SIGHT WITH ENHANCED VISIBILITY

Abstract

of a pin guard that defines a sight window. At least one sight pin is coupled to the pin guard for providing a sight point within the sight window. A translucent member impregnated with high visibility colorant is coupled to the pin guard to provide a sight window outlined by high visibility material for better sight acquisition in low light conditions.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001]The present invention is a continuation-in-part of and claims priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/482,381, filed on Jul. 7, 2006, by Abbas Ben Afshari, now pending.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

[0002]This invention relates generally to sights for archery bows, rifles, shotguns and other weapons and, more specifically, to sights having enhanced visibility, especially in low light conditions to provide faster target acquisition.

2. Description of the Art:

[0003]Archery bow sights utilizing a plurality of sight pins have been known in the art for many years. Typically, these sights use a bracket or other mounting structure for mounting the sight to a bow. The sight is commonly comprised of a pin plate, a pin guard, and a plurality of sight pins which are secured to the pin plate and extend into a sight window formed by the pin guard. The sight is mounted to a bow in a manner so that when the bow string is drawn, the archer can look through a peep sight provided in the bow string and align the tip of a pin attached to the sight with a target. For sights utilizing a plurality of horizontally extending sight pins having their tips vertically aligned, each individual sight pin is typically provided for aiming the bow at a target at a particular distance from the archer. For example, one pin may be positioned in the sight for aiming the bow at a target 50 yards from the archer while another pin may be positioned for a target that is at 70 yards distance.

[0004]In use, the archer typically aligns a peep sight positioned on or formed in the bowstring with one of the sight pins. In order to properly sight in the sight to the bow (i.e., properly adjust sight pin to a particular distance from the target), each of the sight pins is individually positioned and adjusted to correspond to a given distance (e.g., 20 yards, 40 yards, 60 yards, etc.) from the bow. The sight pins allow the archer to better position the aim of the arrow to compensate for target distance and trajectory. Thus, the archer estimates his or her distance from a specific target (e.g., 20 yards) and utilizes the particular sight pin for that distance.

[0005]Some bow sights provide a single sight pin, as for use in target practice where the distance from the target does not change or in a tree stand scenario where bate is left at a particular distance from the hunter. Such single pin bow sights are incorporated into a pendulum arrangement and are commonly referred to as pendulum sights. Such pendulum sights are often used in conjunction with tree stands and the like where the hunter is positioned above the target and is aiming in a severely downward direction at the ground to animals below the hunter. In such a situation, the distance to target, while not fixed, is usually within a small range thus suited for a single pin sight arrangement.

[0006]It is common practice to form the body of the bow sight from a dark material or to cover the body of the bow sight with camouflage colored finishes. Doing so, however, requires the archer to locate the bow sight primarily by locating the sight pins. Because of the relatively small size of the sight pins it is thus often the case that a delay occurs when first drawing a bow resulting from the time it takes to first locate the sighting device and then locating the sight pins within the sighting device.

[0007]This is also the case with other weapons, such as rifles. While fiber optics have been employed to provide sight indicia for guns, as, for example, the gun sights manufactured and sold by Truglo, such fiber optic sights comprise an elongate strand of fiber optic material to form a sight bead.

[0008]Thus, it would be desirable to provide a sighting device that incorporates a high visibility structure to allow a user to quickly visually locate the sighting device when aiming. It would be a further advantage to provide such a sighting device for various types of weapons.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0009]Accordingly, in one embodiment of the present invention, a bow sight is comprised of a pin guard that defines a sight window. At least one sight pin is coupled to the pin guard for providing at least one sight indicia within the sight window. A translucent member, impregnated with high visibility colorant, is coupled to the pin guard. The translucent member has a shape similar to the shape of the pin guard when viewed from a shooting position. In another embodiment, the sight pin includes a fiber optic member forming the sight indicia. The fiber optic member is at least partially wrapped around the translucent member to gather light from the translucent member and may be wrapped several times around the translucent member to form a plurality of windings.

[0010]In yet another embodiment, the pin guard is generally cylindrical in shape and defines a front face. The translucent member is at least partially inserted within the pin guard and covers a substantial portion of the front face. A high visibility material, such as a fluorescent tape, is disposed on the front face of the pin guard. The high visibility material is visible through the translucent member.

[0011]In still another embodiment, the translucent member defines an exterior abutment ring having a width approximately equal to a width of the front face of the pin guard. The high visibility material disposed on the front face is visible through the abutment ring to provide a contracting high visibility color through a portion of said translucent member. As such, the translucent ring appears to have two contrasting high visibility colors.

[0012]In another embodiment, the translucent member is generally cylindrical in shape and includes a notched portion for passage of the fiber optic members from within the translucent member through the notched portion and to an exterior surface of the translucent member. The notched portion also allows for adjustability of the sight pins relative to the translucent member.

[0013]In still another embodiment, each fiber optic member extends from a terminal end defining a sight point through a distal end of a respective sight pin, through a body of the sight pin, through the notched portion and around an exterior surface of the translucent member.

[0014]In yet another embodiment, one of the sight pins is fixedly attached relative to the pin guard with the remaining sight pins being vertically adjustable relative to the pin guard.

[0015]In still another embodiment, the sighting device of the present invention includes a mounting member configured for mounting to a weapon and a translucent member impregnated with high visibility colorant coupled to the mounting member. The translucent member defines a sight window highlighted by the high visibility colorant. The translucent member has a circular front face defining the sight window for aiming at a target with the target being viewable within the circular front face.

[0016]In still another embodiment, the weapon comprises a rifle having a second substantially cylindrical mounting member for mounting to the rifle and a second translucent member impregnated with high visibility colorant having a generally cylindrical configuration coupled to the second mounting member. The second translucent member is spaced from the first translucent member such that the translucent members are visually aligned when aiming the weapon. Thus, one sighting device is located proximate a distal end of the barrel of a rifle or other gun and a second sighting device is located proximate the proximal end of the barrel of a rifle or other gun, similar to the positions of the two sighting structures (i.e., the front sight and rear sight) typically found on a rifle or shotgun.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0017]It will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that the various drawings are for illustrative purposes only. The nature of the present invention, as well as other embodiments of the present invention, may be more clearly understood by reference to the following detailed description of the invention, to the appended claims, and to the several drawings.

[0018]FIG. 1A is a front view of a first embodiment of a bow sight in accordance with the principles of the present invention showing the bow sight when viewed by an archer in a shooting position;

[0019]FIG. 1B is a side view of the bow sight illustrated in FIG. 1A;

[0020]FIG. 2A is a side view of a translucent ring in accordance with the principles of the present invention.

[0021]FIG. 2B is an end view of the translucent ring illustrated in FIG. 2A.

[0022]FIG. 3A is a front view of a sight pin in accordance with the principles of the present invention.

[0023]FIG. 3B is a side view of the sight pin illustrated in FIG. 3A.

[0024]FIG. 4 is a partial side view of a sighting device attached to the barrel of a shotgun in accordance with the principles of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0025]FIG. 1A illustrates a bow sight, generally indicated at 10, in accordance with the principles of the present invention. The sight 10 is comprised of a pin guard 12 defining a sight window 14. A first sighting structure 16, in the form of an elongate sight pin, is coupled to the pin guard 12. The first sighting structure defines a sight indicia or point 18 at a distal end thereof. The first sighting structure 16 could be used alone in as a single pin bow sight. The first sighting structure is fixedly coupled to the pin guard 12. The first sighting structure 16 may be integrally formed with the pin guard or attached as by bonding, welding or other methods known in the art to the pin guard. The other two sight pins 20 and 22 are adjustably coupled relative to the pin guard 12. As illustrated, the pin guard 12 is provided with a pin attachment portion 24 defining a vertical channel 26. The pins 20 and 22 are adjustably coupled with threaded fasteners 28 to the pin attachment portion 24 such that the threaded fasteners, when not tightly secured, can slide within the channel 26 to allow for vertical adjustment of the pins 20 and 22. The pins 20 and 22 are sighted in, using the pin 16 as a reference sight indicia for the closest target range, relative to the first pin 16.

[0026]The bow sight 10 is mounted to the riser 30 of a bow 32 (partially shown) with mounting hardware which includes mounting brackets 34 and 36 and threaded fasteners (not visible). The bow sight 10 is configured to be horizontally adjustable relative to the riser of the bow 30 as with externally threaded adjustment member 38. Once properly attached to the riser 30, the sight pins 20 and 22 can be sighted for certain distance-to-target ranges.

[0027]FIG. 1A illustrates a view of the bow sight 10 when viewed in a shooting position as by an archer taking aim at a desired target. As is often the case when hunting, such bow 32 and bow sight 10 combinations are used at times of the day when visibility is limited due the lack of ambient light as is the case in the early morning or late evening. Thus, it is often difficult to quickly locate the sight points, such as sight point 18, in order to position the sight point 18 in visually alignment with a desired target. Thus, there is a need to provide a high visibility member 40 over the front face 42 of the pin guard 12 to allow an archer to quickly locate the pin guard 12, which defines the sight window 14, and then quickly locate the sight point 18 for quicker sight acquisition and target aiming. As such, the high visibility member 40 is comprised of a translucent material, such as a polycarbonate or other clear plastic material (e.g., acrylic), that is impregnated with a high visibility, fluorescent pigment. Thus, prior to forming the desired component, the plastic material is mixed with the pigment prior to molding the component. The result is a component having a fluorescent character to provide high visibility in low light conditions. In addition, in brighter conditions, the high visibility component provides a dominate feature that defines the sight window 14 for rapid target acquisition.

[0028]In order to provide a dual contrast to the high visibility member, a high visibility material 44 is disposed on the front face 42 of the pin guard 12. The high visibility material may be in the form of a fluorescent tape or paint forming a layer interposed between the front face 42 of the pin guard and the high visibility translucent member 40. Thus, for example, if the high visibility material 44 is fluorescent orange, and the translucent member 40 is colored with a fluorescent green pigment, because of the translucency of the translucent member 40, the inner portion 46 will provide a bright green ring defining the sight window 14 with an outer portion 48 forming an outer portion defining a bright orange ring. These contrasting colors allow the archer to quickly locate the sight window 14 and thus the sight pins 16, 20 and 22 resulting in much faster target acquisition and aiming.

[0029]As further illustrated in FIG. 1B, the bow sight 10 includes the pin guard 12 that is generally cylindrical in shape and may be opaque in nature due to the material used for its construction, such as a machined aluminum. Use of a metal to form the pin guard 12 provides structural integrity to the bow sight 10. By forming the mounting brackets 34 and 36 from aluminum or other metal components, the entire structure is durable and can withstand impacts with trees or other objects that may be encountered in the field.

[0030]Attached to the pin guard 12 is the translucent member 40 that is also generally cylindrical in shape. The translucent member may be adhesively or threadedly attached to the pin guard 12 or attached by friction fit. The translucent member 40 forms a ring that partially fits within and is attached to the pin guard 12. As shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, the translucent member 40 is comprised of an insert portion 50 sized to be received within and secured to the pin guard 12, an abutment portion 52 having an outer diameter that is substantially the same as the diameter of the pin guard 12 and a height that is substantially the height of the thickness of the pin guard 12, and an exposed portion 54 that extends toward the archer and away from the pin guard 12. The exposed portion 54 gathers ambient light that and illuminates the front edge 56 of the translucent member 40 essentially forming a light pipe with an illuminated proximal end. The translucent member 40 defines a notch extending from the distal end into the exposed portion 54 to allow passage of the fiber optic members of the sight pins 18, 20 and 22 from inside the translucent member to the outside of the translucent member when attached to the pin guard.

[0031]Referring again to FIG. 1B, the fiber optic members 60, 62 and 64 of the sight pins 18, 20 and 22, respectively, are wrapped at least partially around the exposed portion 54 of the translucent member 40 to form a plurality of windings. The windings 65 are held in place with a section of transparent tape disposed over the windings 65 and secured to the exposed portion 54. When exposed to ambient light, the light is gathered by the fiber optic members 60, 62 and 64 to illuminate the sight points, such as sight point 18 shown in FIG. 1A. The ambient light also passes through the fiber optic members 60, 62 and 64 and is gathered by the translucent member 40 to illuminate the front edge 56 of the translucent member 40. As shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the sight pin 20 is comprised of an elongate body 70 depending from an attachment portion 72. The attachment portion 72 is provided with a pair of transversely extending bores 74 and 76. The bore 76 is employed to attach the sight pin 20 to the pin guard 12 and is further provided with a transversely extending channel 78 configured for engaging with the pin guard to prevent pivoting of the sight pin 12 relative to the pin guard 12 when attached thereto. The distal end 80 is provided with a transversely extending bore 82 for receiving a distal end of the fiber optic member 62. The distal end 84 forming the sight point. The fiber optic member 62 forms a partial loop extending behind the front of the sight pin 20 and passes through the bore 74. The fiber optic member 62 then extends through the notch in the translucent member (as previously discussed) and wraps around the expose portion of the translucent member. The portion 69 of the fiber optic member extending from between the sight pin 20 and the windings 65 provides sufficient slack to allow for vertical adjustment of the pin 20 relative to the pin guard 12.

[0032]Referring now to FIG. 4, there is illustrated the barrel 100 of a shotgun to which sighting devices 102 and 104 according to the principles of the present invention are illustrated. The sighting device 102, comprising a front sight, includes a mounting bracket 106 configured for clamping the sighting device 102 to the rib 108. The sighting device 102 is positioned proximate the distal end 110 of the rib 108. The mounting bracket 106 is comprised of a base portion that extends over the rib 108 and is held in a clamping manner with a threaded fastener 112. The upper portion 114 forms a partially cylindrical channel for receiving a substantially cylindrical translucent member 116 impregnated with high visibility fluorescent pigment. Thus, the translucent member 116 is essentially a tube held in horizontal arrangement in parallel with the rib 108. The translucent member 116 includes a circumferential ring 120 for abutting with the mounting bracket to maintain its position relative to the mounting bracket 106.

[0033]A second sighting device 104 forms a rear sight for the shotgun and is also mounted to the rib 108. The second sighting device 104 is positioned proximate a proximal end of the rib 108 and may be positioned proximate the location of the rear sight for a standard rifle. The sighting device 104 is comprised of a translucent member 122 in tubular form having a configuration similar to that of the translucent member 116. The mounting bracket 124 may be of a similar configuration to the mounting bracket 106 or of a different configuration as illustrated. The mounting bracket 124 is configured to maintain the translucent member 116 substantially parallel to the rib 108 and thus the barrel 100. In order to aim the shotgun, rifle or other weapon, the two sights 102 and 104 are aligned such that the translucent member 116 is concentrically aligned with the translucent member 122. Also, by providing the two translucent members 116 and 122 with different contrasting florescent colors, one can quickly and easily align the two sights, the front sight 102 within the rear sight 104, since the front sight 102 will appear smaller as it is further from the eye of the shooter even though the sights may be of identical size.

[0034]With respect to the bow sights illustrated herein, it should be noted that each sight pin is provided with a single aiming structure, such as a bead or the exposed end of a fiber optic element, provided on the "tip" or "point" of the sight pin. The term sighting indicia or point is thus commonly used to refer to this part of the sight pin that is used as the aiming reference. For bow sights with multiple sight pins, each of the sighting points of their respective sight pins are vertically spaced relative to one another when viewed by an archer in a shooting position to provide the proper target or aiming reference for a particular distance-to-target. Thus, each of the sight points represents a specific target distance (e.g., 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 yards). Thus, while the present invention has been illustrated as having one or more sight pins, additional sight pins may be added to increase the number of sighting indicia for a given sight.

[0035]The bow sight pins, pin guards, and support structure assemblies of the present invention may be comprised of molded polycarbonate, machined aluminum components or any other lightweight materials known in the art. The translucent sighting members may be formed of any translucent material, such as polycarbonate, in which the material may be impregnated with a high visibility colorant to create a fluorescent coloration to the material for increasing visibility of the material, especially in low light conditions. In addition, the sighting structures including pins, high visibility rings and pin guard components may be separate components or integrally formed as by casting, molding or machining. Of course, those of skill in the art will appreciate that there may be other means and mechanisms of attaching high visibility members to the pin guard depending upon the configuration of the particular sight. Thus, by incorporating features of known bow sights and sight pins into the sight arrangement of the present invention, the bow sight may take on various configurations. For example, it is not necessary for the pin guard to have a circular shape as there are numerous pin guard shapes known in the art that may be applied to the present invention.

[0036]In addition, the principles of the present invention can be incorporated into any preexisting bow sight or other weapon sight technology. Thus, the sighting devices according to the present invention may be configured to be attached to virtually any preexisting weapon known in the industry by providing appropriate mounting hardware.

[0037]Accordingly, while the present invention has been described with reference to certain embodiments to illustrate what is believed to be the best mode of the invention, it is contemplated that upon review of the present invention, those of skill in the art will appreciate that various modifications and combinations may be made to the present embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as recited in the claims. The claims provided herein are intended to cover such modifications and combinations and all equivalents thereof. Reference herein to specific details of the illustrated embodiments is by way of example and not by way of limitation.

Claims

1. A bow sight, comprising:a pin guard defining a sight window;at least one sight pin coupled to said pin guard for providing at least one sight indicia within said sight window; anda translucent member impregnated with high visibility colorant coupled to said pin guard, said translucent member having a shape similar to the shape of said pin guard when viewed from a shooting position.

2. The bow sight of claim 1, wherein said at least one sight pin includes a fiber optic member forming the sight indicia.

3. The bow sight of claim 2, wherein said fiber optic member is at least partially wrapped around said translucent member to gather light from said translucent member.

4. The bow sight of claim 1, wherein said pin guard is generally cylindrical in shape defining a front face, said translucent member at least partially inserted within said pin guard and covering a substantial portion of said front face.

5. The bow sight of claim 4, further comprising a high visibility material disposed on said front face of said pin guard, said high visibility material being visible through said translucent member.

6. The bow sight of claim 5, wherein said translucent member defines an exterior abutment ring having a width approximately equal to a width of the pin guard, said high visibility material being visible through said abutment ring.

7. The bow sight of claim 2, wherein said translucent member is generally cylindrical in shape and includes a notched portion for passage of said fiber optic member from within said translucent member through said notched portion and to an exterior surface of said translucent member.

8. The bow sight of claim 7, wherein said fiber optic member extends from a terminal end defining a sight point through a distal end of said at least one sight pin, through a body of said at least one sight pin through said notched portion and around an exterior surface of said translucent member.

9. The bow sight of claim 1, wherein said at least one sight pin comprises a plurality of sight pins, one of said plurality of sight pins being fixedly attached and the other of said plurality of sight pins being adjustably attached to allow adjustment relative to said pin guard.

10. A sighting device, comprising:a mounting member configured for mounting to a weapon;a translucent member impregnated with high visibility colorant, said translucent member coupled to said mounting member and defining a sight window highlighted by said high visibility colorant, said translucent member having a circular front face defining the sight window for aiming at a target, said target being viewable within said circular front face.

11. The sighting device of claim 10, wherein said weapon comprises a rifle and further including a second substantially cylindrical mounting member for mounting to the rifle and a second translucent member impregnated with high visibility colorant having a generally cylindrical configuration coupled to said second mounting member, said second translucent member spaced from said translucent member such that said translucent members are visually aligned when aiming the weapon.

12. The sighting devices of claim 10, wherein said weapon comprises a bow and further including at least one sight pin coupled to said substantially cylindrical mounting member for providing at least one sight indicia within said sight window, said translucent member coupled to said mounting member and having a shape similar to the shape of said mounting member when viewed from a shooting position.

13. The sighting device of claim 12, wherein said at least one sight pin includes a fiber optic member forming the sight indicia.

14. The sighting device of claim 13, wherein said fiber optic member is at least partially wrapped around said translucent member to gather light from said translucent member.

15. The sighting device of claim 10, wherein said mounting member is generally cylindrical in shape defining a front face, said translucent member at least partially inserted within said mounting member and covering a substantial portion of said front face.

16. The sighting device of claim 15, further comprising a high visibility material disposed on said front face of said mounting member, said high visibility material being visible through said translucent member.

17. The sighting device of claim 16, wherein said translucent member defines an exterior abutment ring having a width approximately equal to a width of the mounting member, said high visibility material being visible through said abutment ring.

18. The sighting device of claim 13, wherein said translucent member is generally cylindrical in shape and includes a notched portion for passage of said fiber optic member from within said translucent member through said notched portion and to an exterior surface of said translucent member.

19. The sighting device of claim 18, wherein said fiber optic member extends from a terminal end defining a sight point through a distal end of said at least one sight pin, through a body of said at least one sight pin through said notched portion and around an exterior surface of said translucent member.

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