US3005263A - Shotgun sight - Google Patents

Description

Oct. 24, 1961 H. K. LOCKWOOD 3,005,263

SHOTGUN SIGHT Filed D80. 5. 1958 INVENTOR HENEY k. l OCK WOOD ATTORNEYS United States Patent Cfifice Patented Oct. 24, 1961.

I SHOTGUN SIGHT Henry K. Lockwood, Springfield, Mass., assignor t Savage Arms Corporation, Chicopee Falls, Mass., a corporation of Delaware Filed Dec. 5, 1958, Ser. No. 778,481

9'Claims. (Cl.3347)- This invention relates to improvements in sighting devices for shotguns and more particularly to sights of the type generally known in the trade as ventilated top ribs.

It has been a long standing practice to provide flat planar sighting members to establish lines of sight for shotguns. With single barrel shotguns, the sighting member positions the line of sight above the longitudinal top center line of the barrel. In doublebarrel shotguns, the line of sight is longitudinally disposed between and above the two barrels and for accurate shooting a sight ing member is a practical necessity.

This type of sight on a double barrel gun is generally known as a top rib. Usually in the manufacture of such guns the top rib comprises a longitudinally extending solid bar of generally rectangular cross section. At its base the bar is welded or soldered to the two barrels to form an upper connecting web therebetween. With a lower connecting web joining the barrels longitudinally thereof the barrel assembly is thus. fixed together. The top surface of the solid rib is then machined to form the sighting plane and while this construction has provided an adequate sighting means for double barrel shotguns, it has had certain disadvantages. Some of the objectionable features are an excessive weight factor due to the solid rib construction; difliculty in machining an absolutely true planar sighting surface free of defects; heat wave transmission from the sighting rib after repeated firing; and difiiculty in repairing a damaged sighting surface.

As a result of such disadvantages in the solid top rib of double barrel shotguns, a common practice arose amongv many marksmen to have a gunsmith ventilate" the top rib. This practice of providing a ventilated top rib was expensive; It was accomplished by first milling down the solid rib to a fraction of its former thickness and leaving the connecting web portion between barrels, then fixing spaced supports along the upper surface of the reduced rib or web portion, and finally fitting a thinner rigid bar on the tops of the spaced supports. The upper surface of the rigid bar required machining to a true flat plane and a scored matting to provide a more or less non-reflective surface.

While ventilated top ribs of the type described above overcome many of the disadvantages of the solid rib sight, such as excessive gun weight and heat wave transmission, the cost of manufacturing a shotgun equipped with a ventilated sight is extremely high and the cost of having a top rib converted from a solid to a ventilated type almost prohibitive. Furthermore, if the sighting plane of the top rib should become marred or damaged requiring repair, the job of machining and matting: a new top rib or of rem-achining or rematting the old top rib is costly, difficult and time consuming. Another disadvantage in the existing type of top rib sights is the tendency of the rigid top bar to become loose" with hard usage or with repeated firing of magnum loads.

The principal object of this invention is to provide a. novel sight for shotguns of the ventilated type which overcomes the. disadvantages of top rib sights presently available.

A further object of this invention is to provide a novel method of manufacturing shotguns with ventilated top rib sights.

The above and other related objects and advantages of this invention will be best understood from a reading of the following description with reference to the following drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of av barrel assembly of a double barrel shotgun embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the barrel assembly shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side elevation on an enlarged scale and partly in section of a portion of the barrel assembly shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is apartial section on an enlarged scale taken along the line 4-4 of FIG. 2;.

FIG. 5 is a side elevation of a portion of a single bar.- rel shotgun showing an alternate mounting means em-v ployed in practicing thisinvention;

FIG. 6 is a partial top view of the sight support means shown in FIG. 5;

FIGS. 7 to 11 illustrate in progressive views a novel method for the manufacture of the sighting device shown in FIGS. l to 4.

Referring now in detail to the drawing and particu larly FIGS. 1 and 2, a barrel assembly 14 of a. double barrel shotgun is shown embodying the present invention. The gun includes a ventilated top rib disposed between and above the gun barrels and comprises a planar sighting member 16 supportedon upstanding supports 17 which are longitudinally spaced along the length of the gun. The upper surface of the sighting mem! bet is matted or scored as indicated at T8 along its entire length, thus forming a generally non-reflective sighting plane.

While the upper surface of the sighting member 16' provides an adequate sight for the gun, additional sighting aids may be provided in accordance with the preference of the individual marksman. One type of addi tional sighting aid for the gun is indicated by the beadsight 20 located adjacent the forward end of the sighting member 16 and another bead sight 2?. located approximately at the center of the sighting member.

As best shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the sighting member 16 comprises an elongated bar 24 of rectangular cross section which is supported by the supports 17 in a man: ner to be described below and a tubular strip 2.5 incasing the bar 24. The bar extends generally the length of the barrel withv its rear end spaced slightly forward of. the front end of the barrel extension 32. The tubular strip 25 includes an upper wall portion, depending side wall portions and inwardly extending bottom wall portions. The bottom wall portions terminate in spaced aligned relation.- ship defining a slot 26 which extends throughout the length of the strip. The strip 25 may be manufactured froma lightweight generally resilient material such as certain: types of plastics, sheet steel or aluminum. In practicing this invention, it has been found that a sheet of No. 1020 steel of .020" thickness is suitable for forming the strip- 25 since this material can be readily stamped with the sight matting 18 and easily formed into the desired tubiu lar shape. The bar 24 is formed of a spring steelof. approximately 1070 gauge and the supports 17 are preferably in the form of studsthreaded into a web 27 disposedbetween the barrels of the shotgun. As indicated in 4, the width of the bar 24 is greater than the diameter of the supporting studs and the slot 26 is of sufficient width. to receive the studs 17. The tubular strip 25 is dimensioned to snugly receive the bar so the stripmay he slidonto the bar with the upper wall portion of the strip being constrained and held flat against the upper surface of bar. 24. The strip 25 is of a length to extend substantially the entire length of the barrel and is held in place on the ban by means of a screw 28 threaded into a fiat 30" of the barrel extension 32 and also by the lower portion of the bead sight 20 which is threaded into the forwardmost stud 17, as shown in FIG. 4. If a bead sight is not used, a flat headed screw may be alternatively used for securing the front end of the strip 25 on the bar 24. The upper surface of the tubular strip 25 which is stamped with the matting 18 thus provides a non-reflecting sighting plane for the shotgun. Should this surface of the strip become marred or damaged in any way, the strip may be easily removed from the gun by simply removing the securing screws and sliding it off the bar 24. A new strip may be readily slid onto the bar to place the shotgun in readiness for instant use. The cost of the tubular strip is low and therefore the replacement is easily accomplished and at a low cost. This simple replacement for a damaged sightmg plane is in sharp cotnrast to the repair or replacement job required for the top rib sights now available in which a new top rib must be machined, mattedand attached to the gun, or the old one repaired by remachining and rematting. It will, of course, be appreciated that such a repair job is costly, difficult and time consuming, whereas replacement of a strip 25 may be easily, quickly and inexpensively accomplished.

An alternate embodiment of this invention is shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 of the drawing. This alternate embodiment is a novel ventilated top rib sight for single barrel shotguns. The sight includes an elongated bar member 24' of construction similar to the bar member 24 heretofore described. The bar 24' is supported along the top of a shotgun barrel 33 by legs 34 which are integral with the bar. The legs 34 are punched from the bar 24 at spaced points along its center line and are of a width less than the width of a slot 26' in a tubular strip 25. The strip 25' is of identical construction to the strip 25 described above for the double barrel shotgun. The distance from the edge of each leg to the adjacent side of the bar 24 is greater than the width of the inwardly extending lower wall portions of the strip 25'. Thus the strip 25' may be slid onto the bar 24' in a manner such as described above, with its upper surface providing a sight plane for the gun. The legs 34 include a portion 35 which is angled downwardly from the bar 24' and a base portion 36 which is disposed parallel with the bar 24'. The base portions 36 of each of the legs are secured to the top of the gun barrel 33 by welding.

To accurately position the upper surface of the tubular strip in the sight plane of either the double or single barrel gun, the upper surface of the bar is disposed parallel with the sight plane and offset therefrom a distance equal to the thickness of the sheet material of which the strip is formed. Thus when the strip is slidably engaged 'with the bar and the top wall is drawn into planar engagement with the upper surface of the bar, the upper surface of the strip is drawn and held in planar conformity with the sight plane of the gun. With sheet steel of No. 1020 gauge, the upper surface of the bar member may be disposed in the sight plane with the upper surface of the sighting strip being disposed substantially in the sight plane. The sight plane conformity of the bar member 24' is achieved for the single barrel gun by the upstanding portions of the legs 34 being punched from the bar 24 in predetermined angular relationships with the bar, so that when the base portions 36 of the legs are attached to the gun barrel, the upper surface of the bar 24' will be disposed in the sight plane of the gun. For the double barrel shotgun, the studs 17 are provided with shoulder portions which are positioned parallel to the established sight plane of the gun. In conjunction with the double barrel shotgun sight, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, a novel method of manufacture will now be described with particular reference to FIGS. 7-1 1, inclusive.

The two gun barrels are first secured together in conventional fashion as shown in FIG. 4 by the upper web 27 and a lower web 37, it being noted that the upper web 27 is thickened centrally for receiving the threaded portion 4 of the studs 17 (FIGS. 3 and 4). The accuracy of the bar rels is then checked and inspected and the surface is cleaned, coated and polished to a finished condition. The barrel assembly is then placed in a suitable fixture and at equally spaced points along the length of the upper web 27 (which is slightly dish-shaped) flats are located as indicated at 38in FIG. 7. Centrally of the fiatted areas, holes 40 are drilled and tapped. The number of holes 40 is determined by the number of studs which are to be mounted on the web 27 and. this number is chosen to provide adequate support of the bar 24.

After the holes 40 have been drilled and tapped, a stud 17 is screwed into 'each hole and secured therein against a lock washer 42. All of the studs 17 are ofa height in excess of the tallest stud required in the assembly. Each stud is then faced off to a predetermined height so that the upper surfaces 44 (FIG. 8) of all the studs are then precisely disposed in the sight plane of the gun or in a predetermined parallel relationship if the thickness of the strip is taken into consideration. As seen in FIG. 9, the top of each stud 17, with the exception of the front stud 17 (FIG. 4) is subsequently hollow milled to form a tip of reduced diameter providing each stud with a shoulder 46 disposed an equal distance below the surface 44. The front stud is faced off to provide a surface lying in the same plane as the shoulders 46 of the other studs 17. The member 24 is manufactured by machining spring steel stock to form a bar of rectangular shape with uniform thickness a throughout its length and by drilling holes 47 of tapered cross section at spaced points along the center line of the bar. The holes 47 are located to register with the studs 17. The bar is then placed on top of the studs 17 with the holes 47 receiving the tips of the studs. The dimension a is selected to equal the distance between the shoulders 46 and the upper surfaces 44 of all the studs so that the. upper surface of the bar 24 lies in the same plane as the upper surfaces 44. A small tapered hole 48 is then drilled as indicated in FIG. 10 in the top of each stud 17 and the bar 24 is secured in place on the studs by spin riveting as indicated at 49 in FIG. 11. The strip 25 may be preformed in a separate manufacturing process by stamping a non-reflective matting on a portion of a strip of No. 1020 sheet steel and stamping said shee into tubular form with a slot in the bottom wall and the matting on the upper surface of the top wall; The tubular strip 25 may then be slidingly engaged with the bar 24 and secured in place as previously described. It will be noted that any strip 25 which is of proper length may be utilized for a given gun without requiring a fitting or alignment operation to adapt it to a particular gun. It will thus be appreciated that strips 25 may be preformed in a manufacturing operation independent of gun manufacture. Thus a sight plane strip may be cheaply replaced should it become damaged or picked at any time and without fitting it to the particular shotgun.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as novel and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A shotgun sight comprising a plurality of spaced upstanding supports carried by a gun, an elongated bar member upheld by said supports in spaced relation to a barrel of said gun, said bar member having a flat upper surface disposed in a plane parallel to the sight plane of said gun, and an elongated resilient strip having a top wall portion, depending side wall portions, and a lengthwise slot disposed between the lower ends of said side wall portions for receiving said supports, said strip being slidably connected with said bar member, the top wall portion of said strip being drawn into planar engagement with the upper surface of said bar, the upper surface of said top wall portion defining the sight plane of said gun and havinga generally non-reflective matting stamped thereon. r

2. A .shotgun sight comprising a plurality of longitudinally spaced upstanding supports carried by a gun, an elongated spring steel bar member upheld by said supports in spaced relation to a barrel of said gun, said bar member being generally rectangular in cross section and including a flat upper surface disposed in the sight plane of said gun, the width of said bar member being greater than the transverse dimension of said supports, and an elongated resilient strip having a top wall portion, depending side wall portions, and inwardly extending bottom wall portions terminating in spaced, aligned relation and defining a slot along the length of said strip for receiving said supports, said strip being slidably connected with said bar member, the top wall portion of said strip being drawn into planar engagement with the flat upper surface of said bar member and being formed of sufiiciently thin material whereby the upper surface of said top wall portion is disposed substantially in the sight plane of said gun, the upper surface of said strip hav ing a generally non-reflective matting stamped thereon.

3. A shotgun sight as set forth in claim 2 above in which said supports are in the form of upstanding legs integral with said bar member, said legs including a portion angled downwardly from said bar and a base portion disposed parallel with the bar, the base portions of each of said legs being secured to the top of the gun barrel.

4. A shotgun sight as set forth in claim 3 above in which said legs are punched from said elongated bar at spaced points along the center line thereof, said legs having a width less than the width of said elongated bar.

5. A sight for a double barrel shotgun having a web securing the barrels of said gun together, said sight comprising upstanding studs screwed into said web and disposed in spaced aligned relationship longitudinal-1y of said barrels, said studs including identical upper tip portions of reduced diameter defining shoulders on said studs, the upper surfaces of said studs lying in the sight plane of said gun, an elongated bar member having a plurality of holes disposed along the center line thereof receiving the tip portions of said studs and of a diameter less than said shoulders, said bar member being of uniform thickness throughout its length equal to the height of said tip portions, means for securing said bar member in place on said studs, and a sighting strip including a top wall portion, depending side wall portions and a slot disposed between the lower ends of said sidewall for receiving said studs, said strip being slidably engageable with said bar member, the upper surface of said top wall portion being matted to make said strip generally nonreflective, said top wall being held against the upper surface of said bar member and being sufliciently thin so that the upper surface of said sighting strip is disposed substantially in the sight plane of said gun.

6. A shotgun sight comprising a plurality of spaced upstanding supports carried by a gun, a bar member upheld by said supports in spaced relation to a barrel of said gun and having a surface disposed in a plane in predetermined relationship with the sight plane of said gun,

6 a resiliently pliable elonagted strip removably fitted on said bar member, said strip being sufliciently pliable so that its upper surface is drawn into the sight plane of said gun when said strip is fitted onto said bar member, the upper surface of said strip providing the sighting surface of said gun.

7. A shotgun sight comprising a plurality of spaced upstanding supports carried by a gun, an elongated bar upheld by said support in spaced relation to the barrel of said gun and having a planar upper surface disposed in a plane parallel to the sight plane of said gun, and an elongated resiliently pliable strip removably fitted on said bar member, said strip at least partially encircling said bar member and having an upper wall portion drawn into surface-to-surface engagement with the planar upper surface of said bar, the upper surface of said wall portion having a matting and providing a generally non-reflective sighting surface for said gun.

8. Method of manufacturing ventilated top rib sights for shotguns which comprises securing upstanding supports in longitudinally spaced relation along the barrel of the gun, machining said supports to provide each with a surface disposed in the sight plane of the gun, mounting a bar member on said studs such that its upper surface lies in the sight plane of said gun, and fitting a preformed, resiliently pliable sighting strip onto said bar so that the upper surface of said sighting strip is drawn into said sight plane, said sighting strip having a non-reflective upper surface which provides the sighting surface of said gun.

9. Method of manufacturing ventilated top rib sights for shotguns comprising the steps of securing supports in upstanding longitudinally spaced relation along the barrel of the gun, machining said supports to bring the upper surface of each support into the sight plane of the gun, hollow milling each of said supports to provide shoulders disposed a predetermined distance below the upper surfaces of said supports, permanently mounting an elongated bar member on said supports, said bar member having a thickness equal to said predetermined distance so that its upper surface lies in said sight plane, and removably fitting a preformed, resiliently pliable sighting strip onto said bar member, said sighting strip having a cross sectional configuration at least partially encircling said bar member so that the upper surface of said sighting strip is drawn into said sight plane when the sighting strip is fitted onto said bar, said sighting strip having a non-reflective upper surface which provides the sighting surface of said gun.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,137,477 Godshalk Apr. 27, 1915 1,705,423 Smith Mar. 12, 1929 1,718,458 Hager June 25, 1929 2,874,504 Martinek Feb. 24, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS 482,325 Germany Sept. 11, 1929

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