Patent Grant
11598602
The present invention relates archery bows, and more particularly to bowstring weights, commonly referred to as speed nocks.
Archery bows, such as compound bows, typically include a bowstring and a set of cables that transfer energy from the limbs and cams of the bow to the bowstring, and thus to an arrow shot from the bow. Frequently, bowstring weights, referred to as speed nocks, are placed along the bowstring to increase the energy imparted to the arrow by the bow. The weight and location of speed nocks usually are unique to the bowstring and the bows mechanical characteristics, among other things. Many times, different types of bowstrings and bows require custom or precisely calibrated placement of the speed nocks along the bowstring to ensure that the speed nocks function properly, increasing the speed of the arrow shot from the bow.
A common speed nock includes one or more split brass clips, typically of an open “C” shape, that are placed over a bowstring and deformed so that the brass nock fully encircles the bowstring. The brass nocks usually are crimped on the bowstring to place and hold them in a specific location. Installation of the brass nocks typically is performed manually, pneumatically, or with specialized equipment produced for installation of multiple nocks on the bowstring at a time. Where manufacturers recommend a significant amount of weight on a bowstring, installation of multiple brass nocks can be difficult. For example, some advanced cam designs call for ten or more of these brass nocks, equating to 75+ grains, on each end of the bowstring. To install this large number of nocks, an installer must carefully and precisely place each brass nock adjacent the next, and ensure their crimping technique does not alter or move previously placed nocks. In some cases, machined brass “stacks” can be used instead of placing individual brass nocks, however, these can be expensive to machine and even more difficult to install without specialized equipment. The cost of both multi-stacked, individual brass nocks, or machined brass stacks also can be high when using so many on each bowstring. In addition, safety of the consumer can sometimes become an issue if one or more brass nocks become dislodged during a potential dry-fire of the bow, or in cases where a nock is not properly installed, during regular shooting of the bow.
Another issue with current brass nocks or machined brass stacks is that while they can increase bow speed, they do nothing functionally to reduce string noise or vibration. Even with brass speed nocks or brass stacks installed on the string, users and shops typically will add rubber silencers or dampeners, such as cat whiskers, monkey tails, wishbones, etc., to reduce string noise and vibration.
Accordingly, there remains room for improvement in the field of bowstring weights to reduce string vibration and noise.
An archery bowstring weight is provided including a sleeve that is encapsulated and suspended at least partially within a polymeric body forming an exterior of the bowstring weight.
In one embodiment, the sleeve can be a metal body, such as a ring, that floats or moves inside the polymeric body when the bowstring vibrates, to dampen vibration of the bowstring. The polymeric body can be overmolded over the metal body.
In another embodiment, the sleeve can be isolated or separated from the bowstring by an inner wall of the polymeric body that is disposed between the bowstring and the sleeve when the weight is installed. The oscillation of the sleeve inside the polymeric body also can eliminate string noise.
In still another embodiment, the sleeve can include a first inner diameter. The polymeric body can include a second inner diameter. The first inner diameter can be greater than the second inner diameter which can be greater that a diameter of the bowstring. With this construction, an inner wall of the polymeric body can be disposed inward from an interior surface of the sleeve, such that the inner wall is between the interior surface and the bowstring.
In even another embodiment, the sleeve can form a continuous, metal ring around the bowstring when the bowstring weight is applied to the bowstring. The metal ring, however, can be buffered from and not contacting the bowstring due to the inner wall of the overmolded polymeric body, which can directly engage and contact the bowstring.
In a further embodiment, the sleeve can be constructed from metal, such as brass. The sleeve can weigh between 5 grains and 100 grains, inclusive. The inner diameter of the sleeve can be between 0.125 inches and 0.5 inches, inclusive. The polymeric body can include an inner diameter that is smaller than the bowstring diameter, but that expands when the bowstring weight is applied to the bowstring to allow the bowstring to fit inside a bore bounded by the inner wall.
In still a further embodiment, a method is provided. The method can include providing an archery bow comprising a first limb and a second limb, with a bowstring having a bowstring diameter located between the first limb and the second limb; providing a bowstring weight comprising a sleeve encapsulated within an overmolded polymeric body; and installing the bowstring weight on the bowstring so that the polymeric body directly engages the bowstring, with the sleeve suspended around the bowstring but separated from the bowstring by an interior wall of the polymeric body.
In yet a further embodiment, the method can include oscillating or moving the sleeve inside the polymeric body when the bowstring vibrates to dampen vibration of the bowstring and/or attenuate string noise or buzz when the bowstring vibrates.
The current embodiments of the bowstring weight can provide benefits not previously realized with conventional brass clip speed nocks. The bowstring weight can provide increased and/or centralized weight over a smaller area than currently available speed nocks. The bowstring weight can maximize efficiency and speed out of a variety of cam designs, and can add additional engineering possibilities in the field of archery bow cam design. The bowstring weight can reduce bowstring vibration and noise. Where the string weight, such as the sleeve, is fully captured in the overmolded polymeric body, the weight can move and oscillate inside of the polymeric body when the bow is fired, dampening the vibration of the string. The oscillation of the weight or sleeve inside the polymeric body also can reduce or eliminate string noise, commonly referred to “buzz”.
Further, the current embodiments of the bowstring weight can offer ease of installation without having to crimp the weight onto a bowstring. With the use of a bow press, these can be installed by the consumer on existing bowstrings. At an archery pro-shop or store, the bowstring weight can be installed during a new bowstring installation or added to an existing bowstring. The bowstring weights can provide custom bowstring application for bowstring manufacturers to use these in place of current speed nocks, stacks or other rubber sleeves. In addition, OEM archery bow manufacturers can add the bowstring weights at the conclusion of building the bowstring or before installing strings on the bow during the assembly process.
The current embodiments of the bowstring weight can provide increased safety with no potential for the weight to become dislodged from the bowstring. When the sleeve is a machined or solid tube, or continuous ring, void of a seam or need for crimping, the weight cannot become dislodged or fly off the string. This can provide a safer alternative for the string manufacturer, bow manufacturer, retail seller and consumer.
The current embodiments of the bowstring weight can reduce the amount of separate and independent units on the string. For example, where the bowstring weight and the bowstring vibration reduction being contained in a single unit, installation and use of separate and independent units for both weight and rubber vibration can be eliminated. Further, because this is contained in a single unit, there can be a potential material cost savings and installation timesavings.
These and other objects, advantages, and features of the invention will be more fully understood and appreciated by reference to the description of the current embodiment and the drawings.
Before the embodiments of the invention are explained in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the details of operation or to the details of construction and the arrangement of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention may be implemented in various other embodiments and of being practiced or being carried out in alternative ways not expressly disclosed herein. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology used herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. The use of “including” and “comprising” and variations thereof is meant to encompass the items listed thereafter and equivalents thereof as well as additional items and equivalents thereof. Further, enumeration may be used in the description of various embodiments. Unless otherwise expressly stated, the use of enumeration should not be construed as limiting the invention to any specific order or number of components. Nor should the use of enumeration be construed as excluding from the scope of the invention any additional steps or components that might be combined with or into the enumerated steps or components.
A current embodiment of the bowstring weight is shown in
Although the current embodiment is described in connection with a single cam bow, the current embodiment and its features are suited for use with other types of pulley systems and other compound archery bows, as well as recurve bows, longbows, crossbows and other archery systems including a bowstring. As used herein, a “cam” refers to a cam, a pulley, and/or an eccentric, whether a modular, removable part, or an integral part of a cam assembly, for use with an archery bow.
The bowstring 101 with which the bowstring weight 10 of the current embodiment can be used can come in a variety of forms it be constructed of different materials. In some cases, the bowstring can include servings that are wrapped around elongated strands of the bowstring to provide protection to the strings themselves where they engage other components of the bow, for example, the cams. It is noted that the term bowstring as used herein can include a bowstring that has multiple strands, which may or may not be twisted, and which may or may not be covered by a serving. With reference to
Turning now to
The first body 20 can include a first interior surface 25 and a first exterior surface 26. These surfaces can be opposite one another and can be parts of continuous sidewalls that extend around a longitudinal axis LA of the weight 10 and the sleeve 21. The first interior surface and second interior surface can be cylindrical as shown, however, in other embodiments described below, the interior surface and/or exterior surface can include contours, textures, knurling, ribs, ridges, recesses, dimples, bumps or other shapes to modify the connection of the sleeve with the second body 30 or alter the weight or weight distribution of the sleeve about the bowstring.
As shown in
The first outer body diameter D2 can be greater than the first inner body diameter D1. The first outer body diameter D2 can be optionally 0.125 inches to 0.75 inches, inclusive, 0.125 inches to 0.5 inches, inclusive, 0.25 inches to 0.5 inches inclusive, 0.3 inches to 0.4 inches, inclusive, or 0.375 inches, depending on the application and amount of applied weight.
The sleeve 21 can include a sleeve length SL from the end 23 to the end 24. This sleeve length SL can be optionally 0.1 inches to 1.5 inches, inclusive, 0.1 inches to 1 inch inclusive, 0.1 inch to 0.5 inches inclusive, 0.1 inches to 0.25 inches, inclusive, 0.1 inches to 0.2 inches, inclusive, or about 0.5 inches, depending on the application and the amount of weight to be applied to the bowstring 101 via the bowstring weight 10.
The sleeve 21 and the first body 20 optionally can be constructed from a different material than the second body 30. For example, the first body 20 can be constructed from metal, such as brass, iron, aluminum, magnesium, copper, lead, steel, nickel, and alloy, and or combinations of the foregoing. The sleeve can be layered and can include structures constructed from different metals depending on the application. On the other hand, the second body 30 can be constructed from a different material than the first body 20. For example, the second body can be constructed from a polymeric material, which also optionally is elastomeric. Some suitable materials for the second body can include natural or synthetic rubber, silicone, thermoplastic polyurethane, polybutadiene, neoprene and mixtures of the same. In some cases, the second body 30 can have a hardness of optionally 20-100 Shore A, inclusive, 25-90 Shore A, inclusive, or 25-70 Shore A inclusive, depending on the application and the amount of movement suitable for the sleeve 21 relative to the bowstring and the second body.
Returning to the first body 20, and in particular the sleeve 21, that sleeve can include can behave a particular way. For example, the weight can be suitable to provide a desired effect on the bowstring as the bowstring is shot. In some cases, the weight can be precisely matched to the design of the cam to enhance the speed and efficiency of the bow. As illustrated, the weight of the sleeve 21 can be optionally 5 grains to 100 grains, inclusive, 7.5 grains to 90 grains, inclusive, 7.5 grains to 70 grains, inclusive, 10 grains to 60 grains inclusive, 10 grains to 50 grains, inclusive, 20 grains to 40 grains, inclusive, 25 grains to 35 grains, inclusive, or about 30 grains, depending on the particular application and amount of weight to be applied to the bowstring 101. Further optionally, the distribution of the weight of the sleeve 21 along the length L of the bowstring 101 can be modified by concentrating weight in a particular portion of the sleeve length SL. For example, near the upper end or surface 23, the sleeve can be of a greater thickness than at or near the lower end or surface 24 of the sleeve.
Optionally, the sleeve can be thicker in certain portions along the sleeve length SL. For example, as shown in the alternative embodiment of
Returning to the embodiment shown in
As shown in
The second body 30 can be overmolded over the first interior surface 25 of the sleeve, as well as the first exterior surface 26 of the sleeve 21. The second body 30 and its material can be bonded to those surfaces. The second body 30 can be overmolded and bonded to the upper surface 23 and lower surface 24 of the sleeve and can at least partially fill a portion of the bore 27 of the sleeve. In some cases, the second body can fill at least 10%, at least 20%, at least 25%, or at least 30%, but less than 100%, of the bore 27 of the sleeve 21. The second body however, defines its own bore 37 that is within the bore 27 of the sleeve 21. This bore 37 can include a second inner body diameter D3 that is greater than the bowstring diameter 101D when the bowstring weight 10 is installed on the bowstring 101, but that is less than the bowstring diameter 101D when the bowstring weight 10 is not installed on the bowstring 101. This change in the diameter D3, and thus the overall size cross section of the bore 37 can be attributed to the stretching and/or enlargement of the diameter D3 when the second body 30 is placed on the bowstring 101. Optionally, in a neutral state, when the bowstring weight 10 is not installed on a bowstring 101, the second inner body diameter can be optionally 0.05 inches to 0.2 inches, inclusive, 0.1 inches to 0.2 inches, inclusive or about 0.1 inches, depending on the diameter 101D of the bowstring to which the weight 10 is to be attached. In a stretched state, when the bowstring weight is installed on the bowstring, the second inner body diameter D3 can increase relative to these dimensions. Due to the optionally elastic nature of the second body, the second body and bowstring weight in general grips the bowstring with friction and holds the bowstring weight at a particular location along the length of the bowstring. In many cases, adhesive is not used to secure the bowstring weight in a particular location along the length of the bowstring, but can be in some applications.
Optionally, the second inner body diameter D3 of the bore 37 can be less than the first inner body diameter D1 as well as the first body outer diameter D2. In some cases, the ratio of D1 to D3 can be optionally less than 1:1, less than 1:2, or less than 2:5, or other values depending on the application. Further optionally, in some embodiments for example shown in
With reference to the embodiment in
The interior wall 25 and the exterior wall 26 can be connected to one another to form an integrally formed single piece unit that covers the first body 20, optionally encapsulating and suspending the first body within the second body 30. The second body 30 can include an upper wall 33 that extends over and covers the first upper surface or end 23 of the sleeve 21. The second body can include a lower wall 34 that extends over and covers the first lower surface 24 of the sleeve 21. The upper wall 33 can extend a distance D5 above the upper surface or end 23, and the lower wall 34 can extend a distance D6 below the lower surface 24 of the sleeve. Optionally, these distances D5 and D6 can be equal, and greater than the diameter D3 of the bore 37 of the second body 30, and less than the diameter D2 of the sleeve in some cases.
The bowstring weight 10 of the current embodiment, as well as the alternative embodiment bowstring 110 can be installed on an archery bowstring to dampen vibration of the bowstring and reduce string oscillation and noise. A method of installing the bowstring weight 10 generally can include providing an archery bow comprising a first limb and a second limb, with a bowstring having a bowstring diameter located between the first limb and the second limb; providing a bowstring weight comprising a sleeve encapsulated within an overmolded polymeric body; and installing the bowstring weight on the bowstring so that the polymeric body directly engages the bowstring, with the sleeve suspended around the bowstring but separated from the bowstring by an interior wall of the polymeric body.
Optionally, the archery bow can be any of the types of bows described herein. In one example, the archery bow can be a compound archery bow 100 as shown in
When the bowstring weight 10 is installed on the bowstring 101, the sleeve 21 can circumferentiate the bowstring, with the inner sleeve 31 and inner wall disposed between the sleeve and the bowstring. Optionally the sleeve does not directly contact the bowstring but is disposed a thickness of the inner sleeve 31 of the second body away from that bowstring.
With one or more bowstring weights 10 installed along the length of the bowstring 101, the bowstring can be used. For example, the bow 100 can be drawn with an arrow knocked to the bowstring 101. The user can release the bowstring 101 and propel the arrow. Upon release and/or disengagement of the arrow from the bowstring 101, the bowstring typically will vibrate and oscillate. With the embodiments of the bowstring weights joined with the bowstring, however, these weights dampen vibration of the bowstring and reduce oscillation, as well as attenuate string noise or “buzz” of the bowstring. The sleeve 21 can move within the second body 30 as described above, changing the distance between certain portions of the sleeve and angles of the sleeve relative to the bowstring via the sleeve or first body oscillating, moving or otherwise changing its orientation within the structure of the second body. This also causes the sleeve or first body to oscillate, move or otherwise change its orientation relative to the bowstring 101. In so doing, the first body 20 and/or the sleeve 21 can counter and/or work against oscillation and vibration of the bowstring itself, optionally attenuating or canceling the same to reduce the overall vibration, oscillation and/or noise associated with the bowstring.
Directional terms, such as “vertical,” “horizontal,” “top,” “bottom,” “upper,” “lower,” “inner,” “inwardly,” “outer” and “outwardly,” are used to assist in describing the invention based on the orientation of the embodiments shown in the illustrations. The use of directional terms should not be interpreted to limit the invention to any specific orientation(s).
In addition, when a component, part or layer is referred to as being “joined with,” “on,” “engaged with,” “adhered to,” “secured to,” or “coupled to” another component, part or layer, it may be directly joined with, on, engaged with, adhered to, secured to, or coupled to the other component, part or layer, or any number of intervening components, parts or layers may be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being “directly joined with,” “directly on,” “directly engaged with,” “directly adhered to,” “directly secured to,” or “directly coupled to” another element or layer, there may be no intervening elements or layers present. Other words used to describe the relationship between components, layers and parts should be interpreted in a like manner, such as “adjacent” versus “directly adjacent” and similar words. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.
The above description is that of current embodiments of the invention. Various alterations and changes can be made without departing from the spirit and broader aspects of the invention as defined in the appended claims, which are to be interpreted in accordance with the principles of patent law including the doctrine of equivalents. This disclosure is presented for illustrative purposes and should not be interpreted as an exhaustive description of all embodiments of the invention or to limit the scope of the claims to the specific elements illustrated or described in connection with these embodiments. For example, and without limitation, any individual element(s) of the described invention may be replaced by alternative elements that provide substantially similar functionality or otherwise provide adequate operation. This includes, for example, presently known alternative elements, such as those that might be currently known to one skilled in the art, and alternative elements that may be developed in the future, such as those that one skilled in the art might, upon development, recognize as an alternative. Further, the disclosed embodiments include a plurality of features that are described in concert and that might cooperatively provide a collection of benefits. The present invention is not limited to only those embodiments that include all of these features or that provide all of the stated benefits, except to the extent otherwise expressly set forth in the issued claims. Any reference to claim elements in the singular, for example, using the articles “a,” “an,” “the” or “said,” is not to be construed as limiting the element to the singular. Any reference to claim elements as “at least one of X, Y and Z” is meant to include any one of X, Y or Z individually, any combination of X, Y and Z, for example, X, Y, Z; X, Y; X, Z; Y, Z, and/or any other possible combination together or alone of those elements, noting that the same is open ended and can include other elements.
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2617402 | Roemer | Nov 1952 | A |
| 2910058 | Bender | Oct 1959 | A |
| 2956560 | Stockfleth | Oct 1960 | A |
| 3340862 | Saunders | Sep 1967 | A |
| 3756214 | Christen | Sep 1973 | A |
| 3756215 | Black | Sep 1973 | A |
| 5016603 | Tentler | May 1991 | A |
| 8109261 | Grace, Jr. | Feb 2012 | B2 |
| 9587902 | McPherson | Mar 2017 | B2 |
| 9933228 | McPherson | Apr 2018 | B2 |
| 10317164 | Ady | Jun 2019 | B2 |
| Entry |
|---|
| 2006-2007 Lancaster Archery Catalog, p. 158. |
| 2018 GAS Bombs at https://gasbowstrings.com/black-bomb/ downloaded Jan. 28, 2021. |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20220252372 A1 | Aug 2022 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63146846 | Feb 2021 | US |
