US2314061A

US2314061A - Adapter for flashlight and revolver

Info

Publication number: US2314061A
Application number: US369294A
Authority: US
Inventors: George W Whaley
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1940-12-09
Filing date: 1940-12-09
Publication date: 1943-03-16
Anticipated expiration: 1960-03-16

Description

2g LLUMlHMON@ 2 sheets-sheet '2' Filed Dec. 9, l1940 249. RLLUMINIION,

@All

Patented Mar. 16, 1943 Search 2,314,061

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 3 Claims.

This invention relates to an adapter for flashlight and revolver and in general relates to an improvement over the sighting device described and claimed in my United States Patent 2,132,063, patented October 4, 1938 for Flashlamp.

On page 1, lines 35 to 53 of the above patent, the statement is made that the flashlight must not "be longer than the barrel of the gun as otherwise the muzzle blast would impinge on and damage the flashlight and dislodge the ashlight from proper seating relation upon the gun. As a consequence, the construction illustrated in the above patent, involves the use of a special type of ashlight. I now nd that if the flashlight is longer than the barrel, the above noted damage is not serious and is more than offset by the convenience of being able to use a conventional flashlight. Consequently I have simplified and improved the patented construction, and have provided an adapter for removably holding a conventional type of flashlight as a unit which may or may not project beyond the muzzle. The accuracies of alignment of the gun with the flashlight as described in my former patent are substantially retained in the present simplified and improved construction. The present invention is illustrated by several embodiments, some of which are made of sheet metal which may be flexible enough so that it can be bent to permit slight adjustment of alignment of the gun with the ashlight.

An ob-ject of the invention, therefore, is to provide an adapter which will accommodate a conventional liashlight and which will serve as a rest to accurately align the gun with the flashli ht.

gFor further details of the invention reference may be made to the drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation of one form of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the adapter of Fig. 1, the section being taken on line 2--2` of Fig. 3.

Fig. 3 is a View in end elevation of the adapter Fig. 5.

Fig. 8 is a front View in elevation of another modified form of adapter which serves as a rest for the frame of the firearm, and with which the clamp of Fig. 7 may be associated. In other Words, Fig. 8 is a modification of the clamp of Fig. 6.

Fig. 9 is a perspective View of the adapter shown in Fig. 8.

Referring in detail to the drawings, the adapter shown in Figs. l to 4 comprises an adapter I having a socket 2 to receive the end of a conventional ashlight 3. The adapter I is provided with a band 4 which encircles an intermediate portion of the casing 63 of the flashlight 3. Band 4 may be secured to the adapter I by screws such as 5. The adapter I may be cast of a single piece of material such as metal and it has an L shaped recess 6 lying between the spaced parallel L shaped flanges 9 and I0. Recess 6 as shown in Fig. 2, embraces the lower half of the barrel 'I and the sides and front of the frame 8 of the firearm. Flange 9 may be higher than flange I0 as shown in Fig. 3 to guide the barrel 1 laterally into the recess 6. The adapter I has a wall II as shown in Fig. 2 which forms the bottom of the socket 2. On one side of this wall II is a band I2 which supports and surrounds the end of the flashlight 3. The other side of wall II has an angular L shaped support on rest I3 against the vertical portion I4 of which the front of the frame 8 is adapted to flt and rest, and against the top I5 of which the bottom of the frame 8 is adapted to fit and rest. The adapter I, underneath the end of the barrel 'I is provided with a projection I6 having a semi-circular recess 66 to support the end of the barrel 1.

The flashlight 3 may be held in the hand, with the rearm I'I removably resting on the adapter I as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The ashlight 3 may be readily removed from the adapter I by removing one or both of the screws 5 to remove the clamping band 4.

Instead of casting the adapter I of a single piece of metal or other material, with a band 4 therefor, I may make the adapter in the form of two sheet

metal clamping bands

20 and 2| as shown in Fig. 5. Here again the adapter 20 and 2l accommodates a conventional flashlight 3 which may be held in one hand, while the revolver I 'I is held by the other hand. Band 20 as shown in Fig. '7 comprises two similar pieces of sheet metal each having an intermediate semi-circular portion 22-26 which surrounds and fits the casing of the flashlight 3. lThe band portion 22 terminates at its lower end in van apertured lug 23 through which a clamping bolt 24 is adapted to pass, this bolt also passing through a similar apertured lug 25 on the companion band portion 26. The band portions 22 and 26 at their upper ends have radially extending

flat lug portions

21 and 28 respectively, apertured to receive a clamping bolt 29. The

lugs

21 and 28 terminate in

concave portions

30 and 3| to form a substantially semi-circular rest for the end of the barrel 1.

The band 2| may if desired as shown in Fig. 6, be formed of a single piece of sheet metal, having terminal lugs 32 and 33 adapted to be secured by the clamping bolt 34 and having intermediate

semi-circular portions

35 and 36 adapted to encircle and clamp the end of flashlight 3. The

portions

35 and 36 have spaced parallel upwardly extending portions 31 and 38 which are spaced apart to form a recess 39 to receive the front of the frame 8 and the adjoining portion of the barrel 1 as shown in Fig. 5. The lugs 31 and 38 are apertured to receive a clamping bolt 4D which with the bolt 34 may be employed to clamp the adapter 2| around the end of the flashlight 3 as shown in Fig. 5. The lugs 31 and 38 for a portion of the width thereof, have an integral elongated portion which is bent back to form an integral U shaped portion 4 I, with the one leg 42 of the U 4| lying close against the inside of lug 31, and with the other leg 43 of the U 4| lying close against inside of lug 38, and with the bight 44 of the U forming a flat shelf on which the bottom of the frame 8 is adapted to rest. The leg 42 has bent at right angles thereto a lug 45, the back of which serves as a stop for the end of iiashlight 3, and the front of which serves as a rest for the front of frame 8.

In the form shown in Fig. 8, the adapter 50 which is clamped to the end of flashlight 3, and with which the iront clamp of Fig. '1 may be associated, may be formed by drawing or stamping a single flat sheet of metal. If desired, this drawing or stamping may be accomplished in one operation, a T shaped slot may be Cut in the bottom and back of adapter 50 so that the lugs 5| and 52 may be turned out in a second operation, and if desired the nut and

bolt head recesses

53 and 54 may be stamped or formed in a third operation, although this third operation may be omitted if desired. As shown in Figs. 8 and 9, adapter 58 comprises a U shaped side wall 55 which forms a socket to house the end of flashlight 3 which can be inserted into the adapter 50 until the end of the flashlight strikes the other side of the vertical wall 56, the front of which ts and forms a rest for the front of the frame 8. The adapter 58 is provided with a recess 51 resulting in walls 58 and 59 which are spaced apart to embrace the front of frame 8 and the adjacent portion of barrel 1, like the lugs 31 and 38 in Fig. 6. The bottom of recess 51 is somewhat Z shaped, the upper branch 60 of the Z forming a horizontal portion which may not serve as a rest for the firearm as it is not needed for this purpose. The middle branch of the Z comprises the wall 56 before mentioned, and the bottom branch 6I of the Z comprises an extended flat portion like the shelf 44 in Fig. 6 to t and support the bottom of the frame 8. The opposite sides of the wall 55 are apertured to receive a clamping bolt 62 which passes underneath the shelf 60 as shown in Fig. 8. The bolt 62, with the bolt 63 which passes through lugs I and 52 may be employed to clamp the end of a conventional flashlight 3 in the socket provided by the adapter 50.

In the forms shown in Figs. 5 and 9, the various adapters may be made of sheet metal Which is light enough so that it may be bent slightly from the shape shown in order to accommodate the ashlight and support it with its axis parallel to the barrel 1.

It will be understood that the band I2 in Fig. 2, like the

band

35, 36 in Fig. 6, and the band formed by the Wall 55 in Fig. 8, in effect each constitute a ledge which is adapted to underlie and support the end of the flashlight 3. Also, the casing 63 of the ashlight 3 is here shown as cylindrical but it may have other shapes, but in any event it contains all of the usual batteries for the flashlight 3. If more than one battery is employed as is usual, all of these batteries would be in alignment, as distinguished from having two of them offset laterally and arranged at right angles to the axis of the light beam as shown in Fig. 5 of my former patent, and as distinguished from the use of an L shaped flashlight casing as shown in Fig. 8 of that patent.

Various changes may be made in the invention without departing from the spirit of the following claims. For example the various clamping bands shown my be slightly larger than the ashlight so that conventional shims not shown may be employed to adjust the axis of the flashlight into parallel relationship with the barrel 1 when it is in position on the adapter.

I claim:

1. A firearm adapter comprising a socket adapted to receive the end of a ashlight, said socket having a band adapted to surround the end of a flashlight casing, the exterior of said socket having integral therewith spaced side walls with a shelf at the end of said socket providing an open groove to removably receive and support the lower front corner of the frame of a iirearm with the bottom of said corner resting on said shelf opposite the end of the flashlight, means for attachment to another portion of the flashlight, and means providing an open rest for the end of the barrel of the firearm associated with said last mentioned means, said open groove being so located on said socket and said open rest being so located on said attachment means that when said socket and attachment means are in position on a flashlight, said rest and said groove are in position to support the firearm with the axis of the barrel of the rearm substantially parallel to the axis of said flashlight and above the iiashlight when the latter is horizontal, said open groove and said open rest being free from attachment to the rearm and opening outwardly in the plane of the axes of the firearm barrel and the flashlight to permit the rearm to readily separate from said adapter on recoil.

2. A firearm adapter comprising a socket having a band to encircle the end of a conventional ashlight casing, said band having integral therewith and on the exterior thereof a pair of spaced walls extending part way across the end of said band and lengthwise thereof and forming an open groove to receive the sides and front of the frame of a firearm, a shelf between said Walls at the end of said band, means for attachment to an intermediate portion of the flashlight, said attachment means comprising an open rest for the end of the barrel of the firearm, said open groove being so located on said band and said open rest being so located on said attachment means that when said band and attachment means are in position on a iiashlight, said rest and said groove are in position to support the 24a maxaman,

earch Roem rearm with the axis of the barrel of the firearm and substantially parallel to the axis of a fiashsubstantially parallel to the axis of said flashlight and above the flashlight when the latter is horizontal, said open groove and said open rest being free from attachment to the rearm and opening outwardly in the plane of the axes of the firearm barrel and the ashlight to permit the firearm to readily separate from said adapter on recoil.

3. Means for supporting a firearm barrel above light, said means comprising a socket to receive the end of the flashlight, said socket having an external shelf opposite the bottom of said socket, said shelf extending substantially parallel to the axis of said socket and forming a support for the bottom of the frame of the firearm, and external spaced walls on said socket and associated With said shelf for embracing the sides of said frame.

GEORGE W. WHALEY.