IE54395B1 - Improvements in or relating to a hook orientation device - Google Patents

Abstract

A hook orientation device for use with a "longline" fishing line comprising a main line, a plurality of snoods extending from the main line at spaced intervals and hooks provided at the free end of each snood, said hook orientation device comprising a pipe 12 or the like through which said main line may be fed in a predetermined direction, the pipe having a smaller interior diameter than the distance between the tip and shank of each hook on the longline,the upstream end face 15 of the pipe (with reference to the direction of movement of the main line through the pipe) being bevelled, there being a slot 13 extending from the downstream cusp of said bevelled end face towards the other end of the pipe, the bevelled end face of the pipe defining or being provided with means defining an inclined surface extending radially outwardly from the periphery of the central opening of the pipe by radial distance at least equal to the distance between the shank and the tip of each hook on the longline.

Description

THE PRESENT INVENTION relates to a hook’ orientation device, and more particular!/ to a hook orientation device for use in connection with a longiine hauling system as utilised in connection with sea fishing.

In longiine fishing there is o main line of considerable length. A plurality of short lines or snoods extend from the main line at spaced intervals, and a hook is provided ot the free end of each snood. Each hook comprises a linear shank and an arcucte bow, typicclly of semi-circular form, which terminates in a sharp tip or point.

When such a longiine is stored it is preferable to store the main line coiled in a basket or the like, with the various hooks present in a hook magazine. This stops the hooks snagging the stored line, and also facilitates the subsequent baiting of the line, when the line is utilised again.

In a conventional hauling system for use with such a longiine the line is hauled in. and any fish caught on the hooks are removed from the line. The line, snoods and hooks are then cleaned by passing the line snoods and hooks through brushing and scraping arrangements, and then the line passes to an apparatus which coils the line in a basket whilst feeding the hooks to a hook magazine. The hooks must thus be orientated appropriately, and in the prior proposed device the main line is threaded through a tubular member which operates to align the hooks in a desired fashion. The tubular member has an internal diameter which is less than the diameter of the bow of each hook, that is to say the distance between the tip and the shank of each hook. The upstream end of the tubular member has a bevelled face, that is to say the end face of the tube is not perpendicular to the axis of the tube, but is inclined to the perpendicular. At the part of the end foe? of the tube that is furthest from the extreme end of the tube, there is an opening into a slot which extends along the tube. As the main line with the associated snoods and hooks is drawn to the tube, the interior curved face of the bow of each hook will engage on the bevelled face at the end of the tube. Due to the movement imparted to the hook by the movement of the main line, the bow of the hook will tend to slide along the bevelled end of the tube in the general direction of movement of the line, so that the bow of the hook is brought to the end of the slot. Since the diameter of the tube is less than the diameter of the bow of the hook, the hook then proceeds with the tip portion of the bow guided along the slot with the shank within the tube, possibly in engagement with the interior surface of the wall opposite the slot. Consequently it will be appreciated that oil the hooks on the snoods are brought to o desired orientation before the hooks leave the tubular member.

The hooks may then be guided appropriately to a hook magazine.

If the longline is hauled in rapidly the hooks will impinge with a considerable velocity against the bevelled end of the tube, and this may result in a severe tug applied to the snood, which may even cause the snood fo break. Alternatively the hook may be deformed or slightly straightened. The apparatus may not operate satisfactorily if the hook initially engages port of the bevelled opening diametrically opposed to the opening of the slot, since if the hook does impinge on the bevelled opening in such an orientation, the hook is not guided either to the left or to the right.

The present invention seeks to provide an improved hook orientation apparatus.

According to this invention there is provided a hook orientation device for use with a longline fishing line comprising a mein line, a plurality of snoods extending from the main line at spoced intervals and hooks provided at the free end of each snood, said hook orientation device comprising a pipe or the like through which said main line may be fed in a predetermined direction, the pipe having a smaller interior diameter than the distance between the tip and shank of each hook on the longline, the upstream end face of the pipe (with reference to the direction of movement of the main line through the pipe) being bevelled, there being a slot extending from the downstream cusp of said bevelled end face towards the other end of the pipe, the bevelled end face of the pipe defining or being provided with means defining an inclined surface extending radially outwardly from the periphery of the central opening of the pipe by radial distance at least equal to the distance between the shank and the tip of each hook on the longline.

Preferably a guide plote is provided that effectively forms an extension of the bevelled end face of the pipe, said plate defining said radially outwardly extending surface.

Conveniently the pipe is located in a substantially horizontal 10 orientation, said bevelled end face being directed generally upwardly.

Advantageously said bevelled end face is at an angle of 20° -30 ° to a plane perpendicular to the axis of the pipe.

In one embodiment the slot extends from the said bevelled end face of the pipe along the outside surface of the pipe to the other end of the pipe where the slot terminates immediately adjacent c hook guide, the arrangement being such that a hook on c snood passing through the pipe will be guided along the slot and directed onto the hook guide.

Preferably means are provided for associating the hook guide with a hook magazine for storing the hooks.

Conveniently the hook guide includes a wall having an inclined surface adapted to be engaged by each hook, the inclined surface making an obtuse angle with the axis of the pipe.

Advantageously a pivotally mounted hook catching arm is provided which projects downwardly adjacent said other end of the pipe, said arm crossing the pipe odjacent the end of the slot, the arm being pivotally movable to a position adjacent the portion of the hook guide to assist in transferring a hook from the slot to the hook guide.

Conveniently the arm extends across the pipe to define a chord across the pipe.

Preferably the said other end of the pipe is bevelled forming an oblique opening facing the hook catching arm.

Advantageously the hook guide constitutes a channel member, one wall of the channel member being inclined at one end thereof, said pivoted arm being adapted to move immediately adjacent the Inclined portion of the wall. Means may be provided for connecting a hook magazine to the hook guide.

Conveniently a rounded body is resiliently maintained in position in contact with or immediately adjacent the upstream end of the slot. Said body may be spherical.

Advantageously the walls of the pipe are effectively thickened in the region of the said slot.

In order that the invention may be more readily understood, and so that further features thereof may be appreciated, the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure I is a diogrammotic view of a fishing line hauling system for hauling a longiine which incorporates a hook orientation means in accordance with the invention, and Figure 2 is a more detciled perspective view of the hook orientation apparatus and part of an associated hook magazine, in accordance with the f invention.

Referring initially to Figure I a longiine 2 is illustrated. The longiine is provided with a plurality of hooks 4 each having a substantially linear shank terminating in a substantially semi-circular bow terminating in a tip which is shown as being barbed. Each hook is connected to a main line 3 by a snood 5. In the apparatus illustrated the line is initially drawn in from the sea over an initial pulley 23 which may be located, for example, on a rail of a ship. The line then passes through a zone in which any fish present on the hooks 4 may be removed from the hooks. The line passes over a pulley 24 and then passes downwardly through a hook cleaner 9, comprising two Inwardly directed brush elements. The line 3 then passes round a winch 25, and subsequently passes upwardly towards a pulley 26 through a tangle remover 8. The tangle remover 8 comprises resiliently baissed scraper means 8', 8. The line subsequently passes over the pulley 26, and then passes through a combined hook cleaning and snood tensioning means 7, again constituted by two inwardly directed brush-like elements. The line is subsequently fed to a hook orientation device I in accordance with the present invention, which is associated with a hook guide 17, a main driving sheave 6 and a hook magazine 10.

It will be appreciated that in operation of the device the winch 25 and the sheave 6 are driven, drawing the line 3 in from the sea. The fish is removed from the line, and any bait remaining on the hooks and any slight tangles of the snoods are removed as the line end snoods pass through hook cleaner 9. The tangle remover 8 serves to remove any more severe tangles of the snoods, and the final snood tensioning means 7 serves to locate the snoods in the desired orientation parallel to the main line before the snoods enter the hook orienting device, and also serves to remove any pieces of bait remaining on the hooks. The hooks are then oriented in the hook orientation device I, with the hooks 4 being led to the hook magazine 10, and the line 3 being coiled within a line tub II. As can be seen from Figure I the magazine 10 is mounted in position over the line tub II by means of the yokes 11' that are secured to the magazine 10 and are screwed into the inside of the tub 11. The hook magazine 10 is detachably connected with the hook guide 17 by means of cooperating members 22, 22' as shown most clearly in Figure 2. Thus when a longline has been drawn In from the sea and stored in the line tub 11 with the hooks mounted in the hook magazine mounted above the line tub, the line tub and the associated hook magazine may be removed to a storage location and a fresh line tub and magazine may be connected to the hauling system described above to enable another longline to be drawn in from the sea.

As has been mentioned the present invention relates primarily to the hook orientation device as illustrated most clearly in Figure 2.

As can be seen in Figure 2 the main line 3 is fed through a 4 3 9 5 Ί substantially horizontal pipe 12. The pipe has an internal diameter which is less than the diameter of the bow of each hook, that is to say less than the distance between the top and the linear shank of the hook. The upstream end of the pipe 12, that is to say the end of the pipe 12 that is first $ encountered by a hook being drawn in from the sea, is bevelled, that is to say the end face is not transverse to the longitudinal axis of the pipe, but is inclined thereto at an angle of approximately 20 to 30 degrees. It will be appreciated that the bevelled end 15 of the pipe effectively forms an inclined face which surrounds the open end 14 of the pipe 12. The inclined 'θ face is directed generally upwardly. A slot 13 is formed in the side wall of the pipe which extends from the part of the inclined end face of the tube that is furthest from the free end of the pipe, that is to say which extends from the cusp of the end face which is furthest downstream when considering the direction of movement of the hook through the pipe 12. This cusp is located at the uppermost part of the inclined face. It will be appreciated that the bevelled end face thus effectively forms two sloping surfaces which extend from the free end of the pipe towards the open end of the slot 13. A guiding plate 18 is provided which comprises a planar member having the front surface thereof substantially aligned with the bevelled end face of the pipe 12. Thus, effectively, the opening 14 provided in the end of the pipe 12 is an opening formed in the plane of the guide plate 18. The surface defining the bevelled end of the pipe must extend from the periphery of the opening by a radial distance at least equal to the distance between the shank and the tip of the hooks on the longline to be used with the apparatus.

A spherical member 21 may be provided mounted on a resilient arm, the spherical member being located immediately adjacent the open end of the slot 13.

Before the rest of the structure illustrated in Figure 2 is described it 30 will be explained that as the main line 3 is drawn through the pipe 12 with the snoods substantially parallel with the main line, each snood will be drawn through the pipe 12 and finally the hook 4 provided ot the end of the snood will approach the open end 14 of the pipe 12. The tip of the hook will engoge the guide plate 18 which is inclined relative to the direction of movement of the hook. The tip of the hook will thus be directed upwardly without ony sudden jerking or jarring, and without any risk of the hook being straightened. The uppermost edge of the plate 18 is located adjacent the open end of the slot 13, and thus as the tip of the hook is guided upwardly, the hook will move to an orientation in which the tip of the hook is located within the slot 13, while the remainder of the hook is located within the hollow centre of the pipe 12. The spherical member 21 serves to assist in this action, since only relatively narrow channels are defined between the periphery of the spherical member 21 and the two inclined faces effectively defined by the bevelled end of the pipe 12. Thus each hook is smoothly guided into and along the slot 13.

To continue to describe the structure illustrated in Figure 2 it can be seen that the slot 13 is not a linear slot, but inclines downwardly so that, at the downstream end 16 of the pipe 12 (as regards the direction of movement of the line 3) the slot 3 terminates odjocent a base plate 19 on which the illustrated components are mounted. The base plate !9 is located underneath the pipe 12. An arm 20 is pivotally mounted on an appropriate structure located on the base plate 19. The orm extends substantially vertically and is y located immediately adjacent the downstream end of the pipe 12. The arm 20 may move pivotally in the direction of the double headed arrow against a resilient biasing force. It will be appreciated that the lower end of the arm 20' is located adjacent the open end 16 of the pipe 12 in such a position that as a hook is guided down the slot 13, the shank of the hook will pass on one side of the arm, and the tip of the hook will pass on the other side of the arm. Thus the hook will engage the free end of the arm 20. When a hook does engage the free end of the arm 20, the hook imparts a rotational force to the arm 20 as the line 3 continues to move, and the arm 20 thus pivots. As the arm pivots the arm moves immediately adjacent a wall 17' that forms part of a channel that effectively constitutes a hook guide 17. The wall 17' has a sloping upper surface. The tip of the hook thus engages this sloping wall and the hook moves upwardly. As the hook does move upwardly the arm 20 pivots to such an extent that it no longer engages the hook, and under its resilient bias the arm 20 returns to its initial position. The hook, however, is now located in such a position that the tip of the hook is located within the channel constituting the hook guide 17. As can be seen, by means of interengaging elements 22, 22' the channel constituting the hook guide 17 is directly connected to a further channel consituting o hook 4 3 ί) 5 magazine 10. Thus each hook is gradually moved towards the magazine 10.

It is to be understood that the end 16 of the pipe 12 is also bevelled, that is to say the plane of the end face of the pipe is not perpendicular to the axis of the pipe, and the arrangement is such that the slot 13 terminates at the cusp of the end face 16 of the pipe that is closest to the central region of the pipe i 2. In this way the shank of the hook is guided against the interior surface of the pipe 12 for the greatest practicable distance, thus ensuring that the hook engages the arm 20 in the desired manner.

Whilst the connecting elements 22, 22' have been illustrated in a simple form it is to be understood that these elements are provided to connect the magzine 10 to the hook guide 17 in a secure but releasable manner. The element 22', illustrated as a sleeve mounted on the base plate 19 may be provided with a locking means which will hold the projection 22 against pivoting.

The pipe 12 may advantageously have a large wall thickness, for example 7 mm, resulting in the provision of wide opposed faces defining the slot 13. This may prove to be advantageous, especially when small hooks are used that do not project from the slot 13. In this way a single separating means may receive end orient hooks of a wide variety of sizes provided, of course, that the inside diameter of the pipe 12 is smaller than the diameter of the bow of the smallest hook. It is to be appreciated that the wide guiding faces defining the slot 13 may possibly be made by the aid of guide rails or guide members mounted on each side of the top of the slot. Thus the material defining the pipe may be raised or thickened on each side of the slot 13.

In a modified embodiment of the invention the hook catching arm 20 may project into a especially provided slot at the end 16 of the pipe 12. The arm 20 may possibly project through two slots, so that the book catching arm lies on o chord extending partly across the inner circumference of the pipe 12 within the pipe. This will ensure that the hook bow will be safely caught by the hook catching arm whilst the shank of the hook is still within the pipe 12 and still in contact with the interior wall of the pipe 12.

Claims (16)

1. A hook orientation device for use with a longline fishing line comprising a main line, a plurality of snoods extending from the main line at spaced intervals and hooks provided at the free end of each snood, said hook 5 orientation device comprising o pipe or the like through which said main fine may be fed in a predetermined direction, the pipe having a smaller interior diameter than the distance between the tip and shank of each hook on the longline, the upstream end face of the pipe (with reference to the direction of movement of the main line through the pipe) being bevelled, there being a 10 slot extending from the downstream cusp of soid bevelled end face towards the other end of the pipe, the bevelled end face of the pipe defining or being provided with means defining an inclined surface extending radially outwardly from the periphery of the central opening of the pipe by radial distance at least equal to the distance between the shank and the tip of each 15 hook on the longline.

2. A device according to claim I wherein a guide plate is provided that effectively forms on extension of the bevelled end face of the pipe, said plate defining said radially outwardly extending surface.

3. A device according to claim I or claim 2 wherein the pipe is located 20 in a substantially horizontal orientation, said bevelled end face being directed generally upwardly.

4. A device according to claim 3 wherein said bevelled end face is at an angle of 20° - 30° to a plane perpendicular to the axis of the pipe.

5. A device according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the 25 slot extends from the soid bevelled end face of the pipe along the outside surface of the pipe to the other end of the pipe where the slot terminates immediately adjacent a hook guide, the arrangement being such that a hook on a snood passing through the pipe will be guided along the slot and directed onto the hook guide. 30

6. · A device according to claim 5 wherein means are provided for associating the hook guide with a hook magazine for storing the hooks.

7. A device according to claim 5 or 6 wherein the hook guide includes a wall having an inclined surface adapted to be engaged by each hook, the inclined surface making an obtuse angle with the axis of the pipe.

8. A device according to any one of the claims 5 to 7 wherein a pivotally mounted hook catching arm is provided which projects downwardly adjacent said other end of the pipe, said arm crossing the pipe adjacent the end of the slot, the arm being pivotally movable to a position adjacent the portion of the hook guide to assist in transferring a hook from the slot to the hook guide.

9. A device according to claim 8 where m the arm extends across the pipe to define a chord across the pipe.

10. A device according to claim 8 or 9 wherein the said other end of the pipe is bevelled forming an oblique facing the hook catching arm.

11. A device according to claim 8 or 9 or 10 wherein the hook guide constitutes a channel member, one wall of the channel member being inclined at one end thereof, said pivoted arm being adapted to move immediately adjacent the inclined portion of the wall.

12. A device according to claim II wherein means are provided for connecting a hook magazine to the hook guide.

13. A device according to any one of the preceding claims wherein a rounded body is resiliently maintained in position in contoct with or immediately adjacent the upstream end of the slot. ·

14. A device according to claim 13 wherein said body is spherical.

15. A device according to any one of the preceding claims in which the walls of the pipe are effectively thickened in the region of the said slot.

16. A hook orientation device substantially as herein described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.