Patent Application
20250116477
This invention relates generally to archery bows and more specifically to configurations of a rotating member of an archery bow.
Archery bows that include a counteracting weight are known in the art, for example as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,809,982. A counteracting weight has been used to reduce the forward force of a bow during arrow launch, and to reduce kick-back and vibration.
As archery bows have evolved, the orientation of the limbs have shifted. Whereas older compound bows typically had diverging limbs oriented at relatively high angles to one another, recent compound bows include limbs that extend more parallel to one another. This change in design helps to mitigate kick-back and forward force of a bow during arrow launch.
There remains a need for novel archery bow designs that provide for reduced vibration, increased arrow launch speeds and increased accuracy.
All US patents and applications and all other published documents mentioned anywhere in this application are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
Without limiting the scope of the invention a brief summary of some of the claimed embodiments of the invention is set forth below. Additional details of the summarized embodiments of the invention and/or additional embodiments of the invention may be found in the Detailed Description of the Invention below.
A brief abstract of the technical disclosure in the specification is provided as well only for the purposes of complying with 37 C.F.R. 1.72. The abstract is not intended to be used for interpreting the scope of the claims.
In some embodiments, a rotatable member is arranged for use in an archery bow and comprises a body comprising a bowstring track and a non-circular cavity. The body comprises a first material. A weight member is attached to the body. The weight member comprises a non-circular shape. The weight member is oriented in the non-circular cavity. The weight member comprises a second material different from the first material.
In some embodiments, the weight member comprises an outer periphery comprising a concave portion. In some embodiments, the concave portion faces a rotation axis of the body. In some embodiments, the outer periphery comprises a convex portion. In some embodiments, the outer periphery comprises a second concave portion.
In some embodiments, a width of the weight member is greater than a width of the bowstring track.
In some embodiments, the body comprises a first portion having a first width and a second portion having a second width, wherein the weight member comprises the second width. In some embodiments, the second portion comprises raised flanges arranged to enlarge the bowstring track.
In some embodiments, an outer periphery of the weight member comprises a segment oriented parallel to the bowstring track. In some embodiments, the bowstring track is directly adjacent to the segment. In some embodiments, the segment comprises a first portion and a second portion, the second portion comprising a higher amount of curvature than the first portion.
In some embodiments, the body comprises an outer perimeter, a bowstring terminal and a channel extending between the outer perimeter and the bowstring terminal. The channel comprises a sidewall, and an outer periphery of the weight member comprises a segment oriented parallel to the sidewall. In some embodiments, the segment comprises curvature.
In some embodiments, the weight member comprises a reference point located farthest away from a rotation axis of the body, wherein a centroid of the weight member is offset from a reference line extending between the rotation axis and the reference point.
These and other embodiments which characterize the invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed hereto and forming a part hereof. However, for a better understanding of the invention, its advantages and objectives obtained by its use, reference can be made to the drawings which form a further part hereof and the accompanying descriptive matter, in which there are illustrated and described various embodiments of the invention.
A detailed description of the invention is hereafter described with specific reference being made to the drawings.
While this invention may be embodied in many different forms, there are described in detail herein specific embodiments of the invention. This description is an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the invention to the particular embodiments illustrated.
For the purposes of this disclosure, like reference numerals in the figures shall refer to like features unless otherwise indicated.
In some embodiments, an archery bow 10 comprises a single-cam compound bow (not shown), for example as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,368,006, for example wherein a first rotatable member can comprise a cam and two bowstring feed-outs, and the second rotatable member 22 can comprise a pulley.
In some embodiments, as shown in
In some embodiments, a rotatable member 20, 22 comprises a force vectoring anchor 25, for example as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,020,544. In some embodiments, an end of a power cable 30, 32 is engaged with the force vectoring anchor 25.
In some embodiments, the first rotatable member 20 comprises a first weight 40. In some embodiments, the second rotatable member 22 comprises a second weight 50. In some embodiments, a shape of the first weight 40 is similar to a shape of the second weight 50. In some embodiments, the second weight 50 comprises an orientation different from the first weight 40, for example being oriented as a mirror image.
In some embodiments, the body 24 comprises a first material and the weight 40 comprises a second material different from the first material. In some embodiments, the second material comprises a higher density than the first material. In some embodiments, the first material comprises aluminum. In some embodiments, the second material comprises brass, tungsten, lead or any other suitable material.
In some embodiments, the body 24 comprises a bowstring terminal 28, such as a post. In some embodiments, the bowstring 16 comprises a loop 29 attached to the bowstring terminal 28. In some embodiments, the bowstring 16 extends away from the loop 29 and around the outer periphery of the body 24 in the bowstring track 34. In some embodiments, the bowstring 16 exits the bowstring track 34 at an exit location 35 (in the brace condition) and extends toward the second rotatable member 22.
In some embodiments, a weight 40 is positioned between the exit location 35 and the bowstring terminal 29.
In some embodiments, a weight 40 comprises a non-circular shape. In some embodiments, the non-circular shape allows more weight material to be positioned in the available space than if a circular shape was used. In some embodiments, a non-circular shape allows a centroid 42 of the weight 40 to be positioned farther away from the rotation axis 26 than if a circular shape was used.
In some embodiments, an outer periphery of the weight 40 comprises a concave portion 44. In some embodiments, the concave portion 44 faces the rotation axis 26, which can help place the centroid 42 farther away from the rotation axis 26.
In some embodiments, a reference line 60 that extends between the rotation axis 26 and the centroid 42 will intersect a perimeter of the weight 40 at a first location and a second location. In some embodiments, the perimeter of the weight 40 is arcuate at both the first location and the second location. In some embodiments, the perimeter is concave with respect to the rotation axis 26 at the first location, and the perimeter is concave with respect to the rotation axis 26 at the second location.
In some embodiments, the perimeter of weight 40 comprises a first point 52 located closest to the rotation axis 26. In some embodiments, the perimeter of weight 40 comprises a second point 54 located farthest from the rotation axis 26. In some embodiments, a first reference line 62 extending between the first point 52 and the rotation axis 26 is oriented at a non-zero angle to a second reference line 64 extending between the second point 54 and the rotation axis 26. In some embodiments, the first reference line 62 is offset from the reference line 60 extending through the centroid 42. In some embodiments, the second reference line 64 is offset from the reference line 60 extending through the centroid 42.
In some embodiments, the outer periphery of the weight 40 comprises a continuous portion 48 that extends parallel to the bowstring track 34. The continuous portion 48 can have any suitable length. In some embodiments, a length of the continuous portion 48 is at least 5%-50% of a total length of the weight 40. As shown in
In some embodiments, an outer periphery of the weight 40 comprises a first concave portion 44 and a second concave portion 46. In some embodiments, the second concave portion 46 extends parallel to a channel 56 in the rotatable member 20 extending between its perimeter and the bowstring terminal 28. In some embodiments, a concave portion 44, 46 comprises an arc having a center located outside of the weight 40. In some embodiments, a center of the first concave portion 44 is offset from a center of the second concave portion 46.
In some embodiments, the bowstring track 34 comprises a first portion 36 having a first width and a second portion 38 having a second width greater than the first width. In some embodiments, the rotatable member 20 comprises a first portion 66 having a first width and a second portion 68 having a second width greater than the first width. In some embodiments, the weight 40 is wider than the first portion 36 of the bowstring track 34. In some embodiments, the weight is wider than the first portion 66 of the rotatable member 20. In some embodiments, the weight 40 comprises a width similar to the second portion 38 of the bowstring track 34. In some embodiments, the weight 40 comprises a width similar to the second portion 68 of the rotatable member 20.
In some embodiments, a rotatable member 20 comprises features as described in U.S. Pat. No. 10,921,085, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
The above disclosure is intended to be illustrative and not exhaustive. This description will suggest many variations and alternatives to one of ordinary skill in this field of art. All these alternatives and variations are intended to be included within the scope of the claims where the term “comprising” means “including, but not limited to.” Those familiar with the art may recognize other equivalents to the specific embodiments described herein which equivalents are also intended to be encompassed by the claims.
Further, the particular features presented in the dependent claims can be combined with each other in other manners within the scope of the invention such that the invention should be recognized as also specifically directed to other embodiments having any other possible combination of the features of the dependent claims. For instance, for purposes of claim publication, any dependent claim which follows should be taken as alternatively written in a multiple dependent form from all prior claims which possess all antecedents referenced in such dependent claim if such multiple dependent format is an accepted format within the jurisdiction (e.g. each claim depending directly from claim 1 should be alternatively taken as depending from all previous claims). In jurisdictions where multiple dependent claim formats are restricted, the following dependent claims should each be also taken as alternatively written in each singly dependent claim format which creates a dependency from a prior antecedent-possessing claim other than the specific claim listed in such dependent claim below.
This completes the description of the preferred and alternate embodiments of the invention. Those skilled in the art may recognize other equivalents to the specific embodiment described herein which equivalents are intended to be encompassed by the claims attached hereto.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Patent Application No. 63/543,013, filed Oct. 6, 2023, the entire content of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63543013 | Oct 2023 | US |
