Patent ID: 7770567

Claim:
A trigger assembly for a crossbow, the trigger assembly comprising: (a) a caliper moveable between a firing position and a non-firing position, the caliper being arranged in its non-firing position to retain a bowstring of the crossbow and arranged in its firing position to release the bowstring; (b) a trigger mechanism moveable between a firing arrangement and a non-firing arrangement, the trigger mechanism being arranged in its non-firing arrangement to hold the caliper in its non-firing position, and arranged in its firing arrangement to enable the caliper to move to its firing position; (c) a safety mechanism moveable between a safety-off arrangement and a safety-on arrangement, the safety mechanism being arranged in its safety-on arrangement so as to block movement of the trigger mechanism into its firing arrangement, and arranged in its safety-off arrangement so as to allow movement of the trigger mechanism into its firing arrangement; and (d) a bolt sensor moveable between a bolt-present position and a bolt-absent position and biased toward the bolt-absent position, the bolt sensor being arranged to remain in its bolt-absent position in response to its bias in the absence of a bolt loaded onto the crossbow and to be held in its bolt-present position against its bias by a bolt loaded onto the crossbow, the bolt sensor being arranged in its bolt-absent position to bias the safety mechanism toward its safety-on arrangement and arranged in its bolt-present position to allow unbiased movement of the safety mechanism into its safety-off arrangement.