US Design Patents (these only protect the ornamental outward appearance of an object - there's no protection for any mechanics or operation in these)

Patent #	USPTO	Title	Have Blue's Comments
USD0314021		Gravity load magazine for paint pellet pistol	Stick feeder
USD0337627		Paint ball gun	TM-11A pump
USD0348907		Finned paintball stabilizer	These were called, what, Sniper Balls? I would have thought a utility patent would be better...
USD0357967		Paintball gun barrel	Smart Parts Venturi barrel (now discontinued)
USD0357967		Universal regulator unit for airguns	Air America - for ornamental design of a regulator
USD0359529		Paintball gun	PEC Master
USD0364207		Trigger mechanism	'Double Trouble' trigger pack for the VM-68 (autoresponse trigger).  Chris Mader notes that there's a good page on the trigger pack here.
USD0366283		Paintball mine	Ornamental design for a paintball mine (dunno about anyone else, but looks just aren't a big factor when I'm selecting anti-personnel equipment :-)
USD0393115		Cleaning device for paintball gun barrels	CM Support (Viewloader) - disc-type pull-through squeegee
USD0399914		Paintball gun trigger	Uh? Looks like a plain old double finger trigger to me...
USD0435884		Paintball gun barrel muzzle	The muzzle brake design used on DYE's Xcel barrels (yes, Dave Dehaan is 'Dave Youngblood', the DY in DYE...)
USD0440262		Paintball gun barrel	Powerlyte barrel
USD0441410		Frame for paintball gun	Powerlyte frame
USD0451977		Ball and air chamber for a paintball gun	Looks like the Core Sharc (made by Jun Houn)
USD0452289		Gun trigger	K&K ring trigger
USD0456478		Gun trigger	K&K ring trigger
USD0459767		Paintball hopper for a paintball launcher	Ricochet hopper
USD0460502		Paintball tube	APP's 'Wrapper' guppies
USD0471948		Paintball gun regulator	DYE cocker LPR
USD0472600		Paintball gun 3-way valve	DYE cocker 4-way
USD0473910		Paintball marker grip frame	Angel IR3/Speed vertical frame
USD0478146
USD0481426	USD0481426	Paintball gun
USD0482081	USD0482081	Paintball gun
USD0482082		Paintball gun
USD0481425		Air source adapter for a paint ball gun	From the Tinker's Guild's own John 'SLICEnDICE' Schmidtz.  This was designed to reduce the overall height of the Angel ASA when using non-stock regulators.
USD0482414		Shaped flame drop forward for paint ball guns
USD0482743		Paintball gun
USD0483561		Paintball magazine harness	3-piece harness design that locates the pods onto the player's sides
USD0484926		Paintball marker grip frame
USD0501901		Paintball
USD0512751		Toy paintball gun
USD0513773		Scoop paintball marker with exposed pneumatics
USD0515149		Streamline paintball marker with exposed pneumatics
USD0517130		Paintball marker receiver
USD0517162		Tank cover
USD0521371		Paintball goggle product packaging
USD0523240		Paintball storage belt
USD0525402		Compactable paintball marker squeegee
USD0526030		Paintball gun body	Shocker body
USD0527062		Paintball
USD0528296		Paintball marker case

Utility Patents (this is the meaty stuff)

Patent #	USPTO	Title	Have Blue's comments
US002837076	US002837076	Simulated pneumatically operated machine gun
US002845055		Air rifle	This 1950s patent describes an electropneumatic air rifle.  That's right, Smart Parts is actually a few decades behind the curve.
US003492742		Extended range hit indicator system
US003612026		GAS-OPERATED REVOLVER WITH ROTATABLE MAGAZINE	Crosman patent. Although for a pellet gun, this may have covered parts of their 3357 paintball revolver as well.
US003695246		PNEUMATIC MACHINE GUN WITH PHOTO CELL INTERRUPTED CIRCUIT	Waitaminnit - and we're NOW just starting to use eyes on our guns? Seems the Navy was waaaay ahead of its time when it filed this patent...
US003788298		Compressed gas gun with trigger operated hammer release latching structure	The great grand-daddy to all of our guns, the Nelspot 007
US003861943		Marking method	RP Scherer - paintball recipe
US003995656		High pressure gas regulator	Not a paintball specific regulator, but it might be interesting for someone.
US004304213		Air gun and pressure relief valve therefor	Coleman patent. Picture looks like it was for a BB gun.
US004344410		Gas-fired gun with gas cartridge loading and extraction assembly	For a BB/pellet gun - the 12 gram gets cammed into the grip with a backstrap lever.
US004531503		Fluid pressure repeating pistol with unitary barrel and hammer assembly	NSG Splatmaster, the first gun designed for the sport of paintball
US004616622		Pressure-regulated gas gun	This one is for a BB/pellet rifle
US004634606		Washable marking fluid formulation for soft gelatin capsules and use thereof	Nelson's paintball recipe
US004656092		Target shooting capsules	RP Scherer - another paintball recipe
US004686905		Cartridge for frangible projectile	Mod 85 cartridge - note that the inventor, Attila Szabo, is better known as Ted Szabo (who is now head of Para Ordnance)
US004694815		Toy guns for firing pellets	Airsoft
US004770153		Pneumatic weapon with pressure reduction valves	????
US004819609		Automatic feed marking pellet gun	Tippmann
US004819610		Device for feeding weapons with compressed gas	????
US004850330		Device for shooting bullets by pressure medium for use in a toy gun	Airsoft
US004922640		Breech bolt	Cooper-T bolt
US004932672		Nonlethal hand grenade	Tippmann's paint grenade
US004936282		Gas powered gun	Looks like a Nelson-based pump (even has a 12 gram quick change), but the description says that the valve mechanism can be modified to be a semi... Note that the applicant is Jerry Dobbins of ICD - could this then be for the old Line SI Bushmaster?
US005001880		Method for producing luminescent paintballs	This is a cool idea - paintballs with a different chemical in each sealed half. When the ball breaks on target, the chemicals mix to form a glowing splat.
US005009165		Jacketed paint pellet	Aerodynamic paint projectile
US005018450		Luminescent paintball for marking nighttime impacts	Dual-chambered paintball that leaves a glowing splat
US005063905		Pneumatic gun	According to ACI's site, this covers the F4 Illustrator (and presumably the earlier Illustrators as well)
US005078118		Breech construction for air gun	Brass Eagle - this one might be for the Poison.
US005097816		Projectile container for use with a device that selectively discharges fragile projectiles, such as paintballs, under the influence of a source of fluid pressure	Bulk loader that keeps the balls in a helical stack
US005148839		Valve assemblies for filling containers with pressurized gas	Valve for a CO2 fill station.
US005161516		Compressed gas gun	Not really very useful for paintball applications - Nelson-esque power tube layout, but with no hammer and no way of ensuring consistent velocities (gas is dumped down barrel as long as trigger is depressed)
US005166457		Ammunition magazine for paint ball gun	Bulk loader
US005195752
US005228427		Improved barrel for paintball gun	Smart Parts - barrel porting
US005254379		Paint ball	Tom Kaye's 'Perfect Circle' paintballs
US005257614		Gas powered gun	Trracer, Maverick and Hornet - modification to the Nelson design that makes the hammer part of the power tube
US005265582		Controlling the velocity of projectiles from gas-powered guns	Mokal Ultipro - the main thrust of the patent is the velocity regulation system.  (thanks to Jim Hrynuik for matching the patent to a gun)
US005280778		Semi-automatic firing compressed gas gun	AGD Automag - note that Tom Kaye's last name is really 'Kotsiopoulos' - I guess he does look a little Greek... :-)
US005282454		Jam-free bulk loader for a paintball gun	Agitated loader - CM Support was the company selling products under the 'Viewloader' name before being bought by Brass Eagle in January 1999
US005285765		Magazine assembly for gas-powered gun and combination thereof	Powerfeed - Yes, this was an AGD invention. But as Tom Kaye explains, they never bothered to go through with patenting it, as they never thought it would be a big thing. How wrong they were... Well, someone decided to try patenting it themselves about 2 years after AGD first developed it. Naturally, prior art ensured that the 'inventor' never got a dime out of this patent.
US005327878		Device for holding spherical projectiles	Ball detent as used on Sheridan's VM-68 and Equalizer
US005333594		Gun with variable gas power	Covers the use of 'adjustable recock' - modifying the size of the recock gas port with a set screw such as on the ICD blowbacks or the PMI/Evil Omen.
US005337726		Hand held pneumatic powered ball thrower	OK, so it shoots baseballs and not paintballs, but the inventor (Mike Wood) is the man behind the Airstar Nova guns....
US005339791		Gas powered gun	ACI Hornet? (need to read through it more)
US005343849		Rapid fire ball gun	Well, I think it's actually some sort of Nerf gun, but it may give someone a paintball idea.
US005348059		Multi function refill adaptor for gas operated airguns	Air America
US005349938		Reciprocatable barrel pneumatic gun	Sort of a Nelson-esque valvetrain, but with a Nova style articulated barrel.  Note that the inventor, Kenneth Farrell, was apparently one of the people behind FASTech (makers of the F-1 and F-2 Illustrator as well as the AFT).
US005349939		Semi-automatic gun	Brass Eagle Stingray
US005353712		Marking pellet gun and rigid, fracturable pellet therefor	Another take on the 'dimpled ball' concept
US005368007		Airgun expansion chamber	Patent by Air America, internal strut looks like a Smart Parts expansion chamber
US005370105		Squeegee holder	Holder that attaches to the CO2 tank
US005383442		Pump action marking pellet gun	Tippmann - SL-68 (Durty Dan writes: "The SL-68 had a back bottle and an M-16 grip, unlike the SL-68 II, which had a bottom line and a cast grip.")
US005393054		Paint ball	Zap - basically a paintball recipe
US005411053		Fluid pressure regulator	Nitro Duck reg
US005413083		Attachment for a paint pellet gun	An electronic retrofit for a paintball gun - note that this predates any of SP's patents
US005448951		Rigid, fracturable projectiles for air powered guns	paintball recipe
US005460154		Method for pneumatically propelling a projectile substance
US005462042		Semiautomatic paint ball gun	Blade (no not Brass Eagle plastic pump - the old Andy Greenwell blowback)
US005477843		Model gun with automatic bullet supplying mechanism	Airsoft gun
US005494024		Paint ball gun and assemblies therefor	Phoenix
US005497758		Compressed gas powered gun	ICD Puma
US005503137		Conversion kit for a compressed gas gun	The 'Chameleon' kit for the Trracer
US005505188		Paint ball gun	We got mixed up somewhere - this is another Satco 700 patent, not an F1 patent...  I rechecked my original email from Durty Dan, and he did indeed list 5505188 as the number for his below test.  But it's pretty obvious that the cutaway in 5505188 is not an F1. Durty Dan writes: "This is the working prototype for the FASTech F1. The external design changed and the internals were rearranged a bit, but is was the same marker as all the parts from the original patent were present in more or less their original configuration."
US005509399		Semi-automatic fluid powered gun	Airsoft pistol
US005511333		Paintball clip magazine	Spring-loaded ammo tube with a JT speedloader style tip (so you can load the balls into the clip without having the spring push them all right back out). (Durty Dan writes: "This is the magazine for the FASTech AFT. I helped design it, by the way! The little plastic basket that holds the balls in was my idea, based on the "sock holder" found in stick feeds like on the stock class Phantom. I made a grand total of $50.00 and a free AFT. My only real contribution to paintball, and look how it turned out. FASTech out of business and the AFT out of production!")
US005515838		Paint ball gun	Appears to be a blowback with a few refinements, particularly in the valve.
US005572982		Paint ball gun with crack valve	Satco 700 - anyone with more info on this gun or its inventor, Robert A. Williams, please contact me!
US005599187		Firearm use training device and method	Has to do with pistol training, but one of the drawings shows a 68 Special to provide return fire
US005613483		Gas powered gun	This is a patent for the 'Omega', a gun designed and prototyped by a London, Ontario company. The gun never went into production but instead the design was sold to Diablo. Diablo turned it into an electro and released it as the Matrix.
US005630406			Montneel Mega-Z
US005634456		Semi-automatic gun	Daisy Eagle .68
US005639526		Paint ball	Tom Kaye's 'Perfect Circle' paintballs
US005640945		Paintball and paintball gun	System to use dimpled paintballs
US005669369		Paint ball gun and assemblies therefor	Regulator pat.
US005673679		Paint ball gun feed tube	Satco 700
US005704342		Compressed gas gun with pressure control arrangement	AGD Automag
US005711286		Gas-powered repeating pistol	Airsoft
US005722383		Impeder for a gun firing mechanism with ammunition feeder and mode selector	Tippmann F/A
US005727538		Electronically actuated marking pellet projector	????
US005736720		Loader mounted paintball game scorekeeper and an associated paintball game playing system	Viewloader game timer
US005755213		Pneumatic valve and regulator	Smart Parts Max-Flow regulator
US005769066		Gas powered ball gun	???? - seems a bit like the Nova?
US005771875		Gas powered repeating gun	Tagline TS1, now the ATS AT-85
US005778868		Pneumatic gun	???? - the applicant is a 'K.K.M. Inc.' of Mississauga, Canada, which would very strongly point to a Brass Eagle connection. Perhaps this is for the Poison, Golden Eagle, or one of the other semis from when BE was still Canadian?
US005791325		Paint ball gun agitator, sensor trigger and duration control	Agitated loader
US005791328		Air valve for marking pellet gun	AKA's Tornado valve - note that the only really unique feature that this patent covers is the use of 'guide legs' on the cupseal to keep the valve stem aligned.
US005794606		Ram feed ammo box	Sort of like a Revolution, but with a pair of rotating wheels to force balls down the feed tube
US005816232		Paintball loader having active feed mechanism	Brass Eagle's eGGolution, er, eVLution
US005823173		Paintball gun	Using dimpled paintballs to achieve longer ranges via backspin
US005868637		Sport or games apparatus	Brass Eagle - basically a modular speedball course
US005878736		Dual-pressure electronic paintball gun	Brass eagle Rainmaker
US005881707		Pneumatically operated projectile launching device	Smart Parts Shocker
US005885671		Polyoxyalkylene glycol gelatin capsule fill formulations comprising crosslinked carboxylic copolymers	RP Scherer's paintball recipe
US005890479		Trigger assist system	Boston Paintball's 'Reflex' cocker with a reactive trigger
US005896850		Paintball gun with sight rail cover	Cocking knob used on the ACI F4 Illustrator
US005904133		Paintball gun air reservoir	AKA's 'Mitey Max' low pressure chamber - it appears that this patent really only applies to cocker LPCs, as the patent refers to the chamber also coupling the front block to the body and "the bolt-on air chamber also holds the gun together". Note that Shocktech has stopped producing their cocker LPCs, almost assuredly due to this patent.
US005908024		Breech block for pneumatic shooting device	Interesting take on the blow-forward concept.
US005913303		Trigger mechanism for compressed gas powered weapons or the like	AGD Automag RT
US005927261		Adjustable gas cartridge mount	Adjustable nitro cradle - can't think of who's this would be for offhand... (Benchmark?)
US005931342		Heat wrap for carbon dioxide tanks	Heated blanket to wrap around a CO2 tank to help keep a high pressure.
US005936190		Precision shooting aerodynamic non-spherical safety-oriented projectile	The failed 'Safety Paintballs' that appeared in ads in APG around '94
US005947100		Paint ball gun agitator sound trigger and duration control	Agitated loader
US005950611		Paintball gun having movable compressed gas tank	Basically like the ACI Dyna-Mount
US005954042		Paintball loader	????
US005954043		Less lethal weapon attachable to lethal weapon including valve arrangement	????
US005957119		Pneumatic valve and regulator	Smart Parts Max-Flow regulator
US005967133		Pneumatically operated projectile launching device	Smart Parts Shocker
US005967916		Lazer ball	Soft foam balls for paintball type indor use. More info at lazerball.com and foampaintballs.com
US005988153		Paint ball gun	Galactic Systemz Z-body for the Automag
US005993215		Training weapon with trigger actuated indicator light	AGD Sydarm. (Durty Dan writes: "This is a police training Sydarm. The light was used during the video taping of police training scenarios. Prior to the muzzle light the video did not pick up the gas emission/cloud from the shot of the marker so the light was added to simulate muzzle flash and to give the camera something to "see". This may seem minor but when you consider that when two opponents are shooting at each other at close range, who shot first is extremely important when you're training police, as you can imagine.")
US006003504		Paint ball gun	WDP Angel
US006003547		Valve and filling arrangement	Tippmann - new CO2 tank valve
US006003547		Paintball gun loader	JT 'Slammer' Speed Pods
US006024077		Pressure regulating system for compressed gas powered weapons or the like	AGD Automag RT
US006035843		Pneumatically operated projectile launching device	Smart Parts Shocker
US006055975		Paintball container	Backpack-mounted speedloader
US006057750		Magnet device with double fixing positions for changing the magnetic circuit	Magnetically actuated valve design as used on the XXX-1 gun from XXX Paintball in Taiwan (see pat # 6601780)
US006056006		Piston pressure regulator	Crossfire regulator
US006062208		Paintball gun monitor
US006065460		Dual-pressure electronic paintball gun	Brass Eagle Rainmaker - note that the inventor is listed as Nick Lotuaco (Nicanor D. Lotuaco, III) - Nick was the owner of Air Power, the company that made the Vector, which the Rainmaker is based off of (Greg Koteski, Air Power's machinist, is actually the inventor of the Vector).  Nick worked with Brass Eagle to design the Rainmaker and the associated production lines for it.
US006082349		Phosphorescent paintball and kit including phosphorescent paintball, exciter, and gun	Tracerballs - these guys were right down the road from Air Power, and Michael Power recalls having used the balls on various occasions - note that one of the pictures on their web page shows a Vector with one of the strobe units!
US006094751		Goggle with replaceable seal
US006109252		Projectile feed system	The Tinker's Guild own manike _finally_ had the patent issued for his uber-loader! Congrats!
US006138656		Paint ball gun	WDP Angel
US006142136		Releasable paint ball gun bolt	Bolt suitable for use on stacked blowbacks. Pushing down on a plunger at the rear of the bolt lifts the hammer link pin, allowing the bolt to be pulled out the rear of the gun.
US006142137		Trigger control system for a paint ball gun	Covers bolt-on electro upgrades that couple directly to the gun's existing trigger. Note that this only covers reciprocating linear actuation of the trigger, not actuation with a cam.
US006142895		Arrow with marking head	What you get when you stick a paintball on the end of an arrow...
US006158642		Modular carrier assembly adapted for paintball	Appears to be a Redz pack, with a modular pack that attaches to a belt with velcro...
US006170519		Pressure regulator	ACI Bulldog adjustable (screw-in reg). Note that the the inventor, Kent Carroll, does most of the technical design work for Air America - AA actually designed and produces the Bulldog for ACI. This also explains the similarities between the Bulldog and AA's own Melee regulator. (thanks to Ed Kang for this info)
US006189525		Paintball gun trigger with upper and lower finger gripping portions	Patent on the ring trigger (from K&K Performance Paintball)
US006193410		Method for agitating the liquid contents of paint balls	Paintball tumbler
US006210709		Flexible gelatin free encapsulation material useful for pharmaceuticals, paint balls and other formulations	Gelatin free paintball shell - used in the new RP Advantage balls
US006213110		Rapid feed paintball loader	Odyssey Paintball's Halo loader
US006213111		Gas holding chamber for air-powered paintball guns	AKA low pressure chamber
US006213112		Bolt for a paint ball gun	New Automag bolt
US006226915		Forward angled grip for hand-held weapons and the like	AGD Z-grip
US006230371		Paintball pistol gravity center compensation device
US006233928		Paint ball gun and assemblies therefor	Phoenix
US006251033		Paintball game field and method of play	Steve Davidson's USPL speedball field design - note that 'X-Ball' infringes on this patent.
US006260821		On/off valve for a paintball gun	Smart Parts on/off
US006263927		Venting trans-fill station	Note that the inventor is Kent Carroll (connected with Air America)
US006273079		Rapid detachable structure for color ball toy gun	Magazine attachment system for the PT Extreme
US006273080		Paint ball gun barrel with multiple compression zones	I can only assume that this is a new barrel that ACI will be releasing.  (Dennis Sullivan is the head honcho at ACI)
US006276354		Gas powered gun and assemblies therefor	CMI's short-lived LS 2000 semi and their CO-2000 regulator (note that the LS-2000 is pretty much a rehash of the Phoenix, as the trigger system and valve design are the same).
US006280080		Method for agitating the liquid contents of paint balls
US006286497		Air valve and regulator	Looks like a knockoff of the AutoMag
US006289819		Paint ball land mine
US006295752		Projectile guide	Ram Rod barrel
US006296580		Adaptable playing fields with ventilated structures
US006298841		Paintball gun and light emitting projectile-type ammunition for use therewith
US006302092		Air gun trigger system	Hybrid manual/electro sear tripper blowback.  Valve design similar to (and predating) the Rocket valve.
US006305367		Hopper feeder	This must be the result of Tom's talks with the Odyssey boys about combining the Warp into a loader...
US006305941		Training weapon with trigger actuated indicator light	AGD Sydarm (drawings show it with an RT as the base gun)
US006311681		Multi-port paintball projector
US006311682		Paintball guns	Angel LCD
US006314954		Toy gun for firing paint bullets
US006321956		Paintball gun support system for loading paintball pellets and gas cylinders
US006327953		Device for storing projectile balls and for feeding them to the projectile chamber of a hand weapon
US006343599		Paintball gun with pulse valve firing mechanism
US006347622		Paint bullet gun
US006349711		Low pressure electrically operated pneumatic paintball gun	Smart Parts Impulse. From a glance, it looks to basically cover electros that use only a single reg. I'm doubting that this patent will really be worth anything, as it seems that a SuperNova ET would be sufficient prior art.
US006360736		Air gun firing system	Kingman EM1
US006367466		Paintball gun cradle	You can patent a collection of PVC pipe?  Huh.
US006371099		Paint ball gun	The only thing that appears to be the main thrust of the patent is the 'snap-back' style bolt for stacked blowbacks, which has been around for quite some time already.
US006374819		Paintball feeding device for paintball markers
US006375981		Modified starch as a replacement for gelatin in soft gel films and capsules
US006378367		Miniature sports radar speed measuring device
US006393992		Non-lethal projectile for delivering an inhibiting substance to a living target
US006405722		Single stage regulator and method for regulating compressed air therefor
US006408837		Toy gun with magazine	Looks like a Nerf gun, but the 'hopper' appears rather Tippmann-esque
US006409150		Pin valve with removable valve body cover
US006415781		Bulk loader for paintball gun	a new screw feed hopper from Zap, apparently...
US006418919		Paintball loader with vibrating mechanism to prevent jamming
US006418920		Valves for actuating the flow of pressurized fluids and device containing same	Maddman 'Rocket' valve
US006439217		Paintball gun	Black Dragun, maybe?
US006450100		Method for making an improved paintball grenade
US006453593		Gun barrel with longitudinal spin prevention slots	CMI's trademark barrel porting
US006453819		Paint ball grenade	Actually, this looks more like a paintball 'mine'...
US006467473		Paintball feeders	AGD Warp Feed
US006470872		Semi-automatic firing compressed-gas gun	Oooh, a fully contained semiauto sidearm with BOTH paint and a 12 gram in a removable grip located magazine!!!  Anyone have more info on this?  I'll need one for each hand...
US006474325		Gas regulator	Angel AIR
US006474326		Pneumatically operated projectile launching device	Shocker patent - the drawings in the patent appear to be of the old PVI Shocker, but this is the patent number that Smart Parts is giving for the new '03 Shocker.
US006474643		Paintball simulation game	That one new paintball board game (forget what it's called)
US006478046		Gas pressure regulator	CenterFlag Hyperflow 201 regulator
US006481432		Paintball hopper	Ricochet loader
US006488019		Feeder for a paintball gun	AGD Warp Feed
US006494195		Barrel assembly with removable barrel insert for pneumatic paintball gun	Smart Parts Freak barrel
US006502567		Rapid feed paintball loader with pivotable deflector