The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 09, 1998
Filed:
Oct. 30, 1995
Galen Collins, San Jose, CA (US);
Other;
Abstract
A compact bearing ball, or rail, gun to magnetically accelerate ferro-magnetic BBs is disclosed. The gun comprises a main board containing a channel sized to allow smooth passage of a BB, a straight portion of that channel forming a barrel terminating at an edge of the main board. A plurality of wire coils are disposed perpendicular to the axis of the barrel collinear with that axis. Driver circuitry for inducing in the plurality of wire coils is provided to ensure a synchronized generation of magnetic fields in individual ones of the wire coils to accelerate ferro-magnetic BBs disposed within the channel of the main board through the channel and out of the barrel. In a preferred embodiment, the channel has a loading segment substantially perpendicular to the barrel for aligning ferro-magnetic BBs prior to acceleration through the barrel, along with a magnet at the intersection of the loading segment and the barrel for positioning a BB co-centric with the axis of said barrel prior to acceleration.