Device and method for illuminating luminescent paintballs

Abstract

A devicefor illuminating luminescent paintballs before the paintballs are projected down the barrel of a paintball gun includes a conduitconfigured to form a forty-five degree angle to promote the arranging of luminescent paintballs into a single row as the paintballs 'fall' from an enclosure and into the conduitto ultimately exit the conduitand drop into a discharge mechanism, a plurality of ultraviolet lampsthat are positioned about an inner portion of the conduitto illuminate the luminescent paintballs thereby urging the paintballs to 'glow' in the dark, a “horseshoe” configured bracketthat disposes the lampsat preselected portions of the conduitthat maximizes the exposure of the paintballs to ultraviolet light from the lamps, a low voltage D.C. batteryand on-off switchattached to an outer portion of the conduit, and an inverteralso attached to an outer portion of the conduitadjacent to the battery, the battery, on-off switchand invertercooperating to provide a stepped up R.M.S. voltage to the lamps A hoper devicefor illuminating luminescent paintballs before the paintballs are projected down the barrel of a paintball gun includes a hopper shell, top and bottom rowsandof ultraviolet lights 14 disposed at preselected portions of the shellto maximize the exposure of the paintballsto ultraviolet light emitted from the lights, a pair of low voltage D.C. batteriesthat supply power via a switchto an inverterwhich increases the voltage to a magnitude used by the lights