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US 4,076,004 AGranted
Hand launcher for clay pigeons
AssigneeMTM Molded Products Company
InventorUrban A. Huelskamp
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A unitary hand launcher for clay pigeons is formed of a single piece of resilient plastic material. The arms of the head portion have flanges which encircle the pigeon, engaging it on its outermost circumference. The flanges are symmetrical, so that the launcher can be inverted for launching pigeons equally well with either the right or left hand.
Claims3
A unitary hand launcher for clay pigeons formed of a single piece of resilient material, comprising:
- a. a handle portion,
- b. a flexible neck portion extending from said handle portion,
- c. a head portion extending from said neck portion on the end of said launcher opposite said handle portion, said head portion including:
- i. a trailing arm extending outwardly and laterally away from said neck portion, the end of said trailing arm opposite said neck portion being substantially straight,
- ii. a substantially curved leading arm extending outwardly and laterally from said neck portion opposite said trailing arm, said arms being shaped to define a substantially circular opening therebetween having a diameter substantially the same as the outermost diameter of a pigeon, for receiving a pigeon within said opening,
- iii. upper and lower opposed flanges which are substantially symmetrical with respect to one another and extend inwardly from the upper and lower edges of said leading and trailing arms to reinforce said arms, and are spaced to define a channel for receiving the outermost rim of the pigeon therein, said arms defining the base of said channel, said flanges defining the sides thereof, and said arms and flanges being shaped to surround more than 50% of the perimeter of the pigeon when fully seated within said channel,
- iv. said flanges also being sized to define an opening between the arms having a diameter less than the outermost diameter of the pigeon and greater than the diameter of any rims on the pigeon located inwardly from the outermost edge of the pigeon, to receive a pigeon individually in said channel and to cause a pigeon to contact said head portion of the launcher along only the base and sides of the channel and to be substantially free of contact with the inner edges of the flanges,
- d. leading and trailing reinforcement webs extending respectively between and attached substantially rigidly to said leading and trailing arms and said neck portion to rigidify and substantially immobilize at least the portions of said arms adjacent said neck portion, the remainder of said arms and flanges being sufficiently resiliently flexible to be pried apart at their outer ends for insertion and ejection of a clay pigeon into and from said openings, and
- e. said channel accepting a pigeon therein equally well in upright or inverted positions to provide for inverting the hand launcher for launching a clay pigeon equally well with either the right or left hand.
6 more elements
A unitary hand launcher for clay pigeons formed of a single pice of resilient material, comprising:
- a. a handle portion,
- b. a flattened flexible neck portion extending from said handle portion,
- c. a head portion extending from said neck portion on the end of said launcher opposite said handle portion, said head portion including:
- i. a trailing arm extending outwardly and laterally away from said neck portion, the end of said trailing arm opposite said neck portion being substantially straight,
- ii. a substantially curved leading arm extending outwardly and laterally from said neck portion opposite said trailing arm, said arms being shaped to define a substantially circular opening therebetween having a diameter substantially the same as the outermost diameter of the pigeons, for receiving a pigeon within said opening,
- iii. substantially continuous upper and lower opposed flanges which are substantially symmetrical with respect to one another and extend inwardly from the upper and lower edges of said leading and trailing arms to reinforce said arms, and are spaced to define a single, continuous, closed channel for receiving the outermost rim of the pigeon therein, said arms defining the base of said channel, said flanges defining the sides thereof, and said arms and flanges being shaped to surround more than 50% of the perimeter of the pigeon when fully seated within said channel,
- iv. said flanges also being sized to define an opening between the arms having a diameter less than the outermost diameter of the pigeon and greater than the diameter of any rims on the pigeon located inwardly from the outermost edge of the pigeon, to receive the pigeons individually in said channel and to cause each pigeon to contact said head portion of the launcher along only the base and sides of the channel and to be substantially free of contact with the inner edges of the flanges, and
- d. leading and trailing reinforcement webs extending respectively between said leading and trailing arms and said neck portion to rigidify at least the portions of said arms adjacent said neck portion, the remainder of said arms and flanges being sufficiently resiliently flexible to be pried apart at their outer ends for insertion and ejection of a clay pigeon into and from said openings, and
- e. said channel accepting pigeons therein equally well in upright or inverted positions to provide for inverting the hand launcher for launching clay pigeons equally well with either the right or left hand.
6 more elements
A unitary hand launcher for clay pigeons formed of a single piece of resilient material, comprising:
- a. a handle portion,
- b. a flattened flexible neck portion extending from said handle portion,
- c. a head portion extending from said neck portion on the end of said launcher opposite said handle portion, said head portion including:
- i. a trailing rim extending outwardly and laterally away from said neck portion, the end of said trailing arm opposite said neck portion being substantially straight,
- ii. a substantially curved leading arm extending outwardly and laterally from said neck portion opposite said trailing arm, said arms bing shaped to define a substantially circular opening therebetween having a diameter substantially the same as the outermost diameter of the pigeons, for receiving a pigeon within said opening,
- iii. upper and lower opposed flanges which are substantially symmetrical with respect to one another and extend inwardly from the upper and lower edges of said leading and trailing arms to reinforce said arms, are substantially continuous from the end of one arm to the other, and are spaced to define a single, continuous, closed channel for receiving the outermost rim of the pigeon therein, said arms defining the base of said channel, said flanges defining the sides thereof, and said arms and flanges being shaped to surround more than 50% of the perimeter of the pigeon when fully seated within said channel,
- iv. said flanges also being sized to define an opening between the arms having a diameter less than the outermost diameter of the pigeon and greater than the diameter of any rims on the pigeon located inwardly from the outermost edge of the pigeon, to receive the pigeons individually in said channel and to cause each pigeon to contact said head portion of the launcher along only the base and sides of the channel and to be substantially free of contact with the inner edges of the flanges, and
- d. said channel accepting pigeons therein equally well in upright or inverted positions to provide for inverting the hand launcher for launching clay pigeons equally well with either the right or left hand.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.