BOWS AND ARROWS — KLOPSTEG 585 



composite as is the Turkish, the tensile stress is taken by ghxss fibers 

 in a matrix of strong plastic, and the compressive stresses by the 

 plastic, perhaps aided by the glass fibers embedded in and bonded to 

 it. The limb is built upon a thin strip of wood, usually hard maple, 

 to both sides of which the plastic with embedded glass fibers is bonded. 

 The limb of the Turkish composite bow was constructed similarly, 

 but, it will be recalled, with horn to take the compression and sinew 

 fibers to take the tension. 



One of the outstanding gains of the new construction as compared 

 with that of its precursor, the wood bow with rectangular-section 

 limbs, is the relative immunity to normal temperature and humidity 

 variations. Moreover, the modem composite has little or no tendency 

 to follow the string, i.e., to take a permanent set from being braced 

 and drawn. It may be left braced over long periods, and when re- 

 laxed, will resume its original form. A significant test of such a bow 

 was to draw it full and let it snap 260,000 times. After this "abuse" 

 the force at full draw was the same, within a few ounces, as it was 

 when new. 



The modern bow has the long rigid midsection which has been men- 

 tioned before. It permits using short limbs of equal length, and appli- 

 cation of the drawing force to the bow along a line approximating the 

 axis of the arrow as an axis of symmetry. A new feature is the sculp- 

 tured grip, as seen in plates 4 and 5, shaped not only to fit the contours 

 of the hand, but also to make certain that the force applied by the bow 

 hand is always applied at the same location. An arrow rest, and a 

 marked nocking point on the string insure the proper positioning of 

 every arrow and replication in each shot of the impulse applied to 

 the arrow. These features minimize variations which would intro- 

 duce inaccuracies in hits. Another important characteristic which 

 makes a similar contribution to accuracy is the absence of energy loss 

 in the limbs from mechanical hysteresis, or internal friction in the 

 materials of the limbs. This is present in most self bows of wood. 

 It is related to permanent set in the limbs, which has been previously 

 discussed. 



The modern arrow also makes its contribution to accuracy. For 

 the most part, precision arrows are now made of strong aluminum al- 

 loy tubing, precision drawn, with constant physical properties such 

 as stiffness and mass per unit length for each diameter and wall thick- 

 ness. The wood arrows, which have been largely superseded, suffered 

 from the inevitable lack of homogeneity of wood. Notwithstanding 

 close attention to manufacture, meticulous selection and seasoning 

 of wood, and other handling intended to increase uniformity, complete 

 identity of specifications for every arrow in a dozen could only be 

 approximated. The final step in matching the arrows in a dozen 



