(12) United States Patent (10) Patent N0.: US 6,594,938 B2 Horton (45) Date of Patent: Jul

US006594938B2 (12) United States Patent (10) Patent N0.: US 6,594,938 B2 Horton (45) Date of Patent: Jul. 22, 2003

(54) FRONT INTERFACING DETACHABLE 5,941,006 A * 8/1999 Horton ...... 42/124 SCOPE MOUNT 6,250,008 B1 * 6/2001 Silver ...... 42/70.01

6,269,577 B1 * 8/2001 Hardy ...... 42/127

(76) Inventor: JohnMonnceno’ ' Wiley FL(US)Horton, 32344430 Satsuma Ave., 6,427,374 B1 *Z: 8/2002 Vaianigiwonskiaumann ...... e a ~. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ .. 42/85

( * ) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U_S_C_ 154(k)) by 0 days' W0 WO 99/63295 * 12/1999

* . . (21) Appl. N0.: 09/963,852 cued by exammer (22) Filed: Sep_ 26’ 2001 Primary Examiner—Michael~ J. Carone Assistant Examiner—John Richardson (65) Prior Publication Data (74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm—J. Wiley Horton US 2003/0056417 A1 Mar. 27, 2003 (57) ABSTRACT

(52) US. Cl...... 42/127;...... 42/72; 42/90; AOperated using only one alatching mechanism_ The mount 42/124; 42/125; 42/126; 42/141; 42/111; uses a front base attached to the ring of a ri?e receiver and 89/3704; 89/3709; 89/3713; 89/3716 a rear base attached to the bridge of a ri?e receiver. The of Search ...... 90, upper surfaces of both the front and rear bases Open into a ‘12/125, 126, 127, 111, 141; 89/3704, 3709, pair of slots. A separate scope mount is attached to a scope 37-13, 37-16 sight by conventional means. TWo sets of lugs descend from the loWer surfaces of this scope mount. These sets of (56) References Cited descending lugs are con?gured to ?t securely Within the Us PATENT DOCUMENTS slots in the front and rear bases When the scope mount is placed over the bases. The forWard facmg surfaces of the 2,641,057 A * 6/1953 M0016 ...... 42/125 rear set of descending lugs mate a Corresponding set of 27854748 A * 10/1958 Williams ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~ 42/126 rearward facing surfaces in the slots Within the rear base. 3,187,435 A * 6/1965 M11159 Jr‘ ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' " 42/126 These sets of mating surfaces are offset from the vertical to 3,463,430 A * 8/1969 Rubin et a1. .. 248/229.15 d - ffect that HHS the rear of the See 6 mount 3,634,963 A * 1/1972 Hermann ...... 42/7011 Createawe .glflge p . . p . 3,877,166 A * 4/1975 Ward ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “ 42/127 doWn When it is pushed forWard relative to the ri?e receiver. 4,147,220 A * 4/1979 Swiderski et aL __ 173/170 The rearWard facmg surfaces of the front set of descending 4,205,473 A * 6/1980 Wilson ______42/127 lugs open into tapered notches. The front base incorporates 4,249,315 A * 2/1981 Hopson, III 42/125 a transverse slider having a tapered surface Which ?ts Within 4,291,476 A * 9/1981 Repa ...... 42/124 the tapered notches in the front descending lugs. The inter 4,571,870 A * 2/ 1986 Heideman et a1 -- 42/1-01 action of this slider With the front lugs pushes the front of the 47767126 A * 10/1988 Williams ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ 42/125 scope mount forWard While simultaneously pulling it doWn. 5,035,487 A * 7/1991 Her? """" " 359/811 The forWard motion also serves to pull the rear of the scope 5,390,419 A * 2/ 1995 Sirkis ...... 42/127 mount down as described previously' 5,396,725 A * 3/1995 Talbot 42/127

5,531,039 A * 7/1996 Gore ...... 42/124 5,813,131 A * 9/1998 Werre ...... 33/533 14 Claims, 18 Drawing Sheets U.S. Patent Jul. 22, 2003 Sheet 1 of 18 US 6,594,938 B2

FIG.1 (PRIORART] U.S. Patent Jul. 22, 2003 Sheet 2 of 18 US 6,594,938 B2

N.oE U.S. Patent Jul. 22, 2003 Sheet 3 of 18 US 6,594,938 B2

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\ FIG.3 U.S. Patent Jul. 22, 2003 Sheet 4 of 18 US 6,594,938 B2

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N (O (D LO U.S. Patent Jul. 22, 2003 Sheet 5 0f 18 US 6,594,938 B2 U.S. Patent Jul. 22, 2003 Sheet 6 of 18 US 6,594,938 B2

FIG.6 U.S. Patent Jul. 22, 2003 Sheet 7 of 18 US 6,594,938 B2

FIG.7 U.S. Patent Jul. 22, 2003 Sheet 8 0f 18 US 6,594,938 B2 U.S. Patent Jul. 22 2003 Sheet 9 0f18 U.S. Patent Jul. 22, 2003 Sheet 10 of 18 US 6,594,938 B2

/~I6 66 1064/ FIG.10 U.S. Patent Jul. 22, 2003 Sheet 11 of 18 US 6,594,938 B2

FIG.10B

104 U.S. Patent Jul. 22, 2003 Sheet 12 of 18 US 6,594,938 B2

FIG.11

so! 96 U.S. Patent Jul. 22, 2003 US 6,594,938 B2 U.S. Patent Jul. 22 2003 Sheet 14 of 18 US 6,594,938 B2 U.S. Patent Jul. 22, 2003 Sheet 15 0f 18 US 6,594,938 B2 U.S. Patent Jul. 22 2003 Sheet 16 of 1s US 6,594,938 B2 U.S. Patent Jul. 22 2003 Sheet 17 of 1s U.S. Patent Jul. 22, 2003 Sheet 18 of 18 US 6,594,938 B2

116 FIG.17

114 118— 96“X US 6,594,938 B2 1 2 FRONT INTERFACING DETACHABLE “Suhler” mount. Though the Applicant is unable to verify SCOPE MOUNT the origins of this name, one Would assume that “Suhler” refers to the individual Who originally created the design. The Suhler mount is relevant to the consideration of the CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED present invention. As the Applicant is unable to discover a APPLICATIONS prior patent disclosing the details of the Suhler design, the Not Applicable. Applicant is submitting the details hereWith. FIG. 1 illus trates the prior art Suhler mount. Ri?e receiver 10 is of the STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY common bolt-action type. Barrel 12 is threaded into ri?e SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 10 receiver 10. Ri?e receiver 10 has a forWard cylindrical portion referred to as receiver ring 22, and a rear portion Not Applicable. referred to as receiver bridge 24. The particular receiver illustrated is of the Mauser type, Which is the ri?e type most MICROFICHE APPENDIX closely associated With the Suhler mount. Not Applicable. 15 In preparation to installing the Suhler mounts, dovetail cut 44 is milled into receiver ring 22. Front Suhler base 46 is BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION then press-?t laterally into front dovetail cut 44. In some instances, it may also be soldered in place. The reader Will 1. Field of the Invention observe that the upper planar surface of front Suhler base 46 This invention relates to the ?eld of telescopic sights for opens into tWo front Suhler slots 50. ?rearms. More speci?cally, the invention comprises a Rear Suhler base 48 is installed on receiver bridge 24 in detachable mount for a telescopic sight that can be detached one of tWo Ways. Some receiver bridges have an upstanding using one hand Without adjusting the customary grip on the lug into Which a lateral dovetail cut can be made. If this is ?rearm. the case, then rear Suhler base 48 is press ?t into place (and 2. Description of the Related Art 25 possibly soldered) in the same fashion as for front Suhler Detachable mounts for telescopic sights have been in use base 46. Other receiver bridges have only a rounded cylin for approximately one century, oWing to a long-recogniZed drical surface that is too thin to accommodate a dovetail cut. need. Firearms, particularly sporting ri?es, are relatively In that case, rear Suhler base 48 is soldered onto the top of durable items capable of Withstanding Wide variations in the receiver bridge in an operation obviously requiring atmospheric conditions and substantial physical shock. Tele considerable skill and precision. Rear Suhler base 48 has a scopic sights, in contrast, are relatively delicate optical pair of rear Suhler slots 52. instruments. Although their design has been advanced con At the time the Suhler design Was created the object Was siderably in recent decades, telescopic sights remain vulner to mount old scope sight 56. FIG. 2 shoWs such a telescopic able to variations in atmospheric conditions and to physical sight. Old scope sight 56 is a type of telescopic sight Which shock. A sharp bloW to a telescopic sight Will often shift its is noW rarely seen, but Was once quite common. The reader point of aim. Worse, there is no visual indicator of this shift, Will note that it consists primarily of a long featureless meaning that the user is often unaWare of the shift until a cylinder having a relatively small diameter (typically one shot is ?red and missed. inch or 30 Only the eyepiece has a larger diameter. As a result of these factors, hunting ri?es With perma Modern scopes have a much larger objective lens (the nently attached telescopic sights must be treated delicately. forWard lens) diameter. The signi?cance of this difference It has therefore long been recogniZed that the ability to Will become apparent subsequently. detach the telescopic sight until it is needed is highly Still referring to FIG. 2, the reader Will note that rear ring desirable. One such type of detachable mount is disclosed in 60 and front ring 58 are attached to old scope sight 56. These US. Pat. No. 5,035,487 to HerZ (1991). While effective, the 45 are typically positioned on old scope sight 56 and soldered HerZ type of device is sloW to operate. The user must hold in place. Rear ring 60 has tWo descending rear Suhler lugs the ri?e securely While using his or her free hand to rotate 64. The rearWard facing surfaces of these tWo lugs are each the small levers employed to engage the scope mounts. cut by Suhler mating notches 68. These levers do not provide much mechanical advantage. Front ring 58 has tWo descending front Suhler lugs 62. Both must be rotated independently to the correct position. The forWard facing surfaces of these tWo lugs are angled to The telescopic sight must then be lifted off Without tilting— form mating surfaces 66. FIG. 3 shoWs ri?e receiver 10 With or the device tends to become stuck. old scope sight 56 in place. The ?gure incorporates a In hunting situations, the telescopic sight must often be cutaWay through both the front and rear Suhler bases to removed rapidly. This is particularly true When folloWing up shoW the internal features of the nearest set of Suhler slots. Wounded game. In such close range Work, the use of the 55 The reader Will observe that front Suhler lug 62 rests Within open (sometimes called “iron” sights on the ri?e is gener front Suhler slot 50, and rear Suhler lug 64 ?ts Within rear ally preferred. Thus, a scope Which could be removed Suhler slot 52. quickly using a single latching device is preferable. Suhler slider 54 is biased—typically by springs—to move The HerZ device also incorporates the interaction of forWard (right to left in the vieW as shoWn). Returning camming surfaces generating high surface friction. There is brie?y to FIG. 1, the ends of Suhler slider 54 actually eXtend no accommodation for Wear compensation. Thus, as the out beyond the sides of rear Suhler base 52. A tab is attached device is used over time, the interlocking surfaces tend to to each eXposed end to facilitate grasping by the user. These Wear loose—eventually rendering the device inoperable. tabs are actually identi?ed as Suhler slider 54 in FIG. 1. One type of detachable mount using a single latching Returning noW to FIG. 3, the operation of the devie Will device is knoWn as the “European claW.” This type of mount 65 be described. When the user releases the tabs, Suhler slider dates back to approximately World War I. Printed sources 54 is pushed forWard Where it engages mating notch 68. This Within the art sometimes refer to this type of mount as a interface prevents any vertical motion of rear ring 60, and