MAGNETICALLY STABILIZED FIREARM SIGHT

Abstract

A sight mechanism for firearms such as pistols, rifles and the like. The sight mechanism includes a sight member that has a rear sight that is vertically adjusted. The sight member can be mounted on a vertically moveable member that has a fixing member that sets the vertical position of the sight member. The vertically moveable member may, without limitation, be a pivoting member. The sight mechanism includes magnets that bias the vertical member against the fixing member so that the magnets maintain the sight at the vertical position defined by the fixing member.

Claims

1. A sight assembly for a firearm comprising: a mounting assembly that is adapted to be attached to a firearm in a fixable relationship with respect to the barrel of the firearm; a swing member that is pivotally attached to the mounting assembly wherein the swing member defines a mounting location; a plate having a sighting aperture formed therein mounted on the mounting location of the swing member, wherein the vertical position of the plate is adjustable by pivoting of the swing member with respect to the mounting assembly; and a magnetic biasing component that urges the swing member away from the mounting assembly to maintain the plate at a desired vertical location.

2. The sight assembly of claim 1 wherein the mounting assembly comprises a mounting plate that is sized to be positioned within a groove formed in the slide of a semiautomatic firearm.

3. The sight assembly of claim 2, wherein the plate includes two brackets and a pivot pin extending between the brackets and wherein the swing member includes an aperture that receives the pin so that the swing member is cantilevered with respect to the pivot pin.

4. The sight assembly of claim 1, wherein the swing includes a vertical adjustment mechanism and a horizontal adjustment mechanism that adjusts the vertical and horizontal location of the aperture of the plate.

5. The sight assembly of claim 4, wherein the horizontal adjustment mechanism comprises a screw that is attached to a member and the member defines a mounting location for the plate such that rotational movement of the screw results in translational movement of the plate.

6. The sight assembly of claim 1, wherein a first member is positioned in the swing member that is adjustable to define a pivoting height of the swing member.

7. The sight assembly of claim 6, wherein the first member comprises a screw that engages with the swing member and the mounting assembly.

8. The sight assembly of claim 6, wherein the magnetic biasing component comprises magnets positioned so as to urge swing member to the pivoting height of the swing.

9. The sight assembly of claim 8, wherein the magnets comprise a first and second set of opposed magnets mounted in the mounting assembly and the swing member.

10. The sight assembly of claim 1, wherein the sighting aperture comprises a slot, an opening or a light projecting component.

11. A sight assembly for a firearm comprising: a mounting assembly that is adapted to be attached to a firearm in a fixable relationship with respect to the barrel of the firearm; a first movement member that is attached to the mounting assembly so as to be movable with respect thereto in a first direction wherein the first movement member defines a mounting location; a sight mounted on the mounting location of the first movement member, wherein a first position of the sight is adjustable by movement of the first movement member with respect to the mounting assembly in the first direction; and a magnetic biasing component that urges the first movement member away from the mounting assembly to maintain the sight at a desired first position.

12. The sight assembly of claim 11, wherein the mounting assembly comprises a mounting plate that is sized to be positioned within a groove formed in the slide of a semiautomatic firearm.

13. The sight assembly of claim 12, wherein the plate includes two brackets and a pivot pin extending between the brackets and wherein the first movement member is a vertical movement member and includes an aperture that receives the pin so that the vertical movement member is cantilevered and pivots with respect to the pivot pin.

14. The sight assembly of claim 13, wherein a fixing member is positioned in the vertical movement member that is adjustable to define a pivoting height of the vertical movement member.

15. The sight assembly of claim 14, wherein the fixing member comprises a screw that engages with the vertical movement member and the mounting assembly.

16. The sight assembly of claim 15, wherein the magnetic biasing component comprises magnets positioned so as to urge vertical movement member to the pivoting height of the vertical movement member.

17. The sight assembly of claim 16, wherein the magnets comprise a first and second set of opposed magnets mounted in the mounting assembly and the vertical movement member.

18. The sight assembly of claim 11, wherein the sight comprises a slot, a closed opening or a light projecting component.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0014] FIG. 1A is a cross-sectional view of a firearm with sight;

[0015] FIG. 1B is a detailed view of a portion of the firearm of FIG. 1A;

[0016] FIG. 2 is an cut-a-way perspective view illustrating the magnetically stabilized sight of FIG. 1B in greater detail; and

[0017] FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the sight in FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0018] Reference will now be made to the drawings wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout. FIG. 1A shows a typical firearm 100 that is equipped with one embodiment of a magnetically stabilized sight 110. In this implementation, the firearm 100 comprises a semiautomatic pistol having a slide 102 but it will be appreciated that the sight 110 described herein can be used with any type of firearm including other types of pistols, rifles, shotguns and the like.

[0019] The sight 110 includes a front sight 110a positioned adjacent a front 104 of the barrel of the firearm and a rear sight 110b that is positioned adjacent the rear 106 of the firearm 100. The firearm 100 in this embodiment comprises a semiautomatic pistol having a barrel 101, a receiver 103, a trigger assembly 105 a grip 107 that houses a magazine 109. In this specific implementation, the front sight 110a and rear sight 110b are mounted on the slide 102 of the pistol but it will be appreciated that the sights can be mounted directly to the barrel of a firearm or onto the outer housing of a receiver of a firearm without departing from the spirit and scope of the present teachings.

[0020] As is also shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the rear sight 110b includes a plate or sight member 114 that defines a sighting aperture 112 and the plate 114 is mounted so as to generally be perpendicular to the axis of the barrel of the firearm. The front sight 110a includes a blade or other upwardly extending protrusion. The shooter sights the firearm 100 by looking through the aperture 112 and moving the firearm 100 so that the front sight 110a appears in the aperture 112 and then the aligned front sight 110a and rear sight 110b are aligned with a desired point of aim of the firearm.

[0021] The aperture 112 is shown as a vertically extending slot; however, it will be appreciated that any of a number of known aperture configurations, including circular openings, other forms of grooves, projection-type sights and optical or lighted sights can be used without departing from the spirit of the present invention. Similarly, the front sight 110a can also have a plurality of different configurations known in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the instant application.

[0022] The rear sight 110b is mounted to the firearm via a mounting assembly 120 which, in this implementation, includes a mounting plate 122 that is positioned within a groove 123 that is formed on the slide 102 of the firearm 100. It will, however, be appreciated that various other mounting methods can be used to mount the rear sight 110b to the firearm without departing from the spirit of the instant application. In this application, the plate 114 is attached to the mounting plate 122 via a swing 124 that is preferably pivotally mounted to a pivot pin 126 captured between two mounting brackets 130 of the mounting plate 122. This pivotable attachment permits the swing 124 to be moved vertically upwards and downwards with respect to the mounting assembly 120 to thereby adjust the vertical height of the plate 114 in the manner that will be described in greater detail below.

[0023] The swing 124 has a pivot member 132 with an aperture 134 that receives the pivot pin 126. The pivot member 132 widens into an adjustment housing 136 that houses a horizontal or windage adjustment mechanism 142 and also defines a mounting location for the plate 114 at the outer end of the adjustment housing 136. The mounting location 140 receives the plate or sight member 114 having the aperture 112 in such as way that the plate 114 can be moved by the shooter in the horizontal or windage direction by manipulation of the horizontal adjustment mechanism 142.

[0024] The adjustment housing 136 includes a slot 146 that is bigger than the slot 112 formed in the plate 114 so that the plate 114 can be adjusted horizontally with respect to the slot 146 while still maintaining a sight path the front sight. The horizontal adjustment mechanism 142 includes an adjustment screw 150 that engages with a movable block 152 and the plate 114 is mounted to the block 152. The adjustment screw 150 can be spring biased but rotational movement of the adjustment screw 150 results in horizontal movement of the block 152 and of the plate 114 that is mounted thereto.

[0025] As is also shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the rear sight 110b also includes a vertical adjustment assembly 156 that includes a vertical adjustment screw 160 that extends through the swing part 124 and engages with the mounting plate 122 or a component of the assembly 110b fixed to the mounting plate 122 or the slide 102. The location of the flanges 161 of the vertical adjustment screw 160 defines the amount of vertical travel that the swing part 124 can pivot. However, the swing part 124 is biased by gravity toward the mounting plate 122 when the firearm 100 is maintained in a horizontal direction.

[0026] To address this, one or more magnets 162a are mounted in the mounting plate 122 and oppositely charged magnets 162b are mounted in the swing part 124. The oppositely charged magnets magnetically repel each other and urge the swing part 124 up against the lip of the vertical adjustment screw 160 to maintain the swing part 124, and thus the plate 114 with the aperture 112 at a desired orientation. In this implementation, there are opposed pairs of magnets 162 positioned on either side of the vertical adjustment screw 160 In one embodiment, the magnets 162a are 0.125 in diameter, have a height 0.0625 and have a strength of 5,233 Gauss and the magnets 162b are also 0.125 in diameter, have a height of 0.0625 and have a strength of 6,619 Gauss.

[0027] Since the magnets 162 form magnetic fields the repulsive forces are not as affected by the arc motion of the swing part 124 as it pivots about the pivot pin 126. Consequently, the vertical position of the plate 114 with the aperture 112 can be positioned more precisely with less binding than with systems that use linear springs as the biasing member to urge a pivoting member upwards along an arc to the height set by the vertical adjustment screw 160.

[0028] Although the foregoing has shown, illustrated and described various embodiments and implementations of the present invention it will be apparent by those of ordinary skill in the art that various substitutions, changes and variations of the uses thereof may be made without departing from either the scope or teachings of the present invention. Consequently, the present invention should not be limited to the foregoing but should be defined by the appended claims.