Improvements in Arrows.
Year: 1889

page_text: Improvements in Arrows.
1, PHILIP WATSON PRATT, Merchant, of 157, Washington Street, in the City of
Boston, county of Suffolk, and State of Massachusetts, United States of America, do
hereby declare the nature of my invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN VACUUM OR
PNEUMATIC ARROWS AND ARROW HEADS and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
This invention consists in an arrow composed of a shaft and an elastic or yielding
tip or head, suitably secured to the shaft and having a concave front surface forming
an elastic cup, from which the air is expelled wholly or in part by the forcible impact
of the arrow head against a flat smooth surface when the arrow is discharged, so
that the arrow is held in contact with said surface by atmospheric pressure, as I will
now proceed to describe.
Of the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification,
Figure 1 represents a perspective view of an arrow embodying my invention.
Figure 2 represents a view of the same partly in longitudinal section.
Figure represents a perspective view of the wire shank whereby the arrow shaft.
and its clastic cup shaped head are connected.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in all the figures.
In the drawings,
s represents the arrow shaft and h represents the elastic head or tip thereof. Said
head is composed of elastic rubber and is of generally concavo convex form in cross
section, its front surface being concave and its margin reduced to a thin flexible
level edge which yields when the head, in the flight of the arrow, strikes a smooth
flat surface, the momentum of the arrow acting to wholly or partly eject the air from
the space between the concave front surface of the head and the surface with
which it comes in contact, so that the arrow is firmly held in contact with said
surface by the pressure of the atmosphere on the rear surface of its head. The margin
of the tip or cap is preferably circular.
I prefer to call the elastic tip or cup a vacuum or pneumatic arrow head, because
t is caused to adhere to the surface against which it strikes by the exhaustion of the
air from between its concave front and the said surface.

page_text: The vacuum arrow head may be secured to the shaft in any suitable way. I have
shown in Figures 1 and 2 as the securing device a wire ferrule e having a flange c'
formed on one end. The material of the head is molded upon said Hange, thus
securing the ferrule to the head. The arrow shaft is inserted in the ferrule as
shown.
In Figure 3 I have shown a wire shank having a disc formed on one end, the head
being molded upon said dise. The shank is inserted in one end of the arrow shaft,
the latter being provided with a sheet metal ferrule to prevent it from splitting whero
the shank is inserted.
It is obvious however that my invention is not limited to the particular means here
shown for securing the vacuum arrow head to the shaft.
I prefer to make the arrow shaft slightly tapering in form, its diameter decreasing
from its head to its rear end to reduce the weight of the shaft at its rear end, and
thereby minimize the leverage exerted by the shaft on the vacuum arrow heal when
the latter is in contact with the surface against which it is shot.
It will be found advantageous to moisten the margin of the vacuum head before
firing, the moisture preventing the admission of air between the head and the surface
to which it adheres and to enable the edge of the head to conform more closely to the
said surface.
The rear end of the shaft may have a notch to receive a bow string.
. Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that
what I claim is :
.
1. The combination of an arrow shaft and a vacuum or pneumatic arrow head
secured to one end thereof.
2. The combination of a vacuum arrow head, an arrow shaft, and a connecting
device secured to one end of the arrow shaft and having a flange or head secured in
the vacuum arrow head, as set forth.
3. The combination of a vacuum arrow head, an arrow shaft, a shank connecting
the same, and a ferrule surrounding the head of the arrow shaft, as set forth.
4. An elastic arrow head having a concave front side, a yielding level edge, and an
attaching device whereby it may be secured to a shaft, as set forth.
Dated this 14th day of February 1889.
HUGHES, SON & Co.,
38, Chancery Lane, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.