This invention relates generally to archery equipment, and more particularly to a bowstring release assembly with an adjustable wrist strap.
Many accessories for archery bows are available for facilitating bow handling, stabilizing the bow during use, improving aiming accuracy, and so on. Once such accessory is in the form of a wrist strap with an attached bowstring release. Archery bowstrings of compound bows typically have pull forces on the order of about 40 to 90 pounds. The use of wrist straps has become common to accommodate these large forces which have the potential to cause possible injury to the archer's fingers. A wrist strap removes the force of the bowstring that would otherwise be present on the fingers and spreads the force over a relatively large surface area of the wrist and the back of the archer's hand while leaving at least the thumb or index finger of the hand free to activate the trigger mechanism of the bowstring release.
Since the hands and wrists of archers come in many different shapes and sizes, wrist straps are typically adjustable to accommodate as many archers as possible. Prior art solutions for adjustable wrist straps have included buckles and hook and loop fasteners. Buckles, while providing a relatively secure attachment to the wrist, are difficult to manipulate during installation on the wrist and adjustment about the wrist since only one hand is available to accomplish the task. In addition, since the wrist strap is typically installed on the right hand and wrist for a right-handed archer, for example, the left hand must be used for both installation and adjustment, contributing to additional awkwardness of the procedures. Moreover, since holes on the wrist strap are typically at discrete locations, the buckle solution is inadequate for many archers since the strap may be either too loose or too tight for comfort and/or for safety reasons. If the wrist strap is too loose, the force of the bowstring can cause the wrist strap to be pulled off of the archer's hand and cause potential damage to the archery bow and potential injury to the archer.
Although the provision of hook and loop fasteners in place of the buckle provides increased comfort, ease of attachment, and infinite adjustment of the wrist strap size over a substantial range, and can accommodate a generally wider spectrum of wrist sizes, there are significant drawbacks. For instance, the hooks of the fastener associated with one adjustable section of the wrist strap may not be in full locking engagement with the loops associated with another adjustable section of the wrist strap. This may be due to several reasons including partial straightening of the hooks from extended use, a failure to fully and properly engage the hooks and loops, the collection of interfering foreign material on the hooks and loops, and/or the placement of the hook and loop fasteners in an orientation whereby the force of the bowstring causes a peeling action to pull the hooks and loops apart. Further, for users having a rather large wrist, the engagement area of the hook and loop fastener may be reduced to the point where it is ineffective under the bowstring load.
If the wrist strap separates under load, the result can either be a misdirected shot, which in and of itself may have serious consequences, as well as possible injury to the archer since the bowstring will tend to pull the wrist strap from the wrist, causing the strap to flail about as the bowstring snaps forward. Since the archer's other hand and arm are positioned in close proximity to the path of bowstring movement, the wrist strap and/or the bowstring release may strike the archer's hand or arm under high velocity and with great force, potentially causing serious injury to the archer.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, a bowstring release assembly is adapted for connection to the wrist of a user and includes a jaw mechanism adapted to receive, retain, and release a bowstring, and an adjustable wrist strap connected to the jaw mechanism. The adjustable wrist strap includes a flexible base member adapted to fit around the wrist of a user. The flexible base member has a first end portion, a second end portion, and a middle portion located between the first and second end portions. A first anchor member is connected to the first end portion and a second anchor member connected to the second end portion. A cable is fixed with respect to one of the anchor members and is adapted to engage the other of the anchor members to thereby draw the first and second end portions toward each other and cinch the adjustable wrist strap around the wrist of a user.
In accordance with a further aspect of the invention, an adjustable wrist strap includes a flexible base member adapted to fit around the wrist of a user. The flexible base member has a first end portion, a second end portion, and a middle portion located between the first and second end portions. A first anchor member is connected to the first end portion and a second anchor member connected to the second end portion. A cable is fixed with respect to one of the anchor members and is adapted to engage the other of the anchor members to thereby draw the first and second end portions toward each other and cinch the adjustable wrist strap around the wrist of a user.
It is noted that the drawings are intended to depict only typical embodiments of the invention and therefore should not be considered as limiting the scope thereof. It is further noted that the drawings may not be necessarily to scale. The invention will now be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Referring now to the drawings, and to
The jaw mechanism 14 as shown is of conventional construction and includes a pair of jaws 16, 18 that extend outwardly from a trigger device 20. A trigger 22 forms part of the trigger device and, when pulled, causes movement of one or both jaws toward an open position, as shown in
The extension member 24 is connected to the jaw mechanism 14 and the wrist strap 12. The extension member 24 can be adjustable in any well known-manner for accommodating the different hand sizes and preferences of archers so that a proper shooting position can be achieved. It will be understood that other jaw mechanisms and/or trigger devices can be used without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
With additional reference to
As best shown in
An adjustment mechanism 54 is connected to the flexible base member 26 for cinching the wrist strap 12 around the wrist 28 (
The cable 58 preferably includes leg segments 61 and 63 that extend from a loop segment. The loop segment preferably extends around the second anchor member 60 while the ends of the leg segments are fixedly connected to the reel assembly (first anchor 56). However, it will be understood that the cable 58 can be fixed directly to the base member 26 and/or to another component of the wrist strap without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. The cable 58 can be constructed of any suitable material, including but not limited to, metal, plastic, synthetic and/or natural fibers, and so on, in multi-stranded or single-stranded configurations, as long as the cable 58 meets minimal tensile strength requirements reflective of the greatest pull forces of an archery bow, plus an additional safety factor. Accordingly, the term “cable” refers to any elongate, flexible material that meets the tensile strength requirements of a particular archery bow application.
Cable guides 64 and 66 are also preferably connected to the top surface 30 near the end portions 55 and 62, respectively, of the base member 26. The cable guides 64 and 66 are preferably constructed of a flexible material that is resistant to wear and forces that may occur during cinching of the wrist strap 12 and during full draw of the archery bow. When constructed of flexible material, the cable guides 64 and 66 are preferably attached to the base member 26 by stitching. However, it will be understood that other connecting means can be used, such as adhesive bonding, mechanical fastening, clamping, and so on. In addition, it will be understood that the cable guides can alternatively be constructed of a rigid material and attached to the base member 26 in any well-known manner.
As best shown in
The first anchor member 56, embodied as a reel assembly, preferably includes a ratcheting spool such that the cable 58 is wound on the spool when rotated in one direction and is locked against movement in the opposite direction. A suitable reel assembly is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,934,599 to Hammerslag or U.S. Pat. No. 7,950,112 to Hammerslag et al., the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
In use, as shown in
In order to release the spool from the locked condition and loosen the cable 58, as shown in
As shown in
Referring now to
Referring now to
As shown in
In use, the hand of a user is first inserted through the opening 73 of the wrist strap 94 until the wrist strap is positioned over the wrist. In this position, the cable 100 will be loose or dangling and, depending on the size of the user's wrist, the wrist strap 94 may also be loose. The user then winds the cable 100 around the opposite anchor member and pulls on the cable to cinch the wrist strap 94 comfortably around the user's wrist. The cable 100 is then wound around both anchor members 96 and 98, preferably in a figure-eight pattern, and the end 102 of the cable is inserted into one of the slots 104 on one of the anchor members to thereby secure the cable against slippage. Thus, the bowstring release assembly 90 can be installed and cinched with one hand without the difficulties associated with the prior art as described above. In order to remove the bowstring release assembly 90 from the wrist of a user, the above procedure is reversed.
It will be understood that the term “preferably” as used throughout the specification refers to one or more exemplary embodiments of the invention and therefore is not to be interpreted in any limiting sense. In addition, terms of orientation and/or position as may be used throughout the specification denote relative, rather than absolute orientations and/or positions.
It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes could be made to the embodiments described above without departing from the broad inventive concept thereof. It will be understood, therefore, that the present invention is not limited to the particular embodiments disclosed, but also covers modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20130146042 A1 | Jun 2013 | US |