WO1994018825A1

WO1994018825A1 - Fish pot

Info

Publication number: WO1994018825A1
Application number: PCT/NO1994/000045
Authority: WO
Inventors: Augustin GULESTØ
Original assignee: Gulesto Augustin
Priority date: 1993-02-25
Filing date: 1994-02-23
Publication date: 1994-09-01
Also published as: NO176781C; NO930664L; NO930664D0; NO176781B

Abstract

A fish pot (10) comprises a rigid skeleton (11) and a mesh-forming net material (12), which at the bottom of the fish pot forms a closeable bottom portion (22), and at the top of the fish pot has an inwardly projecting calf (25) having an inner intake portion (26). The bottom portion (22) has a purseable together discharge opening (23) and the calf (25) has a slot-defining intake portion (24). A pair of line pieces (14) for drawing tight the slot-shaped intake portion (26) are connected to a bracing line (13) for pursing together the discharge opening (23) of the fish pot. A release of the bracing line (13) can simultaneously release the line pieces (14) in order to release the slot-shaped intake portion (26).

Description

Fish Pot.

The present invention relates to a fish pot comprising a rigid skeleton, consisting of a number of circumferential rings, which are connected to each other in pairs by means of cross stays, to form a substantially bell-shaped skeleton, together with mesh-forming net material, which forms a bottom with an associated discharge opening, and sides and also a top having an associated inwardly projecting calf with slot-defining intake portions arranged internally in the fish pot, where the discharge opening of the bottom is purseable to a closed condition or releasable to an open condition by means of a bracing line and where the slot-defining intake portion is able to be drawn tight with an axially outstretched form and with regulatable slot opening by means of pieces of line extending diametrically opposite. From experience it is favourable to employ fish pots with bell-shaped metal skeletons, so that the fish pot has a relatively large bottom side, which can support the fish pot in balanced, stable positions on the sea bottom, even if it comes down on a somewhat obliquely extending and somewhat uneven sea bottom, so that the catch animal, that is to say the crab, the lobster, the craw fish or the like, can readily climb on the fish pot in its intended catch position and be led inwardly into the fish pot with the intake portion of the fish pot faced upwards. In addition, the bell-shaped skeleton is advantageously designed for ready stacking together of fish pots, the one within the other, for occupying little space in an inactive condition.

In order to be able to stack the fish pots together within each other with little need for space in the inactive condition it is of importance that the calf can be readily released from a fixed catch position to a released, inactive condition.

With the present invention the aim is to produce a fish pot which is easy to empty and, in addition, is easy to adjust from the active use position to the inactive, released condition, and vice-versa. In particular the aim is that a set of fish pots can be placed together in an inactive condition, the one inside the other, with a small space requirement. In this connection the aim is a solution where the fish pot can be readjusted from inactive to active use position, and vice-versa, by way of simple means and in an easy and simple manner.

The fish pot according to the invention is characterised in that the line pieces for drawing tight the slot-shaped intake portion are connected to the bracing line, a release of the bracing line for opening the discharge opening being adapted to release simultaneously the line pieces for the slot-shaped intake portion.

With such a connection between the line pieces and the bracing line and by means of simple manipulation, the calf and its slot-shaped intake portion and the bottom portion with its discharge opening can be drawn tight one after the other and by equivalent simple manipulation, the intake portion of the calf can be released and the discharge opening of the bottom portion be opened. Further features of the invention will be evident from the following description having regard to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 shows a fish pot according to the invention illustrated in perspective, and shown in an active use position.

Fig. 2 shows the fish pot according to Fig. 1, seen from below in an inactive, open position.

Fig. 3 shows the fish pot according to Fig. 1, illustrated in vertical section in the active use position.

Fig. 4 shows the fish pot seen from the side and with the bottom opening illustrated in the discharge position.

Fig. 5 shows the fish pot viewed from below in the active use position.

Fig. 6 shows a set of fish pots stacked together in an inactive condition.

In Fig. 1 a fish pot 10 is shown with associated rigid skeleton 11. The skeleton 11 is covered with a mesh- forming net material 12. A pair of bracing lines 13 are shown connected to the one end of each of one pair of line pieces 14, the other end of the line pieces 14 being shown connected to a pair of slot-defining cords 15.

The skeleton 11 in the illustrated embodiment is made of metal, but can, if desired, be made of reinforced plastic or another suitable material. The skeleton 11 is constructed of a bottom ring 16, a support ring 17, a top edge ring 18 and a top inner ring 19 plus four rows of stays 20, which are spot welded to the respective rings and which connect the rings together in pairs for a rigid construction. The bottom ring 16 has the largest diameter, while the top edge ring 18 has a significantly smaller diameter and the support ring 17 has a medium diameter. The top inner ring 19, which is flush with the top edge ring 18, has a smallest diameter. As shown in Fig. 2 the stay portions 20a,20b,20c between each pair of rings have approximately an equally large length reckoned in the plane of the drawing while, as shown in Fig. 4, the stay portion 20b has a somewhat larger length than the stay portion 20a and a significantly larger length than the stay portion 20c. There is formed a bell-shaped, that is to say a substantially frusto-conical rigid skeleton 11, which forms an effective support and fastening for the mesh-shaped net material 12. For stability reasons it is preferred that the radius of the fish pot is somewhat larger than the height of the fish pot. With the illustrated form and the illustrated construction the skeleton can be produced in an easy manner with a moderate consumption of material, at the same time as a simple and yet solid fish pot construction is obtained.

In the illustrated embodiment there is shown a fish pot having four stays 20. Instead of the illustrated fish pot construction, which has a relatively simple, but nevertheless rigid and solid skeletal construction, the construction of the fish pot skeleton can be simplified and the weight and the material consumed reduced and also the welding operations somewhat simplified. This can be achieved for example by omitting the middle support ring 17 and, if necessary, omitting the illustrated top inner ring 19.

Alternatively, in connection with specially reinforced fish pots, especially for crab and lobster fishing, six stays can be employed for example instead of four stays 20. Such reinforced fish pots can for example find application for fish in more exposed waters having heavy seas and large loads on the fish pot during putting out and drawing in and during use on the sea bottom respectively. In addition, by using more stays than four, a better stretching out of the net material 12 can be ensured, so that the net material is maintained at a generally greater distance from the bait internally in the fish pot.

In the illustrated embodiment the bottom edge ring 16 is shown with a diameter of 95 cm and the support ring 17 with a diameter of 76 cm, while the top edge ring 18 is shown with a diameter of 48 cm and the top inner ring 19 with a diameter of 32 cm. In a fish pot, for example for craw fish, rings of the fish pot can have for example approximately half as large diameters, but can have besides constructions largely corresponding to those for the illustrated crab fish pots.

The bottom ring 16 is preferably made having a large thickness and large weight in order to ensure the fish pot in place in a stable support position on the sea bottom. As is shown in the depicted embodiment (see Fig. 1-3) there is employed a clamping ring 21 of longitudinally split hose of a suitable material in order to protect the lower edge of the fish pot, and specifically in order to protect the net line at the lower edge where the fish pot is most exposed to net damage. The hose material preferably consists of relatively rigid plastic, relatively rigid rubber or similar material, which permits relatively easy, but nevertheless reliably secure clamping of the clamping ring on the bottom ring 16 of the fish pot via the intermediate net material 12. Alternatively, in order to obtain the desired large weight in the bottom ring 16 of the fish pot an external weight-forming clamping ring 21 of metal can be employed, which can be snapped into place on the bottom ring 16 in a manner corresponding to the clamping ring as described above. In such a case the clamping ring 21 can serve both as a body weight and as a protective arrangement for the lower bottom edge portion of the fish pot.

On the outside of the skeleton 11 the mesh-forming net material 12 is mounted with fastening thread not shown further or with similar fastening means. The net material 12 can for example be permanently sewn with fastening thread to the bottom ring 16 and to the top inner ring 19, the intermediate portion of the net material 12 being stretched over and fitting relatively tightly into the support ring 17 and the top edge ring 18 plus the associated stays 20. At the bottom of the metal skeleton 11 the net material 12 forms a closeable bottom portion 22, as shown in Fig. 5, and an openable, skirt-shaped bottom portion 22*', as shown in Fig. 4, with associated, independent discharge opening 23. At the top of the skeleton 11 the net material 12 forms a skirt-shaped intake portion 24 to the interior of the fish pot 10. The intake portion 24 is defined by a so-called calf 25, which hangs axially inwards into the fish pot from the top inner ring towards the central middle portion 10c which is encircled by the support ring 17. For practical reasons an especially wear-resistant and strong net is chosen for use in the calf, that is to say a net material which, if necessary, deviates from the net material 12 which is otherwise used in the fish pot. If necessary, the calf 25 can be separately fastened to the ring 19 independently of the net material 12 remaining.

A slot-defining, ring-forming cord 15 is threaded through a lower portion of the calf 25, so that a relatively narrow access opening can be defined from the top of the fish pot to the interior of the fish pot via a slot portion 26, which is arranged at a level just above the support ring 17. The slot 26 is stretched into elongate form at the same time as the calf 25 is stretched axially internally in the fish pot 10. These stretchings are effected by means of a pair of line pieces 14 which are stretched in opposite directions. The pieces 14 of line are fastened separately at the one end to the slot- defining, ring-forming cord 15 and pass from the cord 15 in a first path obliquely outwards and downwards in a direction towards the support ring 17 and further through a guide-forming fastening ring 27 which is anchored to the support ring 17. From the fastening ring 27 the line piece 14 passes further obliquely downwards and inwards to the middle of the bottom of the fish pot 10, where the pieces 14 of line are separately fastened to their respective part of a loop-forming, or as shown herein a ring-shaped bracing line 13, where the two parts pass through their respective half of the net-shaped bottom portion 22 and pass further with a loop-shaped extension outside the fish pot.

According to the invention the whole system is tightened up at the same time, that is to say both the calf 25 and its bottom slot are tightened at the same time as the bottom portion 22 of the fish pot is tightened up. In practice the calf 25 and its associated slot 26 are first drawn tight by means of the line pieces 14 by a first pull in the bracing lines 13, to the position as illustrated for the calf 25 in Fig. 4. Thereafter the bottom portion 22 is drawn tight and pursed together by means of the two said parts of the ring-shaped bracing line 13, separately, to the position as shown in Fig. 5, in order finally to fasten the bracing line 13 in place at a fastening location 28 externally on the fish pot 10 at the top portion of the fish pot, as is shown in Fig. 3. On correspondingly releasing the bracing lines 13 from their fastening location 28, the weight of the catch in the fish pot can press the bottom opening of the fish pot to the fully open condition, as is shown in Fig. 4.

After discharging the catch from the fish pot the bracing lines are free, so that the calf 25 can also be relieved, so that the calf can move in an arbitrary manner relative to the fish pot 10. This means that immediately the fish pot 10 is emptied of catch the calf 25 can be folded against the inner side of the fish pot so that the fish pot can receive internally a corresponding fish pot and the fish pots can thereby be stacked together having a small space requirement, as is shown in Fig. 6. As shown in the depicted embodiment the clamping ring 21 can be clamped in place on the outside of the net material 12, so that this is firmly clamped in a specific position on the bottom ring 16. In addition the net material can if desired be separately sewn fast to the bottom ring 16. In practice the clamping ring 21, in addition to serving as a weight-forming body and more especially as a fastening means for the net material, will be able to serve as an effective edge protection of the net material at the bottom of the fish pot 10. An equivalent light-weight clamping ring (not shown) can, if desired, form an equivalent edge protection for the net material at the intake opening of the fish pot at the top inner ring 19.

A bait is suspended internally in the fish pot in a manner not shown further and shall be easy to change after opening the bottom portion of the fish pot.

Claims

P A T E N T C L A I M S

1. Fish pot (10) comprising a rigid skeleton (11), consisting of a number of circumferential rings (16-19) , which are connected to each other in pairs by means of cross stays (20) , to form a substantially bell-shaped skeleton, together with a mesh-forming net material (12) , which forms at the bottom of the fish pot a closeable bottom portion (22) having an associated discharge opening (23) , and sides plus a top having an associated inwardly projecting calf (25) having a slot-defining intake portion (24) arranged internally in the fish pot (10), where the discharge opening (23) of the bottom portion (22) is purseable together to a closed condition and releasable to an open condition by means of a bracing line (13) and the slot-defining intake portion (24) is able to be drawn tight with an axially outstretched form and with a regulatable slot (26) by means of pieces (14) of line extending diametrically opposite, characterised in that the line pieces (14) for drawing tight the slot- shaped intake portion (26) are connected to the bracing line (13) , a release of the bracing line (13) for opening the discharge opening (23) being adapted to release simultaneously the line pieces (14) for the slot-shaped intake portion (26) .

2. Fish pot in accordance with claim 1, characterised in that the circumferential rings comprise a bottom edge ring (16) , which has the largest diameter, a top edge ring (18) , which has a significantly smaller diameter, and an intermediate support ring (17) , which has a medium diameter plus a top inner ring (19) , which has the least diameter, that the calf (25) , which in the ready for use condition of the fish pot extends via the top inner ring (19) downwardly towards the middle portion of the fish pot (10), has the slot-formed intake portion (26) arranged at a level between the support ring (17) and the top inner ring (19) , and that the line pieces (14) in the ready for use condition of the fish pot 10 extend from opposite ends of the slot- formed intake portion (26) obliquely downwards and outwards towards their guide (27) in connection with the support ring (17) and further obliquely downwards and inwards towards the pursed together discharge opening (23) of the fish pot (10) .