This invention pertains to sighting aids and devices, such as are used in target shooting and hunting, and in particular to sighting devices, for bows, usable by right-handed or left-handed shooters or archers, which provide for both azimuth and elevation adjustment.

Sighting devices for bows, of the aforesaid type to which the invention pertains, are known in the prior art. Typical thereof is the Archery Sight, U.S. Pat. No. 3,84,904, issued Nov. 15, 1966, to Douglas B. Rade. The patentee's Sight accommodates for azimuth and elevation correction or adjustment, and is usable on bows for left-handed or right-handed shooters or archers. It is, however, a rather complex structure which, necessarily, involves expensive manufacture and, resultantly, high cost. What has been long sought is an inexpensive, simple, and efficient sighting device for bows which will accommodate both azimuth and elevational adjustment, and can be employed by either left-handed or right-handed shooters or archers.

It is an object of this invention to set forth just such an inexpensive, simple and efficient sighting device. Particularly it is an object of this invention to disclose a sighting device, for a bow, comprising first means defining a base; said base having means for coupling thereof replaceably to a bow; second means defining a platform; third means, joined to said base and platform, supporting said platform in spaced-apart adjacency to said base; fourth means for removably receiving sighting means thereon; and means pivotably coupling said fourth means to said platform, whereby elevation sighting adjustments may be made; and wherein said third means comprises means for selectively disposing said platform (a) in parallelism with said base, and (b) in acute angles relative to said base, whereby azimuth sighting adjustments may be made.

Further objects of this invention, as well as the novel features thereof, will become more apparent by reference to the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying figures, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a portion of a bow showing the novel sighting device, according to an embodiment thereof, fixed thereto;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the sighting device of FIG. 1, the same being shown greatly enlarged over the scale of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the sighting device of FIGS. 1 and 2, with portions of the platform, at the sides thereof, being cut away only to show the base mounting holes;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along section 4--4 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is an end view, taken from the left-hand side of FIG. 2, of the right-angular portions of the base and plate;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along section 6--6 of FIG. 3; and FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along section 7--7 of FIG. 3.

As shown in the figures, an embodiment of my sighting device 10 is mountable to a bow 12, for a right-handed shooter or archer, as shown, but it is also mountable to the bow 12, on the opposite, hidden side thereof, for a left-handed shooter or archer.

The device 10 comprises a base 14 and a platform 16, the former for fixing thereof to the side of a bow--such as bow 12, and the latter for removably receiving sighting means thereon. The base 14 comprises an elongate plate 18 having a principal portion thereof subsisting in a given plane, and defining the base 14, and having a minor portion thereof, integral with the principal portion, which extends normal to the given plane, such minor portion 20 serving as a part of the means for supporting the platform 16 upon the base 14.

The platform 16 is also defined from another elongate plate 22, the principal portion of the latter also subsisting in a given plane and forming the platform, and having an integral, minor portion 24, extending normal to such plane, and cooperating with portion 20 to define means for supporting the platform 16 upon the base.

The base 18 has a pattern of bolt holes 26 formed therein by means of which the base can be fastened to the side of a bow; commonly bows have metal plates or bosses, with tapped holes, in the sides thereof, to receive fasteners for sighting devices. Further, the base 18 has a pair of bolt holes 28 formed in one end thereof to receive a pair of lengthy bolts 30 which serve as stand-offs. Bolts 30 are secured to the platform 16 by nuts 32, and nuts 34 and 36, threadedly engaged with the bolts, on opposite sides of the base 18, accommodate for an adjustment of the proximity of the base 18 to the platform 16.

Portion 20 of the plate 18 has a pair of parallel slots 38 formed therein, and the latter are in registry with a pair of series of holes 40 formed through portion 24 of plate 22. Bolts 42 and nuts 44 are used in selected ones of the holes 40 to cooperate with the bolts 30 and nuts 34 and 36 to adjust the proximity between the base 18 and platform 16, and further they are used to selectively dispose the platform 16 in a desired angle--such as angle "I" (FIG. 2)--to adjust the azimuth sighting. With such an adjustment being made, the base 18 will be in disposition "B" (FIG. 2) and consequently, and relatively, the platform will be aligned along angle "I". When bolts 42 and nuts 44, together with nuts 34 and 36 on bolts 30, are all adjusted to move the base 18 and the platform 16 closer together, for instance, the relative positioning of the base 18 will be as shown in disposition "A". Usually, a user of the device 10 will make this parallel adjustment but once, to accommodate the device to his sighting eye (left or right), and thereafter will not loosen the nuts 34 and 36 again. Subsequently, for zeroing-in on given targets at given distances, he will opt to make azimuth adjustments by means of the bolts 42, nuts 44, holes 40 and slots 38.

An elongate strip 46 is mounted atop the platform 16. The strip 46 is pivotably mounted thereto by means of a bolt 48, washer 50 and nut 52. Additionally, the platform 16 has an arcuate slot 54 formed therein which serves as a keyway for a keying bolt 56 extending from adjacent the leading end of the strip 46. A nut 58 secures the bolt 56 in engagement with the slot 54. The strip 46 is formed of two, surmounting pieces 46a and 46b. At the leading end of the strip 46, the underlying piece 46a is foreshortened and, as can be seen in FIG. 6, is spaced apart from the platform approximately one-eighth of an inch (in this embodiment of the invention). The end of the strip 46 which is pointed, and defines its trailing end, and has a small tapped hole 60 formed therein. Threaded into hole 60 is an eye-bolt 62 which, in this exemplary embodiment, is a short, threaded dowel with a transverse hole formed therein. Dowel 62 has a drive slot in the threaded end thereof to receive a screw-driver by means of which it can be selectively removed and inserted. The priorly mentioned spacing (one-eighth of an inch) plus the thickness of piece 46b totals approximately one-quarter of an inch. Now, the overall length of the eye-bolt/dowel 62 is slightly less than that, i.e., such overall length is approximately six thirty-seconds of an inch. These dimensions are of significance, as the ensuing text will evidence. As shown, the dowel 62 projects from the platform to be used for sighting or aiming purposes. Similarly, a pin 64, which has an enlarged, threaded shank and a small, taper-pointed end, is received in a threaded hole 66 in the opposite, or leading end of the strip 46. Pin 64 also has a drive slot in its threaded end to accommodate it removal and installation. It will be appreciated that a user of the device 10 can sight or aim by viewing the taper-pointed end of the pin 64 through the transverse hole in the dowel 62. However, both the dowel 62 and the pin 64 can be disposed in stowage on the strip 46.

By sluing the strip 46 to an angle, such as angle "II" shown in FIG. 3, the drive slot of the dowel 62 can be accessed. Then, by using a screw-driver, the dowel can be removed from the hole 60, turned end-for-end, and re-inserted into the hole 60--now, with the apertured end thereof directed toward the platform 16. In such a disposition, the dowel 62 shall be in stowage, and due to its short length, will not interfere with the pivotal sluing of the strip 46, and will leave the outermost surface of the trailing end of piece 46b clear and unobstructed. In a like manner, the pin 64 can be withdrawn from pieces 46a and 46b, turned end-for-end, and stowed, like dowel 62, under the strip 46. There is a purpose for this stowage-accommodation of the dowel 62 and pin 64.

For more accurate sighting, users of the device 10 may choose to employ a telescope, or an electronic sighting component, such as an Aimpoint, Electronic Mark III, a commercial product of Sweden. Such components commonly have grooved slides and/or clamps for mating thereof to plates or bosses on the sides of firearms or bows. To accommodate such components, the strip 46 provides trackways 68 on the lateral sides thereof. Piece 46a is narrower than piece 46b; the latter overhangs the former, along the full length of piece 46a. Such overhangs define shoulders which serve as the trackways 68 for the aforesaid more accurate sighting components. Too, with the pin 62 and dowel 64 in stowed positions, the exposed surface of the strip is free and unobstructed, slidably to accommodate such sighting components.

While I have described my invention in connection with a specific embodiment thereof, it is to be clearly understood that this is done only by way of example, and not as a limitation to the scope of my invention, as set forth in the objects thereof and in the appended claims.