GB2203211A

GB2203211A - Clutch/brake mechanism for fly-fishing reel

Info

Publication number: GB2203211A
Application number: GB08802153A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Berne Bringsen
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1987-02-05
Filing date: 1988-02-01
Publication date: 1988-10-12
Anticipated expiration: 2008-02-01
Also published as: SE8700434D0; GB8802153D0; GB2203211B; SE455257B

Abstract

The mechanism for adjustably braking a spool, such as the line spool of a fly-fishing reel, which is rotatably mounted on a shaft, has a first brake disk (6) fixed to the shah, and a second brake disk (7) co-operating with the first disk for braking the spool. The brake mechanism further has an outer sleeve (9) to which the rotatable spool is fixedly connected, and an inner sleeve (8) which is rotatably mounted on the shaft and connected to the outer sleeve by means of a free-wheel bearing (10), whereby the outer sleeve and, thus, the spool are freely rotatable about the inner sleeve in one direction of rotation and rotatable together with the inner sleeve in the opposite direction of rotation. The second brake disk (7) is fixed to the inner sleeve (8), and an adjusting knob (11) is arranged, with adjustable force, to press the brake disks against each other. <IMAGE>

Description

BRAKE MECHANISM FOR ADJUSTABLY BRAKING A SPOOL ROTATABLY MOUNTED ON A SHAFT The present invention relates to a brake mechanism for adjustably braking a spool, such as the line spool of a fly-fishing reel, which is rotatably mounted on a shaft, said mechanism having a first brake disk fixed to the shaft, and a second brake disk cooperating with the first disk for braking the spool.

In most of today's fly-fishing reels, the brake mechansim consists of a spring-loaded pawl which, depending on the spring tension, engages with varying force in a ratchet fixed to the line spool. The spring tension is adjusted by an adjusting knob which is mounted on the outer side of the line spool housing.

One drawback of such a brake mechanism is that the braking effect on the line spool becomes jerky because of the ratchet, which may result in that the fishing line breakes when a fish hooked on the line abruptly runs with it. Further, this line spool can be rotated with a handle mounted on the opposite side of the line spool in relation to the ratchet of the brake mechanism. This means that when playing a fish hooked on the line, it becomes difficult to alternate the winding of the line taking place during retrieve, with adjustment of the braking effect on the line spool during pay-out of the line taking place when the.fish runs with the line.In practice, this means that the fisherman will only brake the line spool with one hand when playing the fish since it will take too much time and be too complicated to shift the fishing reel from one hand to the other when a heavy fish is hooked on one end of the line of a fly reel.

In many casting reels, the brake mechanism consists of a complicated mechanism including two or more coope rating brake disks. Thus, SE 7102590-2 discloses a casting reel having a complicated brake mechanism which basically consists of a friction clutch. The braking force of this friction clutch is adjusted by axial displacement of the shaft on which the friction clutch is mounted, in relation to a bushing in which one threaded end of the shaft can be screwed.

Because of this design of the brake mechanism, the casting reel according to the SE patent will have a rather complicated construction comprising a number of bearings and springs which are difficult to protect from moisture and salt and also difficult to exchange. Further, this known casting reel is expensive to manufacture because of its complicated construction.

Another drawback inherent in a casting reel of this type is that the line is braked with the same force, whether it is wound on the line spool or it is paid out therefrom, which means that the fisherman must himself reduce the force of application of the friction clutch before he starts winding the line onto the spool, e.g. for retrieving a fish hooked on the line. Considering that the fisherman, during the retrieve of a fish, switches many times from winding to unwinding of the line, he will be forced when retrieving one and the same fish, to manually adjust the braking effect on the line spool several times, which is of course both time-consuming and a source of irritation.

In this context, it should also be noted that the same brake mechanisms as are used in casting reels can hardly be used in fly reels since these latter reels have a quite different design. This can be explained e.g. by the fact that heavy lures are used as bait in bait casting whereas light-weight flies are used in fly fishing. This of course means that these two different reel types are used with completely different lines and fishing techniques.

The object of the present invention therefore is to provide a simple and inexpensive brake mechanism for adjustably braking e.g. the line spool of a fly reel, which brake mechanism allows smooth braking of the line spool without the fisherman having to brake the spool with one hand, as well as automatic resetting of the braking force acting on the line spool when switching from unwinding to winding of the line onto the line spool.

According to the invention, this object is achieved by a brake mechanism of the type described in the introduction to this specification, which is characterized by an outer sleeve to which the rotatable spool is fixedly connected, and an inner sleeve which is rotatable about the shaft and connected to the outer shaft by means of a free-wheel bearing, whereby the outer sleeve and, thus, the spool are freely rotatable about the inner sleeve in one direction of rotation and rotatable together with the inner sleeve in the opposite direction of rotation, said second brake disk being fixed to the inner sleeve, and an adjusting means being arranged, with adjustable force, to press the brake disks against each other.

In a preferred embodiment, the shaft has a threaded end portion on which the adjusting means, which comprises an internally threaded adjusting knob, is screwed for pressing the second brake disk against the first brake disk.

The invention will be described in more detail hereinbelow with reference to the accompanying drawing which is a longitudinal section of a fly reel according to the present invention.

The fly reel shown in the drawing has a reel housing 1 comprisingsa side plate 2 and a support frame 3 integrally formed with the side plate. The support frame 3 has a fitting 4 for mounting the fly reel on a fishing rod (not shown).

A shaft 5 extending parallel to the support frame 3 is fixedly connected at one end portion 5a to the side plate 2 of the reel housing 1.

A first brake disk 6 is fixed to the shaft 5 such that it engages the inner side of the side plate 2 with one of its side faces. A second brake disk 7 provided at one end of an inner sleeve 8 rotatably mounted on the shaft 5 can be pressed, as will be described in more detail hereinbelow, against the first brake disk 6 so that a braking effect is produced on the inner sleeve 8.

An outer sleeve 9 is connected to the inner sleeve 8 by means of a free-wheel bearing 10 provided along the inner periphery of the outer sleeve.

In the following description and in the claims, the term "free-wheel bearing" relates to a bearing which allows rotation of the outer sleeve 9 in relation to the inner sleeve 8 only in one direction of rotation, i.e. the outer sleeve 9 is freely rotatable about the inner sleeve 8 in one direction of rotation and rotatable together with the inner sleeve 8 in the opposite direction of rotation. This bearing is e.g. an INA bearing, type designation HFL 0812.

As appears from the drawing, an adjusting knob 11 having a threaded throughhole is screwed on the other, threaded end portion 5b of the shaft. The adjusting knob is prevented from rotating with the inner sleeve 8 by means of an intermediate radial bearing 12. This radial bearing is surrounded by washers 13 preventing the radial bearing 12 from eating into the outer and the inner sleeve and into a spring washer 14 disposed between the washers 13 and the adjusting knob 11. The spring washer 14 prevents the adjusting knob 11 from itself rotating from a given position on the shaft 5. A set screw 15 screwed in a correspond ing threaded hole in the threaded end portion 5b of the shaft 5 prevents the adjusting knob 11 from being unscrewed from the shaft 5.

A rotary line spool 16 having two substantially radial end flanges 16a and 16b is disposed between the outer sleeve 9 and the support frame 3 of the reel housing,l, one end flange 16b of the spool 16 being fixedly connected at its inner periphery to the outer sleeve 9 by means of a set screw 17 and engaging, at its outer periphery, the free end portion of the support frame 3. Further, the line spool 16 can be rotated by means of a handle 18 mounted on the end flange 16b by means of a screw 19, i.e.

the handle 18 and the adjusting knob 11 are located on the same side of the line spool.

The function of the fly reel will now be described in more detail. In order that no braking force should act on the line during the initial unwinding thereof from the line spool 16, the fisherman starts each cast by turning the adjusting knob 11 anticlockwise until the brake disks 6 and 7 are no longer engaging each other. He then performs a cast, paying out the line from the line spool, and thereafter starts slowly winding up the line on the line spool. If, during this winding operation, a fish is hooked on the line and starts pulling, the fisherman turns the adjusting knob clockwise until the second brake disk 7 is pressed against the first brake disk 6.Since the outer sleeve 9 and, thus, the line spool 16 rotate together with the inner sleeve 8 in the pay-out direction, the braking force produced between the brake disks will also act on the line spool 16 and, thus, on the line, which means that the fisherman, with the easily accessible adjusting knob 11, can adjust the rate at which the hooked fish can pull out the line. When the fisherman thereafter wishes to wind the line onto the line spool 16 for subse quently playing the fish, he need only move his hand from the adjusting knob 11 to the nearby handle 18 be able to reel the line onto the line spool without any braking force acting on the line. This is possible because the outer sleeve 9 and, thus, the line spool 16 are freely rotatable about the inner sleeve 8 in the wind-up.direction.

It goes without saying that the invention is not restricted to the embodiment described above and shown in the drawing, but may be modified in several different ways within the spirit and scope of the accompanying claims. For instance, the brake disk 7 may be provided at its outer periphery with a gear rim with which a pawl engages for producing a noise, e.g. when the line is pulled out by a fish hooked on the line. This pawl may, for instance, be brought into and out of engagement with the gear rim by means of a knob provided on the outer side of the side plate 2.

Claims

1. A brake mechanism for adjustably braking a spool, such as the line spool of a fly-fishing reel, which is rotatably mounted on a shaft, said mechanism having a first brake disk fixed to the shaft, and a second brake disk cooperating with said first brake disk for braking the spool, c h a r a c t e r i z e d by an outer sleeve to which the rotatable spool is fixedly connected, and an inner sleeve which is rotatably mounted on the shaft and which is connected to said outer sleeve by means of a free-wheel bearing, whereby the outer sleeve and, thus, the spool are freely rotatable about the inner sleeve in one direction of rotation and rotatable together with the inner sleeve in the opposite direction of rotation, said second brake disk being fixed to said inner sleeve, and an adjusting means being arranged, with adjustable force, to press said brake disks against each other.

2. Brake mechanism as claimed in claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the shaft has a threaded end portion on which said adjusting means, which comprises an internally threaded adjusting knob, is screwed for pressing said second brake disk against said first brake disk.