Fishing – trapping – and vermin destroying – Fishing – Artificial bait
Reexamination Certificate
1998-02-02
2001-02-06
Carone, Michael J. (Department: 3643)
Fishing, trapping, and vermin destroying
Fishing
Artificial bait
C043S042340, C043S042320
Reexamination Certificate
active
06182391
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to fishing, specifically to soft flexible fishing lures.
BACKGROUND—DISCUSSION OF PRIOR ART
Fish primarily feed on living or dead organisms, called bait, such as smaller fish. Lures are used to catch fish by mimicking bait in shape, size, smell, sound, appearance and action. It is a well known fact that the closer the action and appearance of the lure is to the actual bait it is imitating, the more fish the lure will catch. The lures that catch the most fish are most popular for obvious reasons. If fishing pressure is severe, fish can become “accustomed” to lures over a period of time and tend not to bit the same lure as aggressively as when the lure was first marketed. The fishing lure industry is constantly refining and improving fishing lures to better mimic the shape, size, smell, sound, appearance, color and action of bait in order to allow the fishermen to be successful in his pursuits. Sight and appearance play an important role, if not the most important role, in fish feeding habits, and fishermen are constantly seeking better methods of attracting fish by means of the lure's appearance. One of the main areas of emphasis in recent years has been creating hard plastic lures with better reflective characteristics and better fish imitating paint designs. This is achieved by using metallic paints or placing reflective foil inside the hollow hard plastic bodies. Placing reflective foil inside hard plastic lures has been around since at least 1968. U.S. Pat. No. 3,528,189 is an example of such. However, soft plastic lures have seen virtually no advance in reflective improvements since glitter was introduced many years ago.
In prior art, glitter was interspersed into soft bodied lures to achieve reflection of light in the lure in order to imitate the brilliant reflection of the scales and skin of fish. The largest glitter size I have seen used is 0.040 of an inch, although glitter is available in sizes to ⅛ of an inch. However, glitter does not come close to imitating the brilliant reflection of the skin and scales in many fish, nor match the reflective ability of other lures such as hard plastic lures or metal lures. The reflection of light from a fish's skin and scales is of a specific area of a fish, normally the broad side and belly of the fish. In prior art, glitter is interspersed in the plastic, and accordingly does not have the surface reflective area to match the amount of reflection from fish's skin and scales. The reflection from a fish is not limited to sparkles here and there as is the case with glitter, but is normally a wide area covering the entire side or belly of the fish. Any person who has seen baitfish knows the brilliant reflection the baitfish give off as they swim and turn in the water. Additionally, particles of glitter do not all face the same direction since they are randomly interspersed in the lure, and thus the total surface area of the glitter that can reflect in a particular direction is much less than if the glitter all faced in one direction. Additionally, the use of glitter to achieve reflection prevents the use of “pattern” such as fish scales or other patterns to be reflected in the lure.
A search was made of all patents under classification 43/17.6, 43/42.24, 43/42.25, 43/42.26, 43/42.27, 43/42.28, 43/42.29, 43/42.32, 43/42.33 and 43/42.34. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,307,531 and 4,429,482 were the closest patents to the present invention. However, these patents are not similar to the present invention. Subsequently, U.S. Pat. No. 4,429,482 has lapsed. The lures described in these patents do not appear to have ever been marketed. They are not for sale in any mail order catalogs that I am aware of, nor have I seen them in fishing tackle stores or advertisements. The lure described in these patents is an extremely thin lure and appears designed “to be used as the substitute for prepared whole natural bait fish or bait fish parts, or decorations attached to fishing lures”. The patent also states “It requires little or no preparation prior to rigging with hooks, lines, weights or other articles used by those knowledgeable in the art of bait rigging”. Emphasis added. The emphasis on this lure appears to be replacing a dead or live fish on your hook with the inventor's lure. The patents do not cite any configuration similar to the configurations of my invention. Additionally, the idea of placing the reflective foil onto the surface or imbedded into soft flexible lures is not mentioned in these patents.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,307,531 states “The preferred structure comprises outer sheets of transparent plastic material with a thin, shiny sheet, with an embossed surface of numerous scale simulating facets for the reflection of light, positioned between the outer transparent plastic members. The plastic members are integrated in any suitable fashion such as with an adhesive, heat-sealing, stitching, etc.” Emphasis added. The use of the word “sheets” combined with the drawings shown this lure to be extremely thin, with no substantive body. The reflective foil is normally produced at {fraction (2/1000)} of an inch thick. The drawings show the “outer sheets” to be of the same thickness. This shows how narrow this lure is, and not representative of classic soft flexible lures. The lure in U.S. Pat. No. 4,307,531 bears no resemblance to the soft flexible lures on the market today. No soft flexible lure is shaped so thin. In fact, the fish shaped lure described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,307,531 is merely a die cut of the reflective foils that have been used for quite some time. The Witchcraft Company has been die cutting and selling the reflective foils with a PVC or polyester coating since approximately 1974, well before U.S. Pat. No. 4,307,531 was filed. U.S. Pat. No. 4,307,531 is simply a die cut of reflective foil which is then attached on the end of a hook.
The whole process of making the lure described in
FIG. 3
is completely different than that of making soft flexible lures which are hand poured or injection molded. U.S. Pat. No. 4,307,531 states “Although the structure in
FIGS. 1 through 5
consists of three separate layers, it is obvious that the structure may include additional outer transparent plastic layers”. From this statement it shows the inventor's idea is a lure of thin layers or “sheets” of clear plastic, sandwiched around the reflective foil. Indeed, U.S. Pat. No. 4,307,531 states “The preferred structure comprises outer sheets of transparent plastic material with a thin, shiny sheet, with an embossed surface of numerous scale simulating facets for the reflection of light, positioned between the outer transparent plastic members. The plastic members are integrated in any suitable fashion such as with an adhesive, heat-sealing, stitching, etc.”. The word “sheets” is a description for a thin PVC or polyester laminate placed on either side of the reflective foil. This in no way is related to the present invention of imbedding the reflective foil into classical soft flexible lures or applying the reflective foil onto the surface of soft bodied plastic lures. Soft flexible lures are not made of “sheets” of plastic. Rather, they are injection molded or hand poured from liquid plastisol into a mold cavity. As previously mentioned, the Witchcraft Company has been making a reflective foil with a thin PVC laminate since 1974 and die cutting the material to requested shapes, including fish patterns.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,307,531 describes the process for making the lure which includes folding the lure. In essence there are two identical halves to this lure, which are folded at the periphery so that they mate to one another. The very fact that the lure can be folded shows that it is a very thin lure and not your typical soft flexible lure, such as a swimbait, which cannot be folded as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,307,531. The entire process for making the lure as described in
FIG. 3
is totally different than the manufacturing process of soft flexible baits, which requires the heating of p
Carone Michael J.
French III Fredrick T.
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