US3398958A - Archery target with point of impact detecting and indicating means - Google Patents

Description

C- P. SANZARE ARCHERY TARGET WITH POINT OF IMPACT DETECTING Aug. 27, 1968 AND INDICATING MEANS Original Filed March 4, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 O M -n O mvm W w i3 3m .m 3 i 8 9w 3 NM on N on Nm 9 v 3K a. i l on N a i i Q4 mvm vm INVENTOR.

CHARLES P. SANZARE Aug, 27, 1968 c. P. SANZARE 3,398,958

ARCHERY TARGET WITH POINT OF IMPACT DETECTING AND INDICATING MEANS Original Filed March 4,, 1963 TO DISPLAY UNIT 41 E j 45 I -44 418 F 41A p l 42 q;

1-" I l 9 J18 l 42A--- i 46H I J, 45 g Y 4 41 POWER SOURCE v 42 R 425 INVENTOR.

CHARLES P. SANZARE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent 6 "ice 3 398,958 ARCHERY TARGET WITH POINT OF IMPACT DETECTING AND INDICATING MEANS Charles P. Sanzare, Philadelphia, Pa., assignor to Brunswick Corporation, a corporation of Delaware Original application Mar. 4, 1963, Ser. No. 262,399.

Divided and this application May 3, 1967, Ser. No. 635,791

3 Claims. (Cl. 273--102.2)

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An automatic archery range'including a target towards which arrows may be fired from a shooting line, a backstop behind the target for stopping arrows penetrating the target, means for detecting the point of impact of an arrow on the target, said means Comprising a grid of crossed conductive wires and associated buss bars disposed about the fiight path of the arrows, said wires being spaced to permit free passage of an arrow shaft but to be displaced by the arrow fletching into contact with the buss bars, and a means responsive to the detecting means for indicating on a simulated target the point of impact of an arrow on the target, said indicating means comprising spaced indicating devices arranged in a grid pattern corresponding to that formed by the crossing points of said wires.

C ross references This application is a divisional application of application Ser. No. 262,399, filed Mar. 4, 1963, now abandoned but continued in application Ser. No. 635,792, filed May 3, 1967.

Background .of the invention In conventional archery ranges, targets are mounted on mats or butts made of straw or similar material. Archers shoot from a common shooting line, and in the interest of safety each archer must wait until all of the archers are finished shooting before the point of impact on the target by the arrow can be definitely ascertained. To do such, all of the archers walk to the butts and individually extract each arrow, record on cards the score of each arrow extracted, and return with the arrow to the shooting line. This is time-consuming and has a constant element of danger.

It has been known to provide movable targets, so that after an archer has completed shooting, he can mechanically bring the target to the shooting line so that he can extract the arrows. This is an improvement over the conventional range.

It has also been known to provide a target in which each ring on the target responds electrically to the impact of an arrow with the arrow rebounding off the target being returned by a mechanical conveyor belt back to the shooting line. This constitutes a still further improvement.

Summary of the invention It is an object of this invention to provide a new and improved archery range.

Another object is to provide a new and improved archery range involving a high degree of automatic operation.

It is an object of this invention to provide a new and improved archery range provided with automatic scoring means including automatic detecting and indicating means.

It is an object of this invention to provide a new and improved archery range including a target suitable for archery, said target being adapted to automatically note Patented Aug. 27, 1968 and record the point of impact or passage of an arrow or other projectile.

Yet another object is the provision of an archery range such as that set forth above wherein the target includes a grid of spaced vertical and horizontal coordinate wires, the grid spacing being such that a standard arrow shot through a target disturbs or strikes both a vertical wire and a horizontal wire so that the movement of these two wires activates two corresponding electrical circuits and operates a light which corresponds to the intersection point of the vertical and horizontal wires.

A still further object is the provision of an archery range such as that set forth in the preceding paragraph wherein the light is displayed on a mimic target visible to the archer and wherein the front of the wire grid is covered with a conventional appearing target face made of thin paper or other easily penetrable sheet or film.

Another object is the provision of an archery range wherein the targets may be made of any size with equal ease of construction without the danger of lightly shot arrows not registering and which may be used with standard bows and standard tipped and feathered arrows, with the archer being immediately shown the exact location of each shot so that aiming adjustments may be made between shots.

An additional object is to provide a new and improved archery range with enhanced spectator appeal including mimic targets which show the performance of the archers.

Another object is to provide a new and improved archery range in which shooting may proceed uninterrupted for scoring, so that various types of games may be held involving different numbers of shots, accommodating late shooters and incomplete games without manual operation of equipment and facilitating correct score record-keeping for future reference.

Description of the drawings FIG. 1 is a fragmentary plan view of a pair of archery ranges made according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a view taken approximately along the line 2-2 of FIG. 1 with parts shown in section and partially fragmented;

FIG. 3 is a front view that is partly in section and partly broken away taken approximately along the line 33 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a partial cross-sectional view taken along the line 44 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a schematic front view of the target used in the archery range;

FIG. 6 is a side view that is a partial cross section with certain parts broken away for clarity taken approxi mately along the line 66 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a schematic of a target circuitry; and

FIG. 8 is a schematic of the arrow return circuitry.

Specific description The general appearance of the over-all range is best understood in connection with FIGS. 1 and 2. In FIG. 1, a pair of archery ranges in side-by-side relationship is shown. The Word range used in this patent is intended to mean a single target and its associated equipment. Ordinarily, an establishment will include a plurality of such ranges, and in common conversation, the entire establishment is called a range. The showing of two ranges in FIG. 1 is merely illustrative; the invention is applicable to a single range or to a large number of ranges, wkhether in sideaby-side relationship or not, and whether indoors or outdoors. Arrows 14 are shown in arrow containers located near the front 10 of the range. The front 10 also marks the shooting line in FIG. 1. A range shield 12 extends from the front 10 toward the rear of the range. As the shield 12 approaches the rear section 3 20 of the range, it tapers inwardly, forming tapered shield section 12A. The rear section 20 includes a backstop section generally designated 50 and a target section generally designated 30.

By reference to FIG. 2, it is seen that the tapered shield section 12A tapers inwardly vertically as well as horizontally. For the typical application of indoor use, FIG. 2 shows the preferred arrangement of. the range with respect to the building structure. The bottom of range shield 12 is at the floor line, and the top of the shield is at or near the ceiling line. The supports 11 which hold up the front of the range, including the range shield 12, may be part of the buildings ordinary structural floor support.

The display unit or mimic target 60 is mounted below the ceiling line near the shooting line.

The mimic target 60 is positioned so that is is visible to the archer and to observers or spectators standing behind him. It reproduces in miniature the point of impact of each of thte archers arrows on the target.

In general terms, the range may be said to consist of a shooting line, shields, target'means including means to record the point of impact, backstop means, arrow return means actuated only when presented with an arrow, and an arrow container means near the shooting line. The means to record the point of impact may also be described as the scoring means, impact recording means, or scoring unit.

The target means is described in detail first. A target face 32 is provided. This target face is a sheet of paper or thin plastic of any suitable and commonly known type, imprinted or otherwise marked with a conventional target design or pattern. As best shown in FIG. 3, such a suitable pattern consists of a bulls-eye and concentric circles, although other patterns may be used. It is understood that the showing in FIG. 3 is merely illustrative, and that the patterns used may have different arrangements. The target face 32 is replaceable and expendable. Since the arrows pass through the target face 32, in time it will become damaged to an extent that it wil be replaced. For convenience, the target face 32 is mounted in a slidable target holder 31.

A somewhat schematized showing of the grid or wire array is best shown in FIG. 5. A plurality of parallel vertical wires 46V are provided. A similar plurality of horizontal parallel wires 46H are also provided, running at right angles to wires 46V. These wires are shown in the drawings as having substantial thickness for ease of illustration. In practice, the wires are thin and may be of the dimensions associated with piano wire. The number of horizontal and vertical wires show has been picked arbitrarily as a low number for ease of illustration. While an array of this number of wires will produce a useful function, finer and preferable accuracy is obtained by increasing the number of both horizontal and vertical wires.

The wires are secured in a generally rectangular casing or frame 41. The wires are anchored to this frame by any convenient known means, such as the retainers 47, best shown in FIG. 6. Each wire is provided near its end with a spring 45. A spring section may be inserted in the wire, or, if the wire provided is rigid enough, the wire itself may be formed into a spring section at the indicated points.

A vertical buss bar 42 is provided near each vertical side of frame 41, within the frame. In like manner, a horizontal buss bar 44 is provided near each horizontal side of the frame 41. Each of these bars is provided with a plurality of apertures to accommodate the appropriate wires, as is explained in more detail below. The structure of the buss bars 42- and 44 is best understood in connection with FIG. 6. The apertures 42A are shown in the vertical buss bar 42. One of the horizontal wires 46H passes through each of these apertures 42A. In like manner, each bar 44 is provided with apertures 44A; one vertical wire 46V passing through the matching aperture 44A in a bar 44.

It will be seen that the vertical grid of wires 46V is spaced apart from and does not physically contact the horizontal grid 46H. The space between these grids is somewhat exaggerated in FIG. 6, for ease of illustration. In practice, the grids'may be somewhat closer than suggested by FIG. 6.

As illustrated, the apertures 42A and 44A are shown surrounding'the respective wires at points between the springs 45. This is an optional positioning of the apertures, and within the scope of the invention, they may surround the springs 45, or even be positioned on the side of the springs away from the center of the grid.

The casing 41 is exemplified in FIG. 6 as a U-channcl member, havingan opening 41B in the front and an opening 41A in the rear. The boundaries of these openings define the generally rectangular array area best shown in FIG. 5.

Each wire 461-1 and 46V is electrically conductive, and either the casing 41 is nonconductive or the wires are insulated from casing 41. Each wire is continued to an electrical lead. These leads are identified in FIG. 5 by the letters A--] for thehorizontal wires and the letters RZ for the vertical wires. In FIG. 6, wire R is illustrated. The horizontal buss bars 44 are connected together to buss bar lead 44B, and the vertical buss bars 42 are connected together to vertical buss bar lead 4213. In the case where the apertures surround the springs 45, the springs may he conductive and the wires need not be conductive.

It will be appreciated that the grid produces a coordinate system defining the area within the frame 41. A point within this area may be defined as the intersection of a horizontal wire and a vertical wire, for example the intersection C-T.

When an arrow 14, equipped with feathers or fins 13 is shot by the archer through the target face 32, it will also pass through the scoring unit 40. The spacing of the wires is small enough, so that no matter where the arrow 14 passes through the opening 41B, 41A, it will disturb at least one vertical and one horizontal wire. In its passage, the arrow will disturb a vertical wire 46V, which will move enough so that it (or its spring 45) will contact the side of its aperture 44A, thus making contact with the horizontal buss bar 44. In like manner, a horizontal wire 46H will move enough so that it (or its spring 45) will make contact with the side of the matching aperture 42A, thus making contact with vertical buss bar 42. When these contacts are made, an electrical circuit is momentarily closed. The resiliency of the wire then tends to return the wire to its initial position, centered through its matching aperture without contacting it. The oscillations in the wire induced by the passage of arrow 14 damp out. It is obvious that the sensitivity of this device may be increased by making the clearance between the side of the aperture and the spring or wire very small.

The circuits closed by the disturbance of the first hon:- zontal wire and the first vertical wire serve to define the closest coordinate point to the passage of the arrow, and thus provide the scoring information required.

The coordinate information obtained as described from the scoring unit 40 is used to light a corresponding indicator light 64 in the display unit or mimic target 60. As best shown in FIG. 3, the array of lights 64, each corresponding to one of the wire intersection points in the scoring unit 40, are positioned behind a mimic target face 62. This face is a reduced scale duplication of the target face 32. In the embodiment shown, the mimic face 62 is transparent or translucent, so that the illumination of a light 64 behind it can be seen by the observers.

In a preferred form of the invention the entire apparatus is set or programmed so that the appropriate light 64 flashes brightly to indicate the point of passage of the arrow. When the arrow is returned, the light stops flashing. Thus, the shooter and other observers are given a high order of organized information about the progress of the shooting. A detailed explanation of one means and method for carrying out this function is described below after a detailed explanation of the progress of the arrow.

As best shown in FIG. 2, the arrow 14A is shown passing through the target section 30 and scoring unit 40. It then reaches the position indicated at 14B at which point it is at the backstop section 50. The backstop section is included within a housing 22 which in turn is mounted on a base 102. This base 102 may simply be part of the floor of the building. The purpose of the back stop section 50 is to reliably and smoothly stop the progress of the arrow 14 and cause it to rebound in a suitably predictable manner, without damaging the arrow.

A preferred structure of the backstop means to meet these requirements is illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 4. Three impact sheets 54 are provided, one behind the other, perpendicular to the general path of flight of arrow 14B. Each impact sheet 54 is provided with a plurality of vertical slits 54A, which continue from the bottom almost to the top of the sheet, and which thus define individual elongated flexing members 54B. The sheets 54 are suspended from impact sheet holder 52, mounted on the top of the housing 22. These sheets are preferably made of light resilient metal. Thus, an arrow striking one of the flexing members 54B will bend it backwards in a springy manner, the first such member possibly hitting the second and third members behind it if the impact is strong enough. The arrow is thus brought to a stop, and the springing action of the flexing members 54B then kicks the arrow back to the position indicated at 14C. It is not desirable to have too much resiliency in the impact sheets because it is not desired to throw the arrow back into the grid. This can easily be regulated to fit the chosen dimensions of the structure by choosing the right amount of resiliency as compared to simple pendulum action.

The positions of slits 54A are staggered on the three sheets, as indicated in FIG. 2. The existence of the slits and their staggered relationship have several functions. The staggered relationship insures that no arrow will accidentally pass through aligned slits in the backstop section. The existence of the individual flexing members permits a reduction in the inertia to be overcome by the arrow on impact, so that the blow is made light enough to avoid damaging the arrow. As a result, it will be appreciated that the familiar archery arrows with pointed tips may be used, which is desirable from the point of View of the user.

An arrow return guidance means is provided. This comprises an arrow collecting plate 24A and an arrow return channel 24B, whose structure is best appreciated in FIG. 4. An arrow 14C having recoiled oh the backstop means falls onto the collecting plate 24A, and is guided by gravity into the return channel 24B, down which it slides point upwards.

The arrow then enters the arrow return means.

The arrow 14, after sliding down channel 24B slides into the aligned tube or cylinder 25. This tube is pivoted around pivot 26, and is shown in phantom lines in the up position, where it can receive the arrow. The arrow is stopped from passing entirely through the tube whose end near pivot 26 is closed except for an aperture wide enough to pass the arrow shaft but not the feathers thereon, as shown at the lower right corner of FIG. 2. The tube 25 then pivots to its horizontal position, and a linear actuator forcefully propels the arrow through arrow return conduit 15. Arrow 14B is shown in its position just before being propelled down the conduit. The conduit 15 may run under the floor level, and may be held for example by shocks 11A in supports 11. The conduit slopes upwards near the front end of the range and exits into the arrow container 100, which is open at the top to provide the shooter access to the returned arrows. The container 100 may be as shown, or may, for example,

have its long axis vertical so that the arrows come to rest point down. An arrow is shown at 14F during its progress through the conduit 15. The moving parts of the arrow return means are also enclosed in housing 22.

This sequential operation of the arrow return means may be effected in any conveniently known way. When an arrow 14 closes any circuit in the scoring unit 40', the tube 25 may be moved to its horizontal position by any suitable conventional means after the arrow falls and slides into the tube 25.

The tube 25, on reaching its horizontal position, strikes and actuates switch 28 which, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, closes the circuit to the linear actuator 27, which may comprise a solenoid. The armature of the solenoid is connected to a striker 27A which moves to its phantom line position and strikes the arrow 14 thus propelling it as has been described. The pivoted tube 25 and the striker 27A may be restored under control of any suitable conventional means.

The tube 25 in its up position normally rests on a bumper 27C mounted on bumper support 27B.

One embodiment of the circuitry in the scoring and display functions is best seen in connection with the schematic diagram of FIG. 7. An arrow 14- is shown passing through the scoring unit 40 at a point so that it first disturbs a horizontal wire 46H and a vertical wire 46V so that, in accord with the structure that has been described above in connection with FIG. 6, wire 46H makes contact with its buss bar 42 and wire 46V contacts its buss bar 44. For functional representation, these wires and their buss bars are illustrated as switches in FIG. 7. The indicating lamp 64A is the lamp in the mimic target 60 which corresponds to that particular pair of horizontal and vertical wires illustrated as being disturbed by the arrow 14 in FIG. 7. It is understood that each different combination of horizontal and vertical wires in the grid, such as for example R-B, U-A, or Y-F, has its own light 64 in the mimic target, and has a circuit as is illustrated and explained in detail in connection with the indicator light 64A in FIG. 7. When arrow 14 closes the circuits 46H42 and 46V-44- as has been explained, coil 65 is energized and opens normally closed switches 65B, 66B and similar switches, as is shown in the diagram. Opening these switches isolates the other lamps or indicator lights which do not correspond to the coordinates. In FIG. 7, an illustrative such lamp is 6413, which is isolated from further action. Thus, even though an arrow may disturb more than one horizontal wire for example, only the first such wire disturbed will actuate its indicator light since as soon as the first circuit is closed, the other horizontal light circuits are isolated.

The coil 65 at the same time closes the normally open switch 65A so that lamp 64A is actuated. A thermally operated flasher F is inserted between switch 65A and the power line. This flasher causes intermittent full voltage on and off operation of lamp 64A.

The actuation of switch 17 by the tube 25 going to its horizontal position (as has been described above) opens the circuit through lamp 64A. Switches 65B, 66B and the similar such switches are reclosed and switch 65A is opened by any suitable means-so that the entire scoring system is re-sensitized to record a later arrow. By this time, any spurious vibrations of the wires in the grid have ceased sothat there is no danger of an erroneous signal.

It will be appreciated that the foregoing system results in the optimum desired function of having the mimic target indicate by a flashing light the point of impact of each arrow shot. The refinement of a flashing light may be eliminated by eliminating the flasher.

The invention described and illustrated is intended to be illustrative and not limiting, and it is apparent that many variations from this structure can be made while remaining within the scope of the invention. The invention is to be determined by the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. Archery apparatus including: means defining a firing line from which arrows may be shot; target means spaced from said firing line through which arrows may pass without substantial damage; sensing means associated with said target means for determining the location on said target means through which an arrow passes, said sensing means including two groups of switch means, any one of the switch means of one group being actuatable by an arrow to provide information relative to one coordinate of said location and any one of the switch means of the other group being actuatable by an arrow to provide information relative to a second coordinate of said location, and a plurality of wire-like elements spaced from each other a distance sufiicient to permit the shank of an arrow to pass freely therebetween and yet small enough to cause said elements to be engaged by the fletching of an arrow, said elements being arranged in two groups disposed at an angle corresponding to that between said coordinates, each element being associated with one of said switch means and adapted to be contacted and laterally displaced by a passing arrow for actuating the associated switch means; each of said groups of switch. means including a buss bar adjacent the associated group of wire-like elements; each said wire-like element being electrically conductive and normally electrically isolated from said buss bar and the other of said wire-like elements; said elements contacting said buss bar when laterally displaced; said buss bars be ing located about and at edges of a flight path in which arrows shot from said firing line pass through said target means and indicating means responsive to said two groups of switch means for indicating only the point of intersection of said coordinates.

2. Archery apparatus according to claim 1 wherein 'each buss bar includes a plurality of apertures therein and each said wire-like element is passed through a corresponding aperture in the associated buss bar.

3. An archery range comprising a sensing unit to detect the point of passage through said unit of an arrow in combination with a display unit to display the detected point of passage of an arrow, said sensing unit comprising a grid of resilient wires in a plane perpendicular to the general path of an arrow through said range, said grid including a first set of wires parallel to each other and a second set of wires parallel to each other but not to said first set,said second set adjacent but spaced from said first set, said wires defining a grid-like coordinate system through which arrows may pass without damage to either the arrows or the wires; and said display unit comprising a grid of visual indicating means, each ,of said visual indicating means corresponding to one crossing point of the wires in said sensing unit grid, said display unit being electrically connected to said sensing unit so that a disturbance of the wires defining one said crossing point in said sensing unit operates only the corresponding visual indicating means in said display unit, the wires of each set being spaced a distance sufiicient to permit the shaft of an arrow to pass freely therebetween and yet small enough to cause the wires to be engaged by the fletching of an arrow; and an easily penetrable target located in alignment with said sensing unit whereby arrows may penetrate said target and their points of penetration be sensed by said sensing unit and displayed by said display unit.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 225,734- 3/1880 Tangemau 273-1024 X 2,069,822 2/1937 Douglas 273-1024 2,253,695 8/1941 Durant 273-121 2,767,987 10/1956 Klose 273-1022 2,784,001 3/1957 Simijian 273-1022 X 3,047,723 7/ 1962 Knapp.

3,157,399 11/1964 Gaudet 273-26 3,203,698 8/1965 Saunders 273-1024 3,229,975 1/1966 Tompkins et a1 273-26 DELBERT B. LOWE, Primary Examiner.

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