Mechanical guns and projectors – Element – Trigger or releasing mechanism
Reexamination Certificate
2000-09-15
2001-07-03
Ricci, John A. (Department: 3712)
Mechanical guns and projectors
Element
Trigger or releasing mechanism
C124S086000, C294S099100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06253753
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A. Field of Invention
This invention generally relates to gripping devices, and more precisely to a small hand carried flexible and resilient gripping member structured for assisting in the manual pulling of an arrow from a target, the gripping member coupled with a release device.
B. Description of Related Art
Bowstring releases have grown rapidly in popularity for target shooting and for hunting. A good release provides uniform and consistent release of the bowstring and thus increases accuracy. The release is typically either hand-held or strapped to the wrist and is provided with a trigger that permits the archer to activate a string retaining and releasing mechanism.
When target shooting, pulling arrows from a target is a particular problem. Pulling arrows from a target has become more difficult with the increasingly popular three-dimensional animal targets now in use, in addition to traditional foam, straw, or other targets. These life sized 3-Dimensional targets are made of rigid urethane foam and structured to appear like live animals such as deer, elk or smaller animals such as turkeys. Targets such as those sold by McKenzie Sports Products Inc. are designed to self-heal or close up holes created by arrow and arrow head penetration. The self-healing action, although desirable for minimizing target wear and tear, increases frictional resistance between the target material and an arrow shaft.
The increased power produced by modern compound bows also embeds the arrows deeper into the target, making the arrows even more difficult to pull out. In addition, modern carbon arrows present a smaller diameter, increasing the depth of penetration, and increasing the surface area of the arrow shaft presented to the target for frictional resistance. Arrows become embedded into the targets sufficiently so that it is often difficult to pull the arrows out by hand.
When shooting, an archer usually wears the release on the archer's dominant hand; i.e., a right handed archer wears the release on the right hand. When target shooting, the archer releases arrows directed at a target and then must retrieve the arrows from the target. Ordinarily, archers generally prefer to remove the arrows from the target with the palm and/or fingers of their dominant hand, often while holding the target in place with the archer's weak hand. However, the fingers and palm of the dominant hand are often obstructed by the release, necessitating that the archer reposition the release from a firing position to an out-of-the-way position, so that the archer can properly grip the arrow shaft. If a glove-type release is used, such as the Tru-Fire BearPaw release, the archer must ordinarily completely remove the release from the hand in order to grip the arrow shaft adequately.
The skin on an archer's palm presents a more frictionally resistant surface than the release because of the materials that are traditionally used during manufacturing. However, the release generally obstructs the archer's palm. If the archer does not remove the release, the release is typically unable to provide an adequate frictional surface because the release is often constructed of soft fabric that provides very little frictional resistance, such as fleece, nylon, canvas or Saddle-Cloth® fabric.
Because archers often shoot a series of arrows, retrieve the arrows, and then shoot another series of arrows when target shooting, removing the release from the hand and replacing the release on the hand becomes tedious between repetitions.
The primary problem is getting a good grip on the arrow shaft without the hands slipping, or in providing sufficient pulling pressure with a slippery grip.
To solve this problem, archers and hunters often use a frictionally adhesive piece of flat sheet material, such as synthetic rubber or plastic, to help provide a better grip over the arrow shaft and assist in pulling the arrow. Excessive gripping or squeezing strength is still required to remove the arrow from the target, and this solution also leads to archers losing the frictionally adhesive piece of flat sheet material because it is not attached to anything.
Although there have been devices provided in the past for assisting in pulling arrows from targets such as the rubbery flat sheet material mentioned above, the structure disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,544,926 issued to Ravencroft, and a device known commercially as the “Gorilla Grip,” these devices are not operatively disposed on the release. Instead, the archer must still move the release out of the firing position, or must remove the release from the hand altogether, or must run the risk of losing the arrow puller or forgetting to bring the arrow puller to the firing range.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is a resilient gripping member coupled to a bowstring release, the gripping member sized for placement adjacent to or over a portion of an arrow shaft. Preferably, the gripping member is manufactured of a stiff yet somewhat flexible rubbery material that contacts the surface of the arrow shaft and is sufficiently flexible to mold about and frictionally adhere to an exposed surface of an arrow shaft partially embedded in a target. When the gripping member is grasped firmly and squeezed by the fingers of a user, the gripping member grasps a portion of the arrow shaft providing a frictionally effective grip about the arrow shaft. Alternatively, the gripping member provides a frictional surface between the release body and the fingers, allowing an archer to grasp the arrow shaft between the fingers and the gripping member.
When the present gripping member is applied to an arrow shaft and squeezed either about the arrow or between the gripping member and the archer's fingers, the grip will not slide along the arrow. Pulling pressure applied to the grip is more efficiently applied to the arrow shaft, reducing the amount of gripping pressure, which in turn eases the pulling of the arrow from the target.
The gripping member can comprise a wide range of geometric shapes. For instance, the gripping member can comprise a flat piece of frictionally enhancing material disposed on a release body, or a release body structure. The gripping member can comprise a roughly semi-tubular shaped member with an opening provided along the length of the gripping member to allow the gripping member to receive the arrow shaft.
The gripping member can be attached to any type of release body structure, such as a hand-held or wrist strap style release, including for example but not by limitation the previously mentioned Tru-Fire BearPaw® release, a release known commercially as Winn Free Flight release, a Cobra Armstrong type glove, wrist strap styles such as used on a Tru-Fire Storm release (not shown) or a strap described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,831,997 to Greene, and hand-held styles (not shown).
Therefore, the combined features of the invention serve to provide the user with ease in removing an arrow from a target, providing the archer with a convenient and force efficient method to remove arrows from a target without removing the release from the hand or wrist.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3604407 (1971-09-01), Wilson
patent: 3873068 (1975-03-01), Allen
patent: 3890692 (1975-06-01), Jandura
patent: 4509497 (1985-04-01), Garvison
patent: 4584983 (1986-04-01), Ament
patent: 4831997 (1989-05-01), Greene
patent: 5020508 (1991-06-01), Greene, Jr.
patent: 5261581 (1993-11-01), Harden
patent: 5323754 (1994-06-01), Pittmann et al.
patent: 5364148 (1994-11-01), Bartocci
patent: 5544926 (1996-08-01), Ravencroft
patent: 5615662 (1997-04-01), Tentler et al.
patent: 5653214 (1997-08-01), Lynn
patent: 6125833 (2000-10-01), Tentler et al.
Cabelas Fall 1998 Catalog on-line version Available from www.cabelas.com Arrow Puller Pack With Gorilla Grip and Gorilla Grip Arrow Puller.
Blum Casey
Tentler Lynn A.
Ricci John A.
Ryan Kromholz & Manion S.C.
Tru-Fire Corporation
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