U.S. patent number 3,769,956 [Application Number 05/217,464] was granted by the patent office on 1973-11-06 for arrow rest for archery bow.
Invention is credited to Miroslav Andrew Simo.
United States Patent |
3,769,956 |
Simo |
November 6, 1973 |
ARROW REST FOR ARCHERY BOW
Abstract
A retractable arrow rest for an archery bow to support an arrow
in proper position for shooting. The arrow rest includes an
L-shaped member having an upright arm rotatably mounted in a sleeve
that is connected to a bow mounting member. The arrow rest also
includes an arrow supporting leg inclined outwardly from the bottom
of the upright arm. The arrow supporting arm is spring biased
outwardly from a bow to an angle extending generally along and
across the direction of arrow flight and retracts out of the way
upon forward movement of an arrow. The mounting member supports the
upright arm and the arrow support leg and has adhesive for
attaching it to a bow. The upright arm is housed in a
friction-reducing sleeve. A spring for biasing the upright arm is
positioned above the sleeve and has a cover there-over. The upper
end of the upright arm has a member attached thereto for limiting
the rotation of the upright arm. A friction-reducing cushion is
positioned on the mounting member for engaging an arrow. The arrow
supporting leg has a friction reducing sleeve positioned
thereon.
Inventors: |
Simo; Miroslav Andrew
(Marietta, GA) |
Family
ID: |
22811191 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/217,464 |
Filed: |
January 13, 1972 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
124/44.5;
124/24.1; 124/88 |
Current CPC
Class: |
F41B
5/143 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
F41B
5/00 (20060101); F41B 5/22 (20060101); F41d
011/00 () |
Field of
Search: |
;124/24R,22,23,35,41,3R |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Pinkham; Richard C.
Assistant Examiner: Browne; William R.
Claims
I claim:
1. An arrow rest including mounting means for attaching the arrow
rest to a bow, a circumferentially enclosed journaling sleeve fixed
to said mounting means, an arrow support member including a shaft
received in said journaling sleeve and rotably carried by said
mounting means, an arrow support arm for supporting an arrow
thereon attached to and extending outwardly from said shaft at the
lower terminal end of said journaling sleeve, stop means extending
from said shaft and disposed above said journaling sleeve for
limiting rotation of said support arm in one direction, biasing
means for urging said support arm in one direction and comprising a
coil spring having a lower end and an upper end, said lower end of
said coil spring being contiguous with and resting on the upper end
of said journaling sleeve and said upper end of said coil spring
being fixed to said shaft, and a cover enclosing said stop means
and said biasing means, said mounting means being conformable to
the surface of a bow onto which it is to be mounted.
2. An arrow rest as claimed in claim 1 and said journaling sleeve
is a friction-reducing sleeve.
3. An arrow rest as claimed in claim 2 and further including a
cushion fixed to said mounting means forwardly of said journaling
sleeve and above said arrow support arm such that an arrow placed
on the arrow support arm will bear against said cushion, said
cushion having a friction-reducing surface.
4. An arrow rest according to claim 2 and further including
adhesive means on the rear surface of said mounting means for
securing the mounting means to a bow.
5. An arrow rest for a bow comprising mounting means for attaching
the arrow rest to a bow, an arrow supporting member comprising a
single piece of wire including a first rectilinear arm connected to
said mounting means and normally oriented approximately parallel to
a bowstring of a bow in its undrawn condition, said first
rectilinear arm for rotation about its longitudinal axis, and a
second rectilinear arm extending at an angle approximately
perpendicular to said first rectilinear arm at the lower most
terminal end of said first rectilinear arm when the second
rectilinear arm is in a position to receive an arrow, spring means
engaging said arrow supporting member and said mounting means
biasing said second rectilinear arm outwardly from a bow and said
mounting means, and stop means for limiting the outward rotation of
said second rectilinear arm from a bow, said mounting means
including cover means enclosing a substantial portion of said first
rectilinear arm and said spring means.
6. The arrow rest of claim 5 and wherein said mounting means is
conformable to a portion of a bow onto which said mounting means is
to be mounted.
7. The arrow rest of claim 5 and further including a
friction-reducing sleeve inserted over said second rectilinear arm.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
With the advent of the bow having a horizontal shelf for support of
the arrow, it has been observed that the rigid horizontal shelf has
an adverse effect on shooting accuracy in that the fletching on the
arrow engages the rigid shelf and causes the arrow to be deflected
in its attitude and deviate from its intended path. Due to this,
there have been numerous attempts to attain the advantages of the
support without the attendant disadvantages.
Many arrow rests have been devised that are to be used in
conjunction with the horizontal shelf and have included pieces of
fur, brushes or the like placed on top of the horizontal shelf that
can be deformed by the fletching on the arrow to reduce the amount
of deflection of the arrow. Other rests have had movable or
stationary arms that are attached to the bow.
One of the difficulties with the above mentioned fur or brush arrow
rests is that the fur or brush wears quickly so that an arrow rest
may have a useful life as short as a few days, depending on the
amount of use. In addition, there is not sufficient arrow rest
deformation to completely eliminate the deflection of the arrow;
and, if the fur or brush is made deeper, or with longer bristles to
provide for more arrow rest deformation by the arrow fletching, the
arrow is likely to be supported at a point too high on the bow when
the arrow rest is not worn; and, as the arrow rest wears due to
use, the level of support of the arrow becomes lower.
The mechanical devices that have been developed to provide an arrow
rest usually are located above the bow shelf and raise the point
along the bow at which the arrow rests, and generally have a
relatively large amount of hardward that interferes with the proper
placement of the arrow against the bow and interferes with the
arrow fletching as the arrow is shot from the bow.
Those skilled in the art will understand that the drawn arrow
normally rests on the bow at a predetermined point above the center
of the bow, and bow manufacturers tiller their bow limbs in an
attempt to provide balanced forces on the arrow through the bow
string. If the arrow rests at a location significantly above or
below the designed rest point, the forces applied to the arrow by
the bow string will not be balanced, and the unbalanced forces on
the arrow cause deflection of the arrow as it leaves the bow and
the arrow flight is not true.
Since bows with horizontal shelves tend to crack in the vicinity of
the shelves, bows with curved shelves have become popular. This
type bow construction prevents the use of many of the prior art
arrow rests, and requires that an arrow rest be attached to a
vertical surface of the bow rather than being supported on a
horizontal shelf. The arrow rest is much more difficult to properly
attach to the bow since the bow shelf is not present for aligning
the arrow rest and some other means for proper alignment must be
determined.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The arrow rest of the present invention overcomes the
above-mentioned and other difficulties with the prior art arrow
rests by providing a resilient support arm that is rotatable about
an axis parallel to the bow string when the bow is in normal strung
position. The support arm is spring biased towards the
arrow-receiving position and is provided with stop means to limit
rotation in its biased direction while allowing sufficient rotation
in the opposite direction for the support arm to lie along the bow
and out of the way of the arrow and arrow fletching as the arrow is
shot from the bow. The support arm is inclined slightly up from the
horizontal to assure that the arrow will rest adjacent the bow, and
the support arm is resilient so that, on release of the arrow, any
downward force of the arrow against the support arm will be
sufficient to overcome the resilience of the support arm and the
support arm will not interfere with the normal flight of the arrow.
Lateral cushioning means are also provided in conjunction with the
arrow rest of the present invention. The lateral cushioning means
serves the dual functions of giving horizontal cushioning to the
arrow on release of the arrow and assuring that the arrow does not
engage the mechanism of the arrow rest when the bow string is drawn
and as the arrow moves across the bow.
These and other features and advantages of the present invention
will become apparent from consideration of the following
specification when taken in conjunction with the accompanying
drawing.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of an arrow rest constructed
in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a front elevational view of the assembled arrow rest
shown in FIG. 1 with the support arm in its arrow receiving
position;
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the arrow rest taken
substantially along the line 3--3 of FIG. 2;
FIG. 4 is a front elevational view of a modified form of the arrow
rest shown in conjunction with a fragmentary representation of a
bow;
FIG. 5 is a side elevational view of a conventional bow with an
arrow rest of the present invention mounted thereon; and,
FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the arrow rest taken
substantially along the line 6--6 in FIG. 2.
DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Referring now more particularly to the drawings, and to those
embodiments of the invention here chosen by way of illustration, it
will be seen that the device shown in FIGS. 1-3 comprises arrow
rest assembly 9 including substantially rectangular connecting
plate 10 with rounded corners 11. Plate 10 is preferably formed of
a very thin metal that is sufficiently malleable to allow the plate
10 to conform to the surface of the bow on which the plate is to be
mounted, regardless of the single or multiple curvatures of the
surface of the bow on which the plate 10 is to be mounted. One
successful embodiment of the invention is formed with the plate 10
made of stainless steel of approximately 0.003 inch in thickness.
This material provides sufficient durability and wear resistance
while allowing the necessary malleability of the plates to conform
to virtually any bow surface.
The rear surface 12 of plate 10 is connected to the bow by a
pressure sensitive adhesive 14. The adhesive 14 is covered with a
paper 15 or the like which is to be removed just before mounting
plate 10 on a bow. Though the pressure sensitive adhesive 14 can
take many forms, there being numerous such materials readily
available, it has been found that the use of a woven fabric having
a pressure sensitive adhesive on each side thereof is particularly
desirable in that the fabric can be pressed to plate 10 for ease in
manufacture of the arrow rest, and the woven fabric, having some
noticeable thickness, provides some cushioning, or give, to the
plate 10 with respect to the bow when the arrow rest is attached to
the bow.
Carried by the plate 10 on its front surface 16 is a cylindrical
journaling sleeve 18. Sleeve 18 is mounted with its centerline
substantially parallel to the rear edge 19 of the plate 10 and is
soldered or otherwise fixed to the plate 10. The lower end 20 of
sleeve 18 coincides with the lower edge 21 of the plate 10.
Journaling sleeve 18 receives arrow support means 22. It will be
seen that arrow support means 22 comprises an approximately
L-shaped rod 23 with a vertically disposed rectilinear support arm
24 having its upper end provided with a stop means such as elbow
25. As here shown, the stop means 25 is bent from the upper end of
support arm 24 though it will be understood that other
constructions could be used with equal success. The support means
22 also includes a rectilinear arrow support arm 26 which is again
provided simply by bending the material of the rod 23. Though this
too could be provided by other constructions, it will be seen that
the support means 22 is readily provided by a single piece of wire
with two bends, making construction and assembly very simple and
inexpensive.
A primary feature of the arrow rest of the present invention is the
smoothness of operation of all mechanical parts. To provide this
smoothness of operation, the support arm 24 must rotate smoothly
within the friction-reducing sleeve 18 without binding or chatter.
The tube 18 is fabricated from stainless steel and has an inside
diameter of 0.036 inch while rod 23 is formed of stainless steel
wire having an outside diameter of 0.035. It will also be seen that
the sleeve 18 is circumferentially enclosed to assure further that
the operation is smooth. It will be seen from this that a very
smooth operation will be provided, and, due to the use of stainless
steel, there will be no corrosion to hamper this operation and
use.
FIG. 3 of the drawings shows substantially the true angular
relationship between the stop means 25 and arrow support arm 26.
From this it will be seen that, when stop means 25 is against the
plate 10 to prevent further motion in a counterclockwise direction,
arrow support arm 26 extends out at an angle of approximately
45.degree.; thus, stop means 25 and the support arm 26 are about
135.degree. apart. This angle can be varied with particular
designs. With the arrangement shown, the arrow rest lies flat
against the bow to lessen the likelihood of the apparatus's
interfering with the flight of the arrow.
Arrow support arm 26 may be provided with a sleeve 28 as a
friction-reducing cover to reduce the frictional drag of the arrow
across the support arm. The sleeve can be made of various plastics
such as a fluorinated hydrocarbon plastic material or the arrow
support arm 26 can be dip coated in a similar substance.
Coil torsion spring 30 surrounds the upper end of the support shaft
24 adjacent the stop means 25 and functions as a biasing means and
urges arrow support arm 26 away from the bow. The spring 30 has its
lower end terminating in a straight finger 31 which bears against
the plate 10 while the upper end 32 of the spring 30 is arranged to
be attached to the support arm 24 as indicated at 34. The
attachment can conveniently be made by spot welding, or by
soldering the last few turns of the spring to the rod 23.
With the above described construction it will be understood that
the finger 31 of the spring 30 will bear against the plate 10 while
the end 32 of the spring 30 will cause the support 22 to rotate
counterclockwise (as viewed in FIG. 3) until stop means 25 rests
against plate 10. Support arm 22 can then be rotated clockwise (as
viewed in FIG. 3) against the force of the spring 30. It will also
be seen in FIG. 2 of the drawings that the lower end of the spring
30 rests against the upper end of the journaling sleeve 18. With
this arrangement it will be seen that there will be no longitudinal
play in the shaft 24.
Though a coiled torsion spring is illustrated as a means to provide
a force on the support 22 it will be readily understood that
substantially any elastic means will provide the necessary biasing
force. For example, a leaf spring would be admirably suited to such
use since the motion of the stop means 25 is well within the limits
of an ordinary leaf spring. Further, some resilient means can be
placed between the stop means 25 and the plate 10 to provide the
bias. It will thus be seen that virtually any elastic means can
provide the needed force.
Cover 35 is attached to plate 10 and shields spring 30 and stop
means 25 and prevents there elements from contacting the arrow. The
cover 35 includes a mounting flange 36 with a central bulbous
deformity 38 closed at its upper end and open at its lower end.
This housing 35 encloses the upper end of the support 22,
overlapping slightly with the sleeve 18, and the bulbous deformity
38 presents a smooth surface to the arrow. As best seen in FIG. 6
of the drawings, the housing 35 tapers in so that the lowermost
edge of the housing 35 is substantially in contact with the
journaling sleeve. Again, this arrangement simply further reduces
the likelihood that the fletching, or other portions of the arrow,
will snag on any portion of the mechanical apparatus.
Since the housing 35 is wider than the diameter of the journaling
sleeve 18, it will be seen that there will be some space on at
least one side of the journaling sleeve 18. This space will allow
access to the spring for occasional lubrication if necessary.
In the embodiments of the invention shown in FIGS. 1-3, a cushion
40 is carried by the plate 10 and disposed forwardly of the sleeve
18. Cushion 40 can conveniently be made of leather or the like and
coated with a material to reduce the frictional drag of the arrow,
such as a fluorinated hydrocarbon. The cushion 40 forms a vertical
rest for the arrow and provides horizontal cushioning between the
arrow and the bow at the moment of release of the bowstring.
There is a device currently in use by some archers to provide a
horizontal shock cushion. The device is known as a cushion plunger
and is generally a spring biased plunger that is mounted through
the bow and is, for the most part, simply a more sophisticated
version of the cushion 40. For use in conjunction with the standard
cushion plunger, there is shown in FIG. 4 a modified form of the
present invention.
Referring to FIG. 4, it will be seen that the bow 50 (shown only
fragmentarily) is provided with a conventional cushion plunger 51.
Adjacent to the cushion plunger 51 is a plate 10A that is similar
to the plate 10 previously described except that the lower front
corner of the plate 10A is omitted so there will be no interference
of the plate 10A with the cushion plunger 51. Other parts of the
arrow rest shown in FIG. 4 are the same as previously described and
given the same reference numerals with an A suffix. It will thus be
seen that the arrow rest of the present invention is readily
adaptable to be used with its own cushion 40 or with the cushion
plunger 51 of the bow.
To install the arrow rest on a bow, the paper 15 would be peeled
off to expose the adhesive 14, and the plate 10 could then be
placed into position on the bow. As shown in FIG. 5, the rear edge
19 of the plate 10 should be mounted to be parallel to the string
55 of the bow 56 when the bow is in normal strung condition. The
string 55 thus provides an aligning guide. With the arrow rest thus
mounted, the arrow support arm 26 will be inclined slightly up from
the horizontal so that an arrow will tend to slide towards the
plate 10 rather than off the arm 26. Though this up angle is not
critical, it has been found that an angle of approximately
2.degree. is sufficient to hold an arrow on the arm. The arrow will
of course rest against the cushion 40 in the embodiment of FIGS.
1-3, or against the cushion plunger 51 in the embodiment of FIG.
4.
Since the plate 10 is very thin, the arrow will rest very close to
the bow. This is important in some bow structures because the bows
are designed for the arrow to pass through the centerline of the
bow, and any deviation from the intended position of the arrow will
distort this feature causing inaccuracies in the flight of the
arrow.
The spring 30 will hold the arrow support means 22 in position so
that arrow support arm 26 is extended away from the bow as shown in
FIG. 3 to receive an arrow while the arrow is placed on the arrow
support arm 26 and the bow is drawn. Due to the presence of the
friction-reducing material 28 on arrow support arm 26, if the arrow
is allowed to slide slightly forward, arrow support arm 26 will not
rotate but will remain in its full outward position under the
influence of its spring 30 to continue to provide maximum holding
ability for the arrow. When the bow string 55 is released to set
the arrow in flight, the forward movement of the shaft of the arrow
sliding along arrow support arm 26 causes the arrow support arm to
pivot towards the bow so the arrow support arm will not be engaged
by the fletching. If the engagement of the arrow shaft against the
arrow support arm 26 is not sufficient to pivot arrow support arm
26, the engagement of the fletching against arrow support arm will
pivot the support arm.
It has been found that when an arrow is released from a bow, only a
portion of the arrow will actually remain engaged with an arrow
rest. The arrow tends to move upwardly and to be in free flight,
not touching the arrow rest. Further, immediately on release of the
string, there is usually a down force on the arrow, this force
being perhaps in the vicinity of about 5 ounces at the instant of
release. It has been found in rigid arrow rests such as the rigid
horizontal arrow support shelf, that the arrow will tend to bounce
upwardly off the shelf, causing deviation of the arrow from its
intended path. In the device of the present invention, the use of
the very thin wire having a bendable quality, the arrow support arm
26 will flex to absorb the down force of the arrow and prevent
arrow bouncing. The approximate force required to deflect the arrow
support arm 26 from its two degrees up angle to the horizontal is
approximately three ounces.
In the design of the arrow rest of the present invention, the
spring 30 is arranged so that it will just overcome the rotational
friction of the support arm 24 within the journaling sleeve 18.
This, combined with the very low inertia of the support 22, will
allow the support means 22 to rotate when engaged by even the most
delicate of fletching used on arrows so that arrow support arm 26
will be moved completely out of position and when engaged by the
fletching.
Despite the ease of moving the support arm 26 out of the arrow's
path, arrow support arm 26 will return to the supporting position
almost immediately after the arrow has passed since the only force
preventing the return is the friction of the arm 24 within the
sleeve 18, and the spring 30 is sufficient to overcome this
force.
It will now be seen that the arrow rest of the present invention
provides an extremely simple and relatively inexpensive device that
will adequately support an arrow while the arrow is static and will
be moved completely out of the path of the arrow when the arrow is
discharged from the bow. Once the arrow rest is in its folded
position, there are no supports or other obstructions within the
path of the arrow that could deflect the arrow from its intended
path.
It will of course be understood that the embodiments of the
invention here presented are by way of illustration only and are
meant to be in no way restrictive; therefore, numerous changes and
modifications may be made and the full use of equivalents resorted
to without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by
the appended claims.
* * * * *