CA1036336A - Method of affixing rod wraps to a fishing rod - Google Patents

Abstract

Inventor: Gerald B. Klein Title: A METHOD OF AFFIXING ROD WRAPS TO A
FISHING ROD

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE

Wraps to hold line guides on a fisherman's rod are formed as sleeve-like units which may include an embed-ment of a length of wound thread in a clear, elastomeric plastic resin, or which may comprise a cylindrical sleeve of elastic plastic resins. The sleeve-like wraps are expanded in diameter by any conventional expanding tool and then chilled, or "frozen" to remain in an ex-panded state after the expanding tool is removed. While expanded, the wraps are fitted onto a fishing rod and over the face of line guides on the rod. Thereafter, warming of the frozen wraps to ambient temperatures per-mits them to contract to their original size to fit tightly upon the rod.

Description

The present invention relates to the wrapping of flshing rods, and more particularly to methods for forming and applying wraps to fishing rods.
Conventionally, a fishing rod is provided with line guides spaced along the reach of the rod and a line eye, the tip top, at the end of the rod to extend the line along the rod when it is in use. These line guides may be eyelets or simple wire loops having suitable opposing flattened ends, or feetJ
which lie against the rod and are held in place by wraps of thread about the rod. Such a wrap is usually formed by winding a nylon thread or other thread about the rod and upon the foot of a line guide with turns of the thread lying side by side in a neat appearing arrangement. The tread is held tight during the wrapping and the pressure of the resulting wrap tightly holds the line guide in place. After such a wrap has been wound upon a rod, it is covered by one or more protective coats of a high quality varnishJ resin or lacquer.
In addition to the rod wraps which hold the line guides in place, other short wraps may be spaced along the rod to reinforce its basic structure and to improve the appearance of the rod.
The wrapping of fishing rods is a manual operation requiring a high tegree of skill and often it takes several years of experience before an operator can attain suitable skill and sufficient speed to be productive.
Thus, these rod wrapping operations are expensive and amount to a substantial portion of the cost of the rod. With-the present turbulent labor situation, a real problem exists in findingJ training and hiring and keeping good wrap-pers. As a resultJ various expedients have been proposed to mechanize wrap-ping operations or to find a suitable substitute for such wraps. For exampleJ
it has been suggested that a plastic sleeve could be used as a substitute for a wrap and such a sleeve could be fitted upon a rod by heat shrinking so that it will attain sufficient tightness as to hold it in place. This desirable result has not been attained in that it has been found that a sleeve of a type -`
of plastic suitable for a shrink fit and which can be shrunk into place by heat will not have sufficient strength to hold a line guide in place and will ; not grip the rod with sufficient tightness so as to prevent it from slipping.
A rod wrap must grip the rod and the foot of a guide so tightly that neither , ... , . . , . - .
., ~- . '' . . ' ' ' ' ~V36336 the wrap nor the foot under it will slip even when the rod is abused in a manner which could cause a non-too-tight wrap to slip.
A glueing of a rod wrap in place has been proposed but the materials forming a rod will not easily accept a glue, or adhesive, and again tight gripping of the rod is not attained. Moreover, it is desirable that a rod wrap have a slight degree of flexibility on the rod. Accordingly, most rods manufactured today are hand wrapped even though the operation is expensive, and labor problems limit the production of such rods.
The present invention was conceived and developed with the fore-going and other c~nsiderations in view and is directed to a technique for affixing a sleeve-like rod wrap which itself is of a novel construction. This wrap consists of a cylinder of a strong material, such as polyurethane or nylon which may contain a wrapping of a selected thread embedded within the cylinder. With the wrapping encased in a tough resin coating of an elastomeric plastic, the problems which arise when the varnish of a conventional wrap com-mences to deteriorate are avoided. The improved and simplified method of applying such a sleeve-like wrap to a rod contemplates that the diameter of the wrap is increased as by stretching. The increased-diameter wrap is then treated or fixed such as by freezing, to remain in its expanded state after the expanding device is removed for at least a short period of time. The stretched wrap is then placed in position upon a rod, the final step being to ;~ -return the wrap to its original size, as by returning it to ambient tempera- -ture, if the operation is freezing, to tightly grip the rod.
It follows that an object of the present invention is to provide a novel and improved sleeve-like wrap which may be fitted upon a rod to hold a line guide or the like, and which permits the feet of a line guide to be serrated or otherwise prepared for tighter gripping by the wrap.
Another object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved sleeve-like rod wrap which can be produced at a very low unit cost and which will significantly reduce the cost of production of fishing rods.
Another object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved sleeve-like rod wrap which is made of selected materials and is a high quality, . r ~ ' ' :
,~<, ,'~ ' , ' ~036336 strong product with an encapsulated thread rendering the same considerably more durable than the present hand wraps.
Another object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved method of affixing a sleeve-like rod wrap onto a fishing rod which involves simple, easily performed steps that result in an exceedingly tight fit of the wrap on the rod.
Another object of the invention is to provide a sleeve-like wrap for a fishing rod formed as a cylinder of wound thread within a plastic embed-ment which eliminates conventional varnishing operations and is neat appear- ~-ing, economical, strong, tough and capable of withstanding considerable abuse.
With the foregoing and other objects in view, the present invention comprises certain constructions, combinations and arrangements of parts and elements, and steps and sequences, all as hereinafter described, defined in the appended claims and illustrated in preferred embodiment in the accompany-ing drawing, in which:
Figure 1 illustrates a fragment of a fishing rod with a line guide thereon being held by rod wraps constructed and applied in accordance with the principles of the invention.
Figure 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of one type of rod wrap constructed according to the invention but illustrated on a greatly enlarged -scale. -~ ~
Figure 2a is a fragmentary sectional view similar to a portion of .~ -Figure 2, but illustrating a modified mode of thread wrapping. -. ~ , Figure 3 is a longitudinal sectional view similar to the showing at Figure 2, but illustrating a modified form of a rod wrap.
Figure 4 is a diagrammatic sectional view of a rod wrap formed as a unitary member which may also represent wraps illustrative of a first step of a sequence of applying the wrap to a fishing rod in accordance with the inven-tion.
Figure 4a is a diagrammatic view similar to Figure 4 but illustrat-ing the expander as being expanded to enlarge the diameter of the rod wrap.

Figure 4b is a diagrammatic view of the enlarged rod wrap of Figure .... . . .
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4a after it has been frozen and with the expander removed.
Figure 4c is a diagrammatic view of the enlarged, fro~en rod wrap fitted upon a rod with the foot of a line guide being in place.
Figure 4d is a diagrammatic view similar to Figure 4c but after the rod wrap has warmed to ambient temperature and has shrunk upon the rod.
Figures 5 and Sa are enlarged fragmentary perspective views showing the foot of a line guide to be placed under a wrap, having a serrated surface thereon.
Referring first to Figure 1 of the drawing, a pair of the improved wraps W, sleeve-like members, are fitted upon a rod R to hold the opposing feet F of a line guide G. The general appearance of these wraps is conven-tional, and it is essential that they fit very tightly about the rod, with the foot portions F of the line guide being extended underneath each wrap, as illustrated. In one embodiment of a wrap W, each wrap is formed as a tight winding of thread 20. Conventionally, the thread is wound directly upon the `-rod, and in the preferred embodiment, the thread is wrapped upon a thin inner sleeve 21. The thread 20 is also within an outer cover 22 so that the sleeve -~
21 and outer cover fully embed the thread. Preferably, this thread 20 is of nylon and the inner sleeve 21 and outer cover 22 are a clear polyurethane.
The diameter of this wrap W, ~hen it is first formed, will be established by ~ -the diameter of the rod R at the point where the wrap is to be placed, and the inside diameter of a wrap W will be measurably less than the rod diameter at that point in order to produce a tight fit of the wrap upon the rod, as hereinafter described. Other proportions of the wrap, its thickness and length, may be varied. The wrap may be of any selected length and the thick-ness will depend upon the diameter of the thread and the amount of plastic used for the sleeve 21 and cover 22. While the wrap may be formed by winding a length of thread upon the inner sleeve 21, as a continuous wind about the sleeve, a wrap W' may also be formed by weaving thread upon the sleeve 21 as indicated at 20' at Figure 2a. In either arrangement, a short reach of the plastic cover 22 extends beyond the wrapped thread at each end of the wrap to ~; -provide for a neatly finished edging 23, and also to better contain one or .

1~36336 more ends 24 of the thread wrapping, as hereinafter further described.
Although a nylon thread 20 is preferred, other strong fiber materi-als of synthetic resin plastics can be used. The plastic materials 21 and 22 which embed this thread are preferably tough, thermoplastic types of poly-urethane, such as the type known as Pellethane*, manufactured by The Upjohn Co. of Kalamazoo, Michigan. Other strong, tough, plastic polymers such as styrene butadiene, and natural and synthetic rubbers may also be used to form either the thread or the wrap. Other resins, which are used to form this wrap W, must have similar characteristics to nylon and polyurethane, in that such materials must have sufficient resilience as to permit them to be stretched,and they must be capable of being fixed while in a stretched state at least for a short period of time. It is believed that the stretching ac- ~;
tion may be either a resilient, an elastomeric, or a plastic-memory phenomenon of a type commonly observed in many synthetic resins. The basic feature of the stretching action herein considered resides in the fact that the resin may be stretched, or expanded, and then remain in a stretched, or expanded, state for a short time period before recovery, that is, before returning to, or approximately to, the initial unstretched state. This may be accomplished with some materials by softening them with volatile solvents, such as, for example, polyurethane can be softened and expanded with methylene chloride.
This may also be accomplished by holding the material stretched for an extend- -~
ed time period or, more quickly and as preferred, by lowering the temperature of the material by chilling below ambient temperature and in some cases, to cryogenic temperature. This latter operation, which as above stated consti-tutes the preferred mode according to the present invention, will be herein-after referred to as "freezing". When so frozen, the plastic resins suitable for the purpose at hand will return to their original state once the materials are warmed to ambient temperature, an operation which will be hereinafter referred to as "warming".
A rod wrap may alternatively be formed without the use of thread.
As exemplified at Figure 3, a modified wrap W" includes an inner, cylindrical * Trademark : : :

1~36336 `~ sleeve 20" of a strong plastic material, such as nylon, or a hard, high-tensile strength polyurethane, which is suitably encased within a plastic, outer cover 22" of a clear, tough, water-resistant material, such as polyurethane or other elastomers. The modified wrap W" is also formed with a short portion of the cover 22" extending beyond each end of the sleeve 20" as an edging 23" to im-prove the appearance of the unit. Also, if the cover 22" is transparent, the sleeve 20" may be of a selected color and surface texture to provide for a distinctive unit. A further modified, simplified wrap can consist of a cylin-drical sleeve of a single material. A strong, tough polyurethane such as Pellethane* 2103-9Oa manufactured by the Upjohn Company of Kalamazoo, Michigan, U.S.A., or a nylon material may be used for this purpose, although the quality and appearance of this simplified, one-piece wrap may not always be as good as that of the wrap W.
Such unitary or two-piece, or even the threaded wraps, may be formed by several conventional processes such as by extrusion or by injection molding processes. The rod wrap may also be formed without the inner sleeve 21 by coating the thread with an elastomeric plastic such as polyurethane, and the wraps of the thread may then be fused together, either before or when the outer cover 22 is applied by extrusion or in any other manner, such as by injection molding or spraying. Also, in injection molding, the pressure may be such as to force the plastic forming the outer cover 22 into and through the inter-stices of the thread fibers. In either case, the fusion operation of the coat-ing on the adjacent wraps or high pressure injection molding will form the ;~ equivalent of the inner sleeve 21, if such a sleeve is not provided in advance - of forming the cover 22.
It is essential that the wraps W and W' be fitted upon the fishing rod with an exceedingly tight fit which is comparable to that which can be attained when a thread is wrapped about a rod in a conventional manner. In accordance with the preferred mode of practicing the present invention, to attain this very tight fit, the wrap W is forcibly expanded to a size greater than the diameter of the fishing rod at the point where the wrap is to be placed. Once expanded, the wrap is frozen and to a temperature where it will * Trademark ' ' ' ':
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~036336 not immediately return to its initial size although it will do so when warmed to ambient temperature. The freezing temperature will depend upon the plastic materials forming the wrap and a suitable low temperature for a given resin can be easily determined by simple experiments. For example, with the nylon thread and polyurethane cover, a temperature of approximately 10 F was found to be sufficient. Cryogenic temperatures ~as might be obtained by using liquid nitrogen) may be preferable to extend the time before the wrap waTms.
Thereafter, the frozen wrap is fitted upon the fishing rod, with the foot of a guide being placed underneath it at a proper position. The wrap is then allowed to warm to ambient temperature. Responsive to this warming, the wrap regains its natural elasticity to contract to its original size, or nearly so, and to grip the rod and a line guide foot F with an exceedingly tight fit, for the initial size of the wrap will be somewhat less than the diameter of the rod at the point where the wrap is to be placed, as heretofore mentioned.
This sequence of operations is diagrammatically illustrated at Fig-. ures 4, 4a, 4b, 4c and 4d. The expansion of the wrap W to an increased diam-eter may be accomplished with any suitable tool, and a conventional expander ; E may be used for this purpose. The expander E, as illustrated, is a simp}e cylindrical tube having a circumferential array of longitudinal slots 29 in the walls, each of which commences at a hole 29' near one end of the tube and terminates at the opposite end of the tube, and with the slots being opposite-ly directed from adjacent slots in an alternating manner as illustrated in the figure. The passageway through the tube is a tapered core 30 extending through the expander E. When a taper pin, not shown at Figures 4 and 4a, which corres-ponds to the tapered core 30 of the expander, is driven into the expander the slots will spread apart, as illustrated at Figure 4a, to increase the diameter of the wrap W. The wrap, the expander and the pin may then be subjected to a reduced temperature to freeze ~he wrap. When the wrap is frozen, the pin may be removed from the expander E to permit it to contract and then be removed ; from the wrap to leave a frozen, expanded wrap W as shown at Figure 4b. There-after, the frozen wrap W is placed upon a fishing rod R with the foot F of a - :
':-~03~336 guide G in place, as shown at Figure 4c. As the wrap warms, it reduces in size to tightly grip the rod and foot as shown at Figure 4d. For a better fit and a tighter gripping of the foot by the wrap, the upper surface of a foot may be corrugated as shown at f at Figure 5 or even knurled as at f' as shown at Figure Sa. Such corrugations are not possible with conventional wraps because they will cut the threads or the wrap; accordingly a much better gripping by this improved wrap with a corrugated foot is possible.
It was discovered that when the specified polyurethane resin forming the inner sleeve 21 and outer cover 22 would freeze at approximately 10 F., the nylon threads would also remain in the expanded state, as shown at Figure 4b. The fro~en wrap may be stored for a substantial time period, then placed or fitted on a rod, and thereafter will return to, or nearly to, its initial si7e upon thawing.
~ nce a wrap W, W' or Wt' is placed upon a fishing rod R and allowed to warm, it-will shrink and grip the rod tightly. ~owever, to attain an even tighter grip upon the rod, the rod can conceivably be placed in an oven and heated to a temperature approximating 300 F. to cause a further shrinking action and gripping of the rod.

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Claims (3)

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:

1. A fastening method for securely attaching a line guide or other relatively rigid fishing rod implement to a flexible fishing rod with a sleeve-like rod wrap having an inside diameter at normal room temperature less than the diameter of the rod and being formed of a strong, tough resilient polymer material having characteristics similar to nylon which exhibits the properties of being capable of being elastically stretched at normal room temperature, fixed in its stretched state by lowering the temperature thereof below normal room temperature whereby the elasticity is temporarily lost, and subsequently returned towards its original unstretched state by being allowed to warm toward normal room temperature without requiring the application of additional heat thereto such that the elasticity thereof is regained, said fastening method comprising the steps of: radially expanding the rod wrap and elastically stretching same to increase its inside diameter to a diameter greater than the diameter of the rod; lowering the temperature of the expanded rod wrap sufficiently to cause the rod wrap to lose its elasticity and remain in a fixed and expanded state by applying a cooling medium to the expanded wrap; thereafter removing the cooling medium and, before the rod wrap warms sufficiently to regain its elasticity, physically placing the rod wrap about the rod and at least a portion of the rod implement to be attached thereto, whereby the rod wrap, as it warms toward normal room temperature and regains elasticity, will contract and tightly grip the rod and the rod implement in a tensioned condition to secure the rod implement to the rod.

2. A fastening method as defined in Claim 1, wherein the rod wrap is formed of nylon.

3. A fastening method as defined in Claim 2, wherein the temperature of the rod wrap is lowered to cryogenic temperatures.