Dart with dual action arrangement

A dart includes a dart barrel, a shaft having a sliding end portion, and a dual action arrangement. The dart barrel has a head portion and a shaft channel coaxially extending at the head portion, and defining a head opening at the head portion to communicate with the shaft channel. The dual action arrangement includes a tubular shaft housing detachably mounted at the head opening of the dart barrel, wherein the shaft housing has a sliding slot coaxially aligning with the shaft channel for the a sliding end portion of the shaft sliding therealong. The tubular elastic element is coaxially mounted at the sliding end portion of the shaft for applying an urging force against an inner circumferential wall of the sliding slot so as to minimize a clearance between the sliding slot and the sliding end portion of the shaft.

BACKGROUND OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

1. Field of Invention

The present invention relates to a dart, and more particularly to a dart comprising a dual action arrangement which is capable of enhancing the stability of the dart when it is hit on a dart board, and of facilitating easy removal of the dart from that dart board.

2. Description of Related Arts

A conventional dart typically comprises a dart body having a tail portion and a head portion, a flyer mounted on the tail portion, a shaft housing mounted at the head portion of the dart body, and a shaft extended from the shaft housing for hitting on a target.

As a matter of conventional arts, a typical shaft usually has a sharpened tip portion and a connecting portion slidably received in the shaft housing so that when the dart is inserted into the target (such as a dart board), it is easier and more convenient for the player to pull it out from the target. Moreover, it is usual for the shaft to be also rotatably connected at the shaft housing so as to enhance allowable movement of the shaft with respect to the dart housing.

A major problem for this conventional design of the dart is that since the shaft is allowed to have relative motion with respect to the dart housing, therefore, when the dart is hit on the target, the shaft and the dart housing may vibrate vigorously and the entire dart becomes very unstable. The consequence may be that the accuracy of that particular throwing is severely undermined.

The key to the above problem is that there exists unpreventable relative movement of the shaft with respective to the dart body because the very reason for allowing the relative movement is to facilitate easy and convenient removal of the shaft from the target. Of course, one may prevent any relative movement between the shaft and the dart body by securely mounting the shaft thereon any sliding and rotational movement of the shaft is restricted. The problem with this technique is that when the relative movement between the shaft and the dart body is altogether eliminated, it is more difficult for the dart to be pulled out from the target.

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

A main object of the present invention is to provide a dart comprising a dual action arrangement, which is capable of enhancing the stability of the dart when it is hit on a dart board, and of facilitating easy removal of the dart from that dart board.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a dart comprising the dual action arrangement, which is capable of restricting unnecessary relative movement between a shaft and a dart body while allowing the shaft to slidably move with respect to the dart body. In other words, although the shaft is allowed to slide for easy removal of the dart from a target, its overall stability will not be compromised.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a dart comprising the dual action arrangement, wherein the shaft is allowed to slide and rotate with respect to the dart body without affecting the overall stability of the dart.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a dart which does not involve complicated mechanical components so as to minimize the manufacturing cost of the present invention.

Accordingly, in order to accomplish the above objects, the present invention provides a dart, comprising:

a dart barrel having a head portion and a shaft channel coaxially extending at the head portion, and defining a head opening at the head portion to communicate with the shaft channel;

a shaft having a sliding end portion and a hitting tip; and

a dual action arrangement, which comprises:

a tubular shaft housing detachably mounted at the head opening of the dart body, wherein the shaft housing has a sliding slot coaxially aligning with the shaft channel for the a sliding end portion of the shaft sliding therealong; and

a tubular elastic element coaxially mounted at the sliding end portion of the shaft for applying an urging force against an inner circumferential wall of the sliding slot so as to minimize a clearance between the sliding slot and the sliding end portion of the shaft while the sliding end portion of the shaft is allowed to linearly slide along the shaft channel during an impact force at the hitting tip of the shaft.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring toFIG. 1,FIG. 2of the drawings, a dart according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention is illustrated, in which the dart comprises a dart barrel10, a shaft20, and a dual action arrangement.

The dart barrel10has a head portion11and a shaft channel12coaxially extending at the head portion11, and defining a head opening13at the head portion11to communicate with the shaft channel12. On the other hand, the shaft20has a sliding end portion21and a hitting tip22.

The dual action arrangement comprises a tubular shaft housing31and a tubular elastic element32, wherein the tubular shaft housing31is detachably mounted at the head opening13of the dart barrel10, wherein the shaft housing31has a sliding slot311coaxially aligning with the shaft channel12for the sliding end portion21of the shaft20sliding therealong.

The tubular elastic element32is coaxially mounted at the sliding end portion21of the shaft20for applying an urging force against an inner circumferential wall312of the sliding slot311so as to minimize a clearance between the sliding slot311and the sliding end portion21of the shaft20while the sliding end portion21of the shaft20is allowed to linearly slide along the shaft channel12during an impact force at the hitting tip22of the shaft20.

According to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the dart barrel10further has a tail portion14rearwardly extended from the head portion11, wherein the dart further comprises a rotating hinge40provided on the dart barrel10to rotatably and adjustably connect the tail portion14with the head portion11such that the head portion11is allowed to rotate with respect to the tail portion12so as to drive the shaft20rotating with respect to the dart barrel10in an adjustable manner. In other words, the rotating hinge40is adjustable to determine the extent to which the head portion11of the dart barrel10can be rotated with respect to the tail portion12.

The dart further comprises a retention arrangement50provided on the sliding end portion21of the shaft20, wherein the retention arrangement50comprises at least one retention guider51integrally and outwardly protruded from the sliding end portion21of the shaft20, and has a retention slot52longitudinally extended on the inner circumferential wall312of the tubular shaft housing31for the retention guider51linearly sliding along the retention slot52. As shown inFIG. 1of the drawings, a width of the retention slot52is slightly larger than a width of the retention guider51so that when the retention guider51is sliding along the retention slot52, a relative rotation movement between the shaft20and the head portion11of the dart barrel10is substantially restricted. As a result, when the dart is hit on a target (such as a dart board), unnecessary vibration of the shaft20with respect to the head portion11of the dart barrel10is minimized so as to maximize a stability of the dart when it is thrown to the target.

The retention slot52has an open end521formed at an opening edge of the tubular shaft housing31and a blocking end522arranged when the shaft20is linearly slid along the sliding slot311away from the dart barrel10, the retention guider51is blocked at the blocking end522of the retention slot52to substantially restrict a further linear sliding movement of the shaft20.

The dart barrel10is preferably elongated in shape for forming streamline geometry of the dart so that it is capable of traveling in air for hitting the target without experiencing significant air resistance. In order to increase a stability of the dart when it is being thrown to the target, the dart further comprises a flyer stabilizer60provided at the tail portion14of the dart barrel10, wherein the flyer stabilizer60comprises a plurality of stabilizing fins radially extended from the tail portion14of the dart barrel10for balancing aerodynamics forces exerting to the dart barrel10when the dart is being thrown to the target.

According to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, a diameter of the shaft20is slightly smaller than a diameter of the sliding slot311of the tubular shaft housing31so that the shaft is capable of smoothly sliding along the sliding slot311, wherein the tubular elastic element32comprises an elastic O-ring coaxially mounted at the sliding end portion21of the shaft20for filling the clearance between the sliding end portion21of the shaft20and the tubular shaft housing31so as to substantially restrict any lateral movement between the sliding end portion21of the shaft20and the tubular shaft housing31. In other words, the elastic O-ring is adapted to absorb vibration induced at the sliding end portion21of the shaft20when it hits the target so as to minimize unnecessary movement of the shaft20for enhancing an accuracy of the dart hitting a predetermined target.

It is worth mentioning that the tubular elastic element32, having a predetermined elasticity, may be replaceably mounted at the sliding end portion311that the tubular elastic element32is selectively interchanged to adjust the urging force against the inner circumferential wall312of the sliding slot311with respect to the elasticity of the tubular elastic element32. In other words, the user of the present invention may be provided with a set of tubular elastic elements32for suiting different applications.

More specifically, the tubular shaft housing31has an enlarged front portion313and a rear connecting portion314defining the inner circumferential wall312of the tubular shaft housing31as a sidewall of the rear connecting portion314, wherein the sliding slot311is longitudinally extended through the enlarged front portion313and the rear connecting portion314for slidably receiving the sliding end portion21of the shaft20.

It is worth mentioning that the tubular shaft housing31is meant to be detachably mounted on the head portion11of the dart barrel10. Therefore, an outer circumferential surface of the sidewall of the rear connecting portion314is threaded while an inner circumferential surface of the shaft channel12of the head portion11is correspondingly bored so that the tubular shaft housing31is adapted to detachably connect with the head portion11by screwing the rear connecting portion314into the shaft channel12, wherein the sliding end portion21of the shaft21is adapted to slide in sliding slot311and the shaft channel12.

In other words, the sliding movement of the sliding end portion21of the shaft20is limited by an upper end of the shaft channel12and the blocking end522of the retention slot52of the retention arrangement50, so that the sliding end portion21of the shaft20can only slide in between these two terminals.

The operation of the present invention may be elaborated as follows: a user may throw the dart towards a predetermined target (such as a dart board) in the same manner as conventional dart, when the dart hits the target, any unnecessary vibrations which are responsible to induce lateral movement between the shaft20and the dart barrel10is substantially absorbed and resisted by the tubular elastic element32while the shaft20is allowed to longitudinally slide in the shaft channel21along the retention slot52. As a result, when the dart is thrown towards the target, the location at which it is hit will be solely determined by the accuracy of that particular throwing, without being affected by such collateral and undesirable factors as unnecessary vibrations and unwanted rotation of the shaft20.

Referring toFIG. 3AtoFIG. 3Cof the drawings, an alternative mode of the dart according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention is illustrated. The alternative mode is similar to the preferred embodiment except the retention guider51′. According to the alternative mode, the retention arrangement comprises a plurality of retention guiders51′ integrally and outwardly protruded from the sliding end portion21′ of the shaft20′, and has a plurality of retention slots52′ longitudinally extended on the inner circumferential wall312′ of the tubular shaft housing31′ for the retention guiders51′ sliding along the retention slots52′ respectively.FIG. 3AtoFIG. 3Crespectively illustrate that there are two, three and four retention guiders51′ and sliding slots52′ for preventing rotational movement of the shaft20′ with respect to the dart barrel10.

Referring toFIG. 4of the drawings, a second alternative mode of the dart according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention is illustrated. The second alternative mode is similar to the preferred embodiment except the dual action arrangement. According to the second alternative mode, the sliding slot311″ of the tubular shaft housing31″ has an enlarged slot portion3111″ and a contracted slot portion3112″ having a diameter smaller than a diameter of the enlarged slot portion3111″ to define a retention shoulder315″ formed by the inner sidewall of the tubular shaft housing311″ as a boundary between the enlarged slot portion3111″ and the contracted slot portion3112″ for blocking a downward movement of the tubular elastic element32″ and the shaft20″.

As a result, it is important to realize that in order to ensure smooth sliding movement of the shaft20″ within the limit of the sliding slot311″, the diameters of the enlarged slot portion3111″ and the contracted slot portion3112″ are both larger than a diameter of the shaft20″.

It is also worth mentioning that the dual action arrangement may comprise a plurality of tubular elastic elements32″ spacedly and coaxially mounted on the shaft20″ for normally biasing against the inner circumferential wall of the sliding slot311″.