Animal husbandry – Aquatic animal culturing – Mollusk culturing
Reexamination Certificate
2000-09-27
2003-02-18
Swiatek, Robert P. (Department: 3643)
Animal husbandry
Aquatic animal culturing
Mollusk culturing
Reexamination Certificate
active
06520116
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The device is used in the mussel aquaculture farming industry. In general the concept is a support device that attaches to a vertical attachment means which; mussels cling on to grow.
2. Background of the Invention
The mussel farming industry has developed techniques of culturing and harvesting mussels. One such method is to hang substantially vertical seed collector cords or lines below the surface of the ocean. The lines are about eight to twenty feet in length and after mussels give spawn, the small larval seed mussels attach to the lines to grow. After several months the seed mussels will grow in dense clusters along the lines. When there is not sufficient space on the lines for the mussels to adequately grow further (the seed mussels are about 5 mm-30 mm in length), the mussel farmer will withdraw the seed collector lines from the ocean and separate the seed mussels from the collector line.
At this point the seed or juvenile mussels are injected into a mesh tubing and reinserted back into the ocean. The mesh tubing is made from a web netting material that radially expands to a larger circumference. The mesh tubing provides more surface area for the seed mussels to cling thereon and it will support the mussels as they grow in size and grow through the mesh to a size of several inches long. As the mussels grow; they move radially outwardly through the mesh tubing in order to be able to open their valves and gather plankton from the seawater. As they increase in size the mussels rely on the mesh tubing and also the mussels below them for support. The mussels eventually are attached to the outside of the mesh tubing and as they grow larger they will rest upon the mussel immediately below them and that mussel will be partially supported by the mussel below it. If some of the supporting mussels loses their foothold from the mesh tubing a catastrophic collapse can occur where strips of mussels fall from the mesh tubing to the floor of the ocean bay and are unharvestable at that point.
To prevent the catastrophic loss of mussels, support rods have been used. The support rods were essentially a stick or peg about eight inches long that stuck through the diameter of the web tubing. When the seed mussels are inserted into the mesh tubing and placed back into the ocean, a support rod was placed between the holes in the mesh about every 12-18 inches along the eight to the entire length of mesh tubing. When the support rods where inserted into the mesh they had two extensions that extended out opposite sides of the mesh. The support rods did supply some support for the mussels that were directly above each extension of a rod; however, the support rods only had limited surface area in the horizontal plane and mussels that were ninety degrees from each extension of the support rods received no direct support from the support rod, support was only from those mussels adjacent to the mesh tubing.
3. Background Art
A search to the prior art has revealed numerous embodiments in the area of aquatic culture harvesting. A brief summary of the patents that resulted in a patentability search is listed below.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,653,193 Marissal, shows a mollusk raising system in which support trays
30
, are supported in net tubes
24
. The tubes with the included platforms are suspended in the water.
The invention is primarily directed to growing oysters within the net
24
. As seen in
FIG. 2
the tray
30
is positioned within the net
24
and can be held therein by a number of attachment means which are shown in
FIGS. 6-14
.
As seen in
FIGS. 16 and 17
, the rope
62
extends through the apertures
40
which are located at the edge portions of the disc
30
(see FIG.
2
). The blocking element
63
which fits into the frustoconical aperture
40
is best seen in
FIG. 17
, where the lugs
76
are adapted to engage the rope
62
.
FIGS. 18-20
shows another fastening method where the rapid fastener
84
serves as a means to secure the tray
30
to the netting
24
where
FIG. 18
is a side elevational view of the edge portions of the tray
16
which is shown in FIG.
6
. Apparently, the cord is wrapped around the netting and the annular groove
16
of the tray
30
and the cord ends
81
and
82
are positioned in the locking semi shells
86
and
88
of the rapid fastener
84
(see FIG.
19
).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,515,813 Wilkerson, shows a series of growth plates
12
, that may be stacked and with a mesh cover that is placed over the plates.
As seen in FIG.
3
,the aquatic cultivator
12
has a bore
32
which allows a tether line or cable
20
to pass therethrough. As seen in
FIG. 7
, apparently the aquatic cultivator
12
is held in place by putting a knot
22
in the line
20
.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,511,514 Hichins et al, shows a system in which shellfish which do not attach to support means are raised in the same housing with the shellfish have attached. There is a rope
5
and an outer mesh housing tube that holds shellfish that can secure themselves to the rope and shellfish who can not secure themselves to the rope.
The description discloses a method of cultivating juvenile shellfish that are passed from a hopper
2
into the stocking
4
. The culture rope
5
supports the structure and is apparently tied off at the lower portion.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,594,965 Asher et al, show a means for carrying out in the aquaculture in which there is a tube
31
, and a series of dividers
32
that create growing chambers
33
. The patent relates to the use of electric fields in the system.
As seen in
FIG. 1
the fence
11
carries an electric potential to ward off unwanted marine life. The conduit
12
, as seen in
FIG. 2
, is made from a flexible material and contains a plurality of tubes
14
-
18
therein. Each of these tubes
14
-
18
caring different amounts of nutrients which are described in column
3
, lines
10
+.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,741,159 Halaunbrenner, shows a series of baskets that are joined and hung under water for the growth of shellfish.
As seen in
FIG. 3
, the baskets float and are held down by weights
29
. As seen in
FIGS. 6-7
, the pots
40
are placed in compartments
41
of the baskets
11
-
14
.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,572,292 Quayle et al, shows a series of platforms or oyster bed clutches that are in the form of disc like elements that are secured in a series a line
34
, such as shown in
FIGS. 6
, and
7
.
As seen in
FIG. 7
the clutch
10
is supported by the base portion
39
which is rigidly attached to the rope
34
. The clutches are positioned so that the clutch immediately above and below each clutch is 90 degrees in the horizontal plane (see
11
a
in FIG.
7
).
FIG. 6
shows the clutches stacked in a manner where they are all in the same relative orientation and the knobs
30
and
31
provide separation.
U.S. Pat. No. 249,942 Hughes, shows an oyster raising system in which a scow, with adjustable buoyancy, is provided with slats “F”, that support layers of oysters, so the bottom layers are not crushed.
The background art fails to disclose a support structure that can be retrofitted to existing cultivating nets where proper support is provided for aquatic mussels so that you not become this attached from the net and hence is not retrievable for the aquatic farmer.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to an improved method and device to give support to aquacultured mussels that are clinging to a mesh tubing, rope or similar structure. In general the device (herein referred to the ‘mussel support’, ‘support structure’, ‘mussel support structure ’or ‘mussel support disc’) comprises a support portion, a clearance gap and a support extension. The support portion is a circular shape in the preferred embodiment (however it could be square, rectangular etc.) and covers more surface area in the horizontal plane to provide adequate support for growing aquatic mussels. The clearance gap is of sufficient tangential width to allow the support portion to be substantially concentric with the mesh tubing. The support extension is positio
Hughes Robert B.
Hughes Law Firm PLLC
Penn Cove Shellfish, LLC
Swiatek Robert P.
LandOfFree
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