connecting stage (254) to the output (Q) of the D flip-flop (252, for readiness), and its clock-activating input terminal (terminal 13) to another D flip-flop (262), the clocking input terminal of which is connected to another output (Q2, terminal 4) of the decimal counter (250), the data input terminal (D) of which is activated by way of another connecting stage by a binary pause-adjustment switch (44), the resetting input terminal (44) of which is activated by the output (terminal 13) from a pause-timing generator (260).

19. Training aid as in claim 18, characterized in that the module (260) that generates the pause timing is connected to another output (Q1, terminal 2) from the binary counter (250) and to the resetting terminals of the D flip-flops (236 and 240), which act as signal memories.

20. Training aid as in claim 19, characterized in that the pause-timing generator (260) is connected to another module (264), which is in turn connected to a random-number generator and to the manually adjustable binary-switch input signals (44), whereby the pause times can be established manually or by the randomness generator and according unpredictably.