P/00/0 I1 Regulation 3.2 AUSTRALIA Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT ORIGINAL TO BE COMPLETED BY APPLICANT Name of Applicant: ARMATUREN-GESELLSCHAFT mbH Actual Inventors: JOHANN STOGERMULLER, GOTTFRIED KOGER Address for Service: CALLINAN LAWRIE, 711 High Street, Kew, Victoria 3101, Australia Invention Title: ATTACHMENT DEVICE The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us: 09/05/03, mc13368.cs, 1 -2 The invention relates to an attachment device with a connection piece for attaching a grenade launcher to a rifle. A bolt-on grenade launcher is known from DE 199 25 864 C which, as indicated in the introduction, can be attached by means of a connection piece to a 5 rifle, preferably an assault rifle. After a hand guard underneath the barrel has been removed, the connection piece is inserted into an oblong hole on the barrel retaining part an secured in the front region of a barrel by means of a lockable securing pin. The connection piece houses the barrel of the grenade launcher so that it can be swivelled out. The connection piece is naturally adapted to the described rifle. For 10 attachment to a different rifle not more closely defined, a second transverse bore can be provided to receive a securing pin. Attachment to a rifle on which no oblong hole is provided and to which no securing pin can be fixed is not possible. Seeing that every barrel vibrates during the shot process, vibration of the barrel is troubled through the front suspension and thereunder shot precision suffers 15 markedly. The object of the invention is to provide an attachment device by means of which a bolt-on grenade launcher can be allocated to any desired rifle. According to the present invention there is provided an attachment device with a connection piece for attaching a grenade launcher to a rifle, said connection 20 piece having two connection elements, separable from each other, one of which can be secured to the grenade launcher and the other to the rifle, wherein a dovetail guide, open to the front, the inserted position of which can be locked, is formed between the two connection elements, the rifle-side connection element is fitted with a stop bolt projecting forward in longitudinal direction which engages in a recess of 25 the grenade launcher-side connection element and is fixed in releasable manner by a locking element, and the grenade launcher-side connection element has a transverse bore which crosses the recess and in which a locking pin can be displaced as locking element, the stop bolt having a narrowed section in which the locking pin engages in the locking position. 30 The development of two elements which are releasably connected to each other makes it possible in a simple manner to attach a or any grenade launcher to a desired rifle if the one connection element is adapted to the rifle and the second 12/05/10, va 13368 p2p-3a speci.doc, 2 -3 connection element to the bolt-on grenade launcher and a releasable connection is developed between the two connection elements. Disadvantage of a front suspension can be avoided through a connection piece which shows a hollow shaft attachable to the rifle and slidable to the barrel up 5 to the barrel mounting where a transverse hole for a securing pin is provided. In this way, the barrel is even with an attached connecting piece almost clear up to the whole length and in his vibrating reaction practically unchanged, as both suspension points of the rifle-side connection piece are located on the barrel mounting. 10 The grenade launcher can thus be pulled off forwards after unlocking of the connection, the two connection elements remaining on the object in question. It is of advantage if the locking pin is arranged at the grenade launcher-side connection element so that it cannot be lost. Furthermore, it is preferably provided that the locking pin has, axially adjoining the engagement zone, a peripheral recess 15 which, in the unlocking position, supplements the recess for the stop bolt up to the whole cross-section. The locking pin is arranged spring-loaded in the locking position in another preferred version. In order to still prevent the return of the locking pin into the locking position upon separation of the two connection elements, that is to say after 20 the removal of the grenade launcher, a holding bolt spring-loaded perpendicularly against the locking pin is preferably arranged in the grenade launcher-side connection element, the reception bore of which holding bolt intersects the transverse bore of the locking pin and the recess of the stop bolt. Thus when the grenade launcher is attached the holding bolt presses against the stop bolt. If the grenade 25 launcher is removed, the stop bolt pulls back out of the recess and the holding bolt follows, until it engages in place of the stop bolt in the peripheral recess of the locking pin and fixes its unlocking position until it is further displaced by the stop bolt upon fitting of the grenade launcher. In another preferred version, a guard plate for a gas-pressure apparatus is 30 provided at the rifle-side connection element. 12/05/10, va 13368 p2p-3a speci.doc. 3 - 3a The invention is now described in more detail below with the help of the figures of the attached drawings, without being limited thereto. There are shown in: Fig. I a schematic side view of a grenade launcher fitted to a rifle, the 5 connection element being sectioned, Fig. 2, enlarged, the connection zone of the two connection elements, Fig. 3 a section along the line III-III of Fig. 2, 12/05/10, va 13368 p2p-3a specidoc, a -4 Figs. 4 and 5, schematically, the representation of two positions upon unlocking of the connection elements, Fig. 6 a side view of a guard plate in the area of the gas-pressure apparatus, and Fig. 7 a cross-section through the representation of Fig. 6 along the line VII-VII of 5 Fig. 1. Fig. I shows schematically the barrel 28 of a rifle 1 beneath which a grenade launcher 2 is arranged. For the fitting of the grenade launcher 2 to the rifle 1, a connection piece 3 is provided which has two connection elements 4, 5. The connection element 4 has a sleeve 6 gripping round the barrel 28 adjacent the barrel retaining part 29 of the rifle 1 10 and is fixed thereto by a transverse pin 7. A hand guard optionally provided on the rifle 1 is removed and replaced by a guard plate 25 which is secured to the rifle-side connection element 4 by means of a screw 27 (Figs. 6, 7). The guard plate 25 covers a gas-pressure apparatus 26 which cannot be seen in the representation according to Fig. I as it lies behind the plane of the drawing. 15 The grenade launcher-side connection element 5 is, as can be seen from Fig. 3, fixed by means of securing screws 10 in a cavity 18 at the top of the grenade launcher 2. The connection element 5 has an insertion slot 19 open to the rear with a dovetail cross section and a further recess 11 extending in longitudinal direction. A forward-projecting stop bolt 8 engages in the recess 11 and a tongue 23 with dovetail cross-section in the 20 insertion slot 19, which are arranged at the rifle-side connection element 4. The grenade launcher 2 can therefore be removed forwards jointly with the connection element 5, the connection element 4 remaining at the rifle. For the fixing of the two connection elements 4,5 a locking pin 13 is provided which is arranged displaceable in a transverse bore 12 of the grenade launcher-side connection element 5. The transverse 25 bore 12 partly penetrates the recess 11. The locking pin 13 has a head 17 and is forced by a return spring 16 into the locking position shown in Fig. 3. The stop bolt 8, arranged in the recess 11 in the direction of travel, of the rifle-side connection element 4 has a narrowed section 9 which supplements the transverse bore 12 up to its full cross-section. The locking pin 13 has an engagement zone 14 in which there are provided, axially 30 adjacent, an end-section enclosed by the return spring and a peripheral recess 15 in the direction of the head 17, which the recess 11 supplements up to its full cross-section. In the locking position shown in Fig. 3 the engagement zone 14 of the locking pin 13 lies in form-locking manner in the narrowed section 9 of the stop bolt 8, and the grenade launcher 2 cannot be removed. 09/05/03,mcl 3368.speci,4 - 5 As Figs. 2 and 3 show, the grenade launcher-side connection element 5 has a third bore 20 which extends forward from the transverse bore 12 inclined downwards at a small angle. Arranged in the bore 20 is a holding bolt 21 (Fig. 2) which is forced backwards, i.e. against the transverse bore 12, by a spring 22. The bore 20 is chosen such that its front 5 termination is formed, after the fitting of the connection element 5 of the grenade launcher 2, by the front edge 24 of the cavity 18, and that it intersects the recess 11 first and then the transverse bore 12. The stop bolt 8 is above the section plane in Fig. 3 and cannot therefore be seen. As Fig. 2 shows, the holding bolt 21 lies in the locking position at the head of the stop bolt 8. If the locking pin 13 is pushed into the unlocking position, as is 10 shown schematically in Fig. 4, the grenade launcher 2 can be pulled off forwards, as the peripheral recess 15 of the locking pin 13 supplements the recess 11 for the stop bolt 8. If the grenade launcher 2 is now removed, the holding bolt 21 adjacent to the stop bolt 8 follows until it has entered the peripheral recess 15, and fixes the locking pin 13 in the unlocking position (Fig. 5). Because of the arrangement of the bore 20 the holding bolt 15 21 protrudes into the recess 11 and upon insertion of the stop bolt 8 is shifted by the latter out of the peripheral recess 15 (Fig. 5) into the normal position according to Fig. 2, with the result that the locking pin 13 is pressed into the locking position according to Fig. 3 by the spring 16. Manual operation of the locking pin 13 is thus necessary for the removal, but not the fitting, of the grenade launcher 2. 20 The grenade launcher 2 can thus be attached in a very simple manner and tool-free to any rifle as soon as the latter is fitted with a connection element 4 remaining on the rifle and specific to this rifle.