US3534492A - Firearm grenade launching attachment - Google Patents

Description

S. A. AMSTER FIREARM GRENADE LAUNCHING ATTACHMENT Oct. 20, 1970 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed NDV. 14, 1968 Oct. 2o, 1970I s, A. AMSTER 3,534,492

FIREARM GRENADE LAUNCHING ATTACHMENT Filed Nov. 14, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent O 3,534,492 FIREARM GRENADE LAUNCHING ATTACHMENT Stanley A. Amster, Pittsburgh, Pa., assignor to Federal Laboratories, Inc., Saltsburg, Pa., a corporation of Delaware Filed Nov. 14, 1968, Ser. No. 775,815 Int. Cl. F41c 27/06 U.S. Cl. 42-1 6 Claims ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE A grenade launcher for attachment to the barrel of a rearm having a cylindrical grenade receiving chamber and a barrel clamping assembly in which a plurality of segments radially disposed within the clamping assembly are urged into clamping engagement with the barrel by ring shaped clamps.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Where it is desired to launch a grenade such as a smoke or tear gas grenade with some accuracy and over distances beyond normal throwing range, it has been known to propel the grenade by means of the expanding gases coming from a iirearm shell. For this purpose, various attachments have been devised for the barrel of the rearm which receive the grenade and direct the expanding gases at the base thereof so that it will be ejected upon the firing of the gun. However, previously known devices have been restricted in their use to the specific firearms for which they were made and could not accommodate a wide range of barrel sizes. In addition, they were extremely heavy and often would not t on guns having a long ramp sight.

Accordin-gly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a firearm grenade launching attachment which will be versatile in its adaption to a wide range of barrel` sizes easy to apply, insure concentricity between the firearm and the attachment and not damage the barrel of the firearm during use.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention consists of a cylindrical grenade receiving member having a wall at the bottom thereof and open at the launching end to receive the grenade, A irearm barrel clamping assembly is carriedwithin a reduced diameter portion of the housing and clamping engagement is achieved by means of plurality of radially disposed segments which extend through the Wall of the reduced portion and are carried in spaced longitudinal slits in said reduced portion. Two or more ring shaped clamps are provided around the reduced clamping portion and overlying the segments. The clamps are adjustable in such manner that tightening of the clamps causes the segments to grip the barrel of the rearm and dispose it concentrically Within the attachment.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS :In the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof there is shown one form of embodiment of the present invention in which drawings corresponding parts have been given identical reference numerals and in which:

FIG. 1 is a somewhat exploded isometric view of a complete embodiment of the present invention in which a fragmentary portion of the rearm barrel and the grenade are illustrated,

FIG. 2 is an isometric view somewhat enlarged of a barrel grasping segment according to the present invention,

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view taken on line 3 3 in FIG. l looking in the direction of the arrows,

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view taken on lines 5-5 in FIG. 1 showing the clamping assembly elements in a somewhat exploded state with two of the segments omitted for the sake of clarity,

FIG. 5 is a cross sectional view taken on line 5 5 of FIG. 1 looking in the direction of the arrows illustrating the manner in which the clamping assembly grasps the rearm barrel,

FIG. 6 is a view in longitudinal section of a grenade launcher ready for firing, made in accordance with the present invention,

FIG. 7 is an exploded view similar to FIG. 6 showing the device immediately after ring.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to the drawings and particularly to FIG. 1, 10 indicates a grenade launching attachment adapted to be secured to a gun barrel 11. The launcher 10` is provided with a hollow cylindrical grenade receiving housing 12 and a barrel clamping portion 13 of reduced diameter integral with said housing. A bottom wall 14 having a central opening 22 therein is spun into the bottom of the grenade receiving housing 12.

As shown in FIG. 6, the grenade 15 which may be of any type such as a tear gas or smoke grenade, rests upon the bottom wall 14 when the attachment is ready for tiring. The trigger arm 23 of the grenade 15 also tits within the housing 12 prior to tiring.

Three equally spaced segments 16 are carried by the clamping portion 13 in such manner that they extend through spaced slots 17 provided in the wall of the housing of the clamping portion. The segments 16 also extend into the interior of the housing. The inner ends of the segments 16 are provided with elongated jaws 18. The elongated jaws are formed with an arcuate surface for the purpose of grasping the firearm barrel 11. Resilient pads 19 overlie the jaws 18 to prevent damage to the firearm barrel 11 when the grenade launching attachment is clamped to the said barrel.

The outer end of the segments 16 are notched as indicated at 20 to receive therein two ring shaped clamps 21. As best shown in FIG. 2, the notches 20 are narrower at their outer ends to retain the clamps 21. This notched configuration prevents the segments 16 from falling into the clamping portion 13 when the gun barrel 11 is not in place.

In assembling the clamping portion 13, the segments are slipped through the slots 17 as indicated in FIG- URE 4. With all of the segments in place, the clamps 21 are threaded around the clamping portion 13 within the slots 20. The gun barrel 11 is then slipped within the resilient pads 19 as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, and the clamps 21 tightened thereon. It will be noted that the gun sight 24 of the iirearm barrel 11 is disposed between two of the segments 16. It will also be apparent that the space afforded for the sight 24 within the clamping portion 13 is substantial enough to receive firearms having long ramp sights. Because of the three sided support of the segments 16, the gun barrel 11 is centered and brought into registration with the opening 22 in the bottom wall 14. With the launching attachment thus secured to the gun barrel as shown in FIG. 6, the grenade is ready for launching. A suitable blank cartridge is slipped within the firearms and red. The expanding gases indicated -by the arrows 25 in FIG. 7 enter the bottom of the grenade receiving housing 12 and eject the grenade in the manner shown in FIG. 7. The safety pin (not shown) of the grenade having been withdrawn prior to firing, the well known spring mechanism ejects the trigger arm 23 causing the grenade to discharge in the well known manner.

From the foregoing it will be seen that there has been provided a grenade launching attachment for firearms which is simple in structure, easy to apply to a Wide variety of barrel sizes and which will accommodate guns with long front ramp sights.

Having thus fully described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A grenade launcher for attachment to the barrel of a firearm comprising a hollow tubular housing, a cylindrical grenade receiving portion at one end of the housing, a barrel receiving portion of reduced diameter at the y opposite end of the housing, a transverse wall having a central aperture therein carried within the housing between the grenade and barrel receiving portions, a plurality of spaced slots in the barrel receiving portion of the housing, a barrel engaging segment in each of the slots, said segment extending both within and without the housing and at least one ring `shaped clamp overlying the segments and adapted to force them into securing engagement with the barrel.

2. A device according to claim 1 in which the segments 4 and the segment receiving slots are elongated and the segments are formed with elongated arcuate shaped barrel receiving jaws.

3. A device according to claim 2 in which the segments are notched at their outer margins to receive two spaced clamps therein.

4. A device according to claim 1 in which three equally spaced slots receive three segments therein whereby the barrel is brought into register with the wall aperture.

5. A device according to claim 2 in which the arcuate jaws are covered by resilient pads.

6. A device according to claim 3 in which the clamp receiving notches are narrower than clamp width at their outer ends and at least as wide as the clamp at their inner ends,

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3/1967 Cox. 5/1967 Barr.

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