Fishing – trapping – and vermin destroying – Fishing – Holder
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-15
2001-07-10
Rowan, Kurt (Department: 3643)
Fishing, trapping, and vermin destroying
Fishing
Holder
Reexamination Certificate
active
06256925
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to the storage of a particular variety of artificial fish baits (i.e., lures) wherein the lures have a relatively large planar element that depends from the lure. The depending element is generally called a blade or a “spoon,” and said lures are commonly called spinnerbaits-because of the spinning action of the spoon-shaped blade as the lure is pulled through the water by a fisherman. More specifically, the invention relates to segregation of individual lures from one another when they are stored, so that a given lure can be selectively retrieved by a fisherman without the risk that the selected lure will be tangled with other lures.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A popular form of artificial bait (i.e., a lure) for fishermen is a device that consists primarily of a piece of narrow wire, usually stiff piano wire having a diameter of about 0.040 inch and having a length of about five to eight inches. The wire is bent at a point near its middle to define a generally “V”-shaped member. When the “V”-shaped member is inverted, the two depending sections of wire have the appearance of two elongated legs, and they will be referred to herein as legs. The distal end of a fishing line is routinely connected to the apex of the V, so that the lure can be pulled through the water by a fisherman to simulate the movement of a minnow or a small fish that might be attractive to a large fish that is to be caught. At the distal end of one of the legs is a body or “head” and a downwardly extending hook whose presence is generally concealed by a plurality of narrow and flexible strips that, in toto, define a sort of depending skirt around the hook. At the lower end of the other leg is secured a plate or blade, usually having a slightly concave shape (as seen from the side) and often called a spoon because of the similarity in appearance to the shallow bowl of a teaspoon. As seen in a plan view, the plate may be said to usually have a generally elliptical shape, and it is often brightly painted or made of shiny metal.
A swivel connector is used to connect the forward end of the spoon to the second leg, so that the spoon will swivel or “spin” as the lure is pulled through the water. This spinning characteristic of a moving spoon justifies the name that is given to such lures, namely, spinnerbaits. An exemplary spinnerbait is shown in
FIG. 3
of U.S. Pat. No. 4,999,943 to Crabtree entitled “Seat Pedestal Lure Container.” A system for storing spinnerbaits using see-through packets or envelopes is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,927,016 to Fuller entitled “Spinner Bait Box And Storage System.”
The wide angle between the two wire legs of a spinnerbait, which is often about 80 degrees, usually causes the lures to be somewhat awkward to handle when they are being put into and taken from a storage place. And if several loose spinnerbaits are hastily thrown into a pile in the bottom of an ordinary tackle box, they frequently become entangled with one another, such that it is often hard to pull one of them from a pile without also lifting one or two other ones at the same time. Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a storage device for spinnerbaits (or spinning lures) that will permit a single one to be selectively removed from a storage receptacle in a quick and easy manner—without disturbing others that are stored in adjacent receptacles.
Another object is to provide a holding system for spinnerbaits in which they are held in place by a force other than gravity, such that accidentally inverting a container will not result in spilling all of the contained spinnerbaits on the floor.
A further object is to provide a way of “bulk” loading of a plurality of spinnerbaits into a container for transportation to a favorite fishing hole, and the spinnerbaits having previously been categorized by color, size, blade type, etc.
These and other objects will be apparent from consideration of the following disclosure and reference to the drawing provided herewith.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The invention comprises a combination for use by fishermen to foster the orderly storage and management of a certain kind of artificial lure, namely, spinnerbaits. To provide a frame of reference for use in defining the invention, it will no doubt be appropriate to clearly defme the spinnerbaits that are to be stored by the invention. A typical spinnerbait has a principal structure consisting of a piece of spring wire that is bent, near its middle, into a generally V shape. The bending step creates first and second elongated legs that depend from an apex that is not excessively far from the middle of the spring wire. That is, the legs are usually of different lengths, because the bend is not in the center of the wire; but both legs have a significant length, i.e., in excess of one inch. The included angle between the two depending legs is usually about 80 degrees when the spinnerbait is at rest, i.e., when there is no tension in the wire. The two legs have distal ends that are remote from the apex of the spring wire, and there is a blade attached to the distal end of the first one of the legs. A body, also sometimes known as a head, is attached to the distal end of the other leg.
The spring wire usually has a diameter on the order of 0.040 inch and it has sufficient resilience to cause the spinnerbait to repeatedly return to its rest configuration after the two legs have been temporarily forced toward one another by a manual force. The bend in the wire may be a smooth bend, or, more commonly, there is a small loop or some irregularity that facilitates the attachment of a leader that can be connected—with a swivel—to the distal end of a fishing line.
A major feature of the invention is an open-top receptacle for receiving and holding the blade of a spinnerbait. The preferred receptacle has a pair of rigid, confronting and spaced-apart walls that are designated (for identification purposes) as first and second walls. The spacing between the first and second walls is made less than the width of a spinnerbait blade, in order that a vertically oriented blade within a receptacle cannot rotate about a vertical axis within the receptacle. Additionally, the first wall has a small notch that is sized and located to receive and restrain one leg of the spring wire against movement in a side-to-side direction with respect to the receptacle.
Another major part of the invention may be broadly described as a means for holding a given spinnerbait against accidental removal from the particular receptacle in which it is being stored. The holding is accomplished by manually placing the spring wire in tension by temporarily forcing the distal ends of the two legs together in order that the included angle between the two legs is appreciably less than the original 80 degrees. There is also a structure for restraining the legs and holding them against their natural tendency to return to a rest condition, i.e., to spread the legs back to the position they had before they were slightly distended during insertion. The preferred structure includes a small plate that is inclined away from and affixed to the first wall, and the plate having a generally L-shaped recess into which a leg of the spinnerbait is inserted when the spinnerbait is to be stored. The structural plate and an appropriately shaped and sized recess do their holding in a completely passive manner, in the sense that they have no moving parts or springs, etc. Instead of using moving parts, holding of a spinnerbait is accomplished in this invention by relying—at least primarily—on the resilience that is inherent in the wire of a spinnerbait. Observing this rule avoids the need for a separate spring that must be present and remain functional until such time as a spinnerbait is to be manually removed from a holding device. Expressed in other words, this invention does not have the limitation of requiring an “external” biasing spring—as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,604,822 to Christenberry entitled “Fishing Lure Holder.”
Another w
McHugh Charles W.
Rowan Kurt
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