Fishing – trapping – and vermin destroying – Fishing – Line-attached bodies – hooks and rigs
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-10
2001-11-13
Rowan, Kurt (Department: 3643)
Fishing, trapping, and vermin destroying
Fishing
Line-attached bodies, hooks and rigs
Reexamination Certificate
active
06314673
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to fishing tackle and equipment, and more specifically to an improved sinker release device for fishing.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the sport of fishing, particularly lake and ocean fishing, it is often necessary to use a weight or sinker to direct and keep the bait or lure at an appropriate depth. However, when a sinker is attached and remains attached to a fishing line after a fish is hooked, it is more difficult for the fisherman to successfully land the fish. Accordingly, it is desirable to be able to release the sinker after the fish has been hooked. Several devices have been designed to accomplish this task, but many are inefficient, prone to failure, or too expensive for practical use. Perhaps as significantly, the prior art devices are manufactured to release the sinker under a very limited range of pulling forces caused by a hooked fish. For example, some devices will release the sinker when too light a fish is hooked or, just as defectively, will fail to release the sinker even when a suitably sized fish is hooked. It is therefore desirable to have a fishing sinker release apparatus with some means to adjust the force required to release the sinker; that way, a fisherman could conveniently and easily tailor the apparatus to release the sinker under precisely specified levels of pulling force.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The fishing sinker release of the present invention provides an improved device enabling adjustable release of a sinker from the fishing line after a fish has been hooked. The inventive device includes a generally hollow housing member open at both ends, bearing a hole proximate one end for attachment to a fishing line, and a slot along one side thereof for releasable capture of a sinker (e.g., typically connected by a short piece of line). The housing member may also be regarded as a kind of jacket, sleeve, or sheath member. A coil spring, or pin member, is slidably engaged within the housing member. The pin member includes a first leg portion that catches on the housing member and prevents disengagement, a loop portion for attachment of a fishing hook (again, typically connected by a short piece of line), and a second leg portion that selectively extends across and closes the slot on the one side of the housing member. When assembled the pin member is temporarily stationarily secured within the housing member by the forces exerted against the housing member by the leg portions.
In the first preferred embodiment of the present invention, the force required to release a sinker may be adjusted before assembly of the apparatus. The means to accomplish the adjustment involves selectively spreading or approximating the first and second leg portions of the pin member around the loop spring portion to urge or press the leg portions with more or less force, respectively, against the interior surface of the housing member.
In a second preferred embodiment, the housing member is open on its front side for easier removal of the pin member. Removal entails pinching or bending the first leg portion toward the second leg portion so that the first leg portion is free to rotate up and away from the housing member; the second leg portion is then slide out and away from the housing member. When removed, the pin member may be adjusted so that when reassembled, the first and second leg members either engage the housing member more forcefully or less forcefully. The adjustment is accomplished simply by bending the first and second leg portions relative to one another, either by spreading or approximating the first and second leg portions around the loop portion.
The inventive device is used by attaching the fishing line from the pole to the hole on the end of the housing member, attaching the line from the fish hook to the loop portion of the pin member, and the line from the sinker to the slot on the housing member by first opening the slot by sliding the pin and its second leg portion to open the slot, and then sliding the pin and its second leg portion to close the slot and capture the sinker line. When a fish of sufficient size or play strikes the fishing hook, the force of the strike causes the pin to again extend to the open position, opening the slot and releasing the sinker. The pin is prevented from complete removal from the housing by the first leg portion that engages the housing.
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Johnson Larry D.
Johnson & Stanbrook, LLP
Rowan Kurt
Stanbrook Craig M.
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