GB2305342A

GB2305342A - Fish bite indicator

Info

Publication number: GB2305342A
Application number: GB9519143A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Clifford Royston Fox
Original assignee: Fox Design International Ltd
Current assignee: Fox Design International Ltd
Priority date: 1995-09-19
Filing date: 1995-09-19
Publication date: 1997-04-09
Anticipated expiration: 2015-09-19
Also published as: GB9519143D0; GB2305342B

Abstract

In a fish bite indicator having detector means which serve to provide a line movement detect signal at an output thereof upon movement of a line of a fishing rod, and indicator signal generating means 40,4 connected to the output of the detector means to generate an indicator signal upon receipt of such a detect signal, a switch 38 is located, when the indicator is in use, so as to be switched into different respective conditions in dependence upon whether a part of a fishing rod is being supported by rod support means or not, the switch being connected to terminate issue of the indicator signal upon lifting of such a rod away from such support means.

Description

Fish bite indicator The present invention relates to a fish bite indicator, especially but not exclusively for use in fishing for predator fish such as pike.

Hitherto such indicators have comprised a head portion which is clipped to a line of a fishing rod and a lead from that head to the main body of the indicator.

When a fish pulls the line clear of the head, movement thereof causes a diode or buzzer in the main body of the indicator to issue a signal. A problem encountered with such an indicator is that the alarm may continue to emit light or sound after a strike has been made, so that the user is either distracted by the alarm whilst endeavouring to catch the fish, or else his efforts to switch the alarm off may result in loss of the fish.

The present invention seeks to obviate this disadvantage.

Accordingly the present invention is directed to a fish bite indicator having detector means which serve to provide a line movement detect signal at an output thereof upon movement of a line of a fishing rod, indicator signal generating means connected to the output of the detector means to generate an indicator signal upon receipt of such a detect signal, and a switch which is located, when the indicator is in use, so as to be switched into different respective conditions in dependence upon whether a part of a fishing rod is being supported by rod support means or not, the switch being connected to terminate issue of the indicator signal upon lifting of such a rod away from such support means.

The indicator may include support means which serve to support a part of such a rod, when the indicator is in use. The support means may be U-shaped, and the switch may be located at the base of the U.

Preferably, the switch comprises a pressure sensitive switch, preferably having a sealing membrane.

The detector means may comprise a head portion having line engagement means and a flexible lead between the head portion and the rest of the indicator.

In one advantageous embodiment, the indicator may be provided with attachment means to enable a main body of the indicator to be attached to a bank stick, and a clip which engages the bank stick in a slidable fashion and which is engaged by the flexible lead.

The clip may be resilient. Preferably it is made of plastics, more preferably in the form of a Terry clip.

Preferably the detector means comprises a mercury tilt switch. The line engagement means may include two portions which are resiliently urged towards one another.

Adjustment means may be provided to enable a selective adjustment to be made to the two portions which are urged towards one another.

The indicator signal generating means may comprise a light emitter such as a light emitting diode and/or a sound emitter, such as a buzzer or a bleeper. The indicator signal generating means, or part thereof, may be provided on the head portion.

An example of a fish bite indicator made in accordance with the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 shows a side view of the indicator in use, with the indicator being mounted on a bank stick and part of a fishing rod being supported by a main body of the indicator; Figure 2 shows a front view of the main body of the indicator; Figure 3 shows a side view of the main body of the indicator; Figure 4 shows a front view of the indicator with a front part of the housing thereof removed to reveal internal parts of the indicator; Figure 5 shows an axial sectional view through the indicator taken in the plane indicated by the line V-V in Figure 2; Figure 6a shows an enlarged side view of a head of the indicator shown in Figure 1; Figure 6b shows an axial sectional view through the head shown in Figure 6a; and Figure 7 shows electronic circuitry of the indicator.

As shown in Figure 1, the indicator comprises a main body 10 extending upwardly from the top of a bank stick 12 on to which it is mounted via a screw-threaded connector 14. The rear of the main body 10 is provided with a socket connector 16 which receives a matching plug connector 18. From the latter there extends a flexible electrical connecting lead 20 which is about S0cms long.

It extends downwardly alongside the bank stick 12 to a plastics Terry clip 21. The latter is snap fitted onto the stick 12. The lead 20 engages that clip and extends outwardly therefrom on a slight upward slant, and terminates at its distal end at a head 22 of the indicator.

A fishing rod 24, which is in this case designed for the catching of predatory fish such as pike, has its handle 26 supported by the main body 10 of the indicator.

A line engagement clip 28 at the free end of the head 22 engages a line 30 of the rod 24. This line 30 therefore extends from the reel 32 of the rod 24 downwardly to the position where it is engaged by the clip 28, and then upwardly on a slant towards the forward end of the rod 24.

Details of the main body 10 or the indicator are more evident from Figures 2 and 3. Thus it is provided with a two-part plastics housing 34 the intended upper end of which has two prongs 36 in between which is defined a Ushaped portion of the housing 34 which receives the handle 26 when in use. The base of the U is provided with a pressure sensitive membrane switch 38. The front face of the housing 34 as shown in Figure 2 is provided with a piezo-electric buzzer or bleeper 40, a light emitting diode 42, an on/off switch 44 and a volume control knob 46.

The internal parts of the main body 10 of the indicator are evident in Figures 4 and 5. From these Figures it is seen first of all that the housing 34 is in two-part form, divided by a plane which extends in the intended vertical direction and through both prongs 36.

The edges of the rear half of the housing which face and contact the front part of the housing are formed with a longitudinally extending central rib and/or groove 48 which engages a corresponding groove and/or rib along the corresponding edge of the front half of the housing 34 to assist in forming a seal therewith.

The pressure sensitive membrane switch 38 is provided with an outer flexible non-slip rubber membrane 50 sealed to the housing 34 in waterproof manner and protruding upwardly from the base of the U of the housing 34. Underneath the membrane 50 there is a stud 52 which is urged upwardly underneath the membrane by means of a resilient helical spring 54. The shaft of the stud 52 extends through a wall of the housing 34, and a flange 56 is provided on the lower end of the stud 52 which extends in to the interior of the housing 34. The flange 56 engages an operative element 58 of a micro switch 60. The latter is connected to a printed circuit board 62 sealed within the housing 34. The buzzer and/or bleeper 40, the light emitting diode 42 and the on/off switch 44 are also mounted on the circuit board 62. A NICAD cell 64 is also provided on the circuit board 62 to provide electrical power thereto.

The socket connector 16 is also connected to the printed circuit board 62 at the back thereof.

The head 22 is shown in greater detail in Figures 6a and 6b. It comprises a generally cylindrical housing 66. The lead 20 enters the housing 66 through an intended rear end 68 thereof. The clip 28 is provided at the front end of the housing 66 and comprises two prongs 70 which are urged together resiliently. The force with which they are urged together can be adjusted by rotation of a front end stainless steel portion 72 of the housing 66 which is internally screw-threaded so that it screw-threadedly engages the rest of the housing and has a central opening 74 through which the prongs 70 extend. The latter diverge outwardly through this opening 74 so that movement of the portion 72 forwardly, by rotating it, urges the prongs more tightly together. Thus the line release pressure can be varied.

The housing 66 contains a mercury tilt switch 76 connected across the electrical conductors 78 included in the head 20. It also incorporates a light emitting diode 80 which can emit light through a transparent or translucent central portion 82 of the housing 66.

The circuitry provided on the circuit board 62 is shown in Figure 7. The NICAD cell 64 is connected via positive and negative conductors 84 and 86 respectively via the on/off switch 44. The buzzer and/or bleeper 40 is connected across these positive and negative terminals via a common switching transistor 87. The buzzer or bleeper 40 is connected to the transistor 87 via a variable resistor 88 operated by the volume control knob 46. A further resistor 90 is connected between the positive conductor 86 and variable resistor 88 to ensure that the volume for the buzzer or bleeper 40 can not be turned all the way down to zero.

A resistor 92 is connected between the diode 42 and the positive conductor 86 to ensure that the diode does not receive the full voltage of the cell 64 when the transistor 86 is switched on.

The switching terminal 94 of the transistor 87 is connected to the negative conductor 86 via the micro switch 60 and the mercury tilt switch 76 (the latter being connected via the plug and socket connection 16 and 18).

The switching terminal 94 connected to the base of the transistor 87 is also connected to the positive conductor 84 via a resistor 98. A further resistor is connected in series between micro switch 50 and the socket connection 16.

The light emitting diode 80 is connected in one of the conductors 78 of the lead 20.

With the indicator set up as shown in Figure 1, and upon a pike or other predatory fish biting on the end of the line 30, the latter is pulled clear of the clip 28 so that the head 22 drops under the force of gravity. This closes the mercury tilt switch 76. Since the pressure sensitive membrane switch 38 is already closed by virtue of the weight of the rod handle 28 on the membrane 50, the closure of the mercury tilt switch 76 completes an electrical connection between the negative conductor 86 and the switching terminal 94 of the transistor 87. This enables a current to flow through the emitter-collector circuit, so that the light emitting diode 42 and the buzzer or bleeper 40 are switched on, as indeed is the light emitting diode 80 in the head 82.However, directly the user strikes, lifting the handle 26 from the U-shaped support provided by the main body 10 of the indicator, the helical spring 54 urges the stud 52 upwardly, thus also lifting the flange 56 and the actuating member 58 of the micro switch 60. This disconnects the switch terminal 94 of the transistor 87 from the negative conductor 86. This in turn switches off the transistor 87, which in turn switches off the light emitting diodes 42 and 80 and the buzzer or bleeper 40. This ensures that continued operation of these alarms does not distract the user as he endeavours to reel in the fish.

The Terry clip 21 may be slid up or down the bank stick 12 to vary the angle which the outwardly extending portion of the lead 20 makes with the bank stick 12, and or the length of that portion of the lead 20. The clip 21 also inhibits damage to the plug and socket connection 16 and 18 when the line 30 is jerked free from the clip 28.

Numerous variations and modifications to the illustrated indicator will occur to the reader of ordinary skill in the art without taking the result outside the scope of the present invention. To give one example only, a magnetic switch, a light interruption switch, or a piezo electric device could be used instead of the pressure sensitive switch 38 to detect whether or not a part of the rod is being supported by the main body 10 of the indicator.

Claims

Claims:

1. A fish bite indicator having detector means which serve to provide a line movement detect signal at an output thereof upon movement of a line of a fishing rod, indicator signal generating means connected to the output of the detector means to generate an indicator signal upon receipt of such a detect signal, and a switch which is located, when the indicator is in use, so as to be switched into different respective conditions in dependence upon whether a part of a fishing rod is being supported by rod support means or not, the switch being connected to terminate issue of the indicator signal upon lifting of such a rod away from such support means.

2. A fish bite indicator according to claim 1, further comprising support means which serve to support a part of such a rod, when the indicator is in use.

3. A fish bite indicator according to claim 2, in which the support means are U-shaped.

4. A fish bite indicator according to claim 3, in which the switch is located at the base of the U.

5. A fish bite indicator according to any preceding claim, in which the switch comprises a pressure sensitive switch.

6. A fish bite indicator according to claim 5, in which the pressure sensitive switch has a sealing membrane.

7. A fish bite indicator according to any preceding claim, in which the detector means comprise a head portion having line engagement means and a flexible lead between the head portion and the rest of the indicator.

8. A fish bite indicator according to any preceding claim, further comprising attachment means to enable a main body of the indicator to be attached to a bank stick, and a clip which engages the bank stick in a slidable fashion and which is engaged by the flexible lead.

9. A fish bite indicator according to claim 8, in which the clip is resilient.

10. A fish bite indicator according to claim 8 or claim 9, in which the clip comprises plastics material.

11. A fish bite indicator according to any one of claims 8 to 10, in which the clip is in the form of a Terry" clip.

12. A fish bite indicator according to any preceding claim, in which the detector means comprises a mercury tilt switch.

13. A fish bite indicator according to any preceding claim, in which the line engagement means includes two portions which are resiliently urged towards one another.

14. A fish bite indicator according to claim 13, in which adjustment means are provided to enable a selective adjustment to be made to the two portions which are urged towards one another.

15. A fish bite indicator according to any. preceding claim, in which the indicator signal generating means comprise a light emitting diode or other light emitter.

16. A fish bite indicator according to any preceding claim, in which the indicator signal generating means comprise a buzzer or a bleeper or other sound emitter.

17. A fish bite indicator according to claim 7, or any one of claims 8 to 16 when read as appended to claim 7, in which the indicator signal generating means, or part thereof, are provided on the head portion.

18. A fish bite indicator substantially as described herein with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.