Heated hand grip for archery bow

A heater member is molded in, or otherwise appropriately form-fitted around or into, the hand grip of a bow. The heater member is energized by batteries located within a carrier in the form of an elongated container that includes, at one end, an adapter for cooperating with the stabilizer fitting of the bow. The carrier is received and supported by the bow's stabilizer fitting so that it extends with its longitudinal axis generally perpendicular to the front of the bow. At the distal end of the carrier, a weighted, removable and adjustable counterbalance element is provided. The mass and position of the counterbalance element can be varied to meet the counterbalance requirements of the archer. In a preferred embodiment, the heater member uses wire-wound or etched foil electrical resistance heating elements encased in a sheet of flexible insulator material that has a pressure-sensitive adhesive backing to facilitate attachment of the heater member to the bow's hand grip.

TECHNICAL FIELD 
This invention relates to archery bows used for shooting arrows and, more 
particularly, to bows designed for bow hunters. 
BACKGROUND 
While bow hunters use a variety of bows, including long bows and recurve 
bows, the majority of hunters presently use compound bows. While this 
invention is usable with any bow capable of being adapted to hold a 
stabilizer, the invention is more easily adapted to compound bows. A 
stabilizer is an elongated attachment, most commonly used on compound 
bows, which projects from the front of a bow for counterbalancing 
purposes. It is generally fairly massive, having an elongated cylindrical 
form; and it normally screws into a fitting on the front of the bow so 
that the longitudinal axis of the stabilizer is parallel to the shaft of 
an arrow appropriately positioned for release by the archer. The 
stabilizer tends to counterbalance and steady the bow during aiming and 
when the arrow is released. 
In hunting seasons, bow hunters must often wait for game during long 
periods under cold, and sometimes wet, conditions. During such waiting, 
the bow's hand grip and the hunter's bow hand can become quite cold and 
stiff, often making it difficult to handle the bow with desired speed and 
accuracy. 
Heated handles have long been provided for other sporting equipment such as 
fishing rods, ski poles, motorcycles, and snow mobiles. While archers have 
been provided with heated gloves see U.S. Pat. No. 2,555,203 to Ramsey!, 
and while bows have been provided with various types of accessories for 
more than 30 years, e.g., lamps see U.S. Pat. No. 3,288,988 to Boggs! 
and, more recently, spot lights designed to replace stabilizers see U.S. 
Pat. No. 4,640,258 to Penny et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,297,533 to Cook!, 
archery bows have never been provided with heated hand grips. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The invention, which is a heated hand grip assembly for an archery bow, 
includes a heater member that is molded within, or otherwise appropriately 
form-fitted around or into, the bow's hand grip. Preferably, the heater 
member comprises any one of a number of well-known products in which 
wire-wound or etched foil electrical resistance heating elements are 
encased in flexible insulator materials, e.g., silicone rubber or other 
man-made products (for instance, those sold under the tradenames MYLAR, 
NEOPRENE, TEFLON, etc.). The flexible sheet of insulator material has a 
pressure-sensitive adhesive backing to facilitate attachment of the heater 
member to the bow's hand grip. 
The heating elements are energized by a source of electric energy located 
within a carrier that forms an integral part of the heated hand grip 
assembly. The carrier is preferably in the form of an elongated 
cylindrical container that includes an adapter for cooperating with the 
stabilizer fitting of the bow. The carrier is received and supported by 
the bow's stabilizer fitting so that it extends with its longitudinal axis 
generally perpendicular to the front of the bow and parallel with the 
shaft of an arrow properly positioned in the bow's arrow guide. 
In preferred embodiments, the electric energy source is one or more 
batteries (e.g., rechargeable nickel cadmium) located in the elongated 
cylindrical carrier. One end of the carrier has an adapter that fits into 
the bow's stabilizer fitting, and a massive counterbalance element is 
removably attachable to the opposite, distal end of the carrier element. 
The hunter can select a particular weight for this counterbalance element 
and, if desired, can make minor adjustments in the relative position of 
its center of mass to provide appropriate balance for the bow. 
In one embodiment, the assembly includes a molded hand grip in which the 
heater elements are appropriately encased. Of course, there is no 
particular shape for the heated hand grip in this embodiment, since it can 
be contoured to meet the needs of particular hunters or the specifications 
of a bow manufacturer.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
A conventional compound bow, as shown in FIG. 1, has an elongated bow form 
in which a pair of flexible arms 10 are mounted at either end of a rigid 
central portion 12. A cable 14 has its ends secured to the respective 
distal ends of arms 10, the cable being threaded around a pair of 
respective pulley wheels 16 in a manner well known to users of compound 
bows. An arrow 18 is shown appropriately positioned in an arrow guide 20 
formed in central portion 12. 
Immediately below arrow guide 20, central portion 12 has a handle location 
21 at which a bow handle 22 is either removably attached or integrally 
formed with central portion 12. At the front of central portion 12, below 
handle 22, a stabilizer fitting 24 receives and supports a modular 
stabilizer/carrier 26. In this embodiment, an electrically conductive 
pathway in the form of a pair of wires 28 interconnects stabilizer/carrier 
26 and handle 22. 
In one embodiment of the invention shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, appropriate 
cavities formed in a removably attachable handle 22' receive a wire-wound 
or etched foil heater element 30, which is molded against the interior 
surface of handle 22' and covered by respective layers of insulation 32. 
Electrical wires 28 extend from the bottom of handle 22 and connect with 
heater element 30. 
Modular stabilizer/carrier 26 is shown in FIG. 3 (in larger scale than is 
used in FIG. 1). The central portion of carrier 26 is an elongated 
cylindrical container 34 which contains batteries 36 which serve as the 
energy source for the heater assembly. Electrical wires 28 connect to 
batteries 36 through a variable resistance on/off switch 38 which, in a 
manner well known in the electrical arts, can be selectively set to 
provide higher or lower levels of energy to heater element 30. 
At one end of carrier 34 (at the right in FIG. 3) is an appropriate adapter 
40 for cooperating with stabilizer fitting 24 which, as just explained 
above, is positioned at the front of central portion 12 of the bow (see 
FIG. 1). In the disclosed embodiment, adapter 40 is a threaded bolt, while 
fitting 24 is a similarly threaded receptacle. 
The distal end of carrier 34 (at the left in FIG. 3) is provided with an 
appropriate receptor 42, e.g., another threaded receptacle, for receiving 
the threaded bolt 44 of a selectively removable counterbalance element 46. 
The weight of counterbalance element 46 is selected in accordance with the 
counterbalance mass required by the archer. Also, for further minor 
counterbalance adjustment, the exposed length of threaded bolt 44 is 
adjustable in counterbalance element 46 to vary the distance at which the 
center of mass of counterbalance element 46 is supported cantilever 
fashion from the front of the bow. 
FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate, respectively, very schematic top and 
cross-sectional views of the preferred form for a heater member 50 for my 
heated hand grip assembly. Heater element 50 uses electrical resistance 
heating elements 52 (in the well-known form of either wires or etched 
foil) encased in a thin sheet of flexible insulator material 54 as 
discussed above. Electrical current is delivered through wires 28 to 
heating elements 52. 
Heater element 50 also has a pressure-sensitive adhesive backing 56 to 
facilitate attachment of heater member 50 to the bow's hand grip. An 
example of such adhesive attachment is illustrated in FIG. 4C which shows 
heater member 50 wrapped around and press-fitted against the front 
exterior surfaces of a hand grip 22" which may be either removably 
attached to, or integrally formed with, central portion 12 (see FIG. 1) of 
the bow. 
With the assembly just described, the archer can energize heated handle 22 
whenever needed and can select higher or lower. heat according to 
prevailing conditions. Further, my heated handle assembly does not intrude 
in any way upon normal operation of the bow nor does its addition to a bow 
visibly affect the bow's conventional configuration and aesthetics.