The United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives estimates that there are about 300 million guns in the United States. Every year, thousands of unintentional deaths and injuries occur because of improper handling including the handling of firearms that are improperly secured. Between 1999 and 2010 , over 8,300 people in the United States were reported as dying from unintentional shootings, including 2,383 children and young people between the ages of 0 and 21 years old.
There is a constant demand by consumers for an improved locking device that is both affordable and convenient. Many of the options currently available to lock or disable a firearm from being fired focus on disabling various parts of the firearm. For example, a popular item currently sold in gun shops is a trigger blocking device that is installed by screwing together two pieces using a special screwdriver having two small points. This device offers protection for the person who is concerned about young children handling or playing with the firearm unsupervised, but a teenager with mechanical skills can easily shape a piece of metal with which to remove the screw, or even remove the screw with a pointed instrument, and thereby defeat the device. Furthermore, a trigger blocking device does not prevent either the loading or the cocking of the firearm, which might then be discharged in consequence of receiving a sharp blow as in being dropped. Locking devices that offer consumers additional uses or benefits in combination with locking the firearm would be considered as beneficial.
When a bullet is fired in a gun, explosive chemicals inside the cartridge are ignited. Inside the barrel of most modern guns there are precision spiral cut grooves, called riflings, which cause the bullet to rotate as it passes down the barrel and over the rifling. The rotation of the bullet as it leaves the barrel greatly enhances the accuracy of its flight. As the bullet passes through the gun barrel, it touches the side of the gun barrel and leaves traces of metal. In addition to metal deposited by the bullet, the expanding gasses of combustion leave particle and film residues on the inside of the barrel. Both of these deposits can build up with repeated firings. In an extreme condition, deposits of bullet material as well as residues of combustion can build up on the walls of the gun barrel to a point that accuracy is affected and back pressures may become dangerously high.
To prevent this buildup of material inside the gun barrel, deposits within the gun barrel must be removed by cleaning. Traditionally, cleaning of gun barrels is accomplished either by forcing a wire brush through the gun barrel, or by forcing an oiled or solvent saturated cloth through the gun barrel. Often these operations are performed sequentially. One widely used method for cleaning gun barrels in this manner is by the use of a rigid aluminum rod which is in short sections approximately 8″ long. The ends of each section are threaded and screwed together. On the end of an assembled rod, utensils are screwed into the rod. These utensils can include a wire brush or a slotted metal tool into which a cloth patch or swab is inserted. Solvent can be applied to the cloth patch or brush to help loosen hardened residues in the barrel. The metal brush is pushed completely through the barrel and pulled out again. The metal brush is most effective in loosening metal particles and other hardened residues inside the gun barrel. After the barrel has been subjected to cleaning with a metal brush, multiple clean swabs are usually run through the barrel to absorb the solvent and loosened residue. The final step in the process is usually another clean swab to which a small amount of light gun oil is applied. This leaves a layer of oil on the metal of the barrel to protect from rust and corrosion.
The use of a sectional rod with utensils at its end has several disadvantages. First, the rod normally requires assembly, disassembly, and multiple changes of attachments using various cleaning patches during the process. Another disadvantage with using rigid rods with wire brush utensils at their end is the inability of such combinations to make mid-bore directional changes. In the case of a brush performing a mid-bore directional change, the wires of the brush are forced to change from a sloped back angle to a sloped forward angle. This change in alignment of the brush filaments can increase the resistance of the brush traveling through the barrel by 400%, possibly causing damage to the interior barrel finish or metal passivation(s).
Another problem with many current cleaning devices is that they contain exposed metal parts. A wire brush typically in use in the industry consists of steel spiral wire in which relatively soft, phosphor-bronze metal bristles of the brush are bound. The spiral wire of these wire brushes is exposed at the end. Many devices also contain fittings, connections, clamps, crimps, wires, push rod tips and other metal parts. Any of these metal parts can, either by poor design, misuse, carelessness, or accident, be damaging or abrasive to sensitive rifle barrel areas, especially the throat, rifling, and crown. Damage to these areas is an especially important consideration to knowledgeable gun owners including: marksmen, long-range shooters, and owners of fine, high-grade rifles and pistols. Damage to these areas often occurs when cleaning utensils are inserted into the barrel. At the moment of insertion, the rod or utensil may be at an angle to the long axis of the barrel, and this can allow the tip of the wire brush to touch the sides of the barrel or the rifling of the barrel. Any hardened metal-to-metal contact with the rifling or the barrel can cause damage.
In some instances a gun barrel will have dirt, mud, sand, ice, or other such environmental debris in the gun barrel. If this material is abrasive, such as sand or dirt, it is advisable this abrasive material be removed before a metal brush is passed through the barrel. If a metal brush is passed through a sandy or dirty barrel, the sand and/or dirt may become embedded in the bristles of the brush and can be ground into the gun barrel as an abrasive. This can scratch and cause uneven wear to the gun barrel and the rifling. In these situations, one should use a utensil to clean out such environmental debris before the metal brush goes through the barrel. Current barrel cleaning devices do not provide a means of doing this except to add another step to the process and run a clean patch in and then out of the barrel. To do a good job of cleaning environmental debris from a barrel, three or more clean patches might be required. Since sand and dirt are most likely to be in a barrel during field conditions, such an inconvenient cleaning process is not likely to be utilized, even if the user has gone to the trouble of carrying a cleaning kit with him or her.
Brush-based bore cleaners currently on the market can only travel/clean in one direction. Thus, they're incapable of ‘scrubbing’ a barrel. Some products have no brush. Thus, these products can be pulled in either direction through a barrel with equal effectiveness. When comparing a brushless device to cleaning with cotton fabric patches, a brushless device has a much larger surface area for cleaning and will yield a better and faster clean. The cleaning performance of a brushless device is greatly enhanced when used with a firearm liquid cleaning product or solvent mixture (such as Hoppes 9, Kroil, Gunzilla, etc.). Cleaning is maximized when used with a multifunction solvent and lubricant that softens, loosens, and dissolves burnt nitro-powder residues.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds