Marker feed conduit for illuminating paintballs

Abstract

A paintball marker feed conduit for illuminating paintballs, comprising an inlet end for coupling relative to a paintball hopper, an outlet end for coupling relative to a paintball marker body, and a contained path between the inlet and outlet, the feed conduit being arranged to house a plurality of paintballs in single file and supply said paintballs in succession from the hopper to the paintball marker body inside which a foremost one of said paintballs rests ready for firing from the marker, wherein the feed conduit includes a light mounted to shine light directly onto said foremost paintball to charge the paintball while resting inside the paintball marker body.

1 . A paintball marker feed conduit for illuminating paintballs, comprising an inlet end for coupling relative to a paintball hopper, an outlet end for coupling relative to a paintball marker body, and a contained path between the inlet and outlet, the feed conduit being arranged to house a plurality of paintballs in single file and supply said paintballs in succession from the hopper to the paintball marker body inside which a foremost one of said paintballs rests ready for firing from the marker, wherein the feed conduit includes a light mounted to shine light directly onto said foremost paintball to charge the paintball while resting inside the paintball marker body. 
     
     
         2 . A paintball marker feed conduit as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the feed conduit is in the form of an assembly including a removable illumination attachment to which the light is mounted, whereby the attachment is able to be fitted to the paintball marker for night play requiring paintball illumination and removed from the paintball marker for day play not requiring paintball illumination. 
     
     
         3 . A paintball marker feed conduit as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the light is in the form of an LED. 
     
     
         4 . A paintball marker feed conduit as claimed in  claim 3 , wherein the light is in the form of an ultra bright LED. 
     
     
         5 . A paintball marker feed conduit as claimed in  claim 3 , including a second, additional LED oriented to shine light in a direction angled relative to the direction of light shone by the first LED. 
     
     
         6 . A paintball marker feed conduit as claimed in  claim 5 , wherein the second LED is oriented substantially perpendicularly relative to the first LED. 
     
     
         7 . A paintball marker feed conduit as claimed in  claim 2 , wherein the assembly is arranged such that the light shines directly onto the foremost paintball through a window. 
     
     
         8 . A paintball marker feed conduit as claimed in  claim 7 , wherein the removable attachment is waterproof to facilitate internal and/or external cleaning of the conduit. 
     
     
         9 . A paintball marker feed conduit as claimed in  claim 3 , wherein the LED is arranged to flicker to reduce energy consumption from a battery of the feed conduit. 
     
     
         10 . A paintball marker feed conduit as claimed in  claim 2 , wherein the illuminating attachment is adapted to be retro-fitted to an existing non-illuminating feed elbow to form the feed conduit. 
     
     
         11 . A paintball marker feed conduit as claimed in  claim 2 , including a safety switch to automatically switch off the light in the event the attachment is removed from the paintball marker. 
     
     
         12 . A paintball marker feed conduit as claimed in  claim 5 , wherein one of the LEDs is adapted to continue illuminating in the even the other of the LEDs fails. 
     
     
         13 . A paintball marker feed conduit as claimed in  claim 1 , including an external on/off switch for switching off the light. 
     
     
         14 . A paintball marker feed conduit as claimed in  claim 13 , wherein the on/off switch is magnetic or wireless. 
     
     
         15 . A paintball marker feed conduit as claimed in  claim 1 , including a dimmed tell-tale illumination indicator to indicate to a user when the light is in operation. 
     
     
         16 . A paintball marker feed conduit as claimed in  claim 1 , including an interchangeable battery housing which is interchangeable with other like battery housings. 
     
     
         17 . A paintball marker feed conduit as claimed in  claim 1 , arranged such that the foremost paintball illuminating in the breach is visible from a distal end of a barrel of the paintball marker. 
     
     
         18 . A paintball marker feed conduit as claimed in  claim 17 , arranged such that the foremost paintball illuminating is the only illumination from the light visible to players other than the user. 
     
     
         19 . (canceled)