Vanes can become easily damaged in the field due to collisions with other arrows, target pass through, target misses, etc. Any of these situations may lead to the vane needing replacement. Replacement usually requires a specialized jig, knowledge and skill to replace damaged vanes properly. Therefore, many archers opt to take a damaged arrow to an archery pro shop to have the vanes replaced.
The one piece vane has been around for many years, it has been used on mainly youth style arrows as it is a lower cost method of producing a vane, usually it is a press or friction type fit onto youth arrows. It is easy to use the press or friction type fit for this application due to the consistency in diameter of a certain manufacture's youth arrow. Nobody has successfully marketed a one piece vane to the adult market as there are more variations in diameter of arrows and not a good way to attach the one piece vane to the varying diameters.
Some manufacturers market a piece of shrink tubing that has three conventional vanes glued to it. It is slid onto the arrow and dipped into boiling water where it shrinks and conforms around the arrow. Tests and field use of shrink tubing has indicated there is much room for improving the durability of the heat shrink vane. Also, there is a long felt need for an inherently less expensive alternative.
The disclosed archery fletching system includes a fletching sleeve configured to fit around an arrow shaft. The sleeve includes a plurality of raised portions and contact portions on an inner surface of the sleeve, the raised portions configured to form cavities together with the arrow shaft for an application of an adhesive there between and the contact portions configured to directly contact the arrow shaft. An archery fletching sleeve is also configured to fit around a commercially available arrow shaft, the sleeve defining at least one adhesive application portal formed together with the arrow shaft to receive an adhesive during an application thereof onto the arrow shaft. An archery fletching sleeve is yet configured to fit around a commercially available arrow shaft, the sleeve comprising at least one adhesive application portal therein, wherein a ratio of portal area to sleeve surface area is at least one part portal area in 18.4 parts sleeve surface area, the portal(s) configured to receive an adhesive applied to the arrow shaft at the portal(s).
The fletching system and method of application may include a low durometer fletching sleeve configured to frictionally fit onto an arrow shaft. The sleeve defines a plurality of glue application holes and a plurality of channels or cavities on an inner surface of the sleeve adjacent the glue holes. Glue disposed on the sleeve at the holes is drawn into conduits formed between the channels and/or cavities with the arrow shaft and distributed across the inner surface of the sleeve onto the arrow shaft. Capillary action caused by surface tension and intermolecular forces of adhesion between the glue and the sleeve and the arrow shaft, draws the glue from the holes into the resulting conduits. The fletching sleeve also comprises three vanes formed integrally with the sleeve as one piece. One of the vanes may comprise a recessed surface to receive a sticker flush with the vane and thereby avoid aerodynamic interference. The sticker may be used to decorate the vane or to display identifying and advertising indicia.
The disclosed fletching system also includes a collet application tool comprising two semi-cylindrical finger extensions configured to hold and expand the fletching sleeve as it and the collet are slid over the arrow nock and shaft. The collet tool also includes a substantially rigid body configured orthogonally to the two semi-cylindrical fingers and designed to fit into the palm of a user's hand.
Other aspects and advantages of embodiments of the disclosure will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, illustrated by way of example of the principles of the disclosure.
Throughout the description, similar or same reference numbers may be used to identify similar or same elements in the several embodiments and drawings. Although specific embodiments of the invention have been illustrated, the invention is not to be limited to the specific forms or arrangements of parts so described and illustrated. The scope of the invention is to be defined by the claims appended hereto and their equivalents.
Reference will now be made to exemplary embodiments illustrated in the drawings and specific language will be used herein to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the disclosure is thereby intended. Alterations and further modifications of the inventive features illustrated herein and additional applications of the principles of the inventions as illustrated herein, which would occur to one skilled in the relevant art and having possession of this disclosure, are to be considered within the scope of the invention.
The disclosed fletching system and method of application make replacement or original installation of arrow vanes much easier, faster and economical. The present disclosure enables the serious archer to quickly and inexpensively repair damaged vanes in the field without boiling water to shrink wrap a replacement sleeve or otherwise performing laborious and time consuming procedures.
Throughout the present disclosure and continuances and/or divisional disclosures thereof, the terms ‘slot,’ ‘channel’ and ‘conduit’ may be used interchangeably to define a passageway for a glue from a source to a destination in the passageway formed with an arrow shaft. The term ‘cavity’ used throughout may define an empty space of various sizes and shapes that comprise open and/or closed hole square, rectangular, circular and elliptical cross-sectional geometries and also slots, channels and conduits. Also, the term ‘vane’ or ‘fletching’ used throughout may define a structure which directs or channels airflow over an arrow shaft or between vanes and may not resist or impede an airflow over the arrow nor affect its flight there through unless arranged specifically to do so.
The low durometer fletching sleeve 10 is configured to frictionally fit on an arrow shaft (not depicted). The sleeve comprises a low durometer material having some memory of shape and form and some elastic restoring force to its original cross section to accommodate varying arrow shaft diameters. Embodiments of the fletching sleeve may also be made to varying lengths to allow vanes of varying lengths to be formed thereon. The sleeve defines a plurality of glue application holes and a plurality of channels or cavities on an inner surface of the sleeve 10 adjacent the glue holes 20 and concentric with the glue holes in an embodiment of the disclosure. The channels 30 form conduits with the arrow shaft for glue applied at the holes 20 when the fletching sleeve is disposed on the arrow shaft. Glue disposed on the sleeve 10 at the holes 20 is drawn into the resulting conduits and distributed between the holes and across the inner surface of the sleeve and the arrow shaft. Capillary action caused by surface tension and intermolecular forces of adhesion between the glue and the sleeve 10 and the arrow shaft, draws the glue from the holes 20 into the resulting conduits.
The height h or the length of a glue column in a fletching sleeve conduit may be given by:
where γ the liquid-air surface tension (force/unit length), θ is the contact angle, ρ is the density of liquid (mass/volume), g is local gravitational field strength (force/unit mass), and r is the radius of the conduit (length). For water-based glues applied to the fletching sleeve under standard conditions, γ=0.0728 N/m at 20° C., θ=20° (0.35 rad), ρ is 1000 kg/m3, and g=9.8 m/s2. Cyanoacrylate glues may have a slightly higher density factor of approximately 1.1 times the density of water. Accordingly, the height or length of the glue column between the fletching sleeve and the arrow shaft may be approximated as:
In a 10 one-thousandths of an inch diameter tube (radius 0.0049 in), the glue may travel 1.75 inches through a sleeve-shaft conduit or nearly nine-tenths of an inch through a 5 one-thousandths of an inch sleeve-shaft conduit. The channels 30 are therefore formed approximately 5 to 10 thousandths of an inch in depth and width in the inner surface of the fletching sleeve 10 and extend from a first end of the sleeve to a second end of the sleeve and have a length nominally (1.75 inches) 44.5 mm including one of a ten percent plus and a ten percent minus manufacturing tolerance.
An embodiment of the disclosure may include a constant outside diameter of the sleeve 10 and a portion of the sleeve thinner over the cavities in relation to the rest of the sleeve 10. A portion of the sleeve over the cavities may also form a raised rib portion 25 on an outside surface of the sleeve 10 in order to maintain a constant thickness of the sleeve 10 over the cavities. The raised rib portion 25 may extend to a glue hole 20 and form a raised annular or donut circumference around the glue hole 20. Therefore, a raised portion 25 on an outside diameter of the fletching sleeve 10 may include a raised rib portion 25 and an annular portion 25 around each glue hole 20 to which the rib 25 extends. Cavities may form a plurality of slots 30 on an inner surface of the sleeve, the slots configured to interconnect a plurality of glue holes 20 defined in the sleeve, the slots 30 configured to form channels with the arrow shaft and draw a glue applied to the holes 20 through the slots via a capillary action in the channels formed with the arrow shaft. A further embodiment may include the slots 30 configured to be parallel with an elongate axis of the sleeve, the slots 30 configured to form a plurality of stretch sutures between a sleeve portion above each slot and another portion of the sleeve, the stretch sutures configured to lower an overall stretch resistance of the sleeve 10 to facilitate an application of the sleeve onto the arrow shaft. Cavities may also form a plurality of circumferential slots (not depicted) on the inner surface of the sleeve 10, the circumferential slots concentric with a center defined in the sleeve. The cavities may form a plurality of slots on an inner surface of the sleeve wherein the slots comprise a depth of (5 thousandths of an inch) 0.13 mm to (10 thousandths of an inch) 0.25 mm and a width of (one thousandths of an inch) 0.03 mm. In yet another embodiment of the disclosure, cavities may form a plurality of slots on an inner surface of the sleeve wherein the slots comprise one configuration of substantially orthogonal internal vertices and another semi-circular configuration with no vertices and any other slot-like configuration.
An embodiment of the disclosure includes at least one adhesive application portal(s) including raised portions 25 configured to protrude above an outside diameter of the sleeve 10 and receive and contain the adhesive for application onto the arrow shaft. An adhesive application portal also known as a glue hole 20 may extend any length, radius and shape in the sleeve and be joined by a plurality of glue slots of any length formed on an inside of the fletching sleeve running longitudinally, radially and any direction from one of a portal to another portal and to a slot dead-end.
In embodiments of the present disclosure, cavities 70 may be configured to form a stretch area between a sleeve area above each cavity and another area of the sleeve, the stretch areas configured to lower an overall stretch resistance of the sleeve 10 to facilitate an application of the sleeve 10 onto the arrow shaft. A plurality of glue holes 20 may be defined in the sleeve wherein a cavity 70 is formed one of adjacent a glue hole and formed concentric with a glue hole. an outside surface of the fletching sleeve 10 adjacent the holes 20 may be slightly raised as depicted by 25. A thickness of the sleeve may also be constant and a portion of the sleeve may be thinner over the cavities in relation to the rest of the sleeve. Therefore the cavities may form a stretch area between the resulting thinner sleeve adjacent a glue hole and the thicker portions of the sleeve.
An archery fletching sleeve 10 as disclosed may comprise at least one adhesive application portal or glue hole 20 therein, wherein a ratio of portal area to sleeve outside surface area is at least one part portal area in 18.4 parts sleeve surface area, the portal(s) configured to receive an adhesive applied to the arrow shaft at the portal(s). Embodiments of the disclosure may include a ratio of an area of the adhesive applied to the arrow shaft at the portal(s) 20 to be at least one part in 18.4 parts sleeve surface area.
Embodiments of the fletching sleeve 10 may be manufactured using a co-extrusion process with two materials, or through a two shot injection mold process, or even an over mold injection mold process. Two core pins may be used to form the disclosed fletching sleeve in order to form an optimal inside sleeve diameter. Manufacturing via a single core pin may cause concentric issues with the sleeve diameter and may require support pins through the sleeve 10 to help stabilize the core pin. Therefore, a dual pin method of manufacturing enables forming a straighter sleeve 10 because the two core pins may meet approximately in the middle inside of the sleeve at the core pin abutment line 15 and may be separately set prior to and during injection. A two pin method of manufacturing as disclosed also facilitates draft, or the removing of the fletching sleeve 10 from the injection mold. This element of the disclosure is particularly helpful in rapid injection molding manufacturing.
An inside diameter of the fletching sleeve may be greater than an outside diameter of the arrow shaft to which it is affixed and therefore facilitate sliding the sleeve onto the shaft. Embodiments having an inside diameter of the arrow sleeve smaller than an outside diameter of the arrow shaft may also be included in embodiments of the disclosure allowing for frictional fit of the sleeve via stretch sutures onto the arrow shaft as disclosed herein. The actual difference in diameters may be very small in order to allow for manufacturing tolerances approximating an equivalence thereof.
A method of producing or manufacturing an archery vane is also embodied herein using a two shot, over mold, or co-extrusion to produce a different color cock vane. Where there are three vanes on an arrow, two of them may be one color and the third (cock vane) a different color to aid in clocking the arrow properly on the bowstring. Also, an embodied process may injection mold a number of colors at one time causing a mixing camouflage type pattern. A hydrographic process also allows dipping different patterns onto thermo plastic elastomers and thermo plastic urethanes.
An embodiment of the disclosure may include a center sleeve with features that make it more flexible to allow expansion over a wide range of shaft diameters and allow harder and tougher vane material for durability. An embodiment also may include a small diameter carbon shaft that is glued into the back of an arrow so that a one piece vane can be installed with a flush fit with the main diameter of the arrow shaft. Also, a cone style installation tool may be included in an embodiment that may replace the nock in the end of an arrow temporally while the vane is installed.
Embodied methods of application may also include an air hose adaptor for installing fletching onto shaft. A custom air hose adaptor may allow easy installation of a smaller diameter one piece fletching over a larger arrow shaft. Another embodied method may include attaching a one piece fletching to arrow shafts comprising double sided tape, and solvent. Other embodiments may comprise spraying an arrow shaft with aerosol hairspray which acts as a lubricant for a short period of time, while the fletching is installed over the shaft. Thereafter the hairspray dries and bonds the fletching to the arrow. Talcum powder may also be applied to the arrow and the vane to aid in application or installation. Yet another method of application may include inserting a needle glue applicator under the sleeve while the sleeve is on the arrow shaft.
An embodiment of the present disclosure may include laying down a spherical or cylindrical bead of glue around the shaft and sliding the fletching sleeve onto or adjacent the bead of glue. A first bead of glue may also be applied adjacent a first end of the sleeve and a second bead of glue may also be applied adjacent a second end of the sleeve on the arrow shaft. The glue or adhesive may therefore be applied responsive to the sleeve being positioned in a predetermined location on the arrow shaft.
Although the operations of the method(s) herein are shown and described in a particular order, the order of the operations of each method may be altered so that certain operations may be performed in an inverse order or so that certain operations may be performed, at least in part, concurrently with other operations. In another embodiment, instructions or sub-operations of distinct operations may be implemented in an intermittent and/or alternating manner.
Notwithstanding specific embodiments of the invention have been described and illustrated, the invention is not to be limited to the specific forms or arrangements of parts so described and illustrated. The scope of the invention is to be defined by the claims and their equivalents to be included by reference in a non-provisional utility application.
This application claims the benefit of the priority date of earlier filed U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/535,286, titled ‘A Retching System and Method of Application’ filed Sep. 15, 2011 for Ben D. Blosser and Sean E. Gordon, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Number | Date | Country | |
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61535286 | Sep 2011 | US |