Patent Publication Number: US-11659876-B2

Title: Crossbow mitt

Description:
PRIORITY/CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/789,429, filed Jan. 7, 2019, and U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/842,338, filed May 2, 2019, the disclosures of each of which is incorporated by reference. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The disclosure generally relates to the field of hunting and shooting accessories and more particularly to a hunting and shooting accessories or clothing that keep a user&#39;s hands warm while grasping the forend of a gun or crossbow and to keep a user&#39;s trigger hand or archery release hand warm. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Long guns, such as shotguns and rifles are popular for shooting and use in hunting. Hunting seasons and shooting in northern climates often occur during cold periods of the year. Typically a user seats a butt of the long gun against the user&#39;s trigger arm shoulder and grasps a forend of the gun with the user&#39;s opposite hand. The user&#39;s trigger hand pulls a trigger to fire the gun. 
     Crossbows have a similar construct as long guns, but instead utilize a bow string stretched between two limbs that are attached to or integral with a frame. The frame has a similar shape to that of a long gun stock and forearm. A user seats a butt of the crossbow against the user&#39;s trigger arm shoulder and grasps a forend (often called the handle) of the crossbow. The user&#39;s trigger hand pulls a trigger to release the shooting string and propel the bolt forward. 
     Cold weather can cause the user&#39;s hands to get cold, which can negatively impact the user&#39;s shooting capability or even deter a user from hunting or shooting in the cold. Cold hands can negatively affect a user&#39;s ability to load his or her gun or crossbow, to aim the gun or crossbow, and/or to pull the trigger in a motion that allows for the most accurate aiming of the gun or crossbow. Cold hands can be a problem particularly when the user is holding the gun or crossbow for long periods of time, such as when sitting in a blind or tree stand. For example, a crossbow user during a late whitetail deer hunt, which often occurs in northern states during November and December, may sit or stand in a tree stand with the gun or crossbow at the ready for an hour or longer. During the day, the user&#39;s hand may get cold from grasping the gun or crossbow. The user can remove his or her hand from the forend of the gun or cross to warm it up, but this puts a user at a position in which if a deer appears, the user will not be ready to shoot the crossbow. 
     One option for a user to keep his or her hands warm is to use a standard cold weather glove to keep his or her hand warm. However, this may provide inadequate insulation and thus not keep the user&#39;s hand warm. Use of a glove also prevents the user from having direct hand to gun or crossbow contact. Some users believe direct hand to gun or crossbow contact leads to improved accuracy when shooting the gun or crossbow. 
     Accordingly, what is needed is a device that will keep a gun or crossbow user&#39;s hand warm while grasping the gun or crossbow, allow the gun or crossbow user to shoot the gun or crossbow without interfering with the mechanical aspects of the gun or crossbow, and provide an easy-to-use interface such that a user can easily remove and re-insert the user&#39;s hand into the device without having to remove the device from the gun or crossbow. 
     SUMMARY 
     The purpose of the Summary is to enable the public, and especially the scientists, engineers, and practitioners in the art who are not familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determine quickly from a cursory inspection, the nature and essence of the technical disclosure of the application. The Summary is neither intended to define the inventive concept(s) of the application, which is measured by the claims, nor is it intended to be limiting as to the scope of the inventive concept(s) in any way. 
     A hand warmer is disclosed for use in shooting a long gun or crossbow. The hand warmer has a sleeve that is configured to circumvolve at least a portion of user&#39;s forearm. The sleeve has a first end and a second end. The first end is configured to attach to a forend of a gun or crossbow. The second end is configured for insertion of a user&#39;s hand. The sleeve is configured to attach to the forend of a gun or crossbow such as to not interfere with a user&#39;s natural or standard grasping of the gun or crossbow. This is thought to be at an angle of between approximately fifteen and forty five degrees to an axis defined by the length of a long gun or crossbow frame. The first end of the sleeve is configured to connect or attach to the forend of a long gun or bow. The first end can be open and configured to attach by a fastener, such as hook and loop fasteners, snap buttons, a zipper or other attachment. Alternatively the first end can be configured with foam or other fabric and configured to be positioned over the barrel of a long gun. Alternatively the foam or fabric can be configured to be positioned between the forend of a pump action shotgun such that the sleeve travels with the moving forend of the pump action shotgun when a user “pumps” the shotgun to clear the chamber of the shotgun and/or load the chamber of the shotgun. 
     Still other features and advantages of the presently disclosed and claimed inventive concept(s) will become readily apparent to those skilled in this art from the following detailed description describing preferred embodiments of the inventive concept(s), simply by way of illustration of the best mode contemplated by carrying out the inventive concept(s). As will be realized, the inventive concept(s) is capable of modification in various obvious respects all without departing from the inventive concept(s). Accordingly, the drawings and description of the preferred embodiments are to be regarded as illustrative in nature, and not as restrictive in nature 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG.  1    illustrates a side view of a third embodiment of a shooting mitt positioned on a frame of a crossbow frame. 
         FIG.  2    illustrates a close up view of fasteners attached to a first end of a third embodiment of a shooting mitt and corresponding fasteners attached to a forend of a crossbow frame. 
         FIG.  3    illustrates a bottom perspective view of fasteners attached to a forend of a crossbow frame. 
         FIG.  4    illustrates a top perspective view of fasteners attached to a forend of a crossbow frame. 
         FIG.  5    illustrates a side perspective view of a shooting mitt attached to a forend of a crossbow frame. 
         FIG.  6    illustrates an expanded perspective view of a shooting mitt attached to a foreend of a crossbow frame. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS 
     While the presently disclosed inventive concept(s) is susceptible of various modifications and alternative constructions, certain illustrated embodiments thereof have been shown in the drawings and will be described below in detail. It should be understood, however, that there is no intention to limit the inventive concept(s) to the specific form disclosed, but, on the contrary, the presently disclosed and claimed inventive concept(s) is to cover all modifications, alternative constructions, and equivalents falling within the spirit and scope of the inventive concept(s) as defined herein. 
     In the following description and in the figures, like elements are identified with like reference numerals. The use of “e.g.,” “etc,” and “or” indicates non-exclusive alternatives without limitation unless otherwise noted. The use of “including” means “including, but not limited to,” unless otherwise noted. 
       FIGS.  1  through  6    depict a further embodiment of the invention  10  attached to a crossbow frame  12 . The crossbow frame has a stock  14  and a forend  16 . The depicted embodiment of the invention comprises a sleeve  20  that has a first end  22  and a second end  24 . The sleeve is configured to be attached to the forend  16  of the crossbow at a first end  22  of the sleeve. In a preferred embodiment the sleeve  20  is attached at the first end  22  of the sleeve to the forend  16  of the crossbow by hook and loop fasteners positioned along the forend of the crossbow and the first end of the sleeve. The forend hook and loop fasteners are attached to a first side and a second side of the forend of the crossbow base. In a preferred embodiment, the hook and loop fastener of the crossbow forend are configured to be attached to a finger guard  18  that is incorporated onto at least some crossbow models. The finger guard  18  generally is made of a flange attached to a first side  36  and a second side  38  of the forend. The flange can either be screwed, bolted, or integral with the forend or foregrip. For the purposes of this document the finger guard is included in the definition of the forend of the crossbow. A variety of attachment mechanisms can be utilized to attach the first end of the sleeve to the crossbow. This includes, for example, an elastic bungee cord system, a c-clip attached to each side of the finger protector, snap buttons on the first end of the sleeve and on the forend of the crossbow, or other attachment mechanism. 
       FIG.  2    is a magnified view of a hook and loop fastener  30  of the sleeve, and corresponding hook and loop fastener  32  attached to the finger guard  18  of the forend of the crossbow. 
       FIG.  3    illustrates a bottom perspective view of a crossbow base of a second side  38  of a crossbow frame  12  having a finger guard flange  18  having a hook and loop fastener  30 ,  32  attached to the finger guard. The fastener attached to the finger guard flange is called the crossbow fastener. The fastener on the sleeve configured for mating engagement with the finger guard flange is called the sleeve fastener. 
       FIG.  4    is a top perspective view of a hook and loop fastener attached to the finger guard flange of the second side.  FIG.  4    illustrates that the top side of the finger guard flange is free of hook and loop fastener attachment in a preferred embodiment.  FIG.  4    illustrates a top perspective view of the second side  38  of a crossbow base having a hook and loop fastener attached. 
       FIG.  5    illustrates a second side  38  of crossbow frame  12 , having a sleeve  20  attached via hook and loop fastener opposing sections  30 ,  32  attached to the hand protecting flange of the finger guard  18  and the sleeve  20 . The sleeve serves to allow a user&#39;s forend or foregrip hand to grasp the forend or foregrip by being placed through the sleeve. The sleeve allows a user to grasp the forend of the crossbow and to keep the user&#39;s hand warm. This will allow the user to use the crossbow without additional gloves or mittens while still keeping the user&#39;s hand warm.  FIG.  6    illustrates an expanded perspective view of the sleeve  20  as attached to a crossbow. 
     Preferably each embodiment discussed herein includes an internal pocket configured for the acceptance of a chemical handwarmer such as those commonly available on the retail market. 
     Still other features and advantages of the presently disclosed and claimed inventive concept(s) will become readily apparent to those skilled in this art from the following detailed description describing preferred embodiments of the inventive concept(s), simply by way of illustration of the best mode contemplated by carrying out the inventive concept(s). As will be realized, the inventive concept(s) is capable of modification in various obvious respects all without departing from the inventive concept(s). Accordingly, the drawings and description of the preferred embodiments are to be regarded as illustrative in nature, and not as restrictive in nature. 
     While certain exemplary embodiments are shown in the Figures and described in this disclosure, it is to be distinctly understood that the presently disclosed inventive concept(s) is not limited thereto but may be variously embodied to practice within the scope of this disclosure. From the foregoing description, it will be apparent that various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure as defined herein.