US3659371A

US3659371A - Fly tying process

Info

Publication number: US3659371A
Application number: US32862A
Authority: US
Inventors: Wayne O Duescher
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1970-04-29
Filing date: 1970-04-29
Publication date: 1972-05-02
Anticipated expiration: 1989-05-02
Also published as: CA950195A

Abstract

A fly tying process in which hairs or fibers are precut to length and a bundle or bundles of hair are placed uniformly about and along the shank of a fishhook or lure. The bundle of hair and shank are encompassed by two continuous adjacent loops with a slip knot connecting an inner loop to an outer loop and an outer slip knot in the outer loop having free ends extending in opposite directions from the shank. Where the loops are formed from wire, the knots will not hold until reduced to a small diameter and deformed past the yield point of the wire. The reduction in size of the loops by drawing on the free ends of the wire, produces a rotating motion of the hair relative to the shank which uniformly spreads the hair before flaring of the hair as the wire is finally tightened. The wire loop is then covered with epoxy cement or plastic. The hair may be animal hair or synthetic fibers. As an alternate form of the disclosure, the loops are formed from thread and a split metal ring is crimped to the thread to hold the thread to the hair and shank.

Description

United States Patent Duescher [151 3,659,371 [451 May 2,1972

[54] FLY TYING PROCESS Wayne 0. Duescher, 951 West County Rd. 02, St. Paul, Minn. 55113 [22] Filed: Apr. 29, 1970 [21] Appl.No.: 32,862

[72] Inventor:

Dunham ..'..43/42.28

Primary Examiner-Samuel Koren Assistant Examiner-Daniel J. Leach Attorney-Hill, Sherman, Meroni, Gross & Simpson [5 7] ABSTRACT A fly tying process in which hairs or fibers are precut to length and a bundle or bundles of hair are placed uniformly about and along the shank of a fishhook or lure. The bundle of hair and shank are encompassed by two continuous adjacent loops with a slip knot connecting an inner loop to an outer loop and an outer slip knot in the outer loop having free ends extending in opposite directions from the shank. Where the loops are formed from wire, the knots will not hold until reduced to a small diameter and deformed past the yield point of the wire. The reduction in size of the loops by drawing on the free ends of the wire, produces a rotating motion of the hair relative to the shank which uniformly spreads the hair before flaring of the hair as the wire is finally tightened. The wire loop is then covered with epoxy cement or plastic. The hair may be animal hair or synthetic fibers. As an alternate form of the disclosure,

' the loops are formed from thread and a split metal ring is crimped to the thread to hold the thread to the hair and shank.

9 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures FLY TYING PROCESS Animal hair or imitation hair in the form of synthetic fibers is presently attached to the shanks of fishing lures, by forming a cone of thread wound on the shank of the lure, adjacent the eye of the lure, and tying precut hair or fibers parallel to the shank by winding thread under tension around the hair between the cone and the eye of the hook to flare and spread the hair around the barbed portion of the hook, and at the same time fix the bundle of hair to the shank of the hook. The thread is then knotted and excess hair is trimmed away from the area of the eye of the hook. Liquid adhesive is then applied about the thread which penetrates and fixes the bundle of hair to the shank of the hook.

This process of tying flies is an intricate, time-consuming process, requiring highly skilled hand labor.

By the process of the present invention, I greatly facilitate the tying of hair to the shank of a hook by utilizing a wire loop, looped about the hair and shank, which produces forces which flare the wire relative to the shank upon restriction of the loop, and fixes the hair bundle to the hook body in a simple linear movement without the use of the conventional handwound cone.

A principal object of the present invention, therefore, is to 1 eliminate the previous time-consuming manual tying operations for making artificial flies by utilizing a wire loop to affix and flare hair or synthetic fibers to the shank of the hook.

Another object of the inventionis to provide a process for tying flies in a more expeditious manner than formerly, by constricting a self-locking wire loop about a bundle of hair extending along and parallel to the shank of a hook, in which the ends of the loop are formed in the form of a slip knot, with the projecting ends of the wire extending at right angles to the shank, and in which the hair is flared by constricting the loop and is permanently locked to the shank of the hook by drawing on the knots beyond the yield point of the wire.

Still a further object of the invention is to provide a new and improved process for tying flies particularly adapted for machine tying, by placing a continuous-strand double loop around a bundle of hair extending along the shank of a hook and constricting the'loop to rotate and flare the hair and then clipping the strand to lock the hair to the shank of the hook.

A still further object of the invention is to provide an improved process for tying flies, adapted to be done by machine, in which a single strand of wire is formed in the form of a double loop with a slip knot connecting the inner to the outer loop and the outer loop terminates in a slip knot with the free ends of the wire projecting generally perpendicular to the shank and in which one or more bundles of straight hairs or fibers are placed about the shank and the double loops placed about the hair and uniformly spreads the hair about the shank by constricting on the loop and imparts a rotating motion to the hair relative to the shank and then flares the hair by continuing the operation of constricting on the loop.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be readily apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, although variations and modifications may be elfected without departing from the spirit and scope of the novel concepts of the disclosure.

DESCRIPTION or THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a view in side elevation of a three-pronged hook showing a bundle of hair placed about and extending along the shank of the hook.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a double looped wire, of a form which may be used to uniformly distribute, flare and secure the hair to the shank of the hook.

FIG. 3 is a view showingvthe double looped wire placed about a bundle of hair extending along the shank of the hook.

FIG. 4 is a view showing the loop constricted by pulling on the free ends thereof and flaring the hair about the barbs of the hook.

FIG. 5 is a view somewhat similar to FIG. 4 but showing the hair and free ends of the wire trimmed.

FIG. 6 is a view showing cement applied to the hair and wire extending about the shank of the hook; and

FIG. 7 is a view somewhat similar to FIG. 6 but showing a crimping ring crimped to the loops.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF INVENTION In FIG. 6 of the drawings, I have shown a lure 10 formed about a fishhook having a shank 11 with a bundle or bundles of hair 16 or other suitable fibrous material tied thereto and flared outwardly of the shank to conceal

barbed hooks

12, 12 of the fishhook. The bundle of hair is secured to the shank of the hook andtied thereto as by a double loop strand 13 covered by a suitable cement such as a high-viscosity epoxy cement 15.

The term hair as used herein is intended to include natural hair, such as animal hair, and particularly hair taken from the tails of squirrels, and to include artificial hair made from plastic or synthetic fibers or any other material commonly used in tying flies. A suitable synthetic fiber is a fiber known by the trade name of Dynel made from acrylonitrile and vinyl chloride and manufactured by Carbide and Carbon Chemical Company.

The fishhook 10 may be a conventional three-pronged hook, but may be a single or double hook as well. The process of the present invention may also be used to apply hair to lures such as French spinners, jigs, streamer flies and the like, or may be applied directly to wire.

In FIG. 1 of the drawings, I have shown a fishhook having a bundle of hair 16 extending along and about the shank 11 of the hook beyond the hooked ends thereof. While one bundle of hair is shown herein, two or three bundles placed about the shank can be used to advantage. With the bundle or bundles of hair extending along the shank of the hook in generally parallel relation relative to each other, a double looped strand 13 is placed about the hair and shank of the hook adjacent an eye 17 of the hook. The double looped strand 13 may be made from a monofilament which may be wire, or other suitable materials and is shown in FIG. 2 as including an inner loop 19 and an outer loop 20 generally concentric with the inner loop as the loop is placed about the shank and bundle of wire. As the ends of wire forming the loop 19 are trained to form the loop 20, the ends thereof forming the loop are crossed and intertwined with the loop 19 to form a simple form of slip knot 21. The ends of the loop 20 are also intertwined to form a slip knot 22 having free ends 23 extending generally at right angles to the axes of the loops and adapted to be gripped and pulled in opposite directions, to constrict the two loops l9 and 20.

The wire used to form the loop 13 is preferably a high tensile strength wire having a smooth finish to prevent the cutting ofi of individual fibers or hairs as the loop is drawn down. A bright finish stainless spring wire has been found to be very satisfactory. Such a high tensile strength wire will not rust upon use of the hook and enables the loops to be readily constricted and enables the force imparted by the wire on the hair to be increased to attain a substantial flaring of the hair as the loops are in their final form.

With the bundle or bundles of hair extending along the shank of the hook from the eye thereof beyond the barbed hooks 12 thereof, the two loops 19 and 20 when in their open position are placed about the hair, adjacent the eye 17 of the hook. The ends 23 of the looped wire are then drawn outwardly in opposite directions relative to the shank of the hook in directions generally perpendicular thereto. This operation will constrict the loops and the end of the bundle adjacent the eye 17 and in doing this produces a rotational movement of the loops and of the hair relative to the shank of the hook. This rotational movement uniformly spreads the hair before any substantial flaring. The constricting operation is then continued to tightly bind the hair to the shank and flare the hair during constriction of the loops to extend outwardly of the barbed hooks and then conceal said barbed hooks, as shown in FIG. 4.

When the two loops are in their final restricted form, as shown in FIG. 4, the ends 23 of the loops have been pulled with sufficient force to deform the

knots

21 and 22 beyond the yield point of the wire, and to thus positively lock the loops to the hair and shank of the hook.

When the hair is locked to the shank of the hook by constricting the loops l9 and 20, as shown in FIG. 4, the ends 23 of the wire may be trimmed. The hair extending beyond the loops toward the eye of the hook may also be trimmed by searing the excess hair with a hot wire, or by abrading off the excess hair by a rotating wire brush, or by the use of scissors. A wire makes it possible to trim the excess hair by heat or abrading. The trailing ends of the hair may further be trimmed to enhance the appearance of the fly, if desired.

As the hair is trimmed, a cement may be applied to the wire loop and hair tied to the shank. The cement may be a high viscosity epoxy adhesive completely obscuring the wire and ends of the hair, and may be formed to provide a smooth finished leading end of the hook.

In FIG. 7of the drawings, 1 have shown a tied fly similar to that shown in FIG. 6 except a monofilament which may be in the form of thread 25 replaces the steel wire loop. The thread 25 may have a pair of concentric loops with slip knots between each loop, although the slip knots need not necessarily be provided in this form of the invention. The opposite free ends of the thread may be drawn in directions away from the shank of the hook at generally right angles with respect thereto by hand or a suitable machine, to first produce a rotating motion of the hairs, to,;spread the hairuniformly about the hook and to then flare the hair outwardly from the shank toward and beyond the barbed ends of the hook as the ends of the loop are taken up. A clip ring 26, which may be a common form of split ring may then be placed about the thread and crimped thereto, to permanently hold the loops to the hair and shank. The monofilament loop and clip ring maythen be cemented by a high viscosity epoxy cement after trimming of the hair around the loop, to provide a permanently tied fly with an improved appearance at the point of attachment of the'hair to the shank of the hook, and with the tying threads completely covered so as not to be exposed to abrasion.

It should be understood from theforegoing that the fly tying process of the present invention is particularly adapted for mass production techniques and may be done by machine, since the hand forming of the cone necessary to flare the hair and the wrapping of the restricted end of the hair with thread to retain the hair to the shank of the hook is eliminated. When a bundle or bundles are placed about the shank of the hook and the double loop encircles the bundle and shank, a straight line pull on the ends of the loop in opposite directions uniformly spreads the hairs of the bundles as the loops are constricted, and also flares the hair to attain a fly having an improved appearance and greater durability than hand-tied flies heretofore in use.

When tying a fly or other lure of the present process, either by hand or by machine, a single linear draw action is exerted on the free ends of the loop, to spread and form the hair with the required flare, which is far. simpler than winding a cone and winding and knotting to attach the hair to the shank and cone, and attains a substantial flaring of the hair determined by the force applied to the ends of the loop.

Where the fly is tied by machine, the machine may be constructed to allow for non-symmetrical pull to compensate for uneven tightening of the knots.

It should further be understood that while the process has been described with reference to one bundle of hair placed about the shank of the hook, that two or three evenly sized bundles may be placed about the shank of the hook to simplify the tying and flaring operations and the double wire loop may be drawn with sufficient power to adequately flare the bundles, particularly where the bundles of hair may be artificial fiber, requiring larger forces to flare than natural hair.

It should further be understood that where wire is used for tying, it also may be clipped instead of deforming the knots beyond the yield point of the wire and that the wire even may be retained to clamp the hair to the shank of the hook by weldmg.

I claim as my invention:

1. A fly tying process comprising the steps of:

a. placing a fishhook having an eye and shank extending therefrom in a preselected position,

b. locating at least one bundle of hair around the shank of the hook with the strands of hair extending parallel to the shank and generally aligned therewith,

c. forming a wire strand in the form of a double loop having slip knots in each loop, and having intertwined ends projecting therefrom,

d. placing the double loop along and about the strands of hair and shank into position adjacent the eye of the hook with oppositely projecting free intertwined ends extending generally tangentially of the loop,

e. then drawing outwardly on the intertwined ends of the loop and contracting the loop to first impart a rotating motion to the hair to uniformly spread the hair about the shank of the hook and then flare the hair as the loop is contracted into a securing position.

2. The fly tying process of claim 1, including the additional step of crimping a split ring to the loop, to lock the loop and hair to the shank of the hook.

3. The fly tying process of claim 2, including the additional step of applying a high viscosity cement tothe loop and split ring, and covering the leading ends of the strands of hair and loop.

4. The process of claim 1, wherein the wire loop is formed from spring steel and including the additional step of locking the loop to the hair and shank by tightening on the knots beyond the yield point of the wire.

5. The process of claim 4, including the additional step of applying a high viscosity cement to the loop and leading ends of the hair and smoothing the cement to provide a smooth surface extending about the loop and constricted end portions of the hair.

6. The fly tying process of claim 1,

including the step of crimping a clip ring to the loop to retain the loop in position.

7. The fly tying process of claim 6, including the additional step of applying a high viscosity epoxy cement to the monofilament loop, clip ring and constricted end portions of the hair, to retain the monofilament fiber from exposure to abrasion and smoothing the cement to provide a smooth surface in the region of attachment of the hair to the shank of the hook.

8. A fishing fly comprising:

a hook having:

a. an eye,

b. a shank extending from said eye,

c. at least one hook portion extending from the shank,

d. at least one bundle of hair extending about the shank and hook and flared downwardly relative to the shank from the eye to the hook,

a monofilament double loop formed from wire and extending about the bundle and shank adjacent said eye having a slip knot connecting a first loop to a second loop and slip knot in the second loop having projecting free ends and constricted to constrict the bundle to the shank and flare the hair outwardly from the shank about the hook, i f. means securing the loop in position and securing the hair to the shank, comprising the deformation of the knots of the wire loop beyond the yield point of the loop, by drawing on the free ends of the loop, and

g. an epoxy adhesive covering the loop and contracted ends of the hair.

9. A fishing fly in accordance with claim 8, wherein the means locking the monofilament to the hair and shank comprises a clip ring extending about the monofilament loop and clipped thereto.

Claims

1. A fly tying process comprising the steps of: a. placing a fishhook having an eye and shank extending therefrom in a preselected position, b. locating at least one bundle of hair around the shank of the hook with the strands of hair extending parallel to the shank and generally aligned therewith, c. forming a wire strand in the form of a double loop having slip knots in each loop, and having intertwined ends projecting therefrom, d. placing the double loop along and about the strands of hair and shank into position adjacent the eye of the hook with oppositely projecting free intertwined ends extending generally tangentially of the loop, e. then drawing outwardly on the intertwined ends of the loop and contracting the loop to first impart a rotating motion to the hair to uniformly spread the hair about the shank of the hook and then flare the hair as the loop is contracted into a securing position.

3. The fly tying process of claim 2, including the additional step of applying a high viscosity cement to the loop and split ring, and covering the leading ends of the strands of hair and loop.

6. The fly tying process of claim 1, including the step of crimping a clip ring to the loop to retain the loop in position.

8. A fishing fly comprising: a hook having: a. an eye, b. a shank extending from said eye, c. at least one hook portion extending from the shank, d. at least one bundle of hair extending about the shank and hook and flared downwardly relative to the shank from the eye to the hook, e. a monofilament double loop formed from wire and extending about the bundle and shank adjacent said eye having a slip knot connecting a first loop to a second loop and slip knot in the second loop having projecting free ends and constricted to constrict the bundle to the shank and flare the hair outwardly from the shank about the hook, f. means securing the loop in position and securing the hair to the shank, comprising the deformation of the knots of the wire loop beyond the yield point of the loop, by drawing on the free ends of the loop, and g. an epoxy adhesive covering the loop and contracted ends of the hair.