GB2289200A - A rod-rest for a fishing rod - Google Patents

Abstract

A rod-rest 12 comprises a first arm 23 pivotally attached an one end to a mounting block 15 and movable, by means of the pivotal attachment 21, arcuately, through a substantially upright plane. A second arm 25 is connected to the mounting block 15 and first arm 23 and can be locked to the first arm 23 to secure it in a desired position in the upright plane. A support means for a fishing rod is provided in the form of a fork 40 situated at the other end of the first arm 23 from the mounting block 15. The mounting block 15 may be mounted to a tackle box or seat 10, and may itself be transversely pivotable about an upright axis. <IMAGE>

Description

AN IMPROVED ROD-REST FOR A FISHING ROD This invention relates to a rod-rest for a fishing rod, in particular to a rod-rest which is mounted on a support, for example a fishing tackle box.

In the field of angling, it is often desirable to an angler to place a fishing rod on a rest. This is so that the angler may arrange fishing tackle on a line without holding the rod or placing it on the ground, or that the angler may wait for a "bite" at leisure without the need to hold the rod.

In the past, it has been necessary to use a rod-rest which is securely anchored to the ground. The simplest system is to find a convenient forked stick, drive this into the ground with the fork upwards, then place the shaft of the rod in the fork. The disadvantages of this technique are numerous.

Firstly, there may not be suitably forked sticks to hand, and secondly there is the temptation to cut such a stick from a live tree, which has implications for the environment. A stick having rough bark may cause damage to the rod, and may snag and damage the line.

In order to avoid these problems, rod-rests have been developed which consist of a shaft having a forked end, the shaft being driven into the ground with the forked end upwards as before. These rod-rests are manufactured in the main from metals such as aluminium and steel, often with a coating of a plastics material. The fork end can take many different forms, with some forms now reducing the risk of the line becoming entangled when the rod is placed on the fork end.

However, the main disadvantage with the above examples of rod-rests is that they need to be driven into the ground. This may cause problems as river, lake or canal banks/shores may consist of rocky or dry ground, or they may be defined by stone or concrete slabs. In each of these cases, the above rod-rests would be rendered difficult to use, or even useless.

An aim of this invention is to provide an improved rod-rest which can be used even when the ground is unsuitable for the insertion of known rod-rests.

According to the invention there is provided a rodrest comprising an elongate member pivotally attached at one end to a mounting, said member being movable arcuately through a substantially upright plane, support means for a fishing rod situated at or towards the other end of the elongate member and securing means for securing the elongate member in a desired position in the upright plane.

In a preferred embodiment, the securing means comprises a second elongate member pivotally attached by one end to the mounting, the pivots for the first and second elongate members preferably being arranged one above the other. Preferably the second member is movable arcuately through said substantially upright plane through which the first elongate member is arcuately movable. In a preferred embodiment, the second elongate member is releasably attachable to the first elongate member to lock the first elongate member in the desired position and prevent arcuate movement thereof relative to the mounting.

Preferably, the second elongate member carries at or towards its other end a locking mechanism slidable along the first elongate member to permit the position of the first elongate member to be adjusted in the upright plane and then locked in position. The locking mechanism may be pivotally mounted on the second elongate member.

The locking mechanism may comprise a locking screw in a bore of the mechanism, the screw being arranged such that rotation of the screw in one direction locks the first elongate member thus preventing movement of said member, and reversal of the direction of screw movement releases said member.

Preferably the second elongate member is shorter in length than the first elongate member.

In a preferred embodiment, the or each elongate member is releasably attached to the mounting. On release, the or each elongate member may be carried separately from the mounting (which may be or may be carried by, a tackle box or seat or a combined tackle box and seat) for ease of transit.

Where the mounting is or is carried by a seat or combined tackle box and seat, the mounting may comprise a surface thereof or means mounted on a surface thereof and is preferably positioned whereby the or each elongate member can project outwardly between the legs of a person using the seat.

One preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to the drawings in which: Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a rod-rest according to the invention mounted on a fishing tackle box; Fig. 2 is a side view of the arrangement of Fig.

1, showing various positions to which the rod-rest may be adjusted, and a portion of a rod and line resting in the rod-rest; and, Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the device in a second embodiment of the invention.

A rod-rest 12 according to the invention is carried by a tackle box 10. The tackle box 10 may be a standard proprietary tackle box, having a secondary purpose as a stool. A mounting block 15 is mounted on a front surface 16 of the tackle box 10. The mounting block 15 is generally elongate and square in cross-section.

Upper and lower ends 17,19 respectively of the mounting block 15 are formed with upper and lower slots 18,20 extending along the longitudinal centre line of the mounting block. The slots are defined between flanges 18a,20a.

The mounting block 15 is formed with upper and lower parallel bores 21,22 respectively. The bores extend coaxially through the associated flanges 18a,20a at right angles to the longitudinal centre line of the mounting block 15. The bores 21,22 receive mounting pins or bolts (hereinafter called pins) 21a,22a.

A first arm 23 (constituting the aforesaid first elongate member) of circular cross-section has one end 24 journalled in the upper slot 18 on the pin 21a.

One end 26 of a second arm 25 (constituting the aforesaid second elongate member) of circular crosssection has one end journalled in the lower slot 20 on the pin 22a.

Accordingly the first and second arms 23,25 are arranged for arcuate movement in a vertical plane.

The second arm 25 is considerably shorter in length than the first arm 23, but longer than the distance between the upper and lower bores 21,22.

The opposite end 27 of the second arm 25 has a locking mechanism 29 pivotally mounted thereon, the pivotal mounting allowing arcuate movement of the mechanism relative to the second arm 25, about an axis parallel to the axes of the first and second pins 21a,22a.

Locking mechanism 29 comprises a slider 30 formed with a bore 32 through which slidably passes the first arm 23. The slider is also formed with a further bore 34, said bore 34 being screw-threaded. A locking screw 36 having a knurled head 38 for ease of manual turning, is arranged in the bore 32 and is movable into frictional contact with said first arm 23 to inhibit sliding movement thereof in the bore 32.

At the end of said first arm 23 remote from the box 10 is a fork 40 of known type for supporting a fishing rod 42.

The position of the arm 23 is infinitely adjustable and Fig. 2 shows the rod-rest in various positions, which may be achieved by loosening the grip of the locking screw 36 on the first arm 23, arcuately moving the first arm about pin 21a (which causes sliding of the slider 30 and consequent arcuate movement of the second arm 25), and re-tightening the grip of the locking screw 36 on the first arm 23.

The mounting block 15 and the remainder of the rodrest 12 are preferably readily detachable from each other by removing the pins 21a,22a from the mounting block 15 enabling separate transit of the rod-rest 12 and the tackle box 10, for instance in the boot of a car.

It will be noted that the mounting block 15 is positioned centrally on the front of the box 10 so that the arms 23,25 project between the legs of a user seated on the box 10.

Instead of using a box 10, the mounting block 15 could be arranged on a stool or chair.

Instead of using a locking screw 36 to secure the arm 23, the bore 32 of the locking mechanism 29 could include a friction material which frictionally grips the arm 23. To move the arm 23 to a new position the user would apply sufficient force to the arm 23 to overcome the grip of the friction material. The frictional grip would be sufficient, however, to prevent the arm 23 moving downwards under the weight of the fishing rod 42.

Fig. 3 shows a second embodiment which is similar to the first and only the differences from the first embodiment will be described. The same reference numerals will be used for equivalent features.

The mounting block 15 in the second embodiment is not square in transverse cross-sectic;-, but has a rear surface 44 which is semi-cylindrical about an upright axis, and is longer in the direction of the arms 23,25 than it is wide. The mounting block 15 is itself mounted in a C-shaped mounting bracket 46 in the second embodiment. The bracket 46 defines two arms 48 which receive the mounting block 15 and are connected thereto by pivot pins 50, each of which extends through an arm 48 of the bracket 46 and into the upper or lower surface of the mounting block 15 respectively. the rear, semi-cylindricai surface 44 of the mounting block 15 is then situated just clear of the upright part 52 of the C-shaped bracket between the two arms 48. The upright part 52 includes two vertically spaced apertures (not shown) which are arranged to receive screws (not shown) to attach the bracket 46 to a tackle box or seat or other suitable item.

Thus, the pivot pin 50 connection permits the arms 23,25 to be moved in a transverse arc about an upright axis defined by the pivot pins 50. This enables greater choice in the position for the rod supporting fork 40 on the end of the first arm 23 and hence greater choice in positioning of a fishing rod on the rest 12.

The pivot pins 50 and 21a,22a have broad knurled heads 56,58 in the second embodiment for ease of manual unscrewing for disassembly, so that the rest 12 can be carried compactly.

The rest in either embodiment may be made from any suitable material and may be made entirely from aluminium, or entirely from plastic. Preferably, the tubular arms 23,25 are made from aluminium and the other components of the rest are made from plastics material.

Claims (16)

1. A rod-rest comprising an elongate member pivotally attached at one end to a mounting, said member being arranged to be movable arcuately through a substantially upright plane, support means for a fishing rod situated at or towards the other end of the elongate member and securing means for securing the elongate member in a desired position in the upright plane.

2. A rod-rest as claimed in claim 1, wherein the securing means comprises a second elongate member pivotally attached by one end to the mounting.

3. A rod-rest as claimed in claim 2, wherein the pivots for the first and second elongate members are arranged one above the other.

4. A rod-rest as claimed in claim 3, wherein the second member is movable arcuately through said substantially upright plane through which the first elongate member is arcuately movable.

5. A rod-rest as claimed in claim 2, 3 or 4, wherein the second elongate member is releasably attachable to the first elongate member to lock the first elongate member in the desired position and prevent arcuate movement thereof relative to the mounting.

6. A rod-rest as claimed in any of claims 2 to 5, wherein the second elongate member carries at or towards its other end a locking mechanism slidable along the first elongate member to permit the position of the first elongate member to be adjusted in the upright plane and then locked in position.

7. A rod-rest as claimed in claim 6, wherein the locking mechanism is pivotally mounted on the second elongate member.

8. A rod-rest as claimed in claim 6 or claim 7, wherein the locking mechanism comprises a locking screw in a bore of the mechanism, the screw being arranged such that rotation of the screw in one direction locks the first elongate member thus preventing movement of said member, and reversal of the direction of screw movement releases said member.

9. A rod-rest as claimed in any of claims 2 to 8, wherein the second elongate member is shorter in length than the first elongate member.

10. A rod-rest as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the support means is arranged to be movable transversely to the mounting.

11. A rod-rest as claimed in claim 10, wherein the elongate member is pivotally attached to the mounting so as to be movable arcuately transversely.

12. A rod-rest as claimed in claim 11, wherein the elongate member is arranged to be movable arcuately about an upright axis.

13. A rod-rest as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the or each elongate member is releasably attached to the mounting.

14. A rod-rest as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the mounting is carried by a tackle box or seat or a combined tackle box and seat.

15. A rod-rest as claimed in claim 14, wherein the mounting is carried by a seat and positioned whereby the or each elongate member can project outwardly between the legs of a person using the seat.

16. A rod-rest substantially as described herein with reference to Figs. 1 and 2 or Fig. 3 of the accompanying drawings.