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Captain Kirk in 1969 Jennings Compound AD |
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Bill Shatner using a recurve before he turned to the "Dark Side" |
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William Shatner with a Shakespeare Recurve |
Captain Kirk Killed the Recurve!
by
Larry Vienneau
|
I know what you are thinking…what the heck does Captain Kirk have
to do with Shakespeare Archery? Well believe it or not, he has a lot to do with it. OK, I admit it, I might be a bit of a Star Trek nerd but William Shatner using his Star Trek fame helped end traditional archery (for awhile anyway). Jennings was the
first manufacturer of the compound bow. They used William Shatner of Star Trek fame to promote a new “Space
Age” bow design. It was a clever use of celebrity
and technology which ultimately lead to the decline of the recurve and birth of
the compound. William Shatner owned several Shakespeare recurves and was friends with Shakespeare Archery Executive and Pro Dick Wilson and Shatner also knew Ernie Root.
Holless Wilbur Allen changed the direction of archery
forever when he discovered that he could make a new, faster bow by sawing off part
of the limbs of a recurve bow and attaching pulleys to the new ends. In the early 1960s he decided to try improving
the current design of bows by using the pulley’s mechanical advantage to pull
more weight than normally possible.
As Holless was exploring different ways of using the
pulleys, he discovered that by using one with an offset axle (eccentrics), he
created one of the biggest advantages of compound bows, “let-off”. When coupled with a cam shape instead of a
round pulley, the draw length, weight and force curve could be changed and
improved.
On June 23, 1966 Holless applied for a patent “Archery bow with draw-force multiplying attachments”;
in December of 1969 it was granted. He
teamed with Tom Jennings, and the first compound bows began to be manufactured.
One of the first Ads for a Jennings compound bow from 1968 was
with William Shatner, from Star Trek. Yes- Captain Kirk killed the recurve bow!!!! William Shatner helped the compound assume it's prominence in the archery market, and led to the decline (for a short while) of the recurve.
The invention of the compound led to the demise
of Shakespeare Archery. Rather than investing in the new technology,
Shakespeare opted out of archery and concentrated on fishing equipment in 1975.
This is the article that helped introduce the compound. It appeared in BOW & ARROW November / December 1968 pp 14-17 by Jim Dougherty - (I don't think Mr Dougherty liked the bow very much..he barely mentions it in the article!!)
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Shatner with recurve 1967 |
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Bill Shatner with his (Shakespeare Model X-15 ?) recurve in 1967 and today as he reminisces about how he killed the recurve recent photo© 2012 by Jeff Greenwald | . |
© Copyright, Larry Vienneau Jr.
All rights reserved.
Thats the same William Shatner Fred Bear kicked out of a bear hunting camp. Shatner shot a bear and wanted to wait till the next morning to track it, Papa wanted it done now!
ReplyDeleteHaha I didn't know this. I googled it and found Papa Bear also had personality conflicts. Bear was quiet and modest and Shatner was ..well.. a TV star. Papa Bear must have been thinking "Scottie, beam him out of here!!"
ReplyDeletethanks David!!!
Oh my! This post is absolutely awesome and fabulous! Vintage but so cool! Thanks for posting this!
ReplyDelete-QualityArcheryBows.com
:) !!
ReplyDeleteInteresting information! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteAny back story on DeForest Kelley? You do have a great picture of him shooting with Shatner.
ReplyDeleteNo real story other than he needed to learn to shoot for an episode of Star Trek. Deforest for more of a tennis player than outdoors-man. The bow they are using appears in several of these photos. They remained friend after the the TV and movie series ended.
DeleteGreat images of Star trek and bows. Thanks for posting them.
ReplyDeleteGreat pics and article! As long as they're going to eat the meat I don't have a problem with hunting, though I do worry that the animals are not being killed humanely - especially in the case of amateur hunters.
ReplyDeleteWhenever I see pictures of him wearing hats like this I always wonder whether he is wearing his toupee underneath!!
I seen him on American sportsman shoot that bear .....never seen him again!
ReplyDelete