What is a Compound Bow
A compound bow is a modern bow that uses a levering system; they make use of pulley systems, known as cams, located at each end. The string is attached to the cams which have one or more cables attached to the opposite limb. As the bow is drawn, the cams turn pulling the cables which causes the limbs to bend together storing energy.
The compound bow was first developed in 1966 by Holless Wilbur Allen in Missouri, and a US patent was granted in 1969. A Californian bow maker named Tom Jennings received an early prototype of the compound bow from Allen and together they became the first manufacturer of compound bows.
The limbs of a compound bow are typically much stiffer than the limbs of a recurve or longbow. This rigidity makes the compound bow more energy efficient than other bows, but the limbs are too stiff to be drawn comfortably with a string attached directly to them.
One of the biggest advantages to the compound bow is that at full draw, it takes very little strength to hold the string back. The benefit is that the archer can hold the bow at full draw for a longer period of time.
