Taran Tactical fiber optic/tritium

[spinmove_]

You mean like this?

No. The tritium vial in the manner that I was speaking of would have the "glowy end" pointing directly at the underside of the fiber optic rod. You wouldn't even see the tritium vial by looking at the front sight blade. Sadly, as a lone light source, it wouldn't be enough to properly illuminate the fiber.

[BobLoblaw]

You mean like this?

I think he means the tritium tubes are not visible at all. The light from the tritium escapes only to the fiber rod above it which obviously illuminates them to some extent. It's a cool idea.

ETA: You could probably have more than one tritium tube or increase the tube size to get the desired amount of light.

[GRV]

Oh interesting. I was actually thinking everyone had these sort of vials in mind: http://www.mixglo.com/vials.html They are transparent along their whole length. Then you'd mount it under the fiber ala the VTAC sights, but much closer to the fiber, with the fiber and vial exposed to each other lengthwise, and yea, cap off the end so you don't see the tritium at the front.

[spinmove_]

Oh interesting. I was actually thinking everyone had these sort of vials in mind: http://www.mixglo.com/vials.html They are transparent along their whole length. Then you'd mount it under the fiber ala the VTAC sights, but much closer to the fiber, with the fiber and vial exposed to each other lengthwise, and yea, cap off the end so you don't see the tritium at the front.

I didn't even know that those existed. Interesting. And here I was thinking that someone could take the vertical tritium tube that is used in the rear sight of the XS big dots and mount it in the front sight blade facing the sky underneath where the fiber rod would go through. But something as long as those, that could be mounted directly underneath the fiber rod, would give it more surface area to the fiber.

[BillSWPA]

If I remember correctly a utility patent is 20 years from first filing if you pay the maintenance fees.

Yes. However, if it was pending or in force on June 7, 1995, then it is the longer of 20 years from filing (meaning the earliest nonprovisional claimed filing date) or 17 years from the issue date, whichever is longer. Also, there are patent term extensions for excessive time required to obtain the patent to the extent that it was not the applicant's delays causing the long pendency, as well as for time required for obtaining FDA approval where relevant.

[BillSWPA]

I think everyone has had that idea at some point or another.

From a physics perspective, fibers are generally used as end-coupled components. Ask anyone in optics about this, and they'll almost certainly say to end-couple them, ala the way TruGlo does it, to maximize the light coupled into the fiber. I've actually had this discussion with an optics expert once.

I think daytime fiber sight illumination really benefits from an overwhelming amount of light coming from many many angles to overcome the inefficiency of coupling to a fiber optic lengthwise and to fully take advantage of the exposed profile. I don't think you can mimic that effect with a stacked tritium vial trying to couple lengthwise; much less light from far fewer angles. I think anyone with a background in optics would guess the same. A more interesting, though wacky and impractical-sounding, idea that I heard was to put the vial somewhere else, not in the sight blade itself, and fiber-couple it to the fiber in the blade. In the same breath, the idea was also suggested to use a 2-to-1 (or more) coupler in such a manner to couple multiple light sources to the fiber in the blade. Very much a theorist's wild brainstorming, but, it would solve the sight-width problem

ETA: I also think the daytime fiber sights are reaping serious benefits from fluorescence.

Also ETA: My honest feeling on the whole thing is that, while there are probably much better (while still implementable) fiber/tritium or general day/night iron sight ideas than what can be bought today, that MRDSs will become commonplace before any of these ideas can ever really meaningfully make it to market and stand the test of serious use. I'm high on the list of people that appreciate this sort of tortured perfection seeking, but at the end of the day it is really an exceedingly niche issue that is nearly obsolete.

This is my understanding as well.