US20100243492A1

US20100243492A1 - Handgun Case for Quick Access

Info

Publication number: US20100243492A1
Application number: US12/729,995
Authority: US
Inventors: David John Bulthuis, JR.; David Michael Challman
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2009-03-24
Filing date: 2010-03-23
Publication date: 2010-09-30

Abstract

An easy accessible hand gun case body, including an lower housing that is hinged to a upper housing, with a hand gun retained via a slide retention channel, that when in the closed position, prevents the handgun from being accessed or removed from the slide retention channel. When the lock assembly is unlocked, the preloaded hinge assembly rotates the upper and lower housings away from each other, uncovering the slide retention channel and allowing fluid, quick and easy access to the pistol grip of the hand gun, providing a unobstructed path for the hand gun to be draw, or deployed from the slide retention channel.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of PPA Ser. No. 61/163,029 filed Mar. 24, 2009 by the present inventors, which is incorporated by reference.

FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH

Not Applicable

SEQUENCE LISTING OR PROGRAM

Not Applicable

BACKGROUND

1. Field of Invention
This application relates to firearms, specifically to an improved firearms housing and a new method of secure transport and accessibility.
2. Discussion of Prior Art
Many, hand gun owners find themselves having to transport their hand gun in-between locations, either as a part of their job, or in going to the gun range, etc.
Heretofore, a wide variety of hand gun cases have been proposed and implemented but most are configured so that while transporting the case, it is either impossible or inconvenient to remove the hand gun from the case without either repositioning the case or setting the case down. That being said many hand gun cases are not designed with transportation in mind but rather rely on being attached like a safe to a stationary object.
A storage case for a hand gun is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,405,861, issued to Siler, which provides a door hinged horizontally at the base that opens with gravity. The case design make the case cumbersome to open while transporting and does not offer an assisted or powered means of opening.
A safe for loaded handgun is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,768,021, issued to Ferraro, which provides an access door hinged at the top. The safe does not disclose a means of attaching a gun upon the inside of the door for convenient gun access. Mounting a gun to the door would be cumbersome from gravity alone.
A safe gun storage apparatus is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,111,755 issued to Rouse, which provides a removable top section to access a gun. The safe does not disclose a means for attaching a gun to a door or for mounting a gun with the barrel pointed downwards.
A handgun storage container is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,843,081, issued to Painter, et al., which provides a front door hinged at the top. The body mechanics of the user would make it difficult to deploy the handgun while transporting the case.
A gun vault is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,434,427, issued to Miresmaili, which provides a side opening cases, featuring a slide that is pulled out of the case upon opening. This case allows the user to grip the protruding pistol grip
This invention is an improvement over prior art because many require that the user first properly manipulate the locking mechanism, open the case, and finally to firmly reach into the container to retrieve the hand gun. This too is cumbersome and time consuming depending on the orientation of the hand gun and the dimensional space around the handgun.
This present invention is an improvement over known prior art with particular reference to U.S. Pat. No. 6,570,501 issued to Bushnell et al. Bushnell describes a spring loaded slide assembly that attaches to the firearm and projects the firearm and slide outside of the case enclosure once the access door is opened. In Bushnell, the projecting slide assembly is cumbersome, and in the illustrated embodiment prohibits lower access to the pistol grip of the gun. Should the user be carrying the case, and fall while deploying the firearm, the slide assembly protruding from the case may not allow the user to quickly reach the handgun without deliberately making a drawing motion specifically towards the handgun.

OBJECTS AND ADVANTAGES

To overcome the shortcomings of present handgun cases, a new access method is provided. Accordingly, several objects and advantages of our present invention are:
1. to provide a handgun case that offers substantially quick access,
2. to provide a handgun case that avoids exposing unnecessarily the fact that the box of the present invention encloses a weapon;
3. to provide a handgun case that is economical to manufacture;
4. to provide a handgun case that is designed to be very space conscious and transportable;
5. to provide a case that will store safely one or more handguns, including a variety of firearms and ammunition
6. to provide a handgun case that accommodates both loaded and unloaded handguns without the need for a child safety lock or trigger lock for use outside of a case.
7. to provide a handgun case that holds the handgun in a very accessible and predictable manner, allowing the pistol grip to protrude similar to a hip mounted holster giving complete and unobstructed access to the handgun.
These and other advantages of our present invention will become apparent from a consideration of the ensuing description and accompanying drawings.

SUMMARY

The present invention describes a device for enclosing items, in one preferred embodiment of the present invention, enclosing a firearm. The present invention provides a secure rapidly accessible two-part gun case that allows the user immediate and unobstructed access to a handgun. The upper end of the case contains a channel to hold the firearm and allows the pistol grip to protrude giving assess to the weapon when the lower housing rotates away. The lower housing is hingeably connected to the upper housing.
Accordingly, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide a gun case that meets the competing societal demands of providing a secure, easily transportable, safe gun case without sacrificing unobstructed access to the handgun from all sides.
The foregoing and other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will be more readily understood upon consideration of the following detailed description of the following embodiment of the invention, taken in conjunction with the following drawings.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary, but not restrictive, of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention is best understood from the following detailed description when read in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side perspective view of a handgun case slightly opened.

FIG. 2 is an opposite side perspective view of a hand gun case in the closed position

FIG. 3 is a front view of a hand gun case

FIG. 4 is a side perspective view of a handgun case with a hinge mounted lock assembly.

FIG. 5 is a side view of a handgun case in the open position.

FIG. 6 is a top view of the lower case assembly.

FIG. 7 is a side view of the upper case assembly.

REFERENCE NUMERALS IN DRAWINGS

1 upper assembly or housing
2 lower assembly or housing
3 slide channel cover
4 carrying handle
5 hinge group
5 a upper hinge channel
5 b lower hinge flange
5 c spring
6 handgun
7 extra magazine
8 slide retention channel
9 a magazine
9 b magazine retention enclosure
10 lock assembly
11 handgun case

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 shows an general view of the folding handgun case 11 made of rigid material such as plastic or aluminum.
The handgun case 11 is comprised of an upper housing 1, containing a handgun 6 and a lower housing 2 that are pivot-ably attached at a hinge group 5. The upper housing 1 is molded or attached to the handle 4 at the top. The lower housing 2 has an slide channel cover 3 that, that when in the closed position, (FIG. 2 and FIG. 4) prevents access to the hand gun 6. The slide channel cover 3 is locked in the closed position by a locking mechanism 10 (FIG. 4) to be described in more detail later.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view that depicts the handgun case in the closed and locked position with the slide channel cover 3 mated with the similar handgun retention channel 8 in upper housing 1 but also see FIG. 4. The slide channel cover 3 is preferably molded or attached to lower housing 2 which is connected to the lower hinge flange 5 b connected to the upper hinge flanges 5 a and 5 a, which when unlocked, allow the lower housing 2, to rotate rapidly away from the upper housing 1 from it's closed state seen in FIG. 2 and FIG. 4 to open to it's full extent seen in FIG. 5.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the opening end of the hand gun case. The slide channel cover 3 is mated with the similar shaped handgun retention channel 8 in upper housing 1. slide channel cover 3 is preferably molded or attached to lower housing 2 which is connected to the hinge assembly 5, and when unlocked, and open, allows unobstructed access to the handgun retention channel 8 allowing the handgun 6 to be grasped and drawn rearward out of the upper housing 1 in it's open state (FIG. 5) In the current embodiment, the hand gun 6 attaches to the upper housing 1 by the use of friction retention against the slide, or barrel of the weapon, with either the friction of the case body itself, or the channel 8 can use some form of pliable material such as foam or rubber inserts to help retain the weapon. The size of the inserts can be changed to fit the size or dimensions of the particular gun.
FIG. 4 is a perspective view that depicts the handgun case in the closed and locked position. The slide channel cover 3 has a locking mechanism 10 that allows the slide channel'cover 3 to be retained in a closed and secure position when the hand gun is not required. As noted from FIG. 7, the upper hinge flanges 5 a are mounted to a spring loaded 5 c that is preloaded when the case is in the closed and locked position (FIG. 2. and FIG. 4). When the user unlatches the locking mechanism 10, the stored energy in the preloaded spring 5 c rotates around, forcing the lower housing 2 with slide channel cover 3 to rotate away from the upper housing 1. In this case making the handgun 6 (FIG. 1 and FIG. 7) in the slide retention channel 8, accessible to the user. The locking mechanism 10 can be a mechanical lock as depicted in the present embodiment, or can be a case mounted feature recognition device, such as a fingerprint scanner or any other means of securing the case.
In operation a user inserts and turns a key in the lock assembly 10, which unlocks the hinge assembly 5 a and 5 b. This causes the hinge spring 5 c to rapidly rotate the lower case assembly 2 away from the upper assembly 1 as seen in FIG. 5.
FIG. 5 is a side view that depicts the rapid access hand gun case 11 in the open position allowing unobstructed access to the slide retention channel 8 giving a clear path of travel for the handgun 6 (seen in FIG. 1 and FIG. 7).
FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the lower housing 2. The depth or height of the lower housing in the present embodiment is configured as to cover the hand gun's 6 pistol grip protruding from the upper housing 1. The lower housing 2 may be molded to lower hinge flange 5 b, and is configured to rotate the lower assembly relative to the upper assembly 1, which may remain stationary to each other. The slide channel cover 3 may be molded or attached to the lower housing 2. The lower housing 2 which may contain a magazine retention enclosure 9 b, can be used to hold an extra magazine 9 in one slide channel cover (Seen in FIG. 1)
FIG. 7 is a cross-section view of the upper housing 1. The slide retention channel 8 is clearly seen allowing the hand gun 6 to be retained and removed rearward from the upper housing 1. In the present embodiment the upper hinge flanges 5 a can be connected to a spring 5 c which in combination with lower hinge flange 5 b, allow the handgun case to rotate open and closed. Thus spring 5 c constitute a means of conveying rotational energy.
The carrying handle 4 in the present embodiment is molded with the upper housing 1, but could be otherwise attached or integrated into the upper housing 1 of the case. Also, the carrying handle 4 can have various buttons, switches, locks or similar, attached to the handle 4 or upper housing 1. I contemplate the carrying handle 4 of this embodiment be made of plastic or aluminum, but other materials are also suitable.

CONCLUSION, RAMIFICATIONS, SCOPE

The reader will thus see that I have provided a quick access hand gun case which is economical in construction, offers greater economy of motion, is easy to use and enables the user to both securely store a hand gun, and yet instantly deploy the hand gun should the need arise, without requiring the user to reposition his carrying hand and which gives greater economy of motion and a more fluid motion in deploying the weapon.
While the above figures and descriptions contain many specificities, the reader should not construe these limitation on the scope of the invention, but merely as exemplifications of several embodiments thereof. Various other embodiments are possible. E.g., the hinge can be of other types than the interlocking flanges, the upper and lower housings can rotate less than the 180 degrees shown, the slide retention channel can use a barrel inserted retention device, the handle could be positioned or shaped differently, etc.
The preferred embodiment of the present invention is to use a conventional key lock to secure the case, but other forms of feature recognition can be used such as fingerprint recognition, voice recognition or a radio frequency identity device.
In another embodiment when the user needs access to the firearm, the user can touch a fingerprint recognition scanner mounted on the case. If the person's print is recognized, it will activated a solenoid and unlock the case. In another embodiment, the user can carry a radio frequency identification device on their person, which would unlock the case while within proximity of the user. To open the case the user would manipulate a button or switch on the case, which would allow the spring or piston powered hinge to separate the upper and lower parts of the case.
Although illustrated and ascribed herein with reference to certain embodiments, the present invention is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details show. Rather, various modifications may be made in the details withing the scope and range of equivalents of the claims and without departing from the spirit of the invention.
Therefore the full scope of the invention should be determined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents, and not by the examples given.

Claims

1. A self-contained hand gun enclosure, comprising, in combination:

a. a top case body having partial bottom, sides and top connected together and defining a upper housing.

b. a lower case body have partial top, sides and bottom connected together and defining a lower housing.

c. A hinge attached to said upper and lower housings, thus enabling said housings to rotate away from each other to an open position exposing said interior and a closed position closing said opening, and as closed preventing access to said case body interior.

d. a means for conveying rotational energy between said housings.

e. a means of holding or locking the upper enclosure, when the two halves are in the closed position.

2. A hand gun case as defined in claim 1 with a means of retaining a handgun in the top case body.

3. A hand gun case as defined in claim 2 wherein the gun retention means is adjustable whereby different gun thicknesses can be accommodated through inserts or friction.