Lock, Stock, and Three Smoking Coils: The Electric Musket Ryan Eder David Grothe Jason Kamuda Thomas Minor

Introduction Multiple stage electromagnetic gun fired by pulsing electric current through excitation coils wrapped around a barrel. Sensors before each stage detect position and therefore velocity to determine the firing of subsequent coil pulses. Ferromagnetic projectile exits muzzle of barrel at velocity.

Competitors Information Unlimited has coil gun pistol. Available on Amazing1.com for $110. Further investigation yields no patents or patents pending for design plans or complete design. No infringement potential with this company.

Patents Raytheon Company was recently issued a patent for substantially the same function as our design. “Magnetic field projection for the projectile of an electromagnetic coil gun.” Excitation cores arranged around a barrel are pulsed with electric current. The resulting magnetic field accelerates a projectile out of the muzzle of the barrel. Applied: January Issued: September 2006.

Patents contd. Raytheon’s patent drawings indicate position sensors and currents through coils. Our design performs substantially the same function in substantially the same way.

Action Required If we wanted to manufacture and sell… Need to get license from Raytheon ($$), Need to buy the patent from Raytheon ($$$), Make significant changes to our design ($), Or not and give up on selling design.

Summary While no coil gun products on the market for consumers exists with a patent, there is a patent from Raytheon that matches our design significantly. We cannot begin production without some kind of action beforehand.