Abstract:
A unique low profile archery bow quiver is disclosed wherein a cable guard removably grips a plurality of arrows along their shafts, the heads of the arrows are removably gripped by an arrow head receiver, and the arrows are stored in the quiver in a plane which crosses the longitudinal arrow launching plane of the bow.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present invention relates to the general field of archery, specifically to archer&#39;s bow quivers, and more particularly to a bow quiver arranged in balanced alignment with the longitudinal centerline of an archer&#39;s bow, to provide an archer with a convenient quivered supply of reserve shooting arrows for sequential arrow reload, without sacrifice to the critical shooting balance of a selected bow. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Archery is a popular sport and hobby which has gained increasing popularity for use in hunting and rapid shooting contests. Constant factors in archery are the interfering bulk of the bow, maintaining a critical shooting balance and the convenience of means available to the archer to assure a ready supply of arrows as the need arises. With the popularity of sporting contests and hunts involving movement of the archer from position to position, the convenience of a quiver which enables minimum motion reloading has become particularly desirable. 
     Particularly in the sport of bow hunting, it is generally necessary to get as close as possible to the quarry in order to assure that the arrow finds its mark. In the hunting environment, it is not unusual for a bow hunter to be required to stand in a still position to avoid detection by the quarry, and in many instances, movement that may be necessary to load or reload a bow is detected by the quarry and the opportunity to shoot is lost. Loading or nocking an arrow, or reloading an arrow after a missed shot, typically requires movement by the hunter which can easily be detected by the quarry. Thus, it is desirable to have a convenient means and location for storing arrows which allows the archer to load and reload with minimum detectable arm and hand movement. 
     Modern bows are sophisticated devices which are carefully engineered and balanced to provide an accurate platform for the repeatable accurate release of arrows. Generally, the hand grip and arrow rest are positioned as close to the centerline of the arc of the bow as possible so that the hand of the archer supporting the bow can effortlessly maintain the bow generally perpendicular when an arrow is nocked and the bow drawn to a shooting tension. Special sights and stringing means have been developed to assure the accuracy of the flight of an arrow, each of which are generally keyed to the centerline of the arc of the drawn bow and the ability of the archer to maintain the arrow along the centerline of the arc in an arrow launch plane during release to a target. 
     The prior art is replete with various quiver means for storing arrows on a bow and various devices for reloading arrows. Typically quiver means store the arrows in an arrangement generally parallel to the longitudinal axis of the bow which add bulk to the profile of the bow and require significant movement of the archer&#39;s arm and hand in order to remove the arrow from the quiver and reload the bow. Typically, the center of gravity of such quiver means loaded with reserve arrows is to the side of the longitudinal axis of the bow which creates additional forces at the extended hand of the archer which supports the bow in the shooting position. Thus, the hand of the archer which supports the bow is not only supporting the weight of the bow and nocked arrow in a raised position, but the additional weight of a loaded quiver mounted generally parallel to the longitudinal centerline of the bow creates torque force moments at the hand which must be counteracted to maintain the bow in a perpendicular position. This torque must be compensated for by an archer in his shooting habits and as the plurality of reserve arrows is spent, the change in weight changes the torque which must be compensated for. Further complicating the process, such parallel mounted quivers are generally arranged significantly spaced from the bow to assure clearance of the arrow during the shooting act, increasing the moment of torque at the hand and increasing the bulk of the profile of the bow, which is problematic in dense foliage and obviates the presence of the hunter to his quarry. 
     Arrow reloading means of the prior art typically maintain several arrows in a complex mechanical apparatus that requires multiple moving parts to function. Many of such means make mechanical sounds when they are functioning, that are distinct from the environmental background sounds and are easily detected by the quarry. Such complex means are subject to malfunction because of the dirt and rough handling imposed upon the equipment in field use. 
     It is an object of this application to provide a detachable means for convenient storage of arrows on a bow in a position amenable to rapid reloading. 
     Another object of the application is to provide a means that allows reloading a bow with minimum hunter movement. 
     A still further object of the invention is to provide a light-weight, non-complex device, that is adaptable for convenient attachment to any size archery bow, which will retain the center of gravity of the bow as close as possible to its longitudinal axis and allow minimum change in bulk to the profile of the bow. 
     These and other objects of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Typically, archer&#39;s bows comprise a riser, which is that portion of the bow generally about the middle of the bow generally containing a hand grip and/or arrow shelf and/or arrow rest, and resilient upper and lower limbs which extend from opposite ends of the riser to the remote ends of the bow. The ends of the limbs generally comprise means such as notches, wheels, eccentrics or the like to engage a bowstring. Traditional bows, can be one piece or multiple piece units and may be straight, curved, re-curved and the like, generally comprising notches or the like at opposite ends for attachment of a bowstring. Modern bows are generally three piece units and can also be straight, curved, re-curved and the like and may also be compound actuated. Many modern and some traditional bows have one or more mounting hole(s), arranged in the riser section along about the longitudinal axis of the bow, for attaching various accessories which may be used by an archer. Most have a mounting hole located below the hand grip, but many modern bows arrange a mounting hole above the hand grip at about the center of the arc, sometimes referred to as the center of the axle to axle length of a compound bow and/or the centerline of the bow. 
     One embodiment of the quiver device of the instant invention comprises an arrow head receiver unit which is configured to receive and firmly engage the arrow head ends of a plurality of arrows, and an arrow shaft receiver unit which is configured to grip the shafts of the plurality of arrows at a point spaced rearwardly along the arrows from their respective arrow head ends. Both the arrow head receiver unit and the arrow shaft receiver unit are mounted to the riser portion of the bow, preferably with the arrow head receiver unit mounted above the hand grip and the arrow shaft receiver unit preferably combined with a cable guard unit of a modern compound bow and mounted to a cable guard mounting hole below the arrow head receiver unit. In a most preferred embodiment, the arrow head receiver unit is mounted to the riser of the bow at about the end thereof wherein the upper limb extends therefrom, while the arrow shaft receiver unit is mounted by means of the cable guard mounting hole in the riser, just below or above the hand grip. 
     In a most preferred embodiment, the bow comprises detachable limbs, and the remote end of a limb comprises an axle having an eccentric such as a wheel and the like, which engages a cable type bowstring. The arrow head receiver unit comprises an arrow head receiver means mounted to a mounting plate, an end of the mounting plate being mounted to about the upper end of the riser, with the arrow head receiver being positioned in the area between the bow and the bowstring in a plane spaced to one side of the arrow launching plane. By arrow launch plane is meant that plane generally defined as extending from about the longitudinal axis of the bow to the bowstring. The centerline of the arc of the bow is generally that location along the launch plane wherein an arrow is nocked, drawn and launched from the bow. 
     The arrow shaft receiver unit is mounted along a cable guard, the guard generally comprising an elongate element extending from a mounting hole of the bow to the cable bowstring in an arrangement which deflects the path of the non-drawn cable harness of a cable bowstring from interfering with a nocked arrow along the arrow launch plane. The arrows are mounted between the arrow head receiver and arrow shaft receiver in such manner that the shaft of the arrows cross the launch plane of the bow, but at a location spaced from the centerline of the arc of the bow. 
     In a further embodiment of the invention an elongate cable guard is offset mounted to the mounting hole and is configured to enable variable engagement against the non-drawn harness of the cable drawstring during draw of the drawn element of the drawstring. 
     In the arrangement of the invention, the arrow heads of the reserve arrows are retained on one side of the launch plane, while the nock ends of the arrows are retained at the other side of said plane, until they are removed for shooting. Such retention of the arrows crossing the launch plane of the bow, maintains a consistent balance of the bow during use by the shooter, reducing the torque moment which otherwise is added to the hand of the archer by the weight of parallel mounted quivers and arrows. 
     The arrangement of the invention further provides a significant reduction in complexity of the quiver and the amount of bulk generally added to the profile of the bow by quivers of the prior art. In the prior art, bow mounted quiver arrangements use complex and bulky frames, to assure secure, stable attachment of arrow retaining components in significant spaced relationship to the bow in order to avoid failure and/or interference with other operating components of the bow. In the present invention, the cross axis arrangement of arrow retention between the bow and the drawn element of the drawstring, enables a dual use configuration of an existing component, e.g. the cable guard, for securely mounting the shaft of the arrow in a non-complex low profile arrangement and minimal mounting framework for securely mounting the head portion of the arrow, thus significantly reducing the bulk of mounting frame-work. Similarly, the positioning of cross axis arrows precludes interference with the operation of the bow, while maintaining the reserve arrows in close proximity to the natural ready position of the archer&#39;s hands for drawing a bow, which fosters convenient finger tip removal and nocking of a reserve arrow without significant arm movement. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES 
     FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a bow with a quiver arrangement illustrated holding a plurality of arrows in accordance with the invention. 
     FIG. 2 is a rear elevational view of the bow of FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 3 is a rear perspective, fragmented view of a bow, illustrating a riser having another quiver arrangement mounted for holding a plurality of arrows in accordance with the invention. 
     FIG. 4 is an exploded, fragmented perspective view of the bow of FIG. 1, illustrating the mounting of the quiver arrangement to the riser in accordance with the invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Referring first to the FIGS. 1,  2  and  4  of the drawings wherein a conventional modern compound cable bowstring archer&#39;s bow is illustrated as comprising a mounted quiver of the invention. 
     Therein the bow is illustrated as comprising a cable bowstring having drawing cable  11   a  and non-drawing, harness cables  11   b  and  11   c,  riser  12 , detachable resilient limbs  13  and  14 , and bowstring eccentric wheels  15  and  16 . Riser  12  connects with first and second limbs  13  and  14  at connection/adjustment junctions  19  and  19   a  respectively. Riser  12  comprises an arrow rest  21 , on which a nocked arrow can rest aligned in the shooting position, and hand grip  24  which comprises a slip resistant gripping surface. Cable guide  25  is illustrated as having an elongate guide member  25   a  extending into the arc of the bow, with an offset mounting end  25   b  extending angularly from elongate member  25   a  and comprising a hole for mounting the cable guide, by means of bolt  18 , to mounting hole  17  of riser  12 . Cable guide  25  is depicted as comprising cable harness restraint  26 , which engages among harness cables  11   b,    11   c  and cable guide  25 . The quiver of the invention is depicted as comprising arrow head receiver unit  40  and arrow shaft receiver unit  47 . Nocked arrow  30  is depicted in FIG. 1 only, and comprises arrow shaft  31 , arrow nock  32  and arrow tip  33 . 
     In the illustrated embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2, the cable drawstring is illustrated as comprised of drawing cable  11   a  and two harness cables  11   b,  arranged with opposite ends of the drawing cable mounted to opposite wheels  15  and  16  and ends of the harness cables mounted to opposite eccentric supporting shafts, the drawing cable and harness cables arranged in an eccentric pulley mechanical advantage which reduces the force necessary to draw a bow. Both the harness cables and drawing cable extend tautly from axle end to axle end of the bow with cable being wound around the eccentrics as the arc of the bow is compressed by drawing the drawing cable. It should be understood that the depicted arrangement of cables and pulleys is merely illustrative and multiple different arrangements of eccentrics, wheels, cables and the like are contemplated as within the scope of the invention. 
     The draw cable and longitudinal central axis of the bow define an arrow launch plane, extending from about the longitudinal axis of the bow to about the longitudinal axis of the drawn cable, in which a drawn arrow passes during shooting. Nocking an arrow centers the rear of the arrow upon the axis of the drawing cable and maintains the rear of the arrow in the launch plane through release of the arrow from the draw cable. Modern bows generally comprise a riser which is notched  22  along the launch plane of the bow and an arrow rest  21  which places the front shaft of the arrow along the longitudinal axis of the bow at about its centerline, enabling accurate passage of the arrow along the launch plane through launch of the arrow from the bow. Harness cables would generally cross the launch plane, and to avoid interfering with the arrow during nocking and launching, is held in an angled position to the side thereof, by means of a cable guide. 
     In the illustrated embodiments of the figures, cable guide  25  comprises a cable harness restraint  26 , which comprises cable slots  26   a,    26   b  arranged for slidably capturing harness cables  11   b  and  11   c.  Elongate guide member  25   a  of cable guide  25  is offset from mounting end  25   b  to enable adjustment of elongate member  25   a  in a plane spaced from the arrow launch plane. Elongate member  25   a  comprises a rounded surface  25   c  through at least a portion of its length, while cable harness restraint  26  comprises a rounded surface  26   c  which is configured to matingly engage with rounded surface  25   c  of elongate member  25   a  in an arrangement which enables slidable engagement of cable harness restraint  26  along at least a portion of the length of elongate member  25   a,  while holding the harness cables spaced from the launch plane. As drawing cable  11   a  is pulled by the archer, the bow is bent into an arc by the shortening of harness cables  11   b  and  11   c , and cable harness guide  26  slidably moves from a non-drawn rest position along elongate guide member  25   a  nearer to the riser to a drawn position along cable guide  25  spaced further from the riser, and back to the rest position with the archer&#39;s release of the drawing cable, while maintaining the harness cables spaced from the launch plane. 
     FIG. 4 illustrates in detail the quiver arrangement of FIGS. 1 and 2. Therein arrow shaft receiver unit  47  is illustrated as comprising holding plate  46  and resilient elastomeric element  45  mounted thereto. Each elastomeric element  45  comprises a plurality of integral “U” shaped resilient gripping clips  45   a-c  formed therein arranged to engage the shaft of the arrow. The holding plate is illustrated as screw  48  mounted to cable guard surface  25   d  arranged generally opposite curved surface  25   c  of elongate member  25   a  of cable guide  25 . In a preferred embodiment, a generally flat surface is formed in the cable guard for mounting the holding plate, and the surface is angled from the offset attachment end  25   a  to enable general alignment of the stored arrows with the arrow head receiver unit and/or access to the cable guard mounting screw. It should be understood that any suitable means mounting the arrow shaft receiver unit to the cable guide and/or the elastomeric element to the holding plate is contemplated as within the broad invention. The clips are configured in spaced apart alignment on the elastomeric element and have internal radii, which is sized to securely grip along the shaft of an arrows but allow ready removal of the arrow when desired. Such arrangement of clips allows the archer to easily remove and load an arrow by manipulating the arrow shaft with a finger and/or thumb and/or by forcibly inserting a finger and/or thumb between the arrow and the unit, without significant hand or arm movement. 
     Arrow head receiver unit  40  is also illustrated in exploded format, and is shown as comprising hood  41 , arrow head support element  42  and mounting plate  43 . Hood  41  comprises spacer plate  41   a  and holes  41   b  through which screws  44  mounted to threaded holes  43   a  of mounting plate  43 . Mounting plate  43  is mounted to attachment hole  20  of riser  12  by bolt  23 . Arrow head support element  42  is illustrated as comprising a formed block of foamed material, preferably a foamed resilient polymeric material, which is configured to grippingly engage a plurality of arrow heads. 
     In a preferred embodiment of the invention, mounting plate  43  is mounted closely spaced from the launch plane of the bow and generally parallel thereto. In a further preferred embodiment, spacer plate  41   a  is beveled so that when the hood is mounted to the mounting plate it is angled to generally align with the arrow shaft receiver unit. I should be understood that it is contemplated as within the invention that the mounting plate and/or hood may be angled to provide suitable alignment, and/or that the foamed material be configured to accept a plurality of arrows at an aligned angle with the arrow shaft receiver unit. 
     FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate the balanced arrangement of the mounted quiver of the present invention. Therein arrow shaft receiver unit  47  is mounted to an interior surface of offset elongate member  25   a  of the cable guide, and the offset of the guide arranged so that arrow shaft receiver unit  47  is positioned closely proximate to the launch plane of the bow, but below handgrip  24 . Attachment plate  43 , attaches to the bow above handgrip  24 , with arrow head receiver unit  40  being bolt mounted thereto retaining the arrow head receiver unit spaced from the launch plane of the bow. In such arrangement, the head of the arrows are maintained in the quiver closely proximate one side of the launch plane, while the notched end of the arrows are maintained to the other side of the launch plane. Such retention of the arrows provides a balanced weight distribution of the arrows about at the launch plane, which minimizes torque of unbalanced distribution. 
     FIG. 3 is a rear perspective view of a bow riser  52  comprising another quiver arrangement for holding a plurality of arrows in accordance with the invention. In this arrangement, cable guide  55  is illustrated as being attached to a mounting hole of riser  52  above handgrip  54  by bolt means  58 . As in FIG. 2, cable guide  55  is depicted as comprising offset mounting end  55   b  and elongate guide member  55   a  having rounded surface  55   c  for slidably engaging a mating rounded surface of cable harness restraint  59 . Arrow shaft ma receiver unit  60  is illustrated being mounted to a surface of the cable guide generally opposite rounded surface  55   c  of elongate guide member  55   a  as shown in FIGS. 1,  2  and  4 . 
     In this embodiment, the offset of the cable guide is arranged so that arrow shaft receiver unit  60  is positioned closely proximate to the launch plane of the bow, but above handgrip  24 , such that the shafts of stored arrows cross the launch plane of bow at a point below the handgrip. 
     In the embodiment of FIG. 3, the arrow head receiver unit is illustrated in exploded format, as being closely similar to the arrow shaft receiver unit and comprising a holding plate  66  and a resilient elastomeric element  65  mounted thereto, with elastomeric element  65  comprising a plurality of integral “U” shaped resilient gripping clips  65   a-c  formed therein arranged to engage the shaft of the arrow. The holding plate is illustrated as screw mounted to mounting plate  63  by screws  64 , the mounting plate being in turn mounted to riser  52  by bolt  69 . In this embodiment, the arrow is supported at the shaft thereof just below the arrow head. 
     In the mounting arrangement of FIG. 3, the distance between the arrow head receiver and the arrow shaft receiver is shortened, and the angle at which arrows cross the launch plane of the bow is shallower than that illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, providing a bow silhouette that is slimmer while continuing to enable balanced weight distribution at about the centerline of the bow.