1. Technical Field
This invention generally relates to the field of projectiles, and more specifically relates to projectiles with deployable members.
2. Background Art
Many advances have been made in the art of projectiles, such as bullets fired from guns. Several known bullets are made of lead or other soft material that expands (known as “mushrooming”) when the bullet hits. The expansion of a lead bullet inside a target causes a greater knock-down effect, and increases the damage done to bones and internal organs, but typically slows the bullet to the point that it does not exit the target. In hunting applications, it is desirable for the bullet to exit the animal so the animal bleeds from the exit would, allowing the hunter to track the animal from the trail of blood. One way to assure the bullet exits the animal is to use a harder material that does not expand upon impact. The drawback of this approach is the damage done to the animal is not as great as for a softer, expanding bullet, increasing the likelihood of survival for an animal shot with a hard bullet. In addition, because a hard bullet does not expand, the animal will not likely bleed a great deal because the exit would is small, the same diameter of the bullet.
Some projectiles have been developed with members that deploy to increase the damage when the projectile hits its target. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,240,849 to Holler and U.S. Pat. No. 1,464,032 to Daynix disclose projectiles that have members that deploy in-flight. These members increase the damage to the target upon impact. U.S. Pat. No. 1,318,858 to Frick discloses a projectile that may expand in-flight, or that may expand upon impact with a target. The Frick projectile includes pivoting knife arms that extend to create more damage to the target. The configuration of the Frick projectile is quite complex, and would be very difficult to manufacture in a cost-effective manner. What is needed is a projectile that provides members that deploy upon impact with a target that may be manufactured and assembled in a cost-effective manner.