US 6,145,235 AGranted

Ramrod for a muzzle-loading firearm

AssigneeAshley Outdoors, Inc.

InventorsAshley C. Emerson, Ralph M. Lermayer, Edward W. Pastusek

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Abstract

An improved ramrod having utility in preparing a firearm for firing, said firearm being of the type that uses black powder as a propellant and is sometimes called a muzzleloader. The ramrod has an elongated body of substantial rigidity so that it may function to tamp a bullet prior to igniting a charge of black powder. A folding arm is permanently attached to and carried by the "outer" end of the elongated body. The folding arm has a stowed position in which the arm is generally aligned with the body's longitudinal axis. The arm also has a working position in which it makes a substantial angle (e.g., 90 degrees) with respect to the body's longitudinal axis. The attachment of the folding arm to the elongated body is by a pivot pin having an axis of rotation that is perpendicular to the body's longitudinal axis. A force may be transferred to the body by manually applying said force to the arm while the arm is in its working position. The permanent attachment of the arm to the elongated body ensures that the arm cannot become separated from the elongated body and lost. A transverse bore is preferably provided in each accessory, so that it may be tightened or loosened with respect to the elongated body. When an accessory has a protruding stud with a diameter that is essentially the same size as the transverse bore, then the stud on one accessory can be used to install or remove another accessory.

Claims22

Dependent claims

An apparatus having utility in preparing a firearm for firing, said firearm being of the type that uses black powder as a propellant and is sometimes referred to as a muzzleloader, and said firearm having a barrel with a forward end and a longitudinal bore, and the firearm also having an elongated storage compartment that lies alongside the firearm's longitudinal bore, comprising:

a) an elongated body having sufficient rigidity to function as a ramrod and having first and second ends, and said body having a longitudinal axis that extends between the first and second ends, and the distance between the first and second ends defining the body's length, and the body's first end being adapted for insertion into the bore of a firearm in order to tamp a bullet prior to igniting a charge of black powder in the firearm, and the elongated body's length being approximately the same as the length of the firearm's bore, and the elongated body having an exterior size and shape that permits it to be temporarily inserted into the bore as well as being stored in the firearm's elongated storage compartment;
and
b) a folding arm permanently attached to and carried by the second end of the elongated body, said arm having both a stowed position and a working position, and the arm's stowed position being one in which the arm is generally aligned with the longitudinal axis of the body, and the arm's working position being one in which the arm makes a substantial angle with respect to the longitudinal axis of the body, and the attachment of the folding arm to the elongated body being by use of a pivot pin having an axis of rotation that is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the body, such that a force may be transferred to the body by manually applying said force to the arm while the arm is in its working position, whereby the permanent attachment of the folding arm to the elongated body ensures that the folding arm cannot become separated from the elongated body where it might become lost.

A ramrod assembly for use with that class of firearms known as muzzleloaders, compromising the combination of:

a) a first elongated member having a front end and a rear end, and the rear end being configured in such a way that a manual force may be applied to the rear end by a user;
b) a set of elongated extension members configured so that they may be connected to form a serial array of elongated members in front of the first elongated member when selected ones of the members are sequentially joined together, such that a manual force applied to the rear end of the first elongated member can be transferred through those ones of the extension members that are joined together at any given time in front of the first elongated member;
c) threaded means for joining together adjacent ends of the first elongated member and selected ones of the set of extension members, and said threaded means including a male threaded element and a complementary female threaded element, and each of the extension members having a length of at least two inches;
and
d) a transverse bore in each one of the set of extension members, said bore having a diameter to receive with a loose fit the male element of said threaded means for joining together respective members, such that a given one of the extension members can be oriented transversely to a serial array of members, and the male element of that transversely oriented member can be inserted into an appropriate transverse bore and utilized to apply leverage to tighten or loosen the threaded joint between two of the connected members.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.