High Performance Launcher of Short Projectiles with Piston Nozzle Spring

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 18/265,619, filed Jun. 6, 2023 and entitled “HIGH PERFORMANCE LAUNCHER OF SHORT PROJECTILES WITH PISTON NOZZLE SPRING,” which in turn is a U.S. national phase claiming priority to and the benefit of PCT Application No. PCT/SG2021/050250, filed May 5, 2021 and entitled “HIGH PERFORMANCE LAUNCHER OF SHORT PROJECTILES WITH PISTON NOZZLE SPRING,” which in turn claims the benefit of and priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/127,442, filed on Dec. 18, 2020, entitled “HIGH PERFORMANCE LAUNCHER OF SHORT PROJECTILES WITH PISTON NOZZLE SPRING,” the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

The present disclosure is generally related to a toy projectile launcher, such as a toy pistol, gun, and the like, for launching toy projectiles, such as foam bullets, darts, balls, and the like, with a simplified construction and improved performance.

Traditional toy projectile launchers have utilized various forms of rifles, pistols, blasters, machine guns, and the like, for launching toy projectiles, such as foam balls and darts. Such toy launchers have varied, for example, in size, power, and storage capacity. More specifically, toy launchers of foam projectiles—bullets (or “darts”), balls, and the like—have become ubiquitous. One standard for foam bullets has been marketed under the brand name Nerf® with a rubber tip and a foam body that totals approximately 71.5 mm in length. There have been various types of rifles, machine guns, and the like, that have been marketed for launching such foam projectiles.

The caps of the toy darts are generally made of a material other than foam that allows the dart to be shot from the launcher at a targeted person or object and/or propelled over an appropriate distance at a relatively quick speed.

Conventional dart guns have traditionally been marketed to pre-teen children for casual play. More recently, in conjunction with the advent of special event war games—such as paintball, laser tag, and the like—more high-powered launchers have been developed to target enthusiasts for such special events using foam darts.

As an example, launchers having metal barrels, instead of plastic ones, have been used for improved launching velocity. Such launchers and darts are usually dimensioned to have a very small clearance between the inner diameter of the barrel of the launcher and the outer diameter of the dart so as to provide improved launching speed and accuracy.

With the above-mentioned metal-barreled launchers, there is still a need to further improve the launching force of the projectiles.

To address the above, the present disclosure is generally related to an improved toy launcher for launching high performance foam darts. According to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, one or more sealing mechanisms are provided to improve airtight seals from an air piston mechanism to a launch barrel of a toy projectile launcher. To that end, a launcher may include a mechanism for priming a high performance foam dart from a storage compartment into a firing position in a launch barrel while forming an airtight seal between an air piston nozzle and the launch barrel, thus improving the launch force on the primed dart. For example, co-pending U.S. Patent Application Nos. 63/020,086 and 63/112,213 disclose respective launchers in pistol configurations that include a mechanism for priming darts stored in a storage handle or a cartridge into a firing position in the launch barrel of the pistol launchers. (The contents of U.S. Patent Application Nos. 63/020,086 and 63/112,213 are incorporated herein by reference.) In the disclosed launchers, an air piston assembly is movable by a cocking slide in a two-step loading/priming motion, where the air piston assembly retracts upon pulling back on the cocking slide, which allows a top dart in the storage compartment (handle or cartridge) to be lifted to a position in front of the air piston assembly and where the air piston assembly pushes forward, upon a push forward on the cocking slide, so that a front air nozzle of the air piston assembly pushes the top dart into the launch barrel and forms an airtight seal with the launch barrel behind the primed dart.

While such pistol launchers provide improved launching force and accuracy, in play, hobbyists would prefer a large capacity blaster. Larger storage capacities would extend their blasting between reloadings. However, a magazine clip or storage handle can only be extended up to a point; beyond which, it would become unwieldy, due to its length. Co-pending U.S. Patent Application No. 63/066,389 discloses a launcher in a submachine gun configuration that incorporates a feeding mechanism for priming darts stored in a cartridge that is received in the launcher in a parallel direction to a firing direction of the launcher. (The contents of U.S. Patent Application No. 63/066,389 are incorporated herein by reference.) Accordingly, this submachine gun launcher provides for a higher capacity magazine clip that does not extend orthogonally from the launcher and, therefore, provides higher capacity without becoming unwieldly. Still, all of the high-performance launchers with dart priming and launch barrel seals can still only hold 20 darts at most.

To address the above, the present disclosure provides for a mechanism to accommodate an air piston nozzle that reaches through a storage drum to prime darts stored in the storage drum and to form an airtight seal with a launch barrel in front of the storage drum. Advantageously, an effective and high-performance blaster may be realized that provides high velocity and accurate projectile launching while allowing for a high capacity storage drum. The present disclosure provides for a resilient mechanism that holds each foam dart in place in a storage area without necessitating any reduction of the diameter of the drum cylinders normally resulting from the incorporation of a retaining wall at the rear of each dart holding cylinder in a conventional storage drum. The resilient mechanism allows an air piston nozzle having a maximum diameter that enables the air piston nozzle to reach through the storage area and to form a sealed connection with the launch barrel. The use of an air piston nozzle that is sufficiently large in cross section enables the nozzle to form a direct airtight connection to the launch barrel.

In particular, the present disclosure is directed to a toy launcher with a simple construction for an improved integrated launcher with a two-step loading/priming and firing mechanism that incorporates improved airtight seals among elements of the launcher for realizing high launching force for compact projectiles and allows for a higher capacity storage drum.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the toy launcher includes a projectile holder, a launch barrel, an air piston assembly, and a cocking slide, wherein at least the projectile holder and the air piston assembly are coupled to the cocking slide.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the air piston assembly includes an air piston barrel, a plunger element, and a compression spring.

In embodiments, the toy launcher includes a coupling between the cocking slide and the air piston barrel.

In embodiments, the air piston barrel is movable to a backward position when the cocking slide is moved to the backward position.

In embodiments, a front portion of the air piston barrel pushes the plunger element to compress the compression spring against the rear wall of the toy launcher when the cocking slide is moved to the backward position.

In embodiments, the projectile holder includes a projectile advancement mechanism for advancing a next loaded projectile in the projectile holder into a priming position in front of the air piston barrel.

In embodiments, the projectile holder includes a plurality of resilient projectile stoppers that each abut a portion of a respective projectile loaded in the projectile holder.

In embodiments, the plunger element and the air piston barrel form an internal air chamber when the cocking slide is moved from the backward position to a forward position.

In embodiments, a front portion of the air piston barrel includes an air nozzle, wherein the air nozzle is moved forward to form an airtight seal between the air piston barrel and a launch barrel when the cocking slide is moved from the backward position to the forward position.

In embodiments, each of the resilient projectile stoppers includes a surface disposed to face and be pushed by the front air nozzle when the air piston barrel is pushed forward by a return of the cocking slide from the backward portion to the forward position.

In embodiments, each resilient projectile stopper, when pushed by the front air nozzle, flexes outward to make way for front nozzle to extend through the projectile holder.

In embodiments, the front air nozzle connects to the launch barrel through the projectile holder when the cocking slide is moved to the forward position.

In embodiments, the front air nozzle forms an airtight connection to the launch barrel via an airtight seal with a barrel interface section connected to the launch barrel when the cocking slide is in the forward position.

In embodiments, the front air nozzle pushes a next loaded projectile from the projectile holder into a firing position in the barrel interface section in front of the airtight seal.

In embodiments, the plunger element is pushed forward by the compression spring to expel the air from the internal air chamber through the front air nozzle on the front portion of the air piston barrel behind the next loaded projectile in the firing position when the coupling of the latching assembly between the plunger element and the trigger assembly is released.

In embodiments, in the firing position, the air nozzle on the front end of the air piston barrel is immediately adjacent the projectile.

In embodiments, a toy projectile launcher comprises a projectile container containing a plurality of projectile holders, each projectile holder configured to contain a loaded projectile, wherein the projectile container includes a plurality of resilient projectile stoppers, wherein each resilient projectile stopper abuts a portion of a respective projectile loaded in a respective projectile holder; a cocking slide that is adapted to be moved forward and backward; and a housing, the housing having disposed therein: a launch barrel; an air piston assembly, the air piston assembly including an air piston barrel having an air nozzle disposed on a front portion thereof, a plunger element, and a compression spring; wherein the projectile container, the launch barrel, and the air piston assembly are each coupled to the cocking slide; wherein, when the cocking slide is moved backward from a forward position to a back-ward position: a front portion of the air piston barrel moves backward and pushes the plunger element to compress the compression spring against a rear wall of the housing, wherein the plunger element and compression spring are held in place by a latching mechanism; and a projectile advancement mechanism engages the projectile container and advances a next projectile holder containing a loaded projectile into a firing position in front of the air piston barrel; and wherein, when the cocking slide is moved forward from the backward position to the forward position: the front portion of the air piston barrel moves forward, forming an internal air chamber between the front portion of the air piston barrel and the plunger element; and the air nozzle moves forward to form an airtight seal between the air piston barrel and the launch barrel, wherein a front portion of the air nozzle engages a trailing surface of one of the plurality of resilient projectile stoppers, wherein, upon said engagement by the front portion of the air nozzle, the one of the plurality of resilient projectile stoppers flexes outward to allow the front portion of the air nozzle to extend through the next projectile holder, wherein the front portion of the air nozzle pushes the loaded projectile in the next projectile holder from the next projectile holder into the launch barrel, and wherein the front portion of the air nozzle connects to the launch barrel to form an airtight seal between the air piston barrel and the launch barrel.

In embodiments, the front portion of the air nozzle pushes the loaded projectile from the next projectile holder into a firing position in front of the air-tight seal between the launch barrel and the air piston barrel.

In embodiments, the plunger element is sized to form an airtight seal with an internal surface of the air piston barrel.

In embodiments, the plunger element incorporates a resilient O-ring to form the airtight seal between the plunger element and the internal surface of the air piston barrel.

In embodiments, the internal surface of the air piston barrel has incorporated thereon a resilient ring, wherein the resilient ring forms an airtight seal be-tween the plunger element and the internal surface of the air piston barrel.

In embodiments, the plurality of resilient projectile stoppers comprises a plurality of S-shaped cantilever springs.

In embodiments, the latching assembly is coupled between the plunger element and a trigger assembly, wherein the trigger assembly is adapted to be pulled backward by a user of the toy projectile launcher.

In embodiments, when the trigger assembly is pulled backward, the coupling of the latching assembly between the plunger element and trigger assembly is released, and the plunger element is pushed forward by the compression spring to expel air from the internal air chamber through the air nozzle disposed on the front portion of the air piston barrel behind the loaded projectile in the firing position.

In embodiments, the projectiles are foam darts.

In embodiments, a toy projectile launcher comprises a projectile container containing a plurality of projectile holders, each projectile holder configured to contain a loaded projectile, wherein the projectile container includes a plurality of resilient projectile stoppers, wherein each resilient projectile stopper abuts a portion of a respective projectile loaded in a respective projectile holder; a cocking slide that is adapted to be moved forward and backward; and a housing, the housing having disposed therein: a launch barrel; a launch barrel interface section coupled to the launch barrel; and an air piston assembly, the air piston assembly including an air piston barrel having an air nozzle disposed on a front portion thereof, a plunger element, and a compression spring; wherein the projectile container, the launch barrel, and the air piston assembly are each coupled to the cocking slide; wherein, when the cocking slide is moved backward from a forward position to a back-ward position: a front portion of the air piston barrel moves backward and pushes the plunger element to compress the compression spring against a rear wall of the housing, wherein the plunger element and compression spring are held in place by a latching mechanism; and a projectile advancement mechanism engages the projectile container and advances a next projectile holder containing a loaded projectile into a firing position in front of the air piston barrel; and wherein, when the cocking slide is moved forward from the backward position to the forward position: the front portion of the air piston barrel moves forward, forming an internal air chamber between the front portion of the air piston barrel and the plunger element; and a front portion of the air nozzle forms an airtight connection with the launch barrel via an airtight seal between the launch barrel interface section and the front portion of the air nozzle, wherein the front portion of the air nozzle engages a trailing surface of one of the plurality of resilient projectile stoppers, wherein, upon said engagement by the front portion of the air nozzle, the one of the plurality of resilient projectile stoppers flexes outward to allow the front portion of the air nozzle to extend through the next projectile holder, wherein the front portion of the air nozzle pushes the loaded projectile in the next projectile holder from the next projectile holder into the launch barrel interface section.

In embodiments, the front portion of the air nozzle pushes the loaded projectile from the next projectile holder into a firing position in the launch barrel interface section in front of the airtight seal between the launch barrel interface section and the air nozzle.

In embodiments, the launch barrel interface section has a rounded taper at a rear trailing interior edge thereof.

In embodiments, the air nozzle has incorporated thereon an O-ring around an outer circumference of the air nozzle, wherein the O-ring of the air nozzle forms a seal around an internal circumference of the launch barrel interface section.

In embodiments, the plunger element is sized to form an air-tight seal with an internal surface of the air piston barrel.

In embodiments, the plunger element incorporates a resilient O-ring to form the airtight seal between the plunger element and the internal surface of the air piston barrel.

In embodiments, the internal surface of the air piston barrel has incorporated thereon a resilient ring, wherein the resilient ring forms an airtight seal between the plunger element and the internal surface of the air piston barrel.

In embodiments, the plurality of resilient projectile stoppers comprises a plurality of S-shaped cantilever springs.

In embodiments, the latching assembly is coupled between the plunger element and a trigger assembly, wherein the trigger assembly is adapted to be pulled backward by a user of the toy projectile launcher.

In embodiments, when the trigger assembly is pulled back-ward, the coupling of the latching assembly between the plunger element and trigger assembly is released, and the plunger element is pushed forward by the compression spring to expel air from the internal air chamber through the air nozzle disposed on the front portion of the air piston barrel behind the loaded projectile in the firing position.

In embodiments, the projectiles are foam darts.

In embodiments, a drum for use with a projectile launcher having a launch barrel, an air piston barrel, and an air nozzle, comprises a front element including a plurality of projectile holders, wherein each of the plurality of projectile holders is configured to hold a projectile; a rear element; and a plurality of resilient projectile stoppers, each resilient projectile stopper corresponding to one of the plurality of projectile holders, wherein each resilient projectile stopper has a front surface that is maintained at least partially inside of a corresponding projectile holder and abuts a rear surface of a projectile held in the corresponding projectile holder so as to maintain the projectile within the corresponding projectile holder; wherein each of the plurality of projectile holders has a front opening and a rear opening through which the air nozzle of the projectile launcher can extend, wherein each resilient projectile stopper has a trailing surface configured to be engaged by the air nozzle and, in response to the engagement, to flex away from the corresponding projectile holder and allow the air nozzle to extend through the corresponding projectile holder and push the projectile out of the corresponding projectile holder and into the launch barrel of the projectile launcher, and wherein an outer diameter of the air nozzle is substantially the same as an inner diameter of the corresponding projectile holder so as to maintain an airtight seal from the launch barrel to the air piston barrel.

In embodiments, the drum further comprises at least one notch incorporated on the rear element, the at least one notch adapted for engagement with a hook element of an advancement block of the projectile launcher, wherein, upon engagement between the hook element and the notch, the drum rotates to advance a next projectile holder into a firing position within the projectile launcher.

In embodiments, the drum further comprises a plurality of spring assemblies, each spring assembly anchoring one or more of the plurality of resilient projectile stoppers to the drum.