Fishing – trapping – and vermin destroying – Traps – Choking or squeezing
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-08
2001-12-11
Poon, Peter M. (Department: 3643)
Fishing, trapping, and vermin destroying
Traps
Choking or squeezing
C043S086000, C043S085000, C043S061000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06327809
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The subject article securing system is generally directed to a system for releasably securing an article to remain within or in close proximity to a frame structure. More specifically, the subject article securing system is one which may be conveniently coupled to a given frame structure and simply operated to constrictively engage an article in secure manner.
In various applications, it is desirable to quickly and conveniently secure an article to remain within, or at least in close proximity, to a frame structure. One such application is found in the context of creature entrapment. In that context, the article comprises bait or other items for luring a particular creature into a trap structure before that structure's trap mechanism is sprung. Ideally, the bait item is secured within the trap structure, though in a readily accessible manner, such that the creature may not exit the structure with it.
To effectively serve its luring function, the bait item must be retained in such manner that it remains highly visible and freely accessible to the creature being sought. The retention must be secure enough to withstand the onslaught of a hungry and, perhaps, frustrated creature without loosening or breaking. If not, the bait item may fail to appear sufficiently enticing to the creature in question, or may be too easily dislodged and removed from the trap structure. The entrapment capability would be compromised severely in either case.
In specific applications such as crabbing, for example, a wire cage frame structure is submerged and maintained within a body of water with its trap doors positioned to permit open access by a crab. Placed within the frame structure is a bait item such as a chicken part, small fish, or the like. When a crab, having been lured by the bait item, enters the frame structure to snatch and consume it, the user actuates the trap mechanism accordingly to promptly shut the trap doors and withdraw the occupied cage.
Where a user vigilantly monitors a particular trap structure in order to immediately actuate the entrapping mechanism upon sensing the slightest disturbance potentially indicative of a crab's entry into the structure, the most rudimentary means for securing the bait item within the cage structure may be tolerable. It is seldom, if ever, practicable to maintain for any one trap structure the level of focus and continuous attention this requires. The ability of even the most careful user to discern legitimate disturbances caused by a crab's actual entry into the cage structure is invariably impeded by the occurrence of erroneous disturbances due to such factors as changes of current in the surrounding waters or contact with underwater vegetation and debris. As a practical matter, then, one's ability to manually actuate the entrapment mechanism at timely moments is necessarily limited in reliability.
The trap structure is typically operated, therefore, in the following manner. The cage structure is lowered into the water and set at the bottom surface with its trap doors resting in the open position. Prior to thus deploying the cage structure, the bait item is placed within the cage structure and tied, or otherwise secured, to the structure's cross members. Rather than relying upon a sensed cage disturbance to actuate the entrapment mechanism, the user then periodically springs the trap mechanism and draws the cage structure out of the water, hoping that a crab has entered the cage in the time since check of that cage was last made. In commercial or other high volume applications, a plurality of cage structures may be concurrently deployed and sequentially checked.
This process relies upon a crab's entering a given cage structure and remaining inside for a substantial period of time—consuming the bait item—while the operator's next check of the cage remains pending. Hence, it is imperative that the bait items be retained securely within the cage structure. Otherwise, crabs may very well remove the bait items, as well as themselves, from the cage structures before their trap mechanism's are sprung. It is also imperative, especially where more than a few cage structures are concurrently utilized, that the means for securing the bait items thereto be as quickly and conveniently operable as it is strongly and securely retentive. Otherwise, the time period between successive checks of each cage structure may be unduly delayed by the additional effort required of the user to replace a consumed or spent bait item. Also, the tedium and delay intrinsic to repeatedly re-baiting the plurality of cage structures would heighten the risk of careless error. There is, therefore, a need in this and other applications for an article securing system adapted to retain the article in highly secure manner, yet remain quickly and conveniently operable.
PRIOR ART
Devices for securing an article to a particular structure are known in the art. The best prior art known to Applicants include: U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,906,621; 4,216,607; 5,174,059; 5,640,800; 5,353,541; 4,229,901; 4,538,376; 5,171,233; 3,760,468; 5,333,407; 4,307,532; 2,982,049; and, 3,197,912. The devices known in the art, however, fail to disclose a system for securing an article to a frame structure possessing the combination of effective operation, simple structure, and convenient utility found in the subject article securing system.
For example, one device known in the art is a bracket-like bait holder device that secures to the cage frame of a trap structure. When deployed, the device effectively forms about a bait item a rigid, cage-like structure. While this serves well to prevent the bait item's removal from the cage, it significantly obstructs the bait item's accessibility to a potential catch. A crab lured by the bait item into the cage may become frustrated by its inability to freely manipulate and consume that bait item, and may therefore exit the cage earlier than it otherwise would were its access to the bait item not so restricted.
Other practical drawbacks are inherent in such bait holders. The substantial structure enclosing the bait item may so obstruct the item that a creature of interest may fail in the first place to detect or identify it as an attractive food item. In addition, such bait holders are typically of substantial structure and cannot be securely affixed to the cage without securing means of comparably substantial structure. Consequently, installing and removing them constitute much more than trivial tasks.
In contrast to these and other types of article-holding devices and systems known in the art, the subject article securing system retains an article in highly accessible, and readily manipulable, manner. It does so while maintaining a high level of strength and security in the retention. The system also permits quick and convenient installation and subsequent placement/replacement of the article being secured.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is thus a primary object of the present invention to provide an article securing system which reliably retains the article within or in close proximity to a frame structure to which it is coupled.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an article securing system that may be quickly and conveniently operated to secure or release the article.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an article securing system that may be quickly and conveniently operated to constrictively engage the article.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an article securing system which may be quickly and conveniently coupled to a given frame structure for operation.
These and other objects are attained in the subject system and method for releasably securing an article to a frame structure. The system generally comprises a collar member secured to the frame structure and a snare member coupled to the collar member. The collar member is configured to substantially define a hoop. The snare member includes a collapsibl
Comes Edward E.
Comes Joseph P.
Copier Floris C
Poon Peter M.
Rosenberg , Klein & Lee
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