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History Question?

Started by LYONEL, February 15, 2013, 05:05:00 PM

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LYONEL

What year was the first bow made with fibreglass used in the bow?

S.C. Hunter

USMC 82-86

Knawbone

1947  Just a guess, but I'm petty sure it was in the 40's.
HHA 5 lam Cheetah 65" 48@26
HHA W Special 66" 52@26
HHA W Special 68" 56@28
GN Bushbow 64" 56@29
21st Street Chinook 64" 58@28
Kota Prarie Nomad 60" 47@24
You can do a lot of things when you have too W S Butler My Grandfather

Jeff Strubberg

It's earlier than that.  Fred Bear was using unidirectional 'glass in 1951.  I'd guess mid 40's for the first glass-backed bows.
"Teach him horsemanship and archery, and teach him to despise all lies"          -Herodotus

McDave

According to    this  , Bear applied for a patent for fiberglass bows in 1946.
TGMM Family of the Bow

Technology....the knack of arranging the world so that we don't have to experience it.

TonyW

Fred Bear's patent application lists these articles:

"Laminated Fiberglass" page 4 American Bowman-Review, October 1945.
"Glass Reinforcements For Archery Bows," pages 4 and 5 December 1945

Since the USA fiberglass cloth was available from 1942 on, and the best resins came from captured German formulas, I bet Fred was tinkering with it for awhile.

  http://www.archpatent.com/patents/2613660  
(you can download some nifty pdfs of his original drawings and patent if you go here:   http://www.archpatent.com/applicants/%22F.%20B.%20BEAR%22.

siwash

Frank Eicholtz was putting Conolon fiberglass strips on his bows in the early 1940s. This glass was pioneered by the NARMCO company in San Diego. Frank was THE First to do it!! Everyone else came after. This is not a guess.

TonyW

Frank used lamicoid plastic in the early forties. In 1944 he finally tried woven fiberglass and built two experimental bows, but still used lamicoid plastic backing the compression side. Fred's patent references 1942 Owens Corning "fiberglass cloth" with no mention of lamicoid or Conlon.  In 1948 Frank began working with Gordon using unidirectional fiberglass.
Frank's pair of Conlon/Lamicoid bows may have been cobbled before Bear's Owens Corning fiberglass prototypes, but I bet Fred had a bunch of projects on his workbench in 1944.

siwash

I first met Eicholtz in 1952. I bought several of his bows One was an old one that was one of his first. It had conolon woven glass on the back and lamicoid on the belly. Later I made bows for Frank from 1963 to 1970. I still have a couple of his old glass backed pre-1950s bows. Frank started making flight bows using fiberglass technology, which he pioneered in the '40s, and Harry Drake took one and set a record of over 600 yards--this bow is in the famous Jessop bow collection in San Diego.

el greco

Wow,thanks for the history lessons gentlemen.I wish there were more threads like this.
From my cold,dead hands..

Zbone

Yeah, thanx for sharing folks...

Always enjoy history, especially archery history, but must admit, first time I ever heard of Frank Eicholtz. Very interesting... Had known Papa Bear applied for the first patent of fiberglass backed  bow, and if I remember correctly tried left over WWII aluminum backing before fiberglass???

Would luv to hear more on Frank Eicholtz...

McDave

There is a brief bio of Frank Eicholtz and a picture of him, along with bios of some of the other fathers of trad archery in The Traditional Way, by Fred Anderson. It was published in 1997 by Tox Press, and I would guess it's still in print.
TGMM Family of the Bow

Technology....the knack of arranging the world so that we don't have to experience it.

LYONEL

Thanks for the help guys.
I have another question but I will ask it in another thread.

Blackhawk

McDave,

Did you click on the poster named "siwash" who provided lots of great info on Frank? Yes, it is Fred Anderson, and his "Traditional Way" book should be in every Archer's library.
Lon Scott

McDave

Thanks Lon!  I hadn't realized that was Fred himself!  What an honor to have him on this forum.
TGMM Family of the Bow

Technology....the knack of arranging the world so that we don't have to experience it.

Jeff Strubberg

QuoteOriginally posted by Zbone:
Yeah, thanx for sharing folks...

Always enjoy history, especially archery history, but must admit, first time I ever heard of Frank Eicholtz. Very interesting... Had known Papa Bear applied for the first patent of fiberglass backed  bow, and if I remember correctly tried left over WWII aluminum backing before fiberglass???

Would luv to hear more on Frank Eicholtz...
I don't know about aluminum backing...Fred Bear did produce a few bows with aluminum cores.  If you happen across one of these, hang it on the wall immediately!  The aluminum was subject to metal fatigue and these bows are notorious for spontaneously exploding at full draw.
"Teach him horsemanship and archery, and teach him to despise all lies"          -Herodotus

Zbone

Yeah, maybe it was limb core rather than backing. Read it in a book but it's been a while and don't remember title or if authored by Mr. Bear himself or biographic.


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