IE46632B1 - Angler's equipment - Google Patents

Description

This invention relates to reel mounting equipment, and has particular application to the mounting of angler's fishing reels.

The development and manufacture of fishing tackle for the 5 pleasure angler has become a worldwide industry and recent products shown a high level of sophistication.

A recent product which is making a big impact amongst serious fly fishermen is the carbon fibre rod, developed several years ago in the U.S.A. as an offshoot of the space industry.

Characteristics of the rod are extreme power to weight ratio as compared with the more traditional split cane and glass fibre rods.

A'9'0 carbon fibre rod weighs approximately 2¾ oz. A problem occurs, however, when one tries to match the rod with a traditional reel and line. These weigh from about oz. for a standard fly reel with floating fly line up to 12 oz. or more for an automatic fly reel with sinking fly line. Since a fly-fishing rod is not helped to cast better by having a reel fixed to it, the reel should be as unobtrusive as possible in its influence on the rod's characteristics. Thus in the case of the lightweight carbon fibre rods the disproportionately high weight of the reel provides a serious deterioration in the casting characteristics of the rod.

The object of the present invention is, inter alia, to provide means whereby the reel may be detached from the rod and located in some other functional position, such as a boat seat or the angler's person.

Accordingly, the invention provides equipment for mounting a fishing or other reel,comprising a reel seat, a rigid support having a front side upon which the reel seat is firmly supported in such manner as to allow attachment of a reel in a functional position to the reel seat, and an attachment means for holding the rear side of the support firmly against the front of a person's body.

The attachment means may, for example, be a body harness or a plurality of hooks for cooperating with corresponding eyes on an article of clothing.

Preferably the rigid support forms a cage for the reception of a bag for holding small items of fishing tackle. Alternatively, the rigid support may be'simply a plate. - 3 4SG32 Furthermore, the angular position of the reel seat may be adjustable relative to the rigid support.

By detaching the reel from the rod, a number of interesting possibilities arise: a) The Reel - Development of fly reels has been somewhat restricted by the need to keep weight to a minimum. Even so, there is a tendency for reels to become heavier as more anglers come to prefer the geared and automatic type reels.

The development of geared and automatic reels should take a positive leap forward once the critical problem of weight restriction is removed by'attaching the reel to a separate harness. b) The Rod - Rods can be designed with predetermined casting characteristics which would not be affected by the reel since this is separately mounted. Furthermore the conventional reel seat incorporated on present rods can be dispensed with if a reel harness is used at all times. Alternatively the reel seat can be retained on the rod giving the angler an option of using the harness or fixing the reel directly onto the rod. c) The Harness - The harness can be modified to suit the requirements of particular classes of fly fisherman, e.g. the boat artgler, the river angler and the Stillwater angler. Attachments, pockets, landing net. clips, etc. could be incorporated in the harness as desired to suit these different applications.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of the invention, Fig. 2 is an end view of the embodiment of Fig. 1, Fig. 3 illustrates the embodiment of Figures 1 and in use.

Fig. 4 shows a modification of the embodiment of figures 1 and 2, Fig. 5 illustrates a second embodiment of the invention, Fig. 6 illustrates a third embodiment of the invention,and Figs. 7, 8 and 9 illustrate a fourth anbodiment of the invention.

The equipment shown in Figs. 1 and 2 comprises a rigid sipporting structure in the form of a bent wire cage 1 (which may be coated with plastics material for protection) having a metal plate 2 welded thereto. Bolts or studs 3 project from this metal plate 2 and rigidly support a reel seat or fitting 4 which is drilled on the overside to take the bolts 3. The reel seat may be a standard tubular reel fitting of the kind readily available at the present time. A reel 5 releasably fits into the reel seat 4 and.is held thereby in a functional position.

The metal cage 1 comprises an oblong base frame 6 for stabilisation and reel support wires 7, and is rivetted to an oblong of leatherette material 8 by means of leatherette tabs (not shown) which span over the wire of the base frame 6 with fixings at each'side. A second piece - 5 46632 of leatherette material 9 is placed over the wire base frame and sewn tp the first piece 8 so concealing the base frame 6. This second piece of material 9 has slots 10 to take the reel support wires 7 which are welded to the oblong base frame 6.

The two layers of leatherette material 8 and 9 secure four short straps 11 with buckles to take adjustable shoulder straps and belt straps (not shown).

A canvas or leatherette bag 12 slides inside the metal cage 1 from the top and is secured by means of Velcro strips 13. (Velcro is a registered Trade Mark). This bag is designed to to take small items of fishing tackle or a leatherette fly wallet.

Xn a specific example of the equipment shown in Figures 1 and 2, the dimensions of the oblong base frame 6 were 5’ x 7 and the clearance between the reel support wires at the underside of the plate 2 and the base frame 6 was 1%. The other dimensions will be apparent from the drawings which are roughly to scale. Xt is to be understood that instead of the frame 6 a plate of the same dimensions could be used for stabilising the reel seat.

In use (figure 3) the base frame 6 enclosed in the material and 9 is held firmly against the front of the angler's trunk by the strap's 11. The reel 5 is thus supported in an operative position for use. by the angler. In this connection the reel needs to be kept several inches away from the angeler's body.so that sleeve cuffs, etc. do not -6 46632 interfere with the winding action. The lateral dimensions of the frame 6 (or plate) are substantially greater than the lateral dimensions of the reel seat 4 so as to stabilise the -reel and prevent excessive movement thereof from side to side. The leatherette covering on each side of the base frame 6 makes the harness more presentable and also serves to secure the buckles by which the assembly is secured to the angler's person. The covering also further helps in stabilising the reel and gives a measure of comfort to the wearer as the bare cage tends to be uncomfortable.

A modification of the above embodiment is shown in figure 4. Several fishing tackle manufacturers market line trays which are conventionally attached at the waist. Figure 4 shows an arrangement wherein such a tray 14 is formed together with a reel mounting equipment 15 as previously described in a single unit.

A second embodiment of the invention is shown in Fig. 5.

In this case the reel mounting equipment 15 ls substantially as previously described but instead of the straps 11 as attachment means the rear of the piece of material 8 is provided with hooks (not shown) whereby the stabilising cage 1 may be fastened to the front of an angler's waistcoat 16 by means of eyes on the waistcoat engaged by the hooks of .25 the material 8. The waistcoat 16 is fastened by a side zip fastener 17 just under the front flap of the waistcoat.

By this means the stabilising cage is held firmly against the front of the angler's body in a similar position to that previously described using the straps 11. 6 6 3 2 A third embodiment of the invention is illustrated in Figure 6.

In this case the rigid support for the reel seat comprises a stabilising plate 6' rather than the cage 1 of the first embodiment. The reel seat 4 is supported directly on the plate 6' by a rotatable spring-loaded device which allows different angular positions of the reel seat 4 to be selected about an axis perpendicular to the plate. The different angular positions of the reel seat 4 are shown schematically in broken lines at 4' in Figure 6 and may include horizontal and vertical positions, and intermediate angular positions.

The spring-loading of the rotatable mounting device retains the reel seat 4 in any particular angular position chosen by friction, the position of the reel seat 4 being adjusted by applying a force sufficient to overcome the friction. Springloaded devices of this kind are known for other applications and may be readily adapted for the present purpose.

The plate 6’ is provided with straps 11 as for the first embodiment. However, the plate may alternatively be fitted with clamps for attachment to a boat seat.

A fourth embodiment of the invention is shown in Figs. 7, 8 and 9. Ihe reel mounting equipment 15 comprises a rigid supporting structure in the form of a cage la of injection moulded nylon which has a receptacle 2a for a reel seat 4a which is also comprised of injection moulded nylon. The reel seat 4a has a reel 5 releasably attached thereto. In contrast to the first embodiment of figs 1 and 2, the base frame or plate 6 'is omitted and the legs of the cage la are directly secured to the oblong of leatherette material 8 in any conventional manner. The oblong 8 is provided with four short straps 11 with buckles for adjustable shoulder straps-18 and a belt strap 19. - 8 46632 The cage la is adapted to receive a leatherette fly wallet indicated by broken lines 20. The cage la is also adapted to receive a tackle bag (not shown) which is secured to the leatherette oblong 8 by means of Velcro strips 13 (Velcro is a registered Trade Mark).

I With the present embodiment, the angler may use the equipment 15 for normal casting and, in the event of hooking a fish he can quickly detach the reel seat 4a, to which the reel 5 is attached, from the cage la and slot it into a ferrule 21 at the base of his fly fishing rod 22.

It will be appreciated that a reel mounting equipment of the kind herein described has application in other fields where various forms of lines or tapes are handled. For example, in commercial fishing hand lines, set lines and mackerel jigs could be operated from such equipment. It is also useful in surveying for holding reels of survey tape.

In horticulture, reels for holding binding material could be held with the equipment.

Furthermore, the reel mounting equipment has various industrial applications where line, binding, wire, cable and the like need to be manually fed out or wound.

Finally, the reel mounting equipment has application in sporting activities, for example, it could be used in kite flying for holding the kite line. 6 6 3 2

Claims (11)

CLAIMS:

1. Equipment for mounting a fishing or other reel, comprising a reel seat, a rigid support having a front side upon which the reel s'eat is firmly supported in such manner as to allow attachment of a reel in a functional position to the

2. Equipment as claimed in claim 1, wherein the attachment means comprises a body harness.

3. Equipment as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the

4. Equipment as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the , rigid support comprises a cage adapted to retain a bag behind the reel seat. 5. Further including a fishing rod having means for attachment thereto of the reel seat after release from the rigid support.

5. Equipment as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein 15 the reel seat is releasably supported by the .rigid support whereby the reel seat and an attached reel may be released together from the support. 5 reel seat, and an attachment means for holding the rear side of the support firmly against the front of a person's body.

6. Equipment as.claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the angular position of the reel seat relative 20 to the rigid support is adjustable.

7. Angler's equipment comprising a reel seat, a rigid support having a frontside upon which the reel seat is firmly supported, a body harness for holding the rear side of the support firmly against the front of a person's 25 body, and a fishing reel releasably attached in a functional position to the reel seat.

8. Angler's equipment as claimed in claim 7, wherein the reel seat is releasably supported by the rigid support whereby the reel seat and attached reel may be released together from the support, the equipment

9. Angler's equipment substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings. F.R. KELLY & CO., AGENTS FOR THE APPLICANTS.

10. 46632 10 rigid support comprises a plate.

11. ROSS ECCLES