Patent Application
20140165981
1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a bow, and more particular to an archery bow which comprises an elastic cable adjustably affixed to a bow frame, wherein a tension of the elastic cable can be selectively adjusted to control the trajectory of the arrow.
2. Description of Related Arts
A bow-and-arrow apparatus is a projectile weapon and is commonly used for hunting and for the sport of archery. A conventional archery bow generally comprises an elongated flexible frame defining a pair of elastic limbs, and a non-elastic bow string affixed to two ends of the flexible frame, wherein when the string is drawn back, the flexible frame is flexed at two ends thereof. The arrow is set at the middle of the flexible frame, wherein the arrow is drawn back to build tension on the flexible frame. In other words, the user is able to hold back the full tension of the flexible frame while aiming. Therefore, when the string is released, the potential energy of the flexed flexible frame, i.e. the restoring force thereof, is transformed into the velocity of the arrow. However, the conventional archery bow has several drawbacks.
It is generally considered to be difficult for the user to shoot the arrow accurately. When the flexed flexible frame is flexed and released from a firing position back to an original position, vibration will be generated at the bow shaft so as to cause the undesirably deflection of the arrow. In addition, since the string is affixed at two ends of the flexible frame, the flexing forces at two ends of the flexible frame with respect to the center thereof will not be even. In other words, the restoring forces at the elastic limbs are not even. Furthermore, the position of the arrow cannot be ensured at a corrected position at the string that the rear end of the arrow may not be retained at a center of the string.
Accordingly, the conventional archery bow must incorporate with the arrow having a nock at the rear end and a fletching element at the rear portion of the arrow. In addition, a ledge must be provided at the flexible frame to support the arrow. However, when the string is released, the ledge at the flexible frame will not guarantee the corrected shooting alignment of the arrow.
The assembling operation of the conventional archery bow is relatively complicated. In order to assemble the archery bow, the user must securely affix the string to two ends of the flexible frame and must ensure the tension of the string. Since the flexible frame can be flexed, the user must apply a relatively bending force to flex the flexible frame before the string is affixed thereto. In other words, the user must strong enough to flex the flexible frame until the distance between the two ends thereof can fit to the length of the string.
The invention is advantageous in that it provides a Lien's bow-and-arrow apparatus, which is a newly structural design of the bow-and-arrow apparatus as an improvement of the conventional bow.
Another advantage of the invention is to provide a bow-and-arrow which comprises an elastic cable adjustably affixed to a rigid bow frame.
Another advantage of the invention is to provide a bow, wherein the elastic cable is extended and encircled at the ends of the bow frame to affix the ends of the elastic cable at the front side of the bow frame, so as to evenly distribute the tension of the elastic cable at the entire bow frame.
Another advantage of the invention is to provide a bow, wherein the tension of the elastic cable is selectively adjusted to control the trajectory of the arrow.
Another advantage of the invention is to provide a bow, wherein the guiding barrel is adapted to guide the shooting direction of the arrow.
Another advantage of the invention is to provide a bow, wherein the deflection control portion of the guiding barrel is selectively adjusted to minimize the deflection of the arrow when the elastic cable is released at the firing position.
Another advantage of the invention is to provide a bow, wherein the user is able to grip the handle to precisely aim to the target.
Another advantage of the invention is to provide a bow, wherein the assembling operation of the bow is easy and simple that the user is able to easily replace or change the elastic cable from the bow frame.
Additional advantages and features of the invention will become apparent from the description which follows, and may be realized by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particular point out in the appended claims.
According to the present invention, the foregoing and other objects and advantages are attained by a bow for a trajectory of an arrow, comprising:
a rigid bow frame having two ends and defining a longitudinal axis between the two ends;
a tension unit which comprises an elastic cable extended between the ends of the bow frame, wherein the elastic cable is extended at a rear side of the bow frame along the longitudinal axis thereof; and
a guidance unit provided at a middle of the bow frame for setting the arrow at a position that a rear end of the arrow is biased against a middle of the elastic cable, wherein the elastic cable is drawn back to build tension thereof for shooting the arrow.
Still further objects and advantages will become apparent from a consideration of the ensuing description and drawings.
These and other objectives, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, the accompanying drawings, and the appended claims.
Referring to
The arrow 10 is a non fletching type arrow and comprises an elongated shaft 11 and defining an arrow head 12 and a rear end 13. Preferably, the rear end 13 of the arrow 10 is a round end. Accordingly, there is no fletching element provided at the shaft 11 of the arrow 10.
The bow comprises a rigid bow frame 20 having two ends 21 and defining a longitudinal axis between the two ends 21, and a tension unit 30 which comprises an elastic cable 31 extended between the ends 21 of the bow frame 20, wherein the elastic cable 31 is extended at a rear side of the bow frame 20 along the longitudinal axis thereof.
The bow further comprises a guidance unit 40 provided at a middle of the bow frame 20 for setting the arrow 10 at a position that the rear end of the arrow 10 is biased against a middle of the elastic cable 31, wherein the elastic cable 31 is drawn back to build tension thereof for shooting the arrow 10. As show in
According to the preferred embodiment, the arrow 10 further has a notch 14 formed at the rear portion of the shaft 11, and a coarse surface 15 provided at the outer circumferential surface of the shaft 11.
According to the preferred embodiment, the bow frame 20 is formed as a horizontal bow that the ends 21 of the bow frame 20 are defined at the two side ends of the bow frame 20, wherein the elastic cable 31 is extended between the side ends of the bow frame 20. The bow frame 20 has a pair of identical bow wings 22 and defines the ends 21 thereat, and a center through slot 23 formed at the middle of the bow frame 20, i.e. the middle of the bow wings 22. Preferably, the bow frame 20 is made of rigid and light weight material such as metal or wood, that the bow frame 20 does not provide any flexibility with respect to the arrow 10.
The tension unit 30 further comprises a securing unit 32 formed at a front side of the bow frame 10, and two locking units 33 provided at two ends of the elastic cable 31 to couple with the securing unit 32, such that the two ends of the elastic cable 31 are extended and encircled at the two ends 21 of the bow frame 20 to affix at the front side of the bow frame 10. Accordingly, the two ends of the elastic cable 31 are affixed to the front side of the bow wings 22 of the bow frame 20 respectively. It is worth mentioning that since the elastic cable 31 is not directly affixed to the ends 21 of the bow frame 20, the tension of the elastic cable 31 will not be directly applied at the ends of the bow frame 20 only. In other words, the elastic cable 31 is extended from the front side of the bow frame 10 to the rear side thereof through the two ends 21, the tension of the elastic cable 31 will evenly apply to the entire bow frame 10 so as to ensure the even tension being built at the elastic cable 21 when the elastic cable 21 is drawn backwardly.
As shown in
Each of the locking units 33 comprises two tension adjusters 331 selectively engaged with two of the securing slots 321 and two cable lockers 332 provided at the two ends of the elastic cable 31 and detachably coupled with the two tension adjusters 331 to selectively control the tension of the elastic cable 31 between the two ends 21 of the bow frame 10. Accordingly, when the two tension adjusters 331 are engaged with two securing slots 321 located close to the center through slot 23, i.e. close to the middle of the bow frame 20, the elastic cable 31 will be stretched out more to more tensionally prolong the length thereof. Therefore, the tension of the elastic cable 31 between the two ends 21 of the bow frame 10 will be increased. Likewise, when the two tension adjusters 331 are engaged with two securing slots 321 located close to the two ends 21 of the bow frame 10, the elastic cable 31 will be stretched out lesser to less tensionally prolong the length thereof. Therefore, the tension of the elastic cable 31 between the two ends 21 of the bow frame 10 will be reduced.
As shown in
It is worth mentioning that the tension adjusters 331 can be directly affixed to the ends of the elastic cable 31 to selectively, detachably, and securely engage two of the securing slots 321, wherein the cable lockers 332 can be omitted. Likewise, the cable lockers 332 can be integrally formed at the ends of the elastic cable 31 to detachably couple with the tension adjusters 331.
In order to ensure the elastic cable 31 being encircled at the two ends 21 of the bow frame 20, the bow frame 20 further comprises two retaining slots 24 formed at the two ends 21 of the bow frame 20, wherein two end portions of the elastic cable 31 are slid into the retaining slots 24 respectively in order to affix the two ends of the elastic cable 31 at the front side of the bow frame 20.
As shown in
The enlarged portion 242 of the retaining slot 24 is a closed end slot, wherein the enlarged portion 242 of the retaining slot 24 has a circular shape and defines an inner curved surface thereat. The diameter of the enlarged portion 242 of the retaining slot 24, i.e. the width thereof, is larger than the width of the narrowing portion 241 of the retaining slot 24. However, the diameter of the enlarged portion 242 of the retaining slot 24 is smaller than the width of the elastic cable 31. Therefore, when the elastic cable 31 is slid into the enlarged portion 242 of the retaining slot 24 through the narrowing portion 241 thereof, the elastic cable 31 is frictionally engaged with the inner curved surface of the enlarged portion 242 of the retaining slot 24 so as to frictionally retain the elastic cable 31 at the respective end 21 of the bow frame 20. In other words, the flat surface 311 of the elastic cable 31 will be deformed to form a curved configuration when the flat surface 311 of the elastic cable 31 is frictionally engaged with the inner curved surface of the enlarged portion 242 of the retaining slot 24.
Since the elastic cable 31 is frictionally engaged with the two ends of the bow frame 20, the tension of the elastic cable 31 can be further selectively controlled. Accordingly, when the elastic cable 31 is pulled from the front side of the bow frame 20, i.e. pulling the end portions of the elastic cable 31 between the ends thereof and the ends 21 of the bow frame 20, the elastic cable 31 will be frictionally slid at the inner curved surface of the enlarged portion 242 of the retaining slot 24 toward the front side of the bow frame 20. Therefore, the elastic cable 31 will be further stretched between the ends 21 of the bow frame 20 to increase the tension of the elastic cable 31. When the elastic cable 31 is pulled from the rear side of the bow frame 20, i.e. pulling the mid-portion of the elastic cable 31 between the ends 21 of the bow frame, the elastic cable 31 will be frictionally slid at the inner curved surface of the enlarged portion 242 of the retaining slot 24 toward the rear side of the bow frame 20. Therefore, the elastic cable 31 will be less stretched between the ends 21 of the bow frame 20 to reduce the tension of the elastic cable 31.
It is worth mentioning that the user is able to replace or change the elastic cable 31 rapidly by detaching the cable lockers 332 from the tension adjusters 331 and removing the elastic cable 31 from the retaining slots 24.
According to the preferred embodiment, the guidance unit 40 comprises a tubular guiding barrel 41 transversely extended from the bow frame 20. In particular, the guiding barrel 41 is perpendicularly extended at the middle of the bow frame 20 for slidably loading the arrow 10 within the guiding barrel 41. In particular, the guiding barrel 41 is slidably extended through the center through slot 23 of the bow frame 20. A diameter of the guiding barrel 41 is slightly larger than a diameter of the arrow 10. Accordingly, a rear portion of the guiding barrel 41 is rearwardly extended out of the rear side of the bow frame 20 to form a deflection control portion of the guiding barrel 41. A front portion of the guiding barrel 41 is frontwardly extended out of the front side of the bow frame 20 to form a guidance control portion of the guiding barrel 41.
The guiding barrel 41 has a length shorter than the length of the arrow 10. However, the length of the guiding barrel 41 is substantially longer than the distance between the front and rear sides of the bow frame 20. Therefore, when the arrow 10 is loaded at the guiding barrel 41, the arrow 10 can be held and supported at the bow frame 20. It is worth mentioning that when the bow frame 20 is retained at a horizontal position or at a rearward tilt position, the arrow 10 will be held by the guiding barrel 41 and will not be dropped out from the bow frame 20. Only when the bow frame 20 is held at a front tilt position, the arrow 10 may slid out of the guiding barrel 41. Therefore, the guiding barrel 41 will also hold the arrow 10 at the bow frame 20 in position.
It is worth mentioning that the rear end of the guiding barrel 41 is aligned with and pointed at the middle of the elastic cable 31 between the two ends 21 of the bow frame 20. Therefore, when the arrow 10 is loaded at the guiding barrel 41, the rear end 13 of the arrow 10 will be automatically slid out of the rear end of the guiding barrel 41 and biased against the middle of the elastic cable 31. Therefore, the user is able to simply hold and drawn the rear end 13 of the arrow 10 backward that the rear end 13 of the arrow 10 will be automatically located the middle of the elastic cable 31. It is important that when the elastic cable 31 is drawn backward, the tension of the elastic cable 31 will be built evenly at the middle thereof towards the ends 21 of the bow frame 20. Therefore, when the elastic cable 31 is released, the tension of the elastic cable 31 will be evenly applied to the arrow 10 to shoot the arrow 10 correctly.
Accordingly, a rear end of the guiding barrel 41 is rearwardly extended from the bow frame 20 at the rear side thereof at a position that the rear end 13 of the arrow 10 is rearwardly extended out of the rear end of the guiding barrel 41 to bias against the elastic cable 31. Therefore, the use is able to hold the rear end 13 of the arrow 10 and to draw the elastic cable 31 backward at the same time as a firing position. In particular, the guiding barrel 41 is selectively adjusted a distance between the rear end of the guiding barrel 41 and the elastic cable 31.
In particular, when the arrow 10 is loaded at the guiding barrel 41, the notch 14 of the arrow 10 is extended out of the rear end of the guiding barrel 41. Therefore, the user is able to feel and hold the notch 14 of the arrow 10 in order to draw the rear end 13 of the arrow 10 with the elastic cable 31 backward at the same time. The coarse surface 15 of the arrow 10 will provide enough friction in order for the user to hold the rear end 13 of the arrow 10 tightly.
As shown in
When the guiding barrel 41 is rotated at one direction to increase the length of the deflection control portion of the guiding barrel 41, the distance between the rear end of the guiding barrel 41 and the elastic cable 31 will be reduced. Likewise, when the guiding barrel 41 is rotated at the opposed direction to decrease the length of the deflection control portion of the guiding barrel 41, the distance between the rear end of the guiding barrel 41 and the elastic cable 31 will be increased.
As shown in
The guidance unit 40 further comprises a front locker 42 and a rear locker 43 to lock up the guiding barrel 41 at the bow frame 20. The front locker 42, preferably a ring shaped locker being actuated by hand, is coaxially coupled at the guiding barrel 41 at the front side of the bow frame 20. The front locker 42 has an inner threaded portion rotatably engaged with the outer threaded portion of the guiding barrel 41. Likewise, the rear locker 43, preferably a ring shaped locker being actuated by hand, is coaxially coupled at the guiding barrel 41 at the rear side of the bow frame 20. The rear locker 43 has an inner threaded portion rotatably engaged with the outer threaded portion of the guiding barrel 41. Therefore, once the position of the guiding barrel 41 is adjusted and set, the user is able to rotate the front and rear lockers 42, 43 by hand to lock up the guiding barrel 41.
Furthermore, the guidance unit 40 further comprises a front protective cap 44, having a tubular shape, coaxially coupled at the front end of the guiding barrel 41. Accordingly, the front protective cap 44 is coupled at the outer circumferential side of the guiding barrel 41, wherein when the bow is accidentally dropped on the ground, the front end of the guiding barrel 41 may be bent or broken. Then, the arrow 10 cannot be loaded at the guiding barrel 41 or cannot be shot accurately. The front protective cap 44 will protect the front end of the guiding barrel 41. In addition, the front protective cap 44 further has an aiming member 441 protruded upwardly and aligned with the shooting direction of the arrow 10, i.e. the alignment of guiding barrel 41. It is worth mentioning that the arrow 10 will be guided to shoot along the guiding barrel 41. The arrow 10 will leave the guiding barrel 41 at the front end thereof. Therefore, the aiming member 441 will guide the user to aim the target properly.
According to the preferred embodiment, the bow further comprises a handle 50, having a non-circular cross section, transversely extended from the bow frame 20 for the user to hold the bow frame 20. In particular, the handle 50 is perpendicularly and downwardly extended from the middle of the bow frame 20 to form a T-shaped configuration. Accordingly, the user is able to use one hand to grip the handle 50 and another hand to draw the elastic cable 31 and the rear end 13 of the arrow 10 backward. The user is also able to locate the bow frame 20 different positions via the handle 50 that the bow frame 20 can be held at the horizontal position, the vertical position, or a slanted position, as shown in
As shown in
Preferably, the palm gripping member 51 has a rectangular cross section defining two cornering edges 511, wherein when the hand of the user grips at the palm gripping member 51, the two cornering edges 511 of the palm gripping member 51 will biased against the palm of the user's hand. The finger gripping member 52 generally has a rectangular cross section but forms a curved front surface 521 for matching with the curvature of the fingers of the user's hand when the fingers thereof press against the finger gripping member 52. It is worth mentioning that if the handle 50 has a circular cross section, the user's hand may grip at the circular handle without any proper gripping position. The arrow 10 may be slightly pointed sidewardly via the guiding barrel 41 when the circular handle is slightly turned and gripped by the user's hand. Therefore, when the two cornering edges 511 of the palm gripping member 51 are biased against the palm of the user's hand, the user can feel the proper gripping position of the handle 50. In other words, when the handle 50 is slightly turned, the two cornering edges 511 of the palm gripping member 51 will biased against different locations of the palm of the user's hand that the user can feel the slightly change of the direction of the arrow 10. It is worth mentioning that the handle 50 will provide a three-point alignment, i.e. the two cornering edges 511 of the palm gripping member 51 and the apex of the curved front surface 521 of the finger gripping member 52, when the handle 50 is gripped by the user's hand.
Furthermore, the palm gripping member 51 further has a T-shaped configuration and defines two supporting surfaces 512 resting on the thumb and the index finger of the user's hand when the handle 50 is gripped. The supporting surfaces 512 will to ensure the bow frame 20 being stably held by the user's hand. Also, the supporting surfaces 512 of the palm gripping member 51 will ensure the distance between the user's hand and the bow frame 20 to prevent the backward drawn elastic cable 31 being blocked by the user's hand.
According to the preferred embodiment, the bow further comprises a weighting member 60 mounted on the middle of the bow frame 20 on a top side thereof to align with the handle 50 to substantially apply a downward weight force toward the handle 50. The weight force of the weighting member 60 will ensure the balance of the bow frame 20 between the two bow wings 22 when the handle 50 is gripped at the user's hand. The weighting member 60 further has an aiming guide 61 aligned with the guidance unit 40 for enabling the user to aim the target. Accordingly, the weighting member 60 has a flat top surface, wherein the aiming guide 61 is an indented groove, preferably having a V-shape, formed at the flat top surface of the weighting member 60, wherein the aiming guide 61 is located at the middle of the bow frame 20 that perpendicular to the longitudinal axis thereof and is aligned with the guiding barrel 41. In addition, the aiming guide 61 is also aligned with the aiming member 441 of the front protective cap 44 to form a double-aiming guide for shooting the arrow 10.
In order to assembly the bow of the present invention, the user is able to selectively engage the tension adjusters 331 with two of the securing slots 321 in pair at the bow wings 22 of the bow frame 20 for controlling the tension of the elastic cable 31. Then, the user is able to slide the elastic cable 31 into the retaining slots 24 such that the elastic cable 31 will frictionally engage with the inner curved surfaces of the enlarged portions 242 of the retaining slots 24. The user will then able to detachably couple the two cable lockers 332 with the two tension adjusters 331 respectively. By pulling the elastic cable 31 from either the front side or the rear side of the bow frame 20, the tension of the elastic cable 31 can be further fine-adjusted between the two ends 21 of the bow frame 20.
In order to use the present invention, the user is able to load the arrow 10 at the guiding barrel 41 from the front opening end thereof Once the bow frame 20 is tilted to backward, the arrow 10 will be slid backward at a position that the rear end 13 of the arrow 10 will automatically biased against the middle of the elastic cable 31. It is worth mentioning that the notch 14 of the arrow 10 is extended out of the rear end of the guiding barrel 41. Therefore, the user is able to hold the notch 14 of the arrow 10 in order to draw the rear end 13 of the arrow 10 with the elastic cable 31 backward at the same time to build the tension of the elastic cable 31. When the elastic cable 31 is released, the tension of the elastic cable 31 will be transformed into a shooting force to shoot the arrow 10 out of the guiding barrel 41.
As shown in
According to the second embodiment, the handle 50′, having a non-circular cross section, is integrally extended from one of the ends 21 of the bow frame 20 along the longitudinal axis thereof to form an elongated configuration. In other words, the bow frame 20 is formed as a vertical bow that the ends 21 of the bow frame 20 are defined at the bottom end and the top end of the bow frame 20, wherein the elastic cable 31 is extended between the top and bottom ends of the bow frame 20. Preferably, the handle 50′ is integrally extended from the bottom end 21 of the bow frame 20.
The handle 50′ has a rectangular cross section defining two cornering edges 501′, wherein when the hand of the user grips at the handle 50′, the two cornering edges 501′ of the handle 50′ will biased against the palm of the user's hand.
One of the retaining slots 24 is formed at the top end 21 of the bow frame 20 while another retaining slot 24 is formed at the bottom end 21 of the bow frame 20, wherein two end portions of the elastic cable 31 are slid into the retaining slots 24 respectively in order to affix the two ends of the elastic cable 31 at the front side of the bow frame 20.
The retaining slot 24 at the top end 21 of the bow frame 20 is formed along the longitudinal axis thereof. The retaining slot 24 at the bottom end 21 of the bow frame 20 is formed perpendicular to the longitudinal axis thereof. It is worth mentioning that each of the retaining slots 24 also has the outer narrowing portion 241 and the inner enlarged portion 242. The enlarged portions 242 of the two retaining slots 24 are aligned with the longitudinal axis of the bow frame 20. In other words, the narrowing portion 241 of the retaining slot 24 at the top end 21 of the bow frame 20 is upwardly extended to form a top opening of the retaining slot 24. The narrowing portion 241 of the retaining slot 24 at the bottom end 21 of the bow frame 20 is sidewardly extended to form a side opening of the retaining slot 24.
The weighting member 60′ is mounted on the top end 21 of the bow frame 20 to align with the handle 60′. Preferably, two weighting member 60′ are mounted at two opposed sidewalls of the top end 21 of the bow frame 20 to keep the balance of the bow frame 20 when the handle 60′ is gripped by the user's hand.
According to the present invention, the arrow 10 can be formed to have a sharp arrow head 12 for professional use. It would be formed as a suction cup head as a toy for young child to play with.
One skilled in the art will understand that the embodiment of the present invention as shown in the drawings and described above is exemplary only and not intended to be limiting.
It will thus be seen that the objects of the present invention have been fully and effectively accomplished. It embodiments have been shown and described for the purposes of illustrating the functional and structural principles of the present invention and is subject to change without departure from such principles. Therefore, this invention includes all modifications encompassed within the spirit and scope of the following claims.
