This invention relates to compound bows, and more specifically to cable guards used in compound bows. Compound bows are well known in the field of archery, an activity that involves skill, accuracy, and precision. When an arrow is fired, it is desirable to minimize any vertical travel and/or horizontal travel of the rear of the arrow shaft, in order to achieve consistent and accurate arrow launch.
Compound bows typically have a rotatable member at each end of the bow—of which at least one is typically a cam assembly, a first cable (e.g. a bow string) in communication with the rotatable members and a second cable (e.g. a power cable) in communication with the cam assembly. Some compound bows include an anchor cable, such as a one-cam bow, or multiple power cables, such as a two-cam bow.
Fixed, relatively stiff cable guards have previously been used to displace the power cable(s) and/or the anchor cable laterally, moving them out of the shooting plane proximate to the arrow's travel path. Such cable guards also prevent the arrow from contacting the displaced cable(s) during draw back and release. However, the lateral displacement generally applies a force to the rotatable members and to the bow's limb tips, which can result in undesirable nock travel during arrow launch. With modern compound bows having a shorter axle-to-axle distance between the rotatable members than prior bow designs, the negative effects of traditional cable guards have been amplified. The result is a need for novel cable guard designs that provide for a significant reduction in the forces applied to the free ends of the bow limbs as compared to prior designs.
All US patents and applications and all other published documents mentioned anywhere in this application are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/700,612 is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its 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 also provided 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 compound archery bow comprises a riser, first and second limbs and first and second rotatable members. A bowstring extends between the first rotatable member and the second rotatable member. A power cable is biased in a direction away from the riser by a cable guard comprising a mounting portion attached to the riser, a flexible portion and a cable engaging portion. In some embodiments, the cable guard comprises a roller.
In some embodiments, a compound archery bow comprises a riser, first and second limbs and first and second rotatable members. A bowstring extends between the first rotatable member and the second rotatable member. A power cable is biased in a direction away from the riser by a cable guard comprising a mounting portion attached to the riser, a flexible portion and a roller contacting the cable.
In at least one embodiment of the invention, a cable guard of an archery bow comprises a mounting portion, a cable engaging portion, and a main body connecting the mounting portion to the cable engaging portion. The main body portion comprises a flexible material. In at least one embodiment, the flexible material is a different material than the material used in the mounting portion and the material used in the cable engaging portion. In at least one embodiment, the flexible material is a composite material, in particular a fiberglass composite. In at least one embodiment, the flexible material is selected from the group consisting of spring steels or a composite material containing, fiberglass, carbon, Kevlar®, Vectran®, UHMWPE, Dyneema®, Spectra® and other materials used for springs.
In at least one embodiment, the flexible material has a modulus of elasticity between about 5×106 kPa and 6.5×106 kPa. In at least one embodiment, the main body portion has an inner surface with a curvilinear profile. In at least one embodiment, the main body portion comprises at least one member that connect the cable engaging portion with the mounting portion.
When the bow is in a brace position, the cable guard is in a first position. As the bowstring is displaced from the brace position to the full draw position, the cable engaging portion moves to a second position, the second position being closer to the plane of the bowstring than the first position.
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.
While this invention may be embodied in many different forms, there are described in detail herein specific preferred 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.
As shown in
The first cable 24 has a first section 25 (typically referred to as “the bowstring”) and a second section 26 (in this case referred to as a secondary payout). The first cable 24 extends from rotatable member 20, is trained around rotatable member 18 and extends back to terminate on the rotatable member 20. In particular, bowstring 25 portion can be considered the portion of the first cable 24 that an archer grasps and draws, which extends between the first and second rotatable members 20, 22. The second section 26 extends between the first and second rotatable members but is not grasped by an archer. The second cable 28 (typically referred to as “the power cable”) is anchored at one end to an outer portion of the first limb 14, for example being attached to the limb 14 itself, the axle 30, or in some embodiments, a portion of the rotatable member 18, for example as described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,020,544, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference. The second cable 28 is anchored at the other end to the cam assembly 22. When the archer draws the bowstring 25 back, the rotatable member having cam assembly 22 rotates and bowstring 25 is fed out from rotatable member 18. The secondary payout cable 26 is fed out from rotatable member 20 and in turn fed out from rotatable member 18 to give the bowstring 25 more length as the archer approaches full draw. As the bowstring 25 is fed out from the rotatable member 20, the power cable 28 is taken up in the cam assembly 22. The effective reduced length and increased tension in the second (power) cable 28 during bowstring draw back shortens the axial distance between the rotatable members 18, 20, causing flexure of limbs 14, 16. While the above disclosure describes a single-cam, compound bow, similar functions occur with CPS bows and/or cam-and-a-half bows, dual-cam bows and/or twin-cam bows, crossbows, and the like.
As shown in
The mounting portion 42 can be attached to the riser 12 of the bow 10 as shown in
In some embodiments, the cable engaging portion 44 may have rollers, grooves, slots, or similar features that retain cables 26, 28 away from bowstring 25, while allowing the cables 26, 28 to slide as needed when the bowstring 25 is drawn back from the brace position or when the bowstring 25 is released and returned to the brace position.
In at least one embodiment, cable engaging portion 44 is a roller housing that holds a set of rollers (see e.g.
In some embodiments, a cable guard 40 comprises a separate roller for each cable 26, 28 engaged by the cable guard. With reference to
The main body portion 46 connects mounting portion 42 with cable engaging portion 44. The main body portion 46 comprises a flexible material. In at least one embodiment, the flexible material used for the main body portion 46 is a different material than the material used for the cable engaging portion 44. In some embodiments, the flexible material of the main body portion 26 has a modulus of elasticity of less than 6.5×106 kPa (942 ksi). In at least one embodiment, the flexible material of the main body portion 26 has a modulus of elasticity in the range of between about 5×106 kPa (725 ksi) and 6.5×106 kPa (942 ksi).
In some embodiments, the flexible material comprises a spring steel or any other material that is suitable for forming a spring member to be used as the body portion 26. In some embodiments, the flexible material comprises a composite material. The body portion 26 can comprise suitable metals, fiberglass, carbon, aramid fibers, Kevlar®, Vectran®, Ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene, Dyneema®, Spectra®, other suitable materials and suitable combinations thereof. A number of these alternative materials have a considerably higher modulus of elasticity. Therefore to attain the proper cable guard flexibility it is necessary to control the section modulus of the shapes used in the flexible portion of the cable guard based on the chosen material.
In some embodiments, the cable guard 40 biases the cables 26, 28 in a direction toward the riser 12. In some embodiments, each cable 26, 28 contacts a roller on a surface of the roller that is oriented closest to the riser 12.
In the embodiment shown in
While
In
Without cable guard 40, cables 26, 28 naturally align in the same plane as the bowstring 25. In a brace position, cable guard 40 holds cables 26, 28 at a first position (as shown in
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 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 (e.g. claim 3 may be taken as alternatively dependent from claim 2; claim 4 may be taken as alternatively dependent on claim 2, or on claim 3; claim 6 may be taken as alternatively dependent from claim 5; etc.).
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 Ser. No. 12/569,738, filed Sep. 29, 2009, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/101,562, filed Sep. 30, 2008, the entire disclosures of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20120204851 A1 | Aug 2012 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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61101562 | Sep 2008 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 12569738 | Sep 2009 | US |
Child | 13406204 | US |