GB2330509A

GB2330509A - Detachable angling weight

Info

Publication number: GB2330509A
Application number: GB9722278A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Dennis Mcfetrich
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1997-10-23
Filing date: 1997-10-23
Publication date: 1999-04-28
Also published as: GB9722278D0

Abstract

An angling weight 17 has a tapered bore 21 which is designed to receive a compressible sleeve 27. The sleeve is sized so that a hook 25 and eye 26 combination, provided on adjacent ends of two sections of line 24t, 24b, can be passed through the sleeve when it is undeformed. Once the sleeve is inserted into the tapered bore, the sleeve compresses around the hook and eye combination securing them within the sleeve. In this way the two sections of line are joined and the weight is secured detachably to the line.

Description

Detachable weights This invention is concerned with detachable weights, and relates in particular to fishing line weights that may easily be attached and detached from the line.

Fishing with a rod requires a rod with a line attached thereto and some sort of hook at the free end of the line. Usually, rod is in segments, so that it may be assembled for use and disassembled for storage, and commonly there are three such segments - a handle portion, a tip portion and a mid portion. The line is usually windable onto and off a spool mountable on the rod at the handle end. At or near its free (hook) end the line may carry, detachably attached thereto, either a float (to keep the hook at or near the surface) or perhaps a weight (to keep the hook at or near the bottom). The present invention relates to a novel design of detachable weight - or, more correctly, a novel assembly of weight and line.

For storage and transport it is desirable for the rod and its attachments to be disassembled, so that they can all be packed away in a relatively small container.

For this purpose it is normally desirable to be able to detach any weight used from the line, and store it separate therefrom. However, with the present ways in which weights are attached to lines this may be difficult or barely possible, for the sort of relatively large weights used - spherical, cylindrical, cone-shaped or pear-shaped lumps of metal about an inch and a half (4cm) long and perhaps an inch (2.5cm) across - are generally attached to the line by threading the line through a hole through the weight, so that detaching the weight from the line requires the hook to be detached first, and then the line to be unthreaded. This is not impossible, but it is annoyingly fiddly at the end of a day's fishing.

The invention proposes a novel way of mounting the weight on the line such that removing it - and mounting it in the first place - is a relatively easy and painless procedure. More specifically, the invention suggests an assembly of a fishing line and detachable weight wherein the weight has through it a tapered hole, and the line (threadable through the hole) is in two sections one ending in an elongate hook and the other ending in a corresponding hook-attachable eye, each of the hook and eye being able to pass through the hole, and there is also a deformable, compressible sleeve mountable around the line's hook/eye combination so that, when the sleeve is around the line and not in the hole, and therefore is in an undeformed, uncompressed state, it can slide relatively freely over the hook/eye combination, but when it is around the line and within the hole, and thereby in a deformed and compressed state, it is a jam fit within the hole, and prevents the hook/eye combination being drawn therethrough.

The way this combination works is quite simple. To mount the weight, first one or other of the hook and eye - preferably the latter - is fed through the weight against the taper, and the sleeve is then threaded over it. Then the hook and eye are attached to each other, and the sleeve is slid over the combination. Then the ensleeved hook/eye is drawn back into the weight with the taper, whereupon it jams. To detach the weight these steps are effected in reverse; the ensleeved hook/eye combination is pulled out of the weight against the taper, the sleeve is slid back off the hook/eye combination, which can then be undone, whereupon the sleeve can be slid off entirely, and the hook (or eye) withdrawn through the weight, leaving the weight free.

Naturally, the weight must be the right way up its taper pointing in the right direction - for it to stay in place while the thus-weighted line is being used. The right way up is with the taper pointing towards the rod (the narrow end to the rod, the wider end to the hook), so that the line forces as the rod is used always seek to jam the ensleeved hook/eye combination more tightly.

In one aspect, therefore, this invention provides a fishing line and detachable weight assembly comprising: a weight having therethrough a hole of a reducing diameter; a line threadable through the hole and in two sections one ending in an hook and the other ending in a corresponding hook-attachable eye each of which is dimensioned to be able to pass through the hole; and a deformable, compressible sleeve mountable around the line's hook/eye combination without significant deformation but within the weights hole only with significant deformation; whereby when the sleeve is around the line and not in the hole, and therefore is in an undeformed, uncompressed state, it can slide relatively freely over the hook/eye combination, but when it is around the line and within the hole, and thereby in a deformed and compressed state, it is a jam fit within the hole, and prevents the hook/eye combination being drawn therethrough with the taper.

The invention provides a fishing line and detachable weight assembly. The line may be of any sort - any size and any materials, and for any purpose. A typical line, suitable for use when fishing for mediumsized fish, is a nylon monofilament nylon (or the like) of around O.5mm diameter. Similarly, the weight can be of any size, shape and material, and for any purpose. A typical weight, suitable for the same use, is made of lead or iron, and is roughly pear-shaped and 1,5in by lin (4.cm by 2.5cm).

The weight used in the invention's fishing line and detachable weight assembly has therethrough conveniently axially - a hole of a reducing diameter.

Naturally, the hole must be large enough, at the wider end, for the sleeve to pass therein, but small enough, at the narrower end, for the sleeve not to be able to pass therethrough when in place around the hook/eye combination. Moreover, while the hole might be stepped to provide the required reducing diameter (thus, with a portion of a larger diameter and then a portion of a smaller diameter), it is preferred if it be tapered, and conveniently uniformly tapered. While clearly the hole should be chosen to match the hook/eye and sleeve, in general a hole of about 3/16 in (about 5mm) tapering down to about 2/16in (about 3mm) is suitable.

The line used in the assembly of the invention is threadable through the hole. It is in two sections; one of these ends in a hook, and the other ends in a corresponding hook-attachable eye. Both hook and eye are dimensioned to be able to pass through the hole.

There is little to say about this, save perhaps that the hook is most conveniently of an elongate form more or less matching in length the sleeve, so that when the deformable sleeve is in place it cannot be so compressed (when forced into the hole) that it becomes small enough to slight all the way through.

The invention utilises a deformable, compressible sleeve that is mountable around the line's hook/eye combination without significant deformation but within the weights hole only with significant deformation.

The sleeve may be of any sort - of any suitable size, shape and material - but conveniently is a uniform tube about lin (2.5cm) long and about 3/i6in (about 5mm) wide externally (and about 2/i6in (about 3mm) wide internally) made of a rubber or a rubbery material.

As previously observed, the dimensions of the components of the assembly are such that when the sleeve is around the line and not in the hole it is in an undeformed, uncompressed state, and it can slide relatively freely over the hook/eye combination.

However, when the sleeve is around the line and within the hole it is in a deformed and compressed state, and it is a jam fit within the hole. In this way the sleeve prevents the hook/eye combination being drawn right through the hole in the direction towards the reduced diameter end.

It will be apparent that the weight/line assembly of the invention provides an easy and simply way of attaching a weight to a line that is firm and secure yet that is also allows the weight easily to be detached.

An embodiment of the invention is now described, though by way of illustration only, with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic Drawings in which: Figure 1 shows an overall view of a rod and line using a line/weight assembly of the invention; Figure 2 shows in more detail the way the assembly utilises a hook/eye combination within a sleeve jammed in the weight; and Figure 3 shows the way the assembly's hook/eye/sleeve combination is when it iS "apart".

The rod and line of Figure 1 is a rod (11) with a handle (12) and, mounted near the handle, a spool (13) for the line 14). The line extends up the rod 11 (via rings, not shown) to the tip, and thence down into the water (generally 15) to the bottom (16) where it passes through a weight (17) and then on to its end, where there is a hook (18).

Figure 2 shows in more detail the weight/line assembly. The weight 17 has passing axially through it a hole (21) which is tapered, being wider at the bottom (22: as viewed) than at the top (23). The line 14 is in two sections (24t, 24b), one at the top (as viewed) one at the bottom. These are joined by a combination of hook (25) and eye (26) to which the line sections are attached (tied by knots); the hook 25 is attached to the bottom line section 24b, while the eye is attached to the top line section 24t.

Disposed around the hook/eye combination is a sleeve (27) made of a deformable, compressible material.

It, the hook and eye 25,26, and the weights hole 21 are so dimensioned that, when positioned over the hook/eye combination the sleeve 27 is too big to pass all the way through the hole 21 from the wide end 22 to the narrow end 23, and when pulled in that direction jams within the hole 21. It can, however, be pulled out in the opposite direction.

Figure 3 shows the line/weight/sleeve assembly in its "free" state. When out of the weight's hole 21, the undeformed sleeve 27 can slide relatively freely up and down both the line 14 (either section) and the hook/eye combination. In the Figure the sleeve 27 is shown slid back of the eye 26, which is itself shown disengaged from the hook 25. The sleeve 27 could now be slid over the eye 26 right off the upper line section 24t, whereupon the line 24t could be pulled back through the hole 21 and thus unthreaded from the weight 17. The weight would then be completely free from the line, and the whole could be more easily packed away for storage and transport.

Claims

CLAIMS 1. A fishing line and detachable weight assembly comprising: a weight having therethrough a hole of a reducing diameter; a line threadable through the hole and in two sections one ending in an hook and the other ending in a corresponding hook-attachable eye each of which is dimensioned to be able to pass through the hole; and a deformable, compressible sleeve mountable around the line's hook/eye combination without significant deformation but within the weight's hole only with significant deformation; whereby when the sleeve is around the line and not in the hole, and therefore is in an undeformed, uncompressed state, it can slide relatively freely over the hook/eye combination, but when it is around the line and within the hole, and thereby in a deformed and compressed state, it is a jam fit within the hole, and prevents the hook/eye combination being drawn therethrough with the taper.
2. A line and weight assembly as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the hole of a reducing diameter is uniformly tapered.
3. A line and weight assembly as claimed in either of the preceding Claims, wherein the hook is of an elongate form matching in length the sleeve.
4. A line and weight assembly as claimed in any of the preceding Claims, wherein the sleeve is a uniform tube made of a rubber or a rubbery material.
5. A line and weight assembly as claimed in any of the preceding Claims and substantially as described hereinbefore.