Importance

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Abstract

This invention is an airgun that is loaded and fired electronically. It is comprised of an 'electronic decision maker' 12 capable of accepting input and supplying output, sensors (8, 22, 24, 26) to report to the decision maker 12 the condition of various parts of the airgun or the projectile 18 to be fired, and actuators (2, 28, 4) that will effect the operations required to load and fire the airgun and are capable of responding to the commands of the decision maker 12 so it may `oversee` these operations. The present invention will be applicable to paintball, bb, pellet, and other projectile firing airguns. Instead of relying on unreliable and 'dumb' mechanical mechanisms, this airgun senses its projectile 18 and mechanism positions to determine when it can fire, using an electronic decision maker 12. This decision maker 12 can also be used to determine firing rate and velocity, adding more flexibility than a fixed, mechanical determination of these functions. Mechanical airguns cannot be reliable if fully-automatic because their loading mechanism is not consistent enough and will load paint-balls, bbs, pellets, etc., at different rates. Because projectiles 18 load into an airgun's chamber at different rates, a mechanical fully-automatic airgun would often chop its projectile 18 and foul the workings. The present invention will fire on fully automatic only as fast as its sensor 22 detects the projectile 18 presence in the barrel 10. Since the present invention waits for the projectile 18 to fall into the barrel 10 before it works its bolt 38, the electronic airgun should eliminate projectile-chopping. Using an electronic circuit 12 to trigger the airgun gives the electronic airgun the ability to fire full-automatic, three-round burst, or semi-automatic with a flick of a switch. Most prior designs use compressed gas to operate the airgun's mechanisms; since the present invention uses an electrically powered loading mechanism, it will improve compressed gas efficiency and recoil over mechanical designs.

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First Claim