Abstract:
A rotating member for use with a compound bow, including a body having a rotation point for journaling the body to a bow limb, the body including a damping device for absorbing vibrational energy as the rotating member vibrates against a bow string when the rotating member returns to a rest position from a drawn position.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This is a continuation in part application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/266,184, filed Mar. 10, 1999 entitled “ELASTICALLY MOUNTED COUNTERWEIGHT FOR A CAM OR PULLEY”, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,039,035, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Applicant is the inventor of U.S. Pat. No. 5,809,982, which issued Sep. 22, 1998 and was entitled “Compound Bow With Counteracting Weight”, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. 
     When a cam returns to the rest position after the bow is shot, it vibrates or oscillates back and forth very quickly, along with the bowstring, with the vibration damping out over a short period of time. Applicant has discovered that by mounting the counterweight elastically or resiliently to the cam and/or the idler wheel , the vibration is more quickly dampened out because the counterweight acts in opposition to the vibration, as well as providing the other benefits discussed in connection with U.S. Pat. No. 5,809,982. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The inventive elastically mounted counterweight is comprised of a body having a rotation point for journaling the body to a bow limb. The body includes a damping device for absorbing vibrational energy as the rotating member vibrates against a bowstring when the rotating member returns to a rest position from a drawn position. 
     The rotating member may either be a cam or a pulley and may either be used on a single rotating member or both rotating members on the bow. 
     The damping device may be a counterweight which is either resiliently or elastically mounted to the body, such as carrying the counterweight in a rubber mounting ring. 
     The end of the extension arm may itself be elastically or resiliently mounted to the remainder of the extension arm to dampen vibration, either alone or in combination with the elastically mounted counterweight. 
     These and other more detailed and specific objectives and an understanding of the invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following Detailed Description of the Invention in view of the Drawings. 
     Other inventions which may be utilized with, or which may be otherwise relevant to, the present invention are disclosed in the following concurrently filed and commonly assigned applications: U.S. application Ser. No. 09/503,013, entitled “Bow Vibration Damper”; U.S. application Ser. No. 09/502,643, entitled “Dual Feed Pivoting Feed-Out”; U.S. application Ser. No. 09/502,354, entitled “Round Wheel Cam”; U.S. application Ser. No. 09/502,917, entitled “Archery Bow with Bow String Coplanar with the Longitudinal Axis of the Bow Handle”; and U.S. application Ser. No. 09/502,152, entitled “Level Nocking Point Travel Cam”. 
     For the purpose of this disclosure, all US patents and patent applications and all other publications referenced herein are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING 
     FIG. 1 is a top view of the inventive elastically mounted counterweight in a cam; 
     FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view of the rubber ring of the preferred embodiment; 
     FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the counterweight and the locking rings used to connect it to the rubber ring; 
     FIG. 4 is a top view of an alternate embodiment of the elastically mounted counterweight; 
     FIG. 5 is a top view of a pulley with a single counterweight elastically mounted; 
     FIG. 6 is a top view of a pulley with three counterweights elastically mounted; 
     FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view of another embodiment of the invention; 
     FIG. 8 is a side view of a typical compound bow equipped with embodiments of the present invention; 
     FIG. 9 is a close up partially exploded view of an embodiment of the present invention which illustrates one means of attaching the damper to a cam; 
     FIG. 10 is a close up partially exploded view of an embodiment of the present invention which illustrates one means of attaching the damper to a pulley; 
     FIG. 11 is a close up partially exploded view of another embodiment of the present invention which illustrates an alternative means of attaching the damper to a cam; 
     FIG. 12 is a close up partially exploded view of another embodiment of the present invention which illustrates an alternative means of attaching the damper to a pulley; 
     FIG. 13 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the present invention which includes a uniform dampening portion; 
     FIG. 13 a  is a side view of an alternative embodiment of the uniform dampening portion shown in FIG. 13; 
     FIG. 14 is a side view of an embodiment of the invention which includes a weighted portion having a hollow region; 
     FIG. 15 is a side view of an alternative embodiment of the device shown in FIG. 13; 
     FIG. 16 is a side view of another embodiment of the device shown in FIG. 14, which illustrates one means of accessing the hollow; 
     FIG. 17 is a side view of another embodiment of the device shown in FIG. 15, which illustrates one means of accessing the hollow; 
     FIG. 18 is a side view of another embodiment of the invention; and 
     FIG. 19 is a side view of yet another embodiment of the invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     While this invention may be embodied in many different forms, there are shown in the drawings and described in detail herein a specific preferred embodiment of the invention. The present disclosure is an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the invention to the particular embodiment illustrated. 
     Referring now to FIGS. 1-3, a cam is shown generally at  10  in FIG.  1 . The cam includes an extension arm  12  and an elastically or resiliently mounted counterweight, shown generally at  14 . As seen best in FIG. 3, a weight  16  is press fit between a top and bottom locking rings, shown respectively at  18  and  20 . A rubber ring, shown generally at  22  contains a lip  24  which is received by a slot or groove  26  in a mounting chamber  28  of the extension arm  12 . The rubber ring  22  contains a double sided flange  30 . The top and bottom locking rings  18  and  20  contain lips  32  which fit around flange  30  to lock the rings to rubber ring  22 . This can be seen best in FIG.  2 . Locking rings  18  and  20  are beveled at  34  and have openings  36  sized to friction fit with weight  16 . 
     To assemble resiliently mounted counterweight  14 , the lip  24  of the resilient rubber ring  22  is inserted into slot or groove  26  in the cam  10 . Then the locking rings  18  and  20  are mounted around flange  30  and the weight  16  is press fit into openings  36 , which locks the weight  16  and locking rings  18  and  20  to the rubber ring  22 . With the weight  16  installed as described the resiliency of rubber ring  22  is reduced locking the lip  24  of the rubber ring into slot or groove  26  in cam  10 . 
     Ring  22  may be made of any elastic or resilient energy absorbing material, such as for example sorbothane, or rubber, or a thermoplastic or thermoset elastomer, although it is made of Dupont ALCYN® 2080BK, a thermoplastic elastomer, in the preferred embodiment. Weight  16  may be made of any material, but is made of tungsten carbide in the preferred embodiment. It is preferable that weight  16  be made of a material which is denser than the material of the cam, which is an aluminum alloy in the preferred embodiment. Locking rings  18  and  20  may be made of any suitable metal or alloy, but in the preferred embodiment are made of brass or an alloy of brass. 
     Referring now to FIG. 4, an alternate embodiment is shown in which cam  10  is shown with a counterweight  16  press fit into extension arm  12 . Extension arm  12  is comprised of an end or tip portion  40 , which is elastically attached to a base portion  42  by means of rubber connector  44 . Rubber connector  44  has lips extending from each end which fit into a slot or groove in the ends of  40  and  42 . Screws  46  are used to fasten  40 ,  42  and  44  together. It should be understood that counterweight  16  could itself be elastically mounted in extension arm  14  as shown in FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 5 shows a pulley in which a counterweight  16  is elastically mounted as shown in connection with FIGS. 1-3. FIG. 6 shows a pulley in which three counterweights  16  are elastically mounted as shown in connection with FIGS. 1-3. The counterweights of FIG. 6 are evenly spaced around the periphery of the pulley. 
     In FIG. 7 an alternative embodiment of the elastically mounted counter weight is shown. The elastically mounted counter weight or damper is indicated generally at  100 . Damper  100  may have a variety of configurations and in the embodiment shown includes a housing  101 , and elastomeric portion  102  and a weighted portion  104 . 
     The housing  101  is not an essential component of the damper  100 . The housing may be incorporated to provide the damper  100  with the ability to be rigidly or fixedly attached to the surface of a rotating member such as a cam or pulley as previously described. 
     The housing  101  may be constructed from virtually any solid material. Preferably, the material for the housing  101  should be fairly rigid and light in weight, such materials may include but are not limited to plastic and aluminum. 
     The attachment means for attaching any portion of any of the various embodiments of the damper  100  to the rotating member as may be described herein, may be embodied by many different devices or attachment methods. Preferably, the housing is secured to the cam or pulley through the application of an adhesive such as: a cyanoacrylate, an epoxy, silicon RTV or other suitable adheasive to the surface of the component and housing. 
     The elastomeric portion  102  is preferably elastic, and may be constructed in whole or in part from a variety of materials including: Anylin™, Santoprene™, rubber or other suitable material. Other materials may be used which provide the dampener  100  with the desired vibrational dampening characteristics as previously described. 
     In an alternative embodiment shown in FIG. 8, the damper  100  may be incorporated directly into the rotating member, or the rotating member may be easily retrofitted to accept the damper  100 .  10  In order to include a damper  100  with a cam  10  or pulley  11  of a compound bow such as may be seen in FIG. 8, the cam or pulley must be designed with at least one space or area of sufficient size to allow the damper  100  to be received therein. Preferably, the cam or pulley is machined to correspond to the size and shape of the damper  100 . As may best be seen in FIG. 9 and 10 a damper mounting region  120  is provided for in the cam  10  and pulley  11  respectively. The mounting region  120  is sized according to the dimensions of the resilient portion  102 . The mounting region  120  includes an inner surface  122 . 
     The inner surface  122  of the mounting region  120  may include additional surface features such as protrusions and/or indentations to provide for engagement between the inner surface  122  and the outside  123  of the elastomeric portion  102 . In the embodiment presently shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, the inner surface  122  includes a first retaining groove  124  previously mentioned. In the present embodiment the first retaining groove  124  receives and engages an annular collar  126  which is a raised portion of the outside  130  of the elastomeric portion  102 . 
     An alternative embodiment of the damper  100  and mounting region  120  may be seen in FIGS. 11 and 12. In the present embodiment the inner surface  122  of the mounting region  120  includes a protruding lip  130 . The elastomeric portion  102  may be alternatively configured to include a mounting groove  132 . The mounting groove  132  receives and frictionally engages the lip  130 , thereby providing for a means of associating the elastomeric portion  102  with the mounting region  120 . 
     In the various embodiments shown in FIGS. 7-12 the dampers  100  include weighted portions  104  which are retained within the central region  134  of the elastomeric portion  102 . Different weighted portions  104  may be used with a given damper  100 . Weighted portions having different masses may provide the damper  100  with varying performance characteristics which an individual user may find more or less desirable. As a result, different weighted portions may have a varying masses but should have substantially similar diameters in order to ensure that the weighted portions may be utilized with a given elastomeric portion. 
     The dampers  100  and particularly the weighted portions  104  of the damper  100  may be embodied in many different forms. For example, the weighted portion  104  shown in FIGS. 7-12 may be a distinct mass of material such as metal, plastic, rubber, etc, which may be different from or the same material as the elastomeric portion  102 . 
     In the embodiments shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 the central region  134  of the elastomeric portion  102  includes a mating portion  140 . The mating portion  140  is constructed and arranged to be received and retained by a mating groove  142  located on the outside surface  144  of the weighted portion  104 . In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 11 and 12 the central region  134  includes an elastomeric mating groove  150  which receives and retains a mating extension  152  of the weighted portion  102 . 
     It should be noted that the various groove and collar arrangements shown in FIGS. 9-12 are merely examples of configurations which may be used to join the mounting region  120 , the elastomeric portion  102  and the weighted portion  104 . The configurations shown and described herein are preferred, as they allow a user to remove and replace the various components as desired. Alternative arrangements may include machining a thread pattern onto the respective surfaces of the mounting region and outside of the elastomeric portion so that the two surfaces may threadingly engage one another, the application of permanent or temporary adhesives as well as other interfacing arrangements. The present invention is directed at these configurations and all other which may be known to one of ordinary skill in the art. 
     In an alternative embodiment shown in FIG. 13, the elastomeric portion  102  and the weighted portion  104  are composed of the same material and are not separate elements. The combined weighted portion  104  and elastomeric portion  102  together may form a vibration counteracting weight  160 . Where the damper  100  comprises a counteracting weight  160 , the counter acting weight may preferably be constructed from a fairly flexible material such as rubber, plastic or other flexible material. 
     It may be desirable for vibration absorbing purposes, to include a counteracting weight  160  which has a greater mass than the relatively slender disk shaped counteracting weight shown in FIG.  13 . In an alternative embodiment shown in FIG. 13 a , at least a portion of the counteracting weight  160  may extend beyond the thickness of the cam  10  or pulley  11  by extending the ends  161  and  163  beyond the cam  10  or pulley  11  surfaces respectively. The greater length and mass of counteracting weight  160  as shown in FIG. 13 a , may provide the damper  100  with greater ability to counteract the vibrational forces present in the bow as previously described. 
     The counteracting weight  160  may be associated with mounting region  120  in the same manner as the elastomeric portion  102  such as the arrangements shown in FIGS. 9-12 as well as any other manner as may be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art. 
     In yet another alternative embodiment shown in FIG. 14, the weighted portion  104  may define or include an enclosed hollow  170  which may contain a counteracting weight material  172  such as a fluid or other flowable material. Alternatively, the hollow  170  may be included within the counteracting weight  160  such as previously described and shown in FIGS. 13 and 13 a . As shown in FIG. 15 the counteracting weight  160 , defines a hollow  170 . Where the counteracting weight  160  includes a hollow  170  as shown, the counteracting weight  160  may be constructed from virtually any material but is preferably constructed from metal such as aluminum, hardened rubber, or other suitable material. 
     In either of the embodiments shown in FIGS. 14 and 15, the hollow  170  comprises a predetermined volume of space which is at least partially occupied by the counteracting weight material  172 . 
     The counteracting weight material  172  may be a fluid medium such as oil, water or liquid mercury and may alternatively or additionally include a plurality of particulate matter such as sand or beads composed of steel, lead, tungsten, brass, plastic, rubber or other material including but not limited to metal alloys. In alternative embodiments the hollow  170  may partially contain any variety or combination of counter acting weight material. The movement of the counteracting weight material  172  within the hollow  170  dampens and absorbs at least some of the vibrational energy which would otherwise be transferred from the bow to the user subsequent to releasing an arrow. 
     In order to provide for the ability to customize the damper  100  to an individual user&#39;s preferences it may be desirable to provide the damper  100  with the ability to vary the mass of the weighted portion  104  or counteracting weight  160 . As may be seen in FIGS. 16 and 17 respectively, the weighted portion  104  or counteracting weight  160  may be constructed to include a first half  180  and a second half  182  so that the hollow  170  may be opened and its contents removed and/or replaced. The first half  180  of the weighted portion  104  or counteracting weight  160  may include a first threaded portion  184  which threadingly engages an opposingly threaded second threaded portion  186  located about the second half  182 . Such an arrangement will provide the hollow weighted portion  104  or counteracting weight  160  respectively, with the capacity to be readily manipulated by a user who may then access and vary the contents of the hollow  170  as may be desired. 
     In yet another embodiment of the present invention the damper  100  may be embodied as an inherent portion of the cam  10  or pulley  11 . As may be seen in FIG. 18, the pulley  11 , or a portion thereof, may include a hollow region  170 . The hollow region  170  defines a predetermined volume of space which is at least partially occupied by counter acting weight material  172  as previously described. 
     Similarly, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 19, a portion of the cam  10  may include a hollow region  170 . In the preferred embodiment shown, at least a portion of the cam arm  12  defines the hollow region  170 . As previously described the hollow region  170  is at least partially filled with counteracting weight material  172 . 
     It will be understood that this disclosure, in many respects, is only illustrative. Changes may be made in details, particularly in matters of shape, size, material, means of attachment, and arrangement of parts without exceeding the scope of the invention. Accordingly, the scope of the invention is as defined in the language of the claims.