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US 5,598,829 AGranted
Crossbow dry fire prevention device
AssigneeHunter's Manufacturing Co., Inc.
InventorWilliam J. Bednar
Life of this patent
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AssigneeHunter's Manufacturing Co., Inc.
InventorWilliam J. Bednar
Estimating the term…
The invention is directed to a dry-fire prevention device for use with a crossbow. The crossbow includes a trigger mechanism which may have a guide slot into which a bowstring is drawn and retained for firing. A pivotal string catch member is positioned relative to the trigger mechanism to selectively extend into a string catching position which will catch and retain the bowstring should it be released from the trigger mechanism without an arrow in a firing position in the crossbow. The string catch member may include an arrow contacting surface to engage an arrow positioned to be fired from the crossbow, wherein, movement of the arrow to the firing position causes the string catch member to be moved out of the string catching position. This allows selective release of the bowstring from the guide slot and prevents inadvertent release when no arrow is present in the firing position. The string catch member may be manually removed from the guide slot so as not to interfere with the bowstring, allowing a convenient mechanism to uncock the crossbow without firing. In the preferred embodiment, the dry fire prevention device is automatically reset to prevent inadvertent dry firing of the crossbow after manually releasing the bowstring.
A dry fire prevention device for use with a crossbow, comprising,
A crossbow having a dry fire prevention device, the crossbow comprising a bowstring, which is selectively held and released by a trigger mechanism, wherein, said bowstring is drawn into a bowstring guide slot for engagement with the trigger mechanism,
A device for preventing inadvertent release of a bowstring of a crossbow without an arrow in place in a firing position within said crossbow, wherein, said bowstring is selectively held and released by means of a trigger mechanism associated with said crossbow, wherein, said device comprises a body member which is positioned to selectively extend into a bowstring catching position when an arrow is not positioned in said firing position, such that said body member will catch and retain a bowstring which is inadvertently released from said trigger mechanism when no arrow is placed in the firing position.
A method of preventing the inadvertant release of a bowstring of a crossbow without an arrow in place in a firing position within said crossbow, wherein, said crossbow includes a trigger mechanism and said bowstring is selectively held and released by means of said trigger mechanism, comprising the steps of:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.