GB2376399A

GB2376399A - Fishing rod support including three rollers

Info

Publication number: GB2376399A
Application number: GB0222313A
Authority: GB
Inventors: David Preston
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2001-10-02
Filing date: 2002-09-26
Publication date: 2002-12-18
Anticipated expiration: 2022-09-26
Also published as: GB0123534D0; GB2376399B; GB0222313D0

Abstract

A pole roller comprises a ground-engaging tripod configuration 12 and a pole support portion 14. The pole support portion comprises two upwardly divergent rollers 38 spaced at their lower ends by a central roller 34, to form a flat-bottomed "V" arrangement. Preferably the rollers are made from foam and the divergent rollers 38 can be folded down the sides of the stand 12. Additional rests (60 figure 5) may be used.

Description

A Support Device for a Fishing Pole or Rod This invention relates to a support device for a fishing pole or rod and to a kit incorporating such a device.

A fishing pole may be 16 metres or more long and is typically made up of slightly tapered, thin-walled telescopic carbon fibre sections each of one, two or more metres in length. In normal use, a fixed length line is attached, e. g. by a shock absorber arrangement, to the far tip of the pole, with the reach of the pole being adjusted by adding or removing telescopic sections. In practice, particularly in competition fishing, the angler needs to be able rapidly to haul in or extend the pole with a consequent need to disconnect or attach the sections quickly. Particularly at greater lengths, the pole needs to be supported in some manner whilst it is hauled in or extended and the sections removed or added as necessary.

Pole rollers are devices designed to provide such support.

GB 2,301, 007 describes a pole roller arrangement in which one or more horizontal rollers provide support in the horizontal plane with two stubby vertical rollers at opposite ends to define a wide and flat containment region for the rod. We have found that it is highly beneficial to have a containment region which provides some form of

gathering effect towards a narrower generally horizontal support surface to restrict the wandering of the rod as it is hauled in and extended, and also to provide more secure containment.

Accordingly, in one aspect, this invention provides a support device for a fishing pole or rod, which comprises a ground-engaging portion from the upper region of which extends a pole support portion, said pole support portion comprising a central roller means disposed generally horizontally in use, and two lateral roller means disposed in use with their longitudinal axes upwardly divergent to define a generally flat-bottomed V-arrangement.

With this arrangement, it will be appreciated that the two lateral roller means provide the side walls of a flat- bottomed"V"and tend to confine lateral movement of the rod to the lateral extent of the central roller means. The central roller means allows some wander and indeed also accommodates the increase in rod section as it is extended through the support device. Also, the provision of a horizontal roller means providing a gap between the lowermost portions of the lateral roller means allows the rod to be pushed out without a significant risk of the increasing diameter blocking between the lateral rollers such that the device is pushed over. Also, where the rod

has a spiral formation, the gap means that the possibility of interference is reduced.

It will be appreciated that the angler often has to carry his equipment by hand from a car park or drop-off location to the angling location and therefore it is advantageous for the support device to be easily portable in conjunction with other angling equipment.

In one embodiment, the lateral roller means are movably mounted on a frame portion of the pole support portion, and moveable between an operational configuration, with their axes upwardly divergent, and a stowed, compact configuration with their longitudinal axes generally parallel.

In preferred embodiments of the invention, to allow rapid deployment between the stowed and operational configurations, said pole support frame portion comprises two upwardly divergent sockets, and each of said lateral roller means includes a stem element which is slidably received and captive in a respective socket and slidable between: (i) a home position in which the lateral roller means is in its operational configuration such that the longitudinal axis of the lateral roller means is prevented from pivotal

movement relative to the pole support frame portion, and (ii) an unlocked position in which the longitudinal axis of the lateral roller means may be pivoted to move the lateral roller means towards its stowed position.

To reduce the possibility of damage to the pole as it is hauled in and extended, each of the roller means may typically comprise a rotatable element having a resiliently deformable working surface. Each roller means may therefore comprise an element of foamed plastics or similar synthetic material providing the resiliently deformable working surface.

To prevent a pole from escaping vertically from the device, it may further include an elastically extensible tie element which in use extends between upper end regions of said lateral roller means. The extensible tie element conveniently includes, at at least one end, a releasable connector means for connecting to the or each respective upper end region of the lateral roller means.

The ground-engaging portion may be any suitable generally stable configuration but typically comprises three leg members in a tripod configuration. To allow compact stowage, the three leg members may each be

pivotable between an operational outwardly extending tripod configuration to provide a generally stable base, and a stowed configuration wherein the leg members are arranged generally side-by-side with their longitudinal axes generally parallel. In one embodiment, where the lateral roller means are pivotable to a stowed position, the tripod members when in their stowed configuration nest generally between the lateral roller means to provide a particularly compact configuration.

One or more of the leg members may be telescopically adjustable in length to allow the height of the device to be varied and also to adjust the orientation of the device on uneven ground. The or each leg member may be formed with a spike for providing secure anchorage.

The ground-engaging portion and the pole support portion may be slidable and lockable with respect to each other to provide further height adjustment.

In order to allow swift and efficient extension and retraction of the fishing pole, the pole support portion preferably has associated therewith a pole rest portion spaced laterally from the gape defined by said two lateral roller means and said central roller means.

The pole rest portion preferably comprises at least one rest member extending generally horizontally in use and

at least one retaining means constraining movement at at least one end.

In one arrangement, where the pole support portion includes a central stem element, the pole rest portion may comprise two generally horizontal rest members disposed one to either side of said stem element.

The invention extends to a support device as defined above in combination with a carrying case made of generally flexible material and of elongate rectangular form to receive the support device in a stowed configuration. The bag may include a carrying handle and/or straps to allow it to be connected to another article of luggage or equipment.

Whilst the invention has been defined above, it extends to any inventive combination of the features set out above or in the following description.

The invention may be performed in various ways, and two embodiments thereof will now be described by way of example only, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in which, Figure 1 is a general perspective view showing an embodiment of a fishing pole support device in accordance with this invention in a deployed, operational configuration;

Figure 2 is a view of the fishing pole support device of Figure 1 but in a partly stowed configuration; Figure 3 is a detailed view, taken in the direction of arrow (III) as the associated lateral roller is being moved between its operational and stowed configurations; Figure 4 is a view of the fishing pole support device in a stowed configuration within a carrying bag, and Figure 5 is a front view on a second embodiment of the fishing pole support device.

Referring initially to Figure 1, the device illustrated therein is intended to be erected on the side of the river, canal, lake etc. and to support a fishing pole as it is assembled from its various sections and extended out over the water, held in position there and then hauled back as required, with the telescopic sections being disconnected one by one.

The fishing pole support device 10 comprises a ground engaging portion generally indicated by the reference numeral 12 and a pole-support portion generally indicated by the reference 14. The ground engaging portion 12 is in the form of a tripod arrangement comprising three telescopically extendable legs 16 each provided with a spike 18 at its lower end and pivotally coupled at its upper end to a folded flange 20 on an apex member 22. The

folded flanges 20 extend equi-angularly from a central tube 24 which has a locking screw 26 associated therewith.

Slidably located within the tube 24 is an elongate stem 28 of the pole support portion 14. At its upper end, the stem 28 is connected to a Y-shaped bracket 30, having two upwardly divergent limbs 32 each defining a respective socket 33 of generally square cross-section. The upper ends of the limbs 32 support between them a stationary axle on which is located a rotatable central roller 34.

Each limb 32 slidably supports the stub end of an axle 36 which rotatably supports a lateral roller 38. The central roller 34 and the lateral rollers 38 each comprise a working surface of resiliently compressible material such as foamed plastics or other suitable synthetic material. The axle 36 extends through the lateral roller 38 to terminate in a loop 40 and a shock cord 42 may be secured between the loops 40 by means of releasable clips 44.

In the deployed condition shown in Figure 1, the lengths of the legs 18 may be adjusted as necessary to accommodate unevenness so as to provide a stable platform with the axes of the tube 24 generally horizontal. The height of the roller 34 (and thus the pole support portion 14) can be adjusted as required by sliding the stem 28 to

the appropriate level in the tube 24 and then locking the stem in that position using lock nuts 26.

In use, the device provides a flat-bottomed v-shaped containment region for the pole as it is extended and hauled back in. The containment region may be capped by the shock cord 42 to provide an enclosed containment region.

In order to move the pole support device to a stowed compact condition for storage or carrying, via the partly stowed configuration shown in Figure 2, the telescopic legs 16 are retracted as necessary and folded towards the central axis of the apex member 22, with their axes generally parallel. The lock nut 26 is released and the Yshaped bracket 30 brought adjacent to the apex member 22, and the lock screw 26 re-applied.

As seen in Figures 1 and 2, each limb 32 of the Yshaped bracket 30 has a pair of opposed slots 46 therein.

A transverse peg 48 or the like protrudes from either side of the end of the axle 36 to protrude from the slots 46 so as to keep the end of the axle captive in the slot. As is particularly seen in Figure 3, the lower side of the socket provided by limb 32 is cut away at its upper end as shown at 50. In this way, when the lateral roller is in the dotted position shown in Figure 3, i. e. as shown in Figure

1, with the transverse peg 48 at the lower end of the slot 46, the end of the axle 36 is located in the socket 33 such as to prevent pivoting movement of the axle about the peg.

However, by drawing the lateral roller 38 up, so that the peg 48 contacts the upper end of the slot 46, the end of the axle 36 is sufficiently free from the socket 33 that the lateral roller 38 may be pivoted downwardly to the position shown in Figure 2, with the axes of the lateral rollers 38 generally parallel to each other and to the legs 16 of the ground supporting member when stowed. This arrangement with various members generally parallel provides a particularly compact arrangement for stowage.

In this configuration, the device may be packed into a carrying bag 50 as shown in Figure 4. The bag 50 may be of generally rectangular form with an envelope flap 52 along one side which can be folded over to enclose the device and secured with a hooked and looped fastening 54. The bag may have a carry handle or, as shown, straps 56 which may be wrapped around another fishing bag or article to allow easy transportation.

Referring now to Figure 5, this shows a further embodiment of fishing pole support device in accordance with the invention which is based upon that shown in Figures 1 to 3, and similar items are given the same

reference numerals. The embodiment of Figure 5 incorporates a pole rest portion 60 which is clamped to the stem 28 of the pole support portion 14 by means of a collar 62, and a clamp bolt 64. The collar 62 has an upwardly extending sleeve 66 of resiliently compressible material which locally surrounds the stem 28. Extending laterally from each side of the collar 62 are two diametrically opposed shafts 68 each of which rotatably carries horizontal rollers 70 of resiliently compressible material, and terminate in upwardly directed portions which each carry vertical rollers 72 of resiliently compressible material. The pole rest portion 60 provides an important advantage in providing an area where the angler may store pole sections when extending or retracting the fishing pole in use.

Claims

Claims 1. A support device for a fishing pole or rod, which comprises a ground-engaging portion from the upper region of which extends a pole support portion, said pole support portion comprising a central roller means disposed generally horizontally in use, and two lateral roller means disposed in use with their longitudinal axes upwardly divergent to define a generally flat-bottomed Varrangement.
2. A support device according to Claim 1 wherein said lateral roller means are movably mounted on a frame portion of the pole support portion, and movable between an operational configuration, with the longitudinal axes upwardly divergent, and a stowed, compact configuration with the longitudinal axes general parallel.
3. A support device according to Claim 2, wherein said pole support frame portion comprises two upwardly divergent sockets, and each of said lateral roller means includes a stem element which is slidably received and captive in a respective socket and slidable between: (i) a home position in which the lateral roller means is in its operational configuration such that the longitudinal axis of the lateral

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roller means is prevented from pivotal movement relative to the pole support frame portion, and (ii) an unlocked position in which the longitudinal axis of the lateral roller means may be pivoted to move the lateral roller means towards its stowed position.
4. A support device according to any of the preceding claims, wherein each roller means comprises a rotatable element having a resiliently deformable working surface.
5. A support device according to Claim 4, wherein each roller means includes an element of foamed plastics or synthetic material providing said resiliently deformable working surface.
6. A support device according to any of the preceding claims, which further includes an elastically extensible tie element for extending in use between upper end regions of each of said lateral roller means.
7. A support device according to Claim 6, wherein said elastically extensible tie element includes, at at least one end, a releasable connector means for connecting to the or each respective upper end region of the lateral roller means.

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8. A support device according to any of the preceding claims, wherein said ground-engaging portion comprises three legs in a tripod configuration.
9. A support device according to Claim 8, wherein said ground engaging portion comprises three leg members pivotable between an outwardly extending operational tripod configuration to provide a generally stable base, and a stowed configuration wherein the leg members are arranged generally side-by-side with their longitudinal axes generally parallel.
10. A support device according to Claim 8 or Claim 9 wherein at least one of the leg members is telescopically adjustable in length.
11. A support device according to any of Claims 8 to 10 wherein at least some of the leg members are formed with a spike with providing secure anchorage.
12. A support device according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the ground-engaging portion and the polesupport portion are slidable and lockable with respect to each other to provide height adjustment.
13. A support device as claimed in any of the preceding claims, in combination with a carrying case made of generally flexible material and of elongate rectangular

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form to receive the support device in a stowed configuration.
14. A combination as claimed in Claim 13, wherein the bag includes at least one of a carrying handle and straps to allow it to be connected to another article of luggage or equipment.
15. A support device according to any of Claims 1 to 12, wherein said pole support portion has associated therewith a pole rest portion spaced laterally from the gape defined by said two lateral roller means and said central roller means.
16. A support device according to Claim 15, wherein said pole rest portion comprises at least one rest member extending generally horizontally in use and at least one restraining means associated with at least one end thereof.
17. A support device according to Claim 15 or Claim 16, wherein said pole support portion includes a central stem element which is connected to said ground-engaging portion, wherein said pole rest portion comprises two generally horizontal rest members disposed one to either side of said stem element.
18. A support device for a fishing pole or rod, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to, and as illustrated in, any of the accompanying drawings.