1. Field
The invention is in the field archery bow sights.
2. State of the Art
There are numerous types of sights that have been developed for use with archery bows. Many of these sights provide for both range settings and windage settings.
Normally an archer will make the range adjustment of his sight by trial and error on a traget and then lock the range adjustment. The windage adjustments will be made in the field according to the environmental conditions present at the time. It is, of course, extremely important that the act of making the windage adjustments does not disturb the prior range adjustments.
Various sights, such as those shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,355,809 and 3,854,217 have a sighting member which can be moved up and down a track such as a rack by rotation of a screw member. Markings may be placed on the track so that the sight member may be moved to the appropriate position for a desired range. This, however, requires adjustment each time the range changes which can make use of such sights difficult when hunting.
A number of sights have been developed which use a plurality of sighting pins which are adjusted and secured in position in the sight at locations set for different distances. This range or distance adjustment is generally made by moving the pins in the plane of the bow which is a vertical plane when the bow is held in normal shooting position. Thus, the vertical position of a sighting pin is adjusted to represent a certain range. Generally there will be a plurality of pins, each having a differently colored tip, each of which is set for a different range. In use, a hunter estimates the range or distance of the target in the field and then uses the appropriately colored pin or sights between the appropriate colored pins for the estimated distance in aiming the bow. Such a sight may be quickly and accurately used over a wide range of distances without having to be readjusted. Usually the pins are also adjustable in the field for windage. This adjustment involves the horizontal movement of the pins with respect to the bow in shooting position, i.e. movement in a direction transverse to the plane of the bow. In some sights of this type, adjustment of windage in the field involves loosening the pin followed by the horizontal adjustment. During this adjustment, the archer has to be very careful so that the pin does not move vertically and lose the range adjustment.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,026,032 shows an archery sight of the pin type wherein provision is made to keep the vertical or range adjustment secure while windage adjustments to the individual pins are made.
In addition to holding the range adjustment secure during windage adjustment, it would also be desirable to hold the pins in their range adjustment during range adjustment so that when a pin is loosened in order to be moved vertically, it will remain in its vertical position until the archer takes positive action to adjust the vertical position. With prior art sights of the pin type, such as that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,026,032, when the pin is loosened for vertical movement, it is free to slide up and down in its adjustment slot and if not held securely and moved accurately by the archer and then again locked in position while being securely held, it can easily slide out of adjustment.