Inalex Alpha C1 Pneumatic Speargun

[popgun pete]

I have been searching around the International spearfishing forums for more info on the Inalex "Alpha C1" speargun and have found a few more photos on this Russian language forum. http://forum.rybolov-profi.ru/index.php?topic=394.60
The manufacturing looks to be based in Greece, which is where the gun was announced as being for sale for a short period, after which it disappeared from view. Spaghetti first spotted it and posted it here http://forums.deeperblue.com/spearo-board/85475-indie-minor-speargun-companies-7.html

Judging by this Russian guy's April 2010 posts he has an "Alpha C1" speargun which he is actually using. Note that this gun has a mid-handle position, the other one had a rear handle. On the advertising material for the "Alpha C1" gun it said that the handle could be moved anywhere, but after studying these photos I think that this means that the handle can be located anywhere by the manufacturer, you just have to order it. Note the long tube or rod running back from the mid-handle in the second photo on this referenced web-page, it is not a user adjustable element. Aquatech spearguns have a similar arrangement where the handle position can be specified in the customer's order.

Various photos of the "Alpha C1" speargun reveal more of its features and show it to be different from the spearguns we usually see in the West, but not that dissimilar to spearguns from the Eastern Block countries. For a short time the Russian "Neptune" pneumatic speargun was sold by Esclapez in France, but the gun suffered from quality problems when labour costs in Russia were trimmed and lower skilled workers were used on a gun that demanded a much higher standard of finish to work properly. Hopefully such problems do not occur with this gun, but quality comes at a cost, so expect to pay a higher price.

Considering that the Chinese are now producing a copy of the Seac Sub "Asso" pneumatic speargun, it may be a rip-off and unauthorized, pneumatic speargun manufacturers are going to come under price competition like never before as low wage rates in China underpin their competitive advantage.

http://www.diananews.gr/article.asp?catid=834&subid=2&pubid=61136

 

[Gizzo]

Dear Popgun this Alpha C1 uses the patent of Technisub Drago that was produced around 1980 in Italy. The gun has the handle movable along the barrel according to the fishing situation, even when the arrow is inside.

 

[popgun pete]

I have seen photos of the "Drago" pneumatic spearguns, the grip handle slides along the length of the air reservoir tube which has a guide rail top and bottom, but there is no such guide on the "Alpha C1", so I think the latter is a different construction. The reference to the handle moving on this gun may just be an error in the description or a misunderstanding.

 

[popgun pete]

The Technisub "Drago" pneumatic speargun has a sliding handle which can be locked at various positions along the reservoir tube to provide either a rear handle or mid-handle speargun. In the patent for the gun it is suggested that the reservoir tube will be elliptical in cross-section, that way the handle will not rotate from side to side and will be confined to fore-aft travel on the gun. What looks like a full length rail on the bottom of the gun is a pull rod that connects to a sliding collar component at the muzzle. This sliding collar controls the position of steel balls (I believe that there are three of them) that serve as the sear for the trigger mechanism as the "Drago" is a forward latching pneumatic speargun. Hence the sliding piston used for propulsion in the inner barrel tube has no mushroom shaped tail element as there is no internal catch used at the rear end of the gun. Nor does the front face of the piston have a shaft tail retaining element as the ball type sear in the muzzle holds the shaft in the gun when it is cocked.

The "Drago" muzzle design is rather ingenious as when the sliding collar is pulled back by the trigger operated pull rod the three steel balls move radially outwards into a groove in the front of the collar that allows the spear to be released from the grasp of the balls which in turn fires the spear from the gun. When you release the trigger the collar moves forwards again and the balls drop back into their spear holding position due to a ramped face on the rear edge of the groove. Inserting the spear tail into the muzzle contacts the balls and rolls them rearwards in their longitudinal window slots until they are pushed radially outwards into another cavity (it too has a ramped or sloped entry) so that the spear shaft can pass by under them and be fully inserted into the inner barrel. When this happens the balls encounter a groove machined in the front end of the spear shaft and a smaller sprung loaded collar acting from the rear forces the balls down into this groove imprisoning them under the larger diameter collar operated by the pull rod. This system works OK as long as the balls stay in good shape and retain their spherical surfaces as they have to both slide and roll, but if they corrode or wear then their action is impeded and the gun's trigger system may jam at times. The radially moving ball sear system has been used in a number of spearguns (e.g. Doroganich "Sea Hunter", GSD "Punto", Kayuk, maybe Mares as they also have a ball sear patent), but it works best when the balls are located inside the pressure chamber where they are oil lubricated and never encounter seawater or sand particles. Exposed to the marine environment and engaging a groove in the front end of the spear shaft makes for a much harder life when the ball system is incorporated in the muzzle of a speargun.

The "Drago" handle has a locking system to grip the outer reservoir tube, it is a friction arrangement operated by a lever located on top of the sliding handle. If you do not lock the handle properly then there is a possibility that firing the gun will send the gun body moving backwards through the handle to hit you in the face! Technisub went to some considerable design effort to provide a secure lock, but the reservoir tube slipping is always something to bear in mind on any gun that uses a handle clamping arrangement to attach the handle to the gun. In order to move the sliding handle a winged screw (in production it may have been something else) on the side of the lower fingerguard has to be loosened first to allow a set of gripper plates to release their hold on the pull rod running the full length of the gun. That is why the lower forward fingerguard area of the "Drago" handle is so deep as it has to accommodate those vertical gripper plates that work like jaws in a small vice, but they only grip at the top where the pull rod runs through the handle.

Another feature of the "Drago" speargun is variable power that relies on moving a sliding collar via a twist tab device at the rear end, the collar is hidden inside the interior of the gun and changes the alignment of two air ports that connect the inner barrel to the outer reservoir. When the ports line up on each other you get full power, when they are moved to not coincide with each other then you get low power, so it is a throttling arrangement rather than the usual partitioned reservoir system. Technisub can use an internal sliding collar as there is no rear mounted trigger mechanism to worry about, all the "works" are at the muzzle end of the gun.

The Technisub "Drago" dates from the early seventies, the Italian patent for it was lodged in January 1970. I do not know how long they were in production for, but it seems to be a rare gun outside of Italy. The "Alpha C1" does not look like a forward latching speargun, so I believe it is a completely different design to the "Drago".

 

[Gizzo]

Hi Pete, you wrote a good and detailed post, I was wrong because of the shape of Alpha 1 and because I know that in some East European country they make a copy of Drago.

I will post in a few days the pictures of the Drago that is in my collection.

 

[popgun pete]

Thanks Gizzo, I am sure that many forum members will be eager to see the various innovative features of the "Drago" pneumatic speargun.

 

[loka]

Figure from
FEDERAL SERVICE FOR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY,PATENTS AND TRADEMARKS (ROSPATENT)

 

[popgun pete]

Thanks loka! The drawing has strange asymmetry around the rear end, the centerline of the butt section is not the centerline of the gun, even the bottom run of the outer housing 3 seems too low and the reservoir tube 12 meets a step at bulkhead 18, but maybe this is an unintentional drafting error. It appears that the rear section of the gun floods as the large coil spring 26 biases the rear cover 27 backwards, otherwise air pressure would be holding it back. The trigger actuating rod 42 enters through a side window in this section, so it definitely must flood. Pushing on the rear cover must be used to reset the firing valve system when the large mushroom head of part 24 pushes on the smaller mushroom head 34 which is at the rear of firing valve 31. Trigger 23 pushes actuating rod 42 rearwards which connects to item 21, somehow moving this element rearwards releases item 19 which must lock the firing valve 31 in position, item 19 looks like a ball or a rod which sits in an annular groove in the firing valve. If it is a rod then it may have a flat in it which rotates into position to release the firing valve, Soviet guns often use this type of cam combined with a rod. If so then we are missing the short control arm connecting the rod to item 21. Item 21 must be a piston with an "O" ring to retain pressure in the gun, but something must stop internal air pressure firing the gun by pushing the piston backwards rather than you pulling the trigger! When you muzzle load the gun with the spear the air in the inner barrel behind the piston is pushed through ports 38 to flow into the outer reservoir, this is indicated by the arrows on the diagram. This diagram (figure 1) may be part of a set of diagrams, but we will have to make do with this one for now.

In guns of this type where a "releasing valve" or a "firing valve" controls the compressed air accessing the inner barrel during the shot the means of varying power is to control the stroke of the firing valve as it moves rearwards to unplug the rear end of the inner barrel (there is no catch on the piston, it has a flat tail). The "Continent" is a gun of this type, but only has two firing powers as there are two stop positions controlling the stroke of the firing valve. The firing valve is connected to a knob sticking out the rear of the gun which you have to reset after each shot to force the firing valve back, which means you actually push against the air pressure stored inside the gun. From what I read in the "Diana News" article (see earlier reference) the "Inalex" speargun has seven power positions. I assume that they are obtained by revolving the rear cover on the gun, this moves it inwards on the thread (exterior of part 28) closing the distance between the mushroom head of part 24 and the rear mushroom head 34 of the firing valve. By varying this spacing between the mushroom heads it controls how far the firing valve moves backwards during the shot. The more it opens up the greater the power of the shot as air flow is improved with a larger opening. If you screw the rear cover right up then the gun may not shoot at all.

We know that the "Inalex" speargun is pumped up using the inner barrel, so there must be a one-way valve in the firing valve nose that allows air through into the outer pressure reservoir, but not back again. When in "air pump mode" the inner barrel must breathe ambient air from the environment through the muzzle ports or the gap shown in front of item 10. In "shooting mode" this air path has to be closed off (by screwing up the muzzle?), then the trigger pulled to fill the inner barrel with compressed air, or that is my best guess. Then you can begin shooting operations by resetting the firing valve by pushing on the butt of the gun and once the internal mechanism clicks into place you can begin using the gun for hunting. This mechanism resetting operation is something we do not have to do with western pneumatic guns, even with the GSD models which used air valve operated trigger mechanisms. Instead they opened the firing valve by a bewildering series of levers and cranks, they did not exploit the pressure differential that exists between the interior and exterior of the gun.

 

[Gizzo]

The evolution of species.

These are the pictures of Pulce 40, Pulce 60, Drago 85 (2 with handle in different position) and Drago 100.

Drago is an evolution of Pulce. All they use the same pump, have the same system in the muzzle with three spheres for shaft retaining, the same elliptical (but horizontally, while in Pulce was vertically positioned) reservoir tube . The only difference in the Drago is the sliding handle.

 

[Don Paul]

Very Nice lineup Gizzo, :friday,

Cheers, Don Paul

 

[popgun pete]

Gizzo, thanks for the explanation about the Technisub "Pulce", I knew that it had an elliptical tank, but did not know that it also used the three ball sear system in the muzzle. I assume that the trigger pull rod in the "Pulce" is inside the air tank as the orientation of the elliptical tank with the larger dimension in the vertical direction would allow the pull rod to be accommodated. From what I read in the "Drago" patent the balls drag on the spear as it is pushed into the gun and help to control it from escaping as you undertake the muzzle loading effort. During the shot the balls move into a second groove where they are not biased against the shaft, so then there is no drag. Your "Drago" and "Pulce" guns look to be in good order, but do you know what the durability of the ball sear in service was? Wear to the spherical surface of the balls and the window slots that the balls move along in will be critical to the reliable operation of the gun. I know that the Russian spearguns using this system had problems, that was cited as the reason to move the balls inside the gun and operate them in a protected environment, which required a complete redesign of the gun. A lot will depend on the quality of the material used for the balls, possibly this was a failing of the Russian guns.

Do you think that the "Pulce" came after the "Drago" or were they released at about the same time? The ball sear and the sliding handle are both discussed in the one patent, it makes sense that to offer shorter guns Technisub replaced the sliding handle with a fixed one and that with no need to externally access the pull rod along its length the elliptical tank was rotated through 90 degrees. I wonder where Technisub sourced the elliptical tubing from, it would seem to be a special order unless it was used in another application.

 

[Gizzo]

Dear Pete to give good answers to your questions I need sometime to look the old papers I have. What I remember is that Pulce come some years before Drago. The inventors of these guns were Luigi Ferraro and Gianni Beltrami. This last was a colleague of mine when I was in sportive hunting and I contacted him some month ago and tried to convince him to write a book on technisub spearguns, but he was quite cold on the proposal. He has all the answers to our doubts.

 

[popgun pete]

Gizzo, I hope that he reconsiders your proposal. It would be great to have the stories of past production spearguns properly documented, especially as with the passing years many spearguns and their inventors and associated design engineers are gradually being forgotten. Often the real story is with the internal construction as externally there may be few clues as to what lies inside or why the gun has been made in that way. Although the objective is always the same, i.e. to throw a spear accurately and rapidly towards the target, to possess good underwater handling and loading characteristics and to be completely reliable under sometimes very arduous conditions, there have been many design variations. Some were better than others and cost of production has eliminated more complex guns when ultimately the perceived benefits did not outweigh those of much simpler guns. That is why the "Sten" type pneumatic gun has become the standard layout, it is a very simple design compared to earlier efforts.

My guess is that the "Pulce" only came first after the "Drago" was designed in order to check the durability of the muzzle system before committing to the more elaborate "Drago" which was going to be much longer and hence have a longer and exposed pull rod. Placing the latter on the exterior of the gun exposes it to bending forces if the gun is roughly handled or it catches on something. I have a few forward latching spearguns of the sear tooth type and bending the pull rod is something that you become conscious of, especially if it affects the firing of the weapon when you least expect it! I note that one of your "Drago" guns is missing its pull rod, perhaps due to being damaged. On the forward latching Pirelli "Aries" the manufacturer decided to use a tube rather than a rod for just this reason, it was less likely to be distorted by lateral forces that may be imposed when handling the gun.

 

[Gizzo]

Pete please let me understand what is the pull rod.

To get more info on these guns I will go trough the Mondo Sommerso magazine that I have complete from 1959 to 1989.

 

[popgun pete]

The pull rod is the element that connects the trigger in the handle to the release mechanism in the muzzle. Essentially it bridges the distance between the two locations and is usually a long metal rod with a screw thread at either end. Usually there is an adjustment piece that screws onto one end to vary the distance slightly in terms of fine adjustment of the trigger movement required to fire the gun. The adjustment is set at the factory and rarely requires changing.

 

[Gizzo]

From Mondo Sommerso 2 (February) 1971: Genova Nautical Exibition are presented the products of all the main Italian brands. See in the picture Drago and Pulce are presented toghether in the same year. Unless I do not find a previous proof, this is the year they go into the market.
The Price of Drago speargun was one of the highest among the pneumatic spearguns.

 

[popgun pete]

That 1971 release date is in accord with the Italian patent being filed for in early 1970, once the patent was granted Technisub could reveal the guns to the market. The Mares "Sten" range was already in production for some years before this. Does the "Drago" float after spear discharge, in particular the shortest barrel length version of it?

 

[Gizzo]

I will make a test for you. Sincerely I have never used it for fishing. In 1971 I began my sportive hunting carrier and my guns were medisten and sten Mares.

 

[popgun pete]

The discussion on the "Alpha C1" continues here after the interesting diversion to the "Drago"!

http://forums.deeperblue.com/pneumatic-spearguns/96469-alpha-c-speargun.html

 

[popgun pete]

I have now found the other three diagrams and read the patent, which dates from 1998 and was taken out by Oleg Orfanidi, the inventor. Designations for the items shown in the various diagrams are as follows:

1 - Handle (2-piece clamshell plastic molding), 2 - handle clamping screws, 3 - receiver or air tank, 4 - thrust washer, 5 - thick rubber sealing washer, 6 - front line wrap hook, 7 - anchor end of shooting line at the front line wrap hook, 8 - shooting line to line slide connection, 9 - spear, 10 - muzzle spacer, 11 - muzzle, 12 - pressure chamber cavity, 13 - inner barrel, 14 - spear tip, 15 - piston, 16 - inner "releasing valve" trigger mechanism housing, 17 - "releasing valve" seat (located at rear entrance to inner barrel), 18 - "releasing valve" body with rear shank, 19 - ball (sear), 20 - body tube sealing "O" rings, 21 - "piston-lock" or "O" ring sealed slide with side window for releasing (outwards movement) or pushing (inwards movement) the ball sear, 22 - trigger pull rod, 23 - trigger hook, 24 - "push reset" rear shaft with forward facing mushroom head, 25 - pin or key in shaft slot to revolve rear "push reset" shaft on rear screw threads via rotation of external rear cap, 26 - rear cap return spring (biases rear cap rearwards), 27 - rear cap for both "releasing valve" reset (via pushing action) and power regulator knob function (via cap rotation) by varying the gap between opposing mushroom heads, 28 - threaded rear bush (degree of rotation on these screw threads increases or reduces aforementioned gap), 29 - rear cap mounting rod connects rear cap outer cover to "push reset" shaft spindle, 30 - rear line release finger (its orientation "locked" or "free" is controlled by mushroom head on rear of "releasing valve"), 31 - "releasing valve" body seal ring, 32 - "releasing valve" nose seal for interaction with "releasing valve" seat, 33 - annular rubber band ring valve on "releasing valve" nose for pressurizing air reservoir during barrel pumping with muzzle set to "air pump" mode, 34 - rear facing mushroom head on rear shank of "releasing valve", 35 - pivot pin mounting for line release finger, 36 - shooting line wraps, 37 - slotted channels for admitting air into gun with inner barrel operating in "air pump" mode, 38 - air flow holes connecting concentric outer tank or receiver to inner barrel, 39 - muzzle relief ports, 40 - access slot for trigger pull rod into side of gun body, 41 - tapered spear tail connection with piston, 42 - guide channel in grip handle for passage of trigger pull rod, 43 - axial bore in releasing valve nose for access to annular ring valve, 44 - radial venting holes in releasing valve nose connecting to axial bore for annular ring valve, 45 - side slot for intrusion of the base of line release finger which backs onto mushroom head of "releasing valve" (mushroom head moving backwards frees line release finger during the shot).

The "Alpha C1" gun operates just as I had described earlier except for the following correction. Item 19 is indeed a ball and the trigger hook (23) operates a trigger pull rod (22), rather than a push rod. Air pressure in the gun is always trying to push the slide (21) rearwards that the pull rod (22) is attached to and if the ball (19) is free to move inwards due to the circumferential groove in the "releasing valve" being located directly above it then the ball locks into that groove and acts as a sear tooth. Pulling the trigger hook (23) pulls on the rod (22) and moves the slide (21) forwards until a window in the slide moves directly under the ball and allows the ball to drop down, thus freeing the "releasing valve" to move backwards in the gun. That action unplugs the inner barrel tube which allows compressed air to rush into the inner barrel from the concentric air reservoir surrounding the inner barrel. The resultant rapid air flow then drives the piston and the spear to the front end of the gun where the spear breaks free of the piston's grip and travels on to the target. When you reset the gun by pushing the gun butt's rear cap against your body that in turn pushes on the "releasing valve" rear shank via the touching opposing mushroom heads thereby moving the "releasing valve" forwards to close off the rear end of the inner barrel tube. A curved ramp face on the window's inner edge in the slide (21) that the trigger pull rod attaches to is pushed rearwards by the gun's internal pressure and that curved window edge squeezes the ball back up to re-engage the circumferential groove in the "releasing valve" once it lines up with the ball. That means that as the gun's mechanism resets the trigger moves back to the pre-fire position via the pull imposed on it by the pull rod connected to the rear moving slide (21), so air pressure in the gun biases the trigger rather than a spring because it moves the pull rod rearwards. Usually mid-handle pneumatic spearguns pull a thin rod forwards through a pressure seal to release the sear tooth at the rear end of the gun and they therefore need a strong biasing spring to stop air pressure doing it for them, but in the "Alpha C1" the pull rod emerges pointing to the rear of the gun and not facing forwards.

"Air pump" mode is achieving by unscrewing the muzzle one third of a turn so that the piston during barrel pumping with the spear can breathe air from the atmosphere via the then exposed slotted channels in the front end of the inner barrel bore. Once barrel pumping concludes the muzzle is retightened and the gun is ready for shooting, the seal on the piston no longer being able to move past the slotted channels that allowed air into the gun.