US3700339A - Gun sight - Google Patents

Abstract

A sight for use with a firearm which sight includes a flourescent reticle mounted in a holder which also carries a collimating lens operative to direct the image of the reticle along parallel lines to the eye of the shooter. The sight is sufficiently small, and is designed for use at a distance of three to four feet from the eye of the shooter so as to obscure very little of the image of the target from the field of vision of the shotter''s eye, thereby permitting a shooter to use the sight with either one eye or two eyes open.

Description

lUwZ 't-YZ )UK 3970 9 gaf g x'll United States Patent [1 1 3,700,339 Steck, III 1 Oct. 24, 1972 [54] GUN SIGHT 3,346,962 10/ 1967 Luebkeman ..33/52 2,706,335 4/1955 Munsey ..33/47 [72] suck El 3,184,851 5/1965 Simmons ..33/47 [73] Assignee: W. R. Weaver Company 3,098,303 7/ I963 Plisk ..33/52 [22] Filed 1971 Primary Examiner-Ronald L. Wibert [21] Appl. No.: 157,868 Assistant Examiner-V. P. McGraw Attorney-Donald R. Motsko et al.

Related US. Application Data [63] Continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 130,677, [57] ABSTRACT April 1, 1971. A sight for use with a firearm which sight includes a flourescent reticle mounted in a holder which also car- [52] US. Cl. ..356/247, 33/233, 33/241 ries a collimating lens operative to direct the image of [51] Int. Cl ..F41g 1/00, F41 g 11/00 the reticle al ng parallel lines to the eye of the 5 Field f Search 355 247; 33/47 52, 2 5 233 shooter. The sight is sufficiently small, and is designed 3 3 [241 242, 243 for use at a distance of three to four feet from the eye of the shooter so as to obscure very little of the image of the target from the field of vision of the shotters [56] References cued eye, thereby permitting a shooter to use the sight with UNITED STATES PATENTS either one eye or two eyes open.

3,362,074 I 1/ 1968 Luebkeman et al. ..356/247 4 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures Patented Oct. 24, 1972 3,700,339

2 Sheets-Sheet 1 WILL/AMP STECK H INVENTOR ATTORN EY Patcnted Oct. 24, 1972 3,700,339

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 PRIOR ART FIG-Z WILL/AM F STECK H INVENTOR I BY wwwgm ATTORNEY GUN SIGHT This application is a continuation-in-part of my copending application Ser. No. 130,677, filed Apr. l, 1971.

This invention concerns a collimated bead sight for use with small arms firearms and other projectile launching devices.

Sighting devices have long been known which include a reticle or aiming point, the image of which is collimated with a collimating lens or concave mirror and projected toward the eye of the viewer along parallel paths. Such collimating sights are advantageous for short range shooting where no magnification is needed because the image of the reticle is projected out to an infinite point in space and is therefore always on target. Such sights also eliminate parallax with the result that the reticle image stays on the target even if the viewer moves his head.

The collimating sights of the prior art are of two general types, both of which are designed for use with a generally short eye relief, and are therefore usually mounted on the receiver portion of a rifle or shotgun in close proximity to the eye of the shooter. The first general type of collimator sight of the prior art is represented by the disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 1,442,015, issued in 1919 to E.D. Tillyer. This type of sight includes a collimated reticle within a tube about one to two inches in diameter, with the front end of the tube being opaque. As a result, the sight blocks most or all of the target from the field of view of the sighting eye of the shooter, and the sight must be used with both eyes of the shooter open. Thus the shooter sees the reticle of the sight with one eye and the target with the other eye and must rely on his own binocular ability to superimpose the two images. When a person uses a sight of this type where one eye looks at the reticle and the other eye looks at the field, the phenomenon of exophoria tends to frustrate the effort by causing the reticle image to drift over the field image, or to disappear altogether. Exophoria is a latent inability of one eye to attain binocular vision with the other eye because of inbalance of the extrinsic eye muscles, whereby the visual axes tend outward toward the temple. Thus the first general type of collimator sights are difiicult if not imv ophoria, however, these sights tend to be fragile when subjected to recoil forces, and are also expensive to manufacture.

The collimating sight of this invention is adapted so as to be usable by a shooter with either one eye or both eyes open, and is preferred to be used at a distance of from about 3 to about 4 feet from the eye of the shooter. The sight is sufficiently small in size so as not to obscure the target even when only one eye is used by the shooter to sight in on the target. Thus the sight of this invention combines the advantages of both a collimating sight and a bead sight, but eliminates many disadvantages of each of these types of sights.

It is therefore, an object of this invention to provide a collimating sight for use with a firearm, or the like, which can be used by a shooter with either one eye or both eyes open.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a sight of the character described which is sufficiently small so as not to obscure the target when the sight is used with only one eye of the shooter open thus making it possible to shoot with one eye or two.

It is still another object of this invention to provide a sight of the character described which is brightly colored and can be seen by only one eye when used by a shooter with both eyes open.

It is yet another object of this invention to provide a sight of the character described which is durable, inexpensive to manufacture, of simple construction, and yet reliable for short range shooting.

These and other objects and advantages of the sighting device of this invention will become more readily apparent from the following detailed disclosure of several preferred embodiments thereof along with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a preferred embodiment of the sighting device of this invention;

FIG. 2 is an end view of the device of FIG. 1 taken from the left-hand side of FIG. 1 and showing the reticle image as viewed through the collimating lens;

FIG. 3 is a view of the sighting device as it appears mounted on'a rifle or shotgun;

FIG. 4 is a view of the sighting device as it appears mounted on a handgun;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of another embodiment of the sight of this invention;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a third embodiment of the sight of this invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic representation of the area of the field which is obscured from sight of the viewing eye by the prior art sighting devices which require use of both eyes of the observer; and

FIG. 8 is a schematic representation similar to FIG. 7 but showing the field area obscured by the sighting device of this invention.

Referring now to FIG. 1, the sight includes a tubular housing member 2 having its forward end closed off by a plug member 4 with a through aperture 6. A cylindri cal body 8 of an acrylic polymer material is mounted in the aperture 6. An inner end wall 10 of the body 8 preferably is substantially coplanar with the inner end wall 12 of the plug 4. Theforward portion of the body 8 projects forwardly free from the plug 4 so as to expose a substantial amount of the sidewall 14 of the body 8 to ambient light. The acrylic polymer material from which the body 8 is formed has the capability of absorbing light through its sidewall 14 and piping the absorbed light outwardly through the end wall 10. The acrylic polymer also preferably includes a colored fluorescent dye material which increases the brightness of the end wall of the body 8 and gives it a distinctive color, such as orange, for example, as compared to the surrounding field of view. Thus the end wall 10 of the body 8 serves as a reticle which is illuminated by absorbed ambient light and which is brightly visible within the interior of the tube 2 darkened by the plug 4. Collimating lens means 16 is mounted in the tube 2 and spaced apart from the reticle 10 at a distance equal to the focal length of the collimating lens 16 so that the lens 16 is focussed on the reticle 10 and provides a magnified image of the latter. Since the lens 16 is a collimating lens, the reticle image 10 (See FIG. 2) appears to be at infinity to the eye of a viewer looking at the image 10 through the lens 16. Furthermore, the image 10' of the reticle is projected rearwardly toward the eye of the observer along substantially parallel paths P, the limits of which are shown in phantom in FIG. 1, so that the image 10' will move laterally over the surface of the lens 16 if the eye of the shooter moves laterally when viewing the target. Thus the device is free of parallax. The lens 16 is preferably recessed a distance d from the rear end surface 3 of the tube 2, which distance d shrouds the rear surface of the lens 16 and prevents external reflections from being transmitted to the eye of the viewer by the lens 16. The external diameter of the tube 2 is preferably in the range of about 0.150 to 0.200 inch so as to provide minimal obscuring of the target, and the diameter of the reticle image 10' is preferable about one-half to two-thirds the diameter of the tube 10 so as to be clearly visible to the shooter while providing some lateral movement to compensate for minor lateral movement of the shooters head during aiming and firing.

Since the collimating lens 16 projects the reticle image 10' rearwardly along parallel lines, only one eye of the shooter, e.g., that eye aligned with the gun barrel, can see the reticle image 10' at one time. Thus there is no problem of double image of the reticle for a shooter who keeps both eyes open when firing, as there is with a common bead sight. Furthermore, the parallel projection of the reticle l prevents the shooter from even seeing the reticle unless his head is properly positioned with respect to the stock of the gun, and eliminates the need of a rear sight, which must be used with a bead sight for proper alignment thereof. Thus the sighting device of this invention forces the shooter to position his head properly on the firearm, and eliminates the need of a rear alignment sight required with a bead sight.

FIG. 3 illustrates the manner in which the sighting device of FIG. 1 is mounted on a rifle or shotgun G, as compared to the collimating sights of the prior art A (shown in phantom). The sight S is mounted near the muzzle of the gun G so as to be three to four feet from the eyes of the shooter, while the prior art sight A is mounted on the receiver of the gun, close to the eye of the shooter. The sight S can be secured to the gun G in any known manner.

FIG. 4 shows the sight S in use with a handgun H. Since the handgun H is commonly held at arms length from the head of the shooter, the sight S may be mounted anywhere on the handgun H and, when used, will be positioned about 3 feet from the eye of the shooter.

FIG. shows a second embodiment of a sighting device formed in accordance with this invention. The device includes a tubular housing member 18 having a through bore 20 in which is mounted a colored, fluorescent acrylic polymer rod 22. The housing 18 has a portion of its side wall cut away, as at 24, to form a window which exposes the side of the rod 22 to ambient light. Ambient light absorbed into the rod 22 through the sidewall thereof is internally reflected, converted to fluorescent light, and piped out through the end wall 26 of the rod. A collimating lens 28 is mounted in the end of the housing 18 and is focussed on the end wall 26 of the rod 22. The lens 28 transmits a collimated image of the rod end wall 26 along parallel paths P toward the eye of the observer.

FIG. 6 shows a third embodiment of the invention which includes a plate 30 which is secured to the firearm. A rod 32 of colored, fluorescent plastic is secured to the plate 30 by means of bands 34. Other attaching means such as clips, adhesive, or the like may be used in place of the bands 34. If adhesive is used, however, it has been found that no adhesive should be located close to the reticle-forming end wall 36 of the rod 32, as adhesive in this area tends to diffuse and dim the brilliance of the end wall 36. A collimating lens 38 is mounted on the plate 30 and focussed on the end wall 36 of of the rod 32, the lens 38 being held in place by a band 40 or other securement. The device of FIG. 6 operates in the same manner as previously described for the other embodiments.

FIGS. 7 and 8 are schematic representations showing the field area obscured by the prior art collimating sights of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,442,015 and by the sight of this invention.

The prior art sight A normally has a diameter of about 1 to 2 inches and is mounted near the eye of the observer. In normal use, the prior art sight A subtends an angle X at the eye of the observer of about 12to about 16. The sight A thus obscures, in the field of view at 40 years, a circle having a diameter D of about 25 to about 34 feet. The sight S of this invention is sized and positioned with respect to the eye of the viewer so as to subtend an angle Y therewith in the range of about O.25to about 0.50", thus obscuring a circular field area at 40 yards having a diameter D in the range of about 6 inches to about 12 inches. Thus the sight S of this invention can be used with only one open eye open to sight trap and skeet targets, game birds, varmints, and other larger game without having the target obscured by the sight, while the prior art collimating sights of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 1,442,015 could not be used with only one eye open to sight a target smaller than a dinosauer.

It is apparent that the sight of this invention is of simple, durable construction, and is very inexpensive to manufacture. The sight features the advantages of both a bead sight and a collimating sight, but is free of many of the disadvantages of the two types of sights. The sight can be used by a shooter with either one or both eyes open, will not obscure the target, and results in automatic proper placement of the head of the shooter on the gun.

Since many changes and variations of the disclosed embodiment of the invention may be made without de parting from the inventive concept, it is not intended to limit the :invention otherwise than as required by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A sighting device for use with a projectile launcher, said device comprising:

a. a tubular housing having a darkened interior portion;

b. a plastic rod mounted in said housing, said rod having a colored end wall portion recessed in said darkened interior of said housing, said rod further having a side wall portion for absorbing ambient light, said rod transmitting absorbed ambient light to said end wall portion to illuminate the latter within said darkened interior portion of said housportion; and

e. said housing being sized so as to subtend an angle in the range of about 0.25 to about 050 at the eye of a viewer when positioned about 3 feet therefrom,

whereby said device obscures a minimum area of a field of view seen by the viewers eye. a

2. The sighting device of claim 1, wherein said plastic rod contains a colored fluorescent material.

3. The sighting device of claim 1, wherein said housing has an outside diameter which is less than about 0.200inch and the collimated image of said rod end wall has a diameter which is in the range of about onehalf to two-thirds the diameter of said housing.

4. The sighting device of claim 1, wherein said means associated with said rod to expose said side wall portion of said rod to ambient light is a window cut into a wall of said housing.

3 Dated October 24, 1972 Inventofls) William F. Steak, III

It is certified that error appears in the abofie-identifiefl patent and that saifi Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

In Column 3, line 33, please insert after "reticle" --image--.

SignedJan -d sealed this 26th day of June 1973.

(SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD MJLETCHERJR. Q ROBERT GOTTSCHALK Attestlng Offlcer Commissioner of Patents a FORM PO-1O50(10-69) u.s GOVEIIIEIT PIIITIIG orrlcc 1 1m o-awuc

Claims (4)

1. A sighting device for use with a projectile launcher, said device comprising: a. a tubular housing having a darkened interior portion; b. a plastic rod mounted in said housing, said rod having a colored end wall portion recessed in said darkened interior of said housing, said rod further having a side wall portion for absorbing ambient light, said rod transmitting absorbed ambient light to said end wall portion to illuminate the latter within said darkened interior portion of said housing; c. means associated with said rod to expose said side wall portion of said rod to ambient light; d. collimating means connected to said housing and focussed upon said end wall portion of said rod to transmit a collimated image of said rod end wall portion; and e. said housing being sized so as to subtend an angle in the range of about 0.25* to about 0.50* at the eye of a viewer when positioned about 3 feet therefrom, whereby said device obscures a minimum area of a field of view seen by the viewer''s eye.

2. The sighting device of claim 1, wherein said plastic rod contains a colored fluorescent material.

3. The sighting device of claim 1, wherein said housing has an outside diameter which is less than about 0.200inch and the collimated image of said rod end wall has a diameter which is in the range of about one-half to two-thirds the diameter of said hoUsing.

4. The sighting device of claim 1, wherein said means associated with said rod to expose said side wall portion of said rod to ambient light is a window cut into a wall of said housing.

Images