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  Automatic fishing deviceUSPTO Application #: 20060042145Title: Automatic fishing device Abstract: The current invention is an automatic fishing device for setting the hook upon fish strike. It embodies a weight, a weight support, an anchor for weight support, a fish line, two line guides, and a fish line coupler with a clip for connecting the weight to the fish line. The weight has a groove for engage the fish line, an opening for engage and disengage it to and from the weight support, and an anchor for the fish line coupler. The weight can be either supported or fall, determined by the position of the opening relative to the weight support. Movement of fish line caused by fish strike rotates the initially supported weight to the fall. The falling weight will drag the fish line downward, effectively pulling the line and setting the hook. (end of abstract)
Agent: Gary Enguo Lou - Fremont, CA, US Inventor: Gary Enguo Lou USPTO Applicaton #: 20060042145 - Class: 043015000 (USPTO) Related Patent Categories: Fishing, Trapping, And Vermin Destroying, Fishing, Automatic Hookers Or Catchers The Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20060042145. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION [0001] Numerous existing automatic fishing and automatic hook setting devices use combination of a spring device and trigger device to either lift the fishing rod upward, or to pull the fish line, upon fish strikes. Many of these inventions are fishing rod holder devices. The spring device used in these rod holder type devices is to store energy for lifting the fishing rod. The trigger device is used to transforming the tug of the line by a fish strike to trigger the release of energy stored in the spring device. U.S. Pat. No. 3,889,413, issued on Jun. 17, 1979 to Robert T. Snider and Jessie G. Zimmerman, U.S. Pat. No. 4,142,315, issued on May 2, 1977 to Gary J. Hoffman, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,542,205, issued on Aug. 6, 1996 to Lester Updike is among this type of inventions. The spring device and trigger device in such cases mimic the use of energy stored in the human muscle and the reaction of a fisherman to the fish strike. [0002] Combination of a spring device and trigger device usually means that the manufacturing processes of those devices are likely to be complicated, and the cost can be high. Many fishing rod holder devices are also heavy, not practical to carry around, or easy to setup. Not easy to use and high cost limits the practical application and market acceptance of those devices. [0003] Besides using spring as the store of energy in automatic fishing devices, there are a few inventors use weight instead of spring to store energy. U.S. Pat. No. 4,204,355 issued on May 27, 1980 to William C. Almond, describes a simple automatic fish catcher using a weight for pulling the fish line. This fish catcher uses a horizontal support arm to hang a weight, and the fish line is attached to the weight so that the tightening of the fish line by fish strikes will drag the weight out of the horizontal support arm, causing the weight to fall and pulling the fish with it. Although it is a low cost and easy to use device for automatic fishing, this device has certain shortcomings. First, the weight support arm has to be set up horizontally. Out of horizontal position will either cause the weight to fall by itself, or make it harder for fish to move the weight outward to fall. Unless the fish is firmly hooked at the beginning of the strike, the biting fish may give up the bite since it has to apply considerable force to move such weight outward. This may reduce the effectiveness of the device. Second, the objectives of the device is also lifting a hooked fish to the water surface, this means that the weight needs be proportional to the weight of the fish, which is usually unknown before the fish is surfaced. Third, the weight of this device need considerable falling height to lift hooked fish to the water surface, it is not suitable in place of shallow water. Forth, this device combines automatic hook setting and automatic fish catcher in one very simple device; this make it difficult to achieve both goals well. Fifth, this device only works when the direction of the fish bite is away from the fishing device to cause the tightening of the fish line. If fish bites in opposite direction, setting the fish line loose, the weight will stay still, giving opportunity for the fish to escape. [0004] In fact, many automatic fishing devices only work when fish is biting away from the fishing device. They depend on the tightening of fish line to trigger the hook setting devices. They are ineffective when fish is biting toward the fishing device, in such case the fish line is loosening instead of tightening. In general, when movement of the fish cause the fish line to loose, it is much harder for an angler to react, regardless whether an automatic fishing device is used or not. Since it is hard to detect the loosening of the line, and even harder to have a good timing to pull the line. SUMMARY [0005] The present invention provides an automatic fishing device, or more specifically, an automatic hook setting device comprising a weight, a weight support, an anchor for weight support, a fish line, two line guides, and a fish line coupler and a clip for connecting the weight to the fish line. [0006] The weight is shaped to have an opening, a fish line groove for securing the contact between the weight and fish line, a anchor for attaching the fish line coupler that connects the weight to the fish line. The opening can be a cut off gap on the weight, obviously to see the structural differences from the rest of the weight; or it can be just an end of the female thread that can end the coupling contact with a male thread on the weight support. The opening can also be a magnetic body fixed on the weight; its relative position to another magnetic body fixed on the weight support determines whether the weight support can attract and support the weight or cannot support the weight. Same as the opening created by the cut off gap, or the opening created by the male and female thread, whether the weight can be supported by the weight support is determined by the relative position between the weight and the weight support. [0007] The weight support is shaped to be able to support the weight in certain position but not support the weight in other positions that can be called the opening positions. The transition from non-opening positions to opening positions is usually caused by rotation of the weight on the weight support. The shapes of the weight support and the weight are matched so that the rotation of the weight can cause the weight to fall. Most contact surface between the weight and weight support is curved, allowing the weight to be supported and to be able to rotate on the weight support. The shape of the opening on the weight disallows the weight to be supported by the weight support. The weight is initially setup to be supported by the weight support, and the fish line is made in contact with the fish line groove on the weight. The fish line coupler that is anchored on the weight is then connecting the weight to the fish line by clipping the fish line clip onto the fish line. When fish strikes, the tightening or the loosening of the fish line rotates the weight. The rotation of the weight changes the position of the opening on the weight. The weight eventually will fall from the weight support when the opening on the weight is rotated to the position that disallows the weight to be supported any longer. The falling weight in turn drags the fish line downward, effectively pulling the fish line and setting the hook. [0008] The weight support can be part of an ordinary fishing rod itself; regardless the rod is one-piece construction or multi-sectional type. It can be a permanent part of a fishing rod, or an addition to the rod mountable to and removable from the rod. In these cases, the fishing rod is the anchor of the weight support. A weight support adaptor can also be the anchor of the weight support for adapting the weight support onto a new or an existing fishing device. [0009] The weight support adaptor is a device for mounting or anchoring the weight support, and for attaching the weight support to a fishing rod, or other existing or new fishing devices. Another use of it is to secure the adequate contact between the weight and the fish line by using two line guides on the weight support adaptor. The weight support adaptor can be attached to another fishing device, such as a multi-sectional fishing rod by fitting its male tip into the female tip of a multi-sectional fishing rod, and fitting the male tip of that rod into the female tip of the weight support adaptor. For such uses, the anchor for weight support is the weight support adaptor. If the weight support is integrated into a fishing rod or other fishing devices with suitable line guides, these devices provide functions of the weight support adaptor; they become the anchor for weight support. [0010] The use of two line guides is to secure the adequate contact between the weight and the fish line so that the rotation of the weight by the moving fish line will be smooth and no skipping. If the weight support is a permanent part of a fishing rod, two nearest line guides on each side of the weight support may provide this functionality. In this case, weight support adaptor is not needed. The distance between these two line guides should not be eight too far apart, or too close to each other. If they are too far apart, the fish line may not be able to rotate the weight properly. If they are too close to each other, resistance to the rotation of the weight will increase and sensibility of the device will decrease. If the weight support adaptor is not a permanent part of a fishing rod, one or two line guides can be mounted on the weight support adaptor. [0011] The coupler for attaching weight to the fish line is a flexible line that is anchored on the weight and attachable to the fish line by a fish line clip, so that the falling weight can drag down the fish line. There is an anchor on the weight for tying up one end of the coupler, and a clip on another end of the coupler for attaching or removing the coupler from the fish line. [0012] The elements of current invention are the weight, the weight support, the anchor of the weight support, line guides, the fish line and the coupler for connecting the weight and the fish line. The weight is shaped to have a groove to support the fish line, an opening for engage to the weight support or disengage it from the weight support, and an anchor for connecting the coupler. The relative positions between the weight and the weight support determine whether the weight can be supported by the weight support or not. When fish strikes, the tightening or loosening of the fish line will rotate the weight, causing the weight to fall from an initially supported position on the weight support. The falling weight will drag the fish line down, tightening the fish line and setting the hook. DRAWINGS--DESCRIPTIONS [0013] FIG. 1A is the front view of the preferred embodiment 1. On this figure, the opening 3 of the weight 1 is facing downward and the weight 1 is supported by the weight support 6. The fish line coupler 12 is connected to both the weight 1 and the fish line 11 through line anchor 4 and fish line clip 13. Line guide 9 on the weight support adaptor 5 is facing downward, and line guide 10 is facing upward. Fish line 11 goes through line guide 9, inner space of the weight support adaptor 5, the fish line groove 2 of the weight 1 and line guide 10. [0014] FIG. 1B is the top view of the preferred embodiment 1. The FIG. 1B is illustrating the same embodiments as in FIG. 1A. [0015] FIG. 1C is the perspective view of the preferred embodiment 1. The weight 1 is rotated to have its opening 3 upward close to a position at which the weight 1 will fall from the weight support 6. [0016] FIG. 1D is the perspective view of the preferred embodiment 1. FIG. 1D is illustrating the falling of weight 1 from weight support 6, if the weight 1 continue to rotate counter clockwise from the position shown on FIG. 1C. On FIG. 1D, Fish line 11 is dragged down by weight 1 through fish line clip 13, line coupler 12 and line anchor 4. [0017] FIG. 1E is the perspective view of the preferred embodiment 2. FIG. 1E is similar to FIG. 1C, except both line guide 9 and line guide 10 on the weight support adaptor 5 are facing downward, and fish line 11 goes through line guide 9, inner space of the weight support adaptor 5, the fish line groove 2 of weight 1, inner space of the weight support adaptor 5 again, and line guide 10. [0018] FIG. 1F is the perspective view of the preferred embodiment 2. FIG. 1F is similar to FIG. 1D illustrating the falling of weight 1 from weight support 6. [0019] FIG. 2A, FIG. 2B, FIG. 2C and FIG. 2D are the front view, the bottom view, the left view and the right view of the weight 1, respectively. [0020] FIG. 3 is the enlarged partial top view of the weight support 6 and weight support adaptor 5, emphasizing the position and shape of the weight support 6. [0021] FIG. 4A, FIG. 4B, FIG. 4C and FIG. 4D are enlarged top view, front view, left view and right view of the weight support 6. Continue reading... Full patent description for Automatic fishing device Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Automatic fishing device patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. 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