The present invention relates to a dart, and more particularly to a dart having a body unlikely to fracture in collision with other darts, having a body unlikely to fracture when falling on a ground, having slighter deviation in its flight path in collision with other darts, and ensuring a flight thereof will not be detached.
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A dart player usually assembles the shaft 71, the barrel 72, and the tip 73 together and puts the assembly and the flight 74 into a dart case. The flight 74 is mounted to the shaft 71 only when the conventional dart 70 is ready for use.
However, the conventional dart 70 lacks a counterweight structure between the shaft 71 and the barrel 72. Moreover, in a dart game, if more than one conventional dart 70 is aimed at a same target on a dartboard, the conventional dart 70 that has already been stuck on the dartboard will hit the latter thrown conventional dart 70. In this case, the following circumstances may happen:
1. Since the shaft 71 of the conventional dart 70 is made of hard materials such as metal materials or plastic materials, when two said conventional darts 70 hit each other, the shaft 71 of each one of the two said conventional darts 70 may fracture or break. Furthermore, the latter thrown conventional dart 70 may be hit by the shaft 71 of the conventional dart 70 stuck on the dartboard and bounce off. Under this circumstance, the latter thrown conventional dart 70 scores no point.
2. The four insertion slits 712 of the shaft 71 of the conventional dart 70 stuck on the dartboard are prone to be hit by the tip 73 of the latter thrown conventional dart 70, and the four insertion slits 712 may be deformed to enlarge the intervals among the insertion slits 712, leading to the detachment of the flight 74. In case that the four insertion slits 712 are expanded, the flight 74 may not be mounted in the four insertion slits 712 of the shaft 71 stably and the conventional dart 70 with the expanded insertion slits 712 may not be useful anymore.
3. When the conventional dart 70 falls on a ground, the shaft 71 tends to fracture because the shaft 71 is made of hard materials such as metal or plastic materials.
4. An engagement between the barrel 72 and the shaft 71 tends to loosen after long-time use or collisions since the barrel 72 and the shaft 71 are threaded together merely via the threaded groove 721 and the threading section 711.
To overcome the shortcomings of the conventional dart 70, the present invention tends to provide a dart to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.
The main objective of the present invention is to provide a dart that has a body unlikely to fracture in collision with other darts, has a body unlikely to fracture when falling on a ground, has slighter deviation in its flight path in collision with other darts, and ensuring a flight thereof will not be detached.
The dart includes a shaft, a barrel, a tip, a flight, and a cap. The shaft has a body and a connecting element. The body is made of flexible materials. The connecting element is disposed at one of two ends of the body and has a connecting section and multiple insertion slits. The connecting section is disposed at one of two ends of the connecting element away from the body. The multiple insertion slits are disposed at spaced intervals and communicate with one another. Each one of the multiple insertion slits has an open end away from the body. The barrel is disposed at one of two ends of the shaft adjacent to the body.
The tip is disposed at one of two ends of the barrel away from the shaft. The flight has multiple wings and a receiving groove. The multiple wings are disposed at spaced intervals, and each one of the multiple wings is inserted into a respective one of the multiple insertion slits of the connecting element of the shaft. The receiving groove is formed through the multiple wings. The cap is detachably and rotatably mounted in the receiving groove of the flight, is mounted to the connecting section of the connecting element, and blocks the open end of each one of the multiple insertion slits.
Other objectives, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
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To assemble the present invention, thread the nut 60, the barrel 20, and the connecting element 12 of the shaft 10 onto the body 11 of the shaft 10. Next, unfold the multiple wings 41 of the flight 40, and put the cap 50 into the receiving groove 42 of the flight 40. Then insert each one of the multiple wings 41 into the respective one of the multiple insertion slits 122 of the shaft 10. Last, screw the cap 50 to make the threaded groove 51 engage with the connecting section 121 via the external thread 124.
With the aforementioned technical characteristics, the dart in accordance with the present invention has the following advantages.
1. Since the body 11 of the shaft 10 of the present invention is made of flexible materials, the body 11 will not fracture or break due to the collision of two said darts in accordance with the present invention. Moreover, the impact caused by the collision of flexible materials is smaller than that caused by the collision of hard materials. Therefore, a flight path of the latter thrown dart in accordance with the present invention deviates more slightly when the latter thrown dart is hit by the dart that has already been stuck on a dartboard compared with a flight path of the conventional dart 70 with the shaft 71 made of hard materials when encountering the same circumstance. Thus, the latter thrown dart in accordance with the present invention is unlikely to score no point though hit by the dart stuck on the dartboard.
2. Compared with the conventional dart 70 with the four exposed insertion slits 712 that may be deformed to enlarge the intervals among the insertion slits 712 when hit by the tip 73 of the latter thrown conventional dart 70, the open end of each one of the multiple insertion slits 122 of the connecting element 12 is blocked by the cap 50 such that the open end of each one of the multiple insertion slits 122 is not exposed. With such a configuration, the flight 40 is firmly mounted to the connecting element 12 of the shaft 10.
3. Because the body 11 of the shaft 10 is made of flexible materials, the impact exerted on the body 11 is smaller than that exerted on the shaft 71 of the conventional dart 70 when falling to a ground. Thus, the body 11 of the shaft 10 is unlikely to fracture when falling to the ground.
4. The nut 60 and the barrel 20 are rotated along the opposite directions onto the body 11 until the nut 60 and the barrel 20 abut against each other tightly, such that the friction force between the threaded connecting groove 21 of the barrel 20 and the body 11 is increased. In this way, the barrel 20 will not be detached from the shaft 10 when the dart in accordance with the present invention is in use.
5. The nut 60 can serve as a counterweight. The dart player can increase the number of said nut 60 according to practical need so as to increase the weight of the dart adjacent to the barrel 20.
Even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and features of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only. Changes may be made in the details, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
4886280 | Bottelsen | Dec 1989 | A |
5388840 | Werle | Feb 1995 | A |
5642887 | Orav | Jul 1997 | A |
6758772 | Chambers | Jul 2004 | B1 |
7108620 | Yiu | Sep 2006 | B1 |