Air Gun, Air Gun Magazine, Number-of-Times-of-Firing Display, and Air Gun Control Method

Abstract

The present invention relates to an electronic control method for an air gun in the form of a model gun, and that is capable of easily detecting whether there are bullets in the magazine, and preventing blank shooting operation. The air gun of this invention comprises a method for prohibiting the shooting operation for the air gun by receiving a detection signal indicating a state of no bullets from a bullet-detection lever, which is located in a magazine in which a plurality of bullets are stored, and that by setting it in an air gun, continuously feeds said bullets into the chamber of the air gun, and that detects whether there are any bullets stored in the magazine.

1 . A magazine in which a plurality of bullets are stored, and that by setting it in an air gun, continuously feeds said bullets into a chamber of said air gun, and comprising a bullet-detection lever that detects whether there are any of said bullets stored inside said magazine.  
   
   
       2 . A magazine in which a plurality of bullets are stored, and that by setting it in an air gun, continuously feeds said bullets into a chamber of said air gun, and comprising a bullet-detection lever whose position moves according to whether there are any of said bullets stored in said magazine.  
   
   
       3 . A magazine in which a plurality of bullets are stored, and that by setting it in an air gun, continuously feeds said bullets into a chamber of said air gun, and comprising a bullet-detection lever of which part protrudes outward from the side surface of said magazine, and that moves upward when there are said bullets stored in said magazine, and moves downward when there are no bullets stored in said magazine.  
   
   
       4 . A magazine in which a plurality of bullets are stored, and that by setting it in an air gun, continuously feeds said bullets into a chamber of said air gun, and comprising: a spring of which one end is located at the bottom of said magazine, and the other end comes in contact with a pressure member that presses said bullets; and a bullet-detection lever of which part protrudes outward from the side surface of said magazine, and where the position of the part that protrudes outward from the side surface of said magazine is changed by said pressure member when said spring reaches the very top of is movable range.  
   
   
       5 . An air gun that uses compressed air generated by a piston to shoot bullets, comprising: a magazine in which a plurality of bullets are stored, and that by setting it in an air gun, continuously feeds said bullets into a chamber of said air gun; a bullet-detection means for detecting whether there are any of said bullets stored in said magazine; and a means for receiving a detection signal from said bullet-detection means indicating that there are no bullets, and prohibiting the shooting operation.  
   
   
       6 . The air gun of  claim 5  wherein said means for prohibiting said shooting operation is a means for turning OFF the motor power.  
   
   
       7 . The air gun of  claim 5  or  claim 6  wherein said bullet-detection means is a bullet-detection lever located in said magazine that detects whether there are any bullets in said magazine, and is a means that turns ON/OFF a bullet-detection switch and inputs the ON/OFF state of said bullet-detection switch to a microcomputer that determines the state.  
   
   
       8 . An air gun that uses compressed air generated by a piston to shoot bullets, comprising: a magazine in which a plurality of bullets are stored, and that by setting it in an air gun, continuously feeds said bullets into a chamber of said air gun; a bullet-detection means for detecting whether there are any of said bullets stored in said magazine; a means for receiving a detection signal from said bullet-detection means indicating that there are no bullets, and prohibiting the shooting operation; and a means for performing the bullet shooting operation when said bullet-detection means detects that there are bullets when a trigger switch is ON, and prohibiting the bullet shooting operation when said bullet-detection means detects that there are no bullets when said trigger switch is ON; so that even when the trigger switch is ON and there are no bullets in said magazine, the shooting operation is prohibited and blank shooting is prevented.  
   
   
       9 . An air gun that uses compressed air generated by a piston to shoot bullets, comprising: a means for detecting a reference position of a shooting operation; a means for starting said shooting operation when it is detected that there are bullets in a magazine and a trigger switch is ON; a means for stopping said shooting operation when said reference position is detected and said trigger switch is OFF; and a means for prohibiting said shooting operation when it is detected that there are no bullets in said magazine, regardless of the ON/OFF state of said trigger switch.  
   
   
       10 . An air gun that uses compressed air generated by a piston to shoot bullets, comprising: a means for detecting a reference position of a shooting operation; a means for starting said shooting operation when a trigger switch is ON; a means for stopping said shooting operation when said reference position is detected and it is detected that there are no bullets in a magazine, regardless of the ON/OFF state of said trigger switch.  
   
   
       11 . An air gun that uses compressed air generated by a piston to shoot bullets, comprising: a means for detecting a reference position of a shooting operation; a counter means for which the maximum value N of the number of times bullets are shot when the trigger switch is switched ON one time can be set arbitrarily; a means for starting said shooting operation when said trigger switch is switched ON; a subtraction means for subtracting 1 from said set maximum value N when said reference position is detected; and a means for stopping said shooting operation when said reference position is detected and it is detected that there are no bullets in a magazine, regardless of the subtraction result of said subtraction means.  
   
   
       12 . A number-of-bullets-shot-display apparatus comprising; a means for counting the number of times bullets have been shot based on the operation of a shooting mechanism that operates according to shooting of bullets; and a means for displaying said counted number of times bullets have been shot.  
   
   
       13 . A number-of-bullets-shot-display apparatus comprising; a means for counting the number of times bullets have been shot based on the operation of a shooting mechanism that operates according to shooting of bullets; and a means for calculating the number of bullets remaining in a magazine by subtracting the said counted number of times bullets have been shot from a preset number of bullets in said magazine, and displaying the result.  
   
   
       14 . A control method for an air gun that uses compressed air generated by a piston to shoot bullets, comprising: a means for detecting whether there are any of said bullets stored in a magazine, and prohibiting a shooting operation when it is detected that there are no bullets in said magazine.  
   
   
       15 . The control method for an air gun of  claim 14  where in said means for prohibiting said shooting operation is executed by turning OFF the motor power.  
   
   
       16 . The control method for an air gun of  claim 14  or  claim 15  wherein detection of whether there are any said bullets is performed by turning ON/OFF a bullet-detection switch by a bullet-detection lever in said magazine, and inputting the ON/OFF state of said bullet-detection switch to a microcomputer that determines the state.  
   
   
       17 . An air gun that uses compressed air generated by a piston to shoot bullets, that: detects whether there are any of said bullets stored in a magazine, and performs a bullet shooting operation when there are bullets in said magazine and a trigger switch is switched ON; and prevents blank shooting by prohibiting the bullet shooting operation when there are no bullets in said magazine even when said trigger switch is switched ON.  
   
   
       18 . A control method for an air gun that uses compressed air generated by a piston to shoot bullets, that: detects a reference position of a shooting operation; starts said shooting operation when it is detected that there are bullets in a magazine and a trigger switch is switched ON; stops said shooting operation when said reference position is detected and said trigger switch is switched OFF; and prohibits said shooting operation when it is detected that there are no bullets in said magazine, regardless of the ON/OFF state of said trigger switch.  
   
   
       19 . A control method for an air gun that uses compressed air generated by a piston to shoot bullets, that: detects a reference position of a shooting operation; starts said shooting operation when a trigger switch is switched ON; and stops said shooting operation when said reference position is detected and it is detected that there are no bullets in a magazine, regardless of the ON/OFF state of said trigger switch.  
   
   
       20 . A control method for an air gun that uses compressed air generated by a piston to shoot bullets, that: detects a reference position of a shooting operation; arbitrarily sets a counter to the maximum value N of the number of time bullets are shot when a trigger switch is switched ON one time; starts said shooting operation when said trigger switch is switched ON; subtracts 1 from said set maximum value N when said reference position is detected; and stops said shooting operation when said reference position is detected and it is detected that there are no bullets in a magazine, regardless of the subtraction result of said subtraction means.