GB2388850A

GB2388850A - Shock absorbing line for a fishing pole

Info

Publication number: GB2388850A
Application number: GB0312039A
Authority: GB
Inventors: David Preston
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2002-05-25
Filing date: 2003-05-27
Publication date: 2003-11-26
Anticipated expiration: 2023-05-27
Also published as: GB2388850B; GB0312039D0

Abstract

The shock absorbing line 10 comprises an elongate element of elastomeric material made by dip moulding a central thread or fibre in a liquid 16 which dries and/or cures to provide an elastomeric material. Also claimed is a method of producing a shock absorbing line for a fishing pole where the central thread is preferably formed from a rubber material. Also claimed is a shock absorbing line for a fishing pole which comprises an elongate generally tapered element of elastic material and a method of making said line.

Description

Shock Absorbinn Line for a Fishinn Pole This invention relates to a shock

absorbing line for a fishing pole and to methods of producing such lines.

Fishing poles generally take the form of a number of hollow telescopic 5 sections which are fitted together by pushing the smaller end of a section into the larger end of the next section to provide an extended reach. A fishing line is connected to the pole by means of a shock absorbing line (otherwise known as pole elastic) which is anchored in the pole by suitable means such as a bung wedged in one of the smaller sections of the tube, the shock absorbing line then 10 passing down the inside of the tube to the free end to be attached to a conventional, relatively inextensible, fishing line. The shock absorbing line is usually of such a length that it retracts fully within the fishing pole when there is no load on the fishing line.

The function of the shock absorbing line is to absorb shocks from fighting 15 fish, thus avoiding fishing line breakages. Conventional shock absorbing lines often take the form of latex threads. Unfortunately many of the fine diameters of threads required by coarse anglers are difficult to manufacture. The diameters required are not readily available from manufacturers of elastic threads and those which are available are often of poor quality. The threads are often oval 20 instead of round in cross section and of varying diameter along their length.

Furthermore such threads often suffer from nicks or cuts, or air bubbles entrapped therein.

It is therefore one aim of this invention to provide a shock absorbing line which overcomes or mitigates at least some of these disadvantages.

( Accordingly, in one aspect of this invention there is provided a shock absorbing line for a fishing pole, comprising an elongate element of elastomeric material made by dip moulding a central thread or fibre in a liquid which dries and/or cures to provide an elastomeric material.

5 In this way a multi-layer thread is created by coating a smaller diameter thread or fibre. In the dip moulding process the thread or fibre is typically dipped into a vat of elastomeric material and then allowed to dry or cure so that the material applied by the dipping process forms a skin or layer. The dipping and drying cycles can be repeated many times to build up an increasingly thicker 10 component. Each layer can be of a different colour or other physical or structural properties as required.

In the shock absorbing line of this invention the elastomeric material can be built up until the required diameter is reached.

In a preferred process, a batch of shock absorbing lines are made in a 15 single processing by attaching respective opposite ends of a plurality of threads to the upper and lower region of a frame and then dipping the frame into the liquid to dip the threads or fibres simultaneously.

In another aspect, this invention provides a shock absorbing line for a fishing pole, comprising an elongate generally tapered element of elastomeric 20 material. A tapered shock absorbing line has the benefit that the tension on the fish on the line varies non-linearly with the extension amount. Thus, with a tapered element, the rate of increase in tension increases the more the shock absorbing line is stretched.

! Although synthetic elastomeric materials may be used, such as synthetic rubbers, the tapered element may conveniently be formed of a rubber material.

This may be done in various ways; the tapered element may be formed by dip moulding a central thread or fibre or it may be formed by extrusion, either 5 by the external application of pressure or simply hydrostatically.

The invention extends to a fishing pole assembly comprising a fishing pole in combination with a shock absorbing line as described above.

In another aspect, this invention provides a method of producing a shock absorbing line for a fishing pole, which comprises dip moulding a central thread 10 or fibre in a liquid which dries and/or cures to provide an elastomeric material.

In another aspect the invention provides a method of producing a shock absorbing line for a fishing pole, which comprises the step of forming an elongate, generally tapered element of elastomeric material. The elongate element may be formed by dip moulding a latex emulsion or other latexbased 1 5 material.

In another arrangement the tapered element is made by extruding a material and causing the extruded material to vary in diameter with length. The diameter may be varied by varying at least one of the rate of extrusion, the extrusion pressure, and the tension (if any) applied to the material after 20 extrusion. In one arrangement an extruder is used which varies the rate of extrusion, with a constant removal speed; in this arrangement the slower the extrusion rate the thinner the diameter. This could be done with latex or other rubber extrusion methods, or by varying the take off speed and using a constant

! extrusion rate.

In another process the tapered element is extruded by allowing a liquid elastomeric material to flow through an orifice in the base or lower region of a vessel containing the elastomeric material. Here the extrusion pressure is 5 provided by the hydrostatic head generated by the depth of the elastomeric material in said vessel. The diameter of the thread may be varied by varying the rate of extrusion which in turn is dependent on the depth of the material in the vessel. Whilst the invention has been described above, it extends to any 10 inventive combination of the features set out above or in the following description.

The invention may be performed in various ways, and, by way of example only, three embodiments will now be described, reference being made to the accompanying drawings in which: 15 Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view of a dip moulding process for producing a shock absorbing line for a fishing pole; Figure 2 is a schematic view of a forced extrusion process for producing a shock absorbing line of tapered cross section, and Figure 3 is a schematic view of a gravity-fed extrusion process for 20 producing a shock absorbing line of tapered cross section.

Referring initially to Figure 1 a number of fine latex filaments 10 are attached top and bottom to a frame 12 to keep them all straight and to prevent them from moving about and touching each other. The frame 12 is then dipped into a vat 14 containing a latex emulsion 16 so as to coat the entire length of

( each filament 10. The latex coating is allowed to dry to form a skin and the frame is again dipped into the vat and the dripping and drying process repeated until the diameter of the filaments 10 has built up to (in this example) about 2mm. The shock absorbing lines so formed are released from the frame and the 5 frame restrung to repeat the process. The dipping process may be controlled to give threads of generally uniform cross-section or threads of tapering cross section. Referring to Figure 2 here an extrusion device defines an extrusion chamber 20 having an outlet nozle 22 and a ram 24 for applying pressure to 10 the uncured rubber material in the extrusion chamber 20 to force it through the extrusion nozzle 22. The extruded element 26 passing out of the nozle 22 is taken up on a take off drum 28 which is driven to take up the extruded element 26. In this arrangement the extrusion pressure and/or rotational speed of the take off drum 28 is controlled so as to cause the cross section of the extruded 15 element progressively to taper from a maximum to a minimum, back to a maximum and so on. On completion of the extrusion process the extruded element 26 may be removed from the drum 28 and cut into lengths of tapered section. In one arrangement the extrusion pressure and rate are substantially 20 constant, and the speed of the take off drum 28 is varied to cyclically increase and decrease the tension to produce the tapered section. In an alternative arrangement the rotational speed of the take off drum 28 is constant but the extrusion pressure, and thus extrusion rate, is varied cyclically to produce the tapered sections.

! Referring now to Figure 3, in a third embodiment, a vessel 30 has an array of orifices 32 in its base through which liquid elastomeric material 34 in the vessel 30 passes under gravity, driven by the hydrostatic head of liquid in the container. As the liquid level in the container falls, the hydrostatic pressure 5 reduces and so the rate of extrusion of the elastomeric material through the nowles decreases, thus reducing the cross section of the extruded element.

Coupled with this effect is the feature that the weight of the already formed elements will apply a tension to the extruded element again tending to reduce its cross section. As a result, the cross section of the extruded product from the 10 arrangement of Figure 3 will decrease with length.

Claims

( Claims

1. A shock absorbing line for a fishing pole, comprising an elongate element of elastomeric material made by dip moulding a central thread or fibre in a liquid 5 which dries and/or cures to provide an elastomeric material.!

2. A shock absorbing line for a fishing pole comprising an elongate generally tapered element of elastomeric material.

3. A shock absorbing line according to Claim 2, wherein the tapered element is formed of rubber material.

10

4. A shock absorbing line according to Claim 2 or Claim 3, wherein the tapered element is formed by dip moulding a central thread or fibre.

5. A shock absorbing line according to Claim 2 or Claim 3, wherein the tapered element is formed by extrusion.

6. A fishing pole assembly comprising a fishing pole in combination with a 15 shock-absorbing line according to any of Claims 1 to 5.

7. A method of producing a shock absorbing line for a fishing pole, which comprises dip moulding a central thread or fibre in a liquid which dries and/or cures to provide an elastomeric material.

8. A method of producing a shock absorbing line for a fishing pole, which 20 comprises the step of forming an elongate generally tapered element of elastomeric material.

9. A method according to claim 8, which comprises forming said tapered element by dip moulding a central thread or fibre in a liquid which dries and/or cures to provide an elastomeric material.

10. A method according to Claim 9, wherein said liquid is a latex emulsion or other latex-based liquid.

11. A method according to Claim 7 or Claim 8, wherein said central thread or fibre is of rubber material.

5

12. A method according to Claim 8, which comprises extruding a material to form said tapered element, and causing said extruded material to vary in diameter with length.

13. A method according to Claim 12, including the step of varying the extrusion pressure to vary the diameter of the tapered element.

10

14. A method according to Claim 13, wherein the tapered element is extruded from a lower region of a vessel containing said elastomeric material, and the extrusion pressure is provided by the hydrostatic head generated by the depth of the elastomeric material in said vessel.

15. A method according to any of Claims 12 to 14, wherein the extruded 15 material is subjected to a variable tension force to vary the diameter thereof.

16. A method according to Claim 15, wherein said variable tension is applied by a take up device which takes up the extruded material.

17. A method according to Claim 16, wherein the take up device is a reel or drum. 20

18. A shock absorbing line substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in, any of the accompanying drawings.

19. A method of producing a shock absorbing line for a fishing pole substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to any of the accompanying drawings.