Fishing reel with strip drag mechanism

Winding – tensioning – or guiding – Reeling device – Fishing rod reel

Reexamination Certificate

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Details

C242S260000, C192S066100, C192S070140

Reexamination Certificate

active

06402073

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to fishing reels and, in particular, to an improved drag mechanism having an additional drag position, just above free spool, and identified herein as a“strip” drag position.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The lever drag reel, such as that shown in section in prior art
FIG. 1
, is well known in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 3,425,644 shows the classic layout of this type of reel. There are disadvantages related to the drag application mechanism of this type of reel.
In this style reel, a lever is used to vary the amount of drag force that is applied to the fishing line. When this lever is moved, i.e., backed off, to its rearmost position, no drag is exerted on the spool. This condition is called “free spool”. In this position, line can be freely played out from the spool of the reel.
At another position, approximately two-thirds of the full forward swing of the lever, is a moveable stop. This position is called “strike” position.
The position at full lever travel is called “full”.
The drag lever is keyed to a cam member. This member translates the rotational motion of the lever into axial motion. When the drag lever is moved out of the free spool position, axial motion caused by the cam removes any clearance between the drag members. Once this clearance is removed, additional axial motion (due to the cam) directly compresses a set of clutch springs.
The lever drag reel is generally designed to fish different weight fishing lines. When the strength of the line being used is increased, it is possible to apply more drag than with a lighter line. Therefore, a means to adjust the drag force at a given position of the drag lever, namely the strike position, is desirable. Nearly all lever drag reels have such a means; usually through a screw member that varies the clearance between the drag members.
The classic lever drag reel is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,425,644. In
FIG. 1
of that patent, the drag lever
75
and the preset adjusting knob
92
are shown. In
FIG. 6
, the cam
68
, the cam follower
61
, and the preset screw
63
are shown.
FIG. 2
shows the drag members
37
and
42
, the clearance between the drag members, and the drag springs
40
. In
FIG. 3
, the threaded portion of the preset adjustment
62
is shown. This reel functions as described previously.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,575,432 shows the design of a typical cam in a lever drag reel. See FIG.
5
. The free spool position
69
is a detent. As the cam is rotated with respect to the cam follower
61
and
65
, an initial rapid axial motion is created due to this detent. It can be seen that the slope of the rest of the cam
70
is much less after this rapid initial rise. U.S. Pat. No. 3,478,979 also shows this cam design (
FIG. 5
,
63
-
66
).
On most lever drag reels, the cam has a small section with a large slope. This section is positioned just after the free spool position. This small section can account for up to two-thirds of the entire travel of the cam. As a consequence, a detent is formed in the cam. This section is used to quickly remove the clearance between the drag members, resulting in drag being available in the shortest amount of drag lever travel. But there is a down side to this design. As the desired drag at the strike position is increased, the difference in drag between free spool and just out free spool increases. The result is a tendency for the drag lever to suddenly jump into the free spool position when the drag lever is moved to reduce drag. This can have dire consequences. If the fisherman is actively engaged with a large fish, and the reel jumps into free spool, a massive backlash will result, usually tangling the line, and then at best breaking off the line, or at worst, pulling the fishing outfit from the angler and over the side of the boat.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,146,966 shows an alternative lever drag reel design. In
FIG. 11
, a cam profile with an additional step/detent is shown. As is described in this patent, free spool occurs when the cam follower is in position
57
, at the bottom of the cam profile. In order to get into the additional step, the reel must be taken into free spool, and then into the “strip” position. This does nothing to prevent the occurrence of a backlash from the reel going from a drag producing position to a free spool. In fact, this design invites this very occurrence.
One alternative to this rapid jump is to use a cam that smoothly slopes from the free spool position to its maximum travel. The disadvantage of this design is that the user never knows precisely where the reel is going to go into free spool when he moves the drag lever. This is due to the nature of the preset systems used, which do nothing more than vary the amount of clearance between the drag members. Thus, when the user changes the position of the preset knob, and thereby changes the clearance between the drag members, the amount of drag lever travel necessary to remove this clearance will vary, resulting in this imprecise condition.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,516,741 (
FIGS. 4
,
30
and
31
) shows an example of a cam with no jump; just a smooth transition to the free spool position.
Prior Art
FIG. 1
shows a typical lever drag reel. In this reel design, there exists a side plate
101
, which contains a cam mechanism
112
. This cam is connected to a drag lever
113
. The cam acts upon a cam follower
116
, which contains a preset screw
117
. A bearing
118
is radially supported in the side plate, axially supported by the preset screw. Within this bearing is journaled a pinion
119
. This pinion is supported at the opposite end by an outer drive plate
107
; which itself is supported by a bearing
120
. On the pinion rides a spool
102
, which is supported radially by two bearings
103
and
104
. The left side spool bearing
104
is supported axially on one side by a shoulder
122
machined into the spool. It rides on a protrusion of the inner drive plate
108
, which in turn is supported radially by the pinion, and axially by the left spool bearing
104
. A clutch separation spring
109
is located between the inner and outer drive plates. Both drive plates are keyed in some form to the pinion such that any rotation of the pinion is transferred directly to the drive plates. A drag washer
111
is supported radially by pins
121
that are pressed into the flange of the spool, but is allowed to float axially on these pins. A shoulder machined into the spool axially supports the right side spool bearing
103
. Between the right side spool bearing
103
and the pinion gear
125
resides the clutch springs
105
.
The operation of the reel is as follows. When the drag lever
113
is moved from the free spool position, the cam is rotated by a like amount. The rotary motion is translated into axial motion by the cam and cam follower. The cam follower transfers this axial motion to the preset screw and then through the right side plate bearing
118
. The bearing directly moves the pinion shaft
119
in the direction of the arrow AA. This axially motion is transferred through the clutch spring
109
, through the spool by means of the right side spool bearing
103
, to the left side spool bearing
104
, to the inner drive plate
108
. This axially motion will continue through all of these members until the clearance between the inner drive plate
108
and the drag washer
111
, and the outer drive plate
107
and the drag washer
111
, is removed. At this point, compression of the clutch springs
105
will start. The axial load created by compressing the clutch springs
105
is transferred through the right side spool bearing
103
to the left side spool bearing
104
to the inner drive plate
108
. Thus, in the prior art, the length of travel which corresponds to the compression of the Belleville springs
105
would continue after other clearances were taken up.
As can be seen, all four bearings are loaded when the reel is in operation. Thus, this requires the spool bearings to be larger than otherwise necessary, so that they can handle the

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