US-12618632-B2 - Off-axis serpentine flow chamber for firearm suppressors

Abstract

A firearm sound suppressor can include an outer housing that defines a bore axis and an inner wall disposed at least partially within the outer housing. The inner wall can be oriented along the bore axis and includes a cylindrical central chamber. An annular chamber can be disposed between the outer housing and the inner wall. At least one helical partition can be disposed in the annular chamber to define at least one interleaved helical pathway through the annular chamber. Each interleaved helical pathway includes a first forward helical segment, a reverse helical segment sharing a first common wall with the first forward helical segment, and a second forward helical segment sharing a second common wall with the reverse helical segment. The first and second common walls can be distinct from one another.

Inventors

• David Sanders
• A. Kai Bradshaw
• Russell TOBLER

Assignees

• HuxWrx Safety Co. LLC

Dates

Publication Date

20260505

Application Date

20250219

Claims (20)

1. 1 . A firearm sound suppressor comprising: an outer housing defining a bore axis; an inner wall disposed at least partially within the outer housing, the inner wall oriented about and centered along the bore axis and including a cylindrical central chamber; an annular chamber disposed between the outer housing and the inner wall; and at least one helical partition disposed in the annular chamber to define at least one interleaved helical pathway through the annular chamber, each of the at least one interleaved helical pathway including a first forward helical segment, a reverse helical segment sharing a first common wall with the first forward helical segment, and a second forward helical segment sharing a second common wall with the reverse helical segment, wherein the first common wall and the second common wall are distinct from one another.
2. 2 . The firearm sound suppressor of claim 1 , wherein the first forward helical segment, the reverse helical segment, and the second forward helical segment are disposed in a common layer that is concentric about the bore axis.
3. 3 . The firearm sound suppressor of claim 1 , wherein the first forward helical segment extends at least partway along a length of the annular chamber to define a continuous passage beginning proximate to a rearward end of the annular chamber and ending proximate to a forward end of the annular chamber.
4. 4 . The firearm sound suppressor of claim 3 , wherein the reverse helical segment extends at least partway back along the length of the annular chamber toward the rearward end of the annular chamber.
5. 5 . The firearm sound suppressor of claim 4 wherein the second forward helical segment extends at least partway forward along the length of annular chamber toward the forward end of the annular chamber.
6. 6 . The firearm sound suppressor of claim 1 , wherein the cylindrical central chamber, including the inner wall, includes a segment that extends away from a rearward end and toward a forward end of the annular chamber.
7. 7 . The firearm sound suppressor of claim 6 , wherein the segment that extends away from the rearward end of the annular chamber is configured to couple to a muzzle of a projectile weapon.
8. 8 . The firearm sound suppressor of claim 6 , wherein the segment that extends away from the rearward end of the annular chamber includes a perforated portion.
9. 9 . The firearm sound suppressor of claim 8 , wherein the perforated portion of the central chamber extends no more than fifty percent of a distance from the rearward end of the central chamber toward the forward end of the central chamber.
10. 10 . The firearm sound suppressor of claim 8 , wherein the perforated portion of the central chamber extends: no more than forty percent of a distance from the rearward end of the central chamber toward the forward end of the central chamber; or no more than thirty percent of a distance from the rearward end of the central chamber toward the forward end of the central chamber.
11. 11 . The firearm sound suppressor of claim 1 , wherein each interleaved helical pathway through the annular chamber defined by each of the at least one helical partition includes: at least one intake port proximate to a rearward end of the annular chamber; and at least one exit port proximate to a forward end of the annular chamber.
12. 12 . The firearm sound suppressor of claim 11 , wherein: each of the at least one intake ports is proximate to the rearward end of the annular chamber within: five percent of a length of the outer housing of the firearm sound suppressor; two percent of the length of the outer housing of the firearm sound suppressor; or one percent of the length of the outer housing of the firearm sound suppressor; and each of the at least one exit ports is proximate to the forward end of the annular chamber within: five percent of the length of the outer housing of the firearm sound suppressor; two percent of the length of the outer housing of the firearm sound suppressor; or one percent of the length of the outer housing of the firearm sound suppressor.
13. 13 . The firearm sound suppressor of claim 11 , wherein each intake port is configured for fluid communication with the cylindrical central chamber through at least one opening in the inner wall.
14. 14 . The firearm sound suppressor of claim 11 , wherein each intake port is configured to direct at least a portion of a propulsion gas generated by a projectile weapon through an associated interleaved helical pathway to dissipate a portion of energy of the gas.
15. 15 . The firearm sound suppressor of claim 14 , wherein each exit port is configured to direct at least a portion of the propulsion gas out of the forward end of the annular chamber.
16. 16 . The firearm sound suppressor of claim 15 , wherein each exit port configured to direct at least a portion of the propulsion gas out of the forward end of the annular chamber is separate from a forward opening of the cylindrical central chamber.
17. 17 . The firearm sound suppressor of claim 15 , wherein: the cylindrical central chamber and the annular chamber are in fluid communication only via a perforated portion of the cylindrical chamber and the at least one intake port; and the at least a portion of the propulsion gas that is exhausted out of the forward end of the annular chamber is separate from another portion of the propulsion gas exhausted out of the forward end of the cylindrical central chamber.
18. 18 . The firearm sound suppressor of claim 1 , wherein the at least one helical partition disposed in the annular chamber to define the interleaved helical pathway through the annular chamber further comprises three to eight adjacent interleaved helical pathways.
19. 19 . The firearm sound suppressor of claim 1 , wherein the at least one helical partition has a gap distance from 2 millimeters to 12 millimeters.
20. 20 . The firearm sound suppressor of claim 1 , wherein the at least one helical partition has a helical angle from 15 degrees to 50 degrees from the bore axis.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/555,837, filed Feb. 20, 2024 which is incorporated herein by reference. BACKGROUND Discharging a firearm causes gases to be produced through rapid, confined burning of a propellant that accelerates a projectile. This typically creates a loud noise and a flash of light at the muzzle. Often, it is desirable to reduce the amount of noise and light produced by discharging a firearm. Suppressors, or silencers, are typically connected to the muzzle end of a firearm to temporarily capture gas that exits the muzzle. Some suppressor designs divert a portion of the discharge gas to a secondary chamber, such that the gas does not exit the suppressor by the same path as the projectile. The gas is released from the suppressor at a significantly reduced pressure. In general, the more gas a suppressor captures, the quieter the discharge sound of the firearm. Providing a suppressor that can capture more gas can be challenging because typically, suppressors increase backpressure in the barrel, which can result in increased wear on firearm component as well as increasing felt recoil. Another challenge is that as a suppressor becomes larger, an operator's performance with the firearm can be adversely affected because of factors related to, for example, length, weight, or diameter (e.g., reducing the operator's maneuverability or quickness, blocking the operator's vision). SUMMARY This invention relates to an off-axis serpentine flow chamber that can be used with firearms sound suppressors. The flow chamber may include an inner wall disposed at least partially within an outer housing that defines a bore axis. The inner wall can be oriented about and along the bore axis and includes a cylindrical central chamber (also coaxial with the bore axis). The flow chamber can also include an annular chamber disposed between the outer housing and the inner wall. At least one helical partition can be disposed in the annular chamber to define at least one interleaved helical pathway through the annular chamber. The interleaved helical pathway includes a first forward helical segment, a reverse helical segment sharing a first common wall with the first forward helical segment, and a second forward helical segment sharing a second common wall with the reverse helical segment. The first common wall and the second common wall can be distinct from one another. The nested serpentine flow pathway can allow discharge gases to travel helically back and forth (e.g., forward and rearward). This approach can result in very little or no change in back pressure and substantially similar exit velocity compared to unsuppressed operation of the same firearm, which can reduce wear on firearms components. The back and forth travel can also reduce the length of the suppressor compared to other designs with similar sound suppression performance, which can allow the operator to use suppression with fewer adverse effects on the operator's performance with the firearm. There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the invention so that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and so that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. Other features of the present invention will become clearer from the following detailed description of the invention, taken with the accompanying drawings and claims, or may be learned by the practice of the invention. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1A illustrates an example firearm suppressor that can be used to implement an off-axis serpentine flow chamber, including an interleaved helical pathway and a cylindrical central chamber in accordance with one example. FIG. 1B is a cross-section view across A-A of FIG. 1B. FIG. 2A is a side view of an interleaved helical pathway in accordance with one example. FIG. 2B is a flow path diagram illustrating flow through the interleaved helical pathway of FIG. 2A. Note that this view is a flatted, unfurled, and simplified view which also removes the helical rotation in order to more clearly show relative flow pathways. FIG. 3 is a side cross-section view of the interleaved helical pathway of FIG. 1A including a perforated section in accordance with another example. FIG. 4A is a right side view of a suppressor core with an interleaved helical pathway and a perforated segment in accordance with one example. FIG. 4B is a left side view of a suppressor core with an interleaved helical pathway and a perforated segment in accordance with the example of FIG. 4A. FIG. 4C is a top view of a suppressor core with an interleaved helical pathway and a perforated segment in accordance with the example of FIG. 4A. FIG. 4D is a top view of a suppressor core with an interleaved helical pathway and a perforated segment in accordance with the example of FIG. 4A. FIG. 4E is a front right perspective view of a su