GB2191373A - Line weight or cleat - Google Patents

Abstract

A shaped cleat, comprising a body 1 with one or more guides or grooves 3 for the location of a line 2 provided around the main body, and (optionally) one or more holes passing from one close to the line guide or guides close to or through the centre of the cleat and right through the cleat. The cleat can be mounted individually on to a line, e.g. using a knot at 4, used to join two or more lines together or used to attach one or more lines to a solid object. The cleat can be used as a fishing weight or float and can be manufactured in any solid material, including materials which are not toxic to living organisms. The cleat can be mounted on to a line without knots and without access to the ends of the line. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Line weight or cleat This invention relates to weights (and also, depending on the material density, floats) for fixing on a line, e.g. a fishing line, and to cleats in general.

Cleats are well-known devices which are used to attach flexible lines to objects such as ships masts.

Fishing weights are well-known devices which are used to control the position of fishing lines, baits, lures and nets.

Lead shot is presently used for angling, by crimping it on to a fishing line, but is causing damage to swans and wildfowl from lead poisoning. Alternatives to lead shot are often too hard to crimp on to fishing line without damaging either the weight or line. Soft non-toxic alternatives to lead shot which are capable of being crimped on to fishing line are non-transparent and often expensive.

Fishing weights having an axial hole are known. These are threaded on to a line, for use. A major disadvantage is that the hook must be removed from the line before such a weight can be removed or changed. It is desirable to avoid that disadvantage.

US-A-4351128 discloses a bobber or sinker which comprises an elongated cylindrical or barrel-shaped body having a longitudinal passage therethrough, and a line-receiving slot extending radially from the passage to the outside of the body. A fish line-retaining clip extends from the top to the bottom of the body; it is rotatably mounted, to engage the slot and hold a line on the body, or to allow placement of the line on, or its removal from, the body. The outer edge of the clip has a longitudinal groove around which the line may be wound, and thereby firmly secured to the body.

GB-A-075151 1 discloses a relatively simple, one-piece sinker weight which has a longitudinal slot along which the line can be laid, and means for securing the line to the weight at each end of the slot. The illustrated means are helical wire coils. A line can be simply attached to, and detached from, such a weight, and the weight slides freely along the line. However, the construction of such a sinker involves the joining together of three parts, i.e. the slotted weight and two, say, coils, e.g. by brazing, soldering or incorporation during casting.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a weighted fishing line comprises a one-piece body having a circumferential line guide within which the line passes and is held.

If the line is held sufficiently tightly by the line guide, it may simply pass tangentially into, around (one or more times), and tangentially out of the line guide. In order to secure the line on the body, it may be desirable to know the line, pass a loop of the knot around the line guide and tighten the knot. If the knot is, for example, a clove-hitch, the line which does not form part of the knot, i.e. the essential fishing line, can maintain a generally rectilinear path.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a line weight or cleat comprises a body having a passage therethrough and a circumferential line guide. A line may be attached to the body by passing a loop of the line through the passage and then (one or more times) around the guide.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, an one-piece line weight or cleat comprises a body having a circumferential line guide and one or more members overlapping the line guide. A line may be attached to the body by passing it around the guide, beneath the overlapping member or members.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, a fishing weight is translucent. This feature is also a preferred aspect of each of the first, second and third aspects of the invention.

The invention will now be illustrated by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which each of Figures 1 to 9 is a view of an embodiment of an invention described herein; in several cases, a line 2 is shown attached to a line weight or cleat 1. Figures 5 and 8 show cleats 1 which form part of a larger (cut-away as shown) object.

Figure 1 shows an essentially spherical body 1 in which there is an essential circular circumferential V-shaped groove 3. The line 2 has been fixed on the body 1 by knotting a clove-hitch at 4, passing the loop of the knot around the groove 3, and pulling the line tight.

Figure 2 shows an essentially spherical cleat 1 having a circumferential groove 3 and, along a diameter of the sphere, a passage 5. Figure 3 is a different view of the same cleat 1, but to which a line 2 has been fixed by passing a loop through the passage 5 and then around the groove 3.

Figures 4 and 5 respectively show two lines 2 and one line 2 each fixed, in analogous manner to that illustrated in Figure 3, to a "double" cleat 1 and a partially cut-away cleat 1.

Figure 6 shows a cleat 1 having a circumferential groove 3 and two rigid members 6 which overlap the groove 3. A line 2 is fixed to the line weight 1 by passing the line 2 under the members 6, around the groove 3, and again under members 6.

Figures 7 and 8 respectively show a , "dou- ble" cleat 1 and a cleat 1 analogous to that illustrated in Figure 6.

Figure 9 shows a cleat 1 similar to that illustrated in Figure 6, but with a flexible member 7 instead of the rigid members 6. The flexible member 7 can be bent open and, after the line 2 has been laid around the groove 3, closed to fix the line 2 in position.

In alternative embodiments of the devices shown in Figures 6, 7 and 8, the members 6 are flexible.

The following features are associated with the present invention: 1. The cleat can be mounted individually on to a line remotely from any other solid object.

2. The cleat can be used to join two or more lines together. This can be accomplished by joining single cleats together to make a stacked cleat; illustrated by Figures 4 and 7.

3. The cleat can be used to join one or more lines to an object to which the cleat is attached; illustrated by Figures 5 and 8.

4. The cleat can be attached to a flexible line anywhere along any length of line, without access to either end of the line.

5. No knots are necessary to attach the cleat to the line. The cleat can be moved along the line, if desired.

6. The continuation of a circumferential groove and a knot, or circumferential groove with a hole passing from one side of the cleat to the other, on or adjacent to the groove, holds the line in position on the cleat; illustrated by Figures 1 to 5. Such products are simple to construct, e.g. by machining or in a two-part mould, and can be cheap to produce.

7. One or more protrusions on the cleat and the shape of the cleat can hold the loop or loops of line in position on the cleat. The protrusions can be rigid or flexible, such that flexible protrusions can be used to close up the slot through which the line is placed, thus providing extra line restraint; illustrated by Figures 6 to 8 when the members 6 are flexible.

8. If the line is placed under a tensile force, the major stress on the cleat can be made to be compressive, since the tendency of the loop or loops of line around the cleat body is to compress the cleat body.

9. The form of the cleat ensures that the line entering the cleat is lined up with the line exiting the cleat. This ensures that the vectors of tensile force entering and leaving the cleat are lined up and opposing each other and so produce either no force couple or a minimum force couple. Illustrated by Figures 1 to 6.

10. By looping the line around the major part of the cleat and (if a hole is present) by radiusing the hole entry, the diameter of the bend radii in the line are maximised for any particular size of cleat. This ensures that local distortion in the line, and hence strength reduction of the line, is kept to a minimum.

11. The cleat can be manufactured in any solid (or hollow solid) material. The surface finish of the material in contact with the line should be smooth to minimise wear on the line.

12. Small remote cleats used to replace "lead shot" in angling use can be manufactured in a non-toxic material, including glass and other materials which are strong in compression but relatively weak against other types of stress. Especially for such use, the maximum diameter of the cleat is likely to be less than 10 mm.

13. The cleat is prevented from slipping on the line by friction between the loop or loops of line and the cleat material. Increasing tensile force on the line produces increasing friction by means of the increased force applied by the line on to the cleat. A surface finish which increases friction can be applied to the surface of the cleat in contact with the line. A "V" shaped groove or similar can be provided around the body of the cleat to provide extra grip on to the line.

Shaped transparent bodies are known but, according to the present invention, such bodies are used as fishing weights, in association with a fishing line. The line may be a simple angler's line or part of a net. The line may be attached to bait or a lure for fish, but the association of a bait or lure with a substantially translucent or transparent weight constitutes a further aspect of the present invention.

The material of a weight of the invention is, for example, a high density glass, e.g. a lead glass. Such materials are generally chemically inert and thus non-toxic to wildlife. Because the material is translucent or transparent, but depending on its refractive index, the weights in use under water would appear as a faint outline with some visual distortion. These effects wouid disturb the fish to a minimal extent. As a result, the weight can be placed close to the bait or lure, thus providing good control over the action and position of the bait or lure. The material may be tinted.

The weight may be attached to a line using a transparent material or a small piece of a non-transparent material, e.g. a loop of wire.

The small size of any such loop or similar attachment ensures minimum visibility. Attachment to a line may also be achieved by virtue of a cleat, or by forming the weight in the form of a cleat, of the type described above.

A specific embodiment of a weight for use in the present invention is a pear-shaped piece of a high-density, non-toxic glass having a small wire loop cast into the glass at the narrow end of the pear-shape, the ends of the wire being embedded into the glass and the loop being external to the glass. Line for attachment to the weight is then passed through, or tied on to, the wire loop.

In general, a line weight or cleat of the invention may be any suitable size, depending on its use. A line weight may be essentially spherical, cylindrical etc.

Claims (16)

1. A weighted fishing line which comprises a one-piece body having a circumferential line guide within which the line passes and is held.

2. A cleat, e.g. a line weight, which com prises a body having a passage therethrough and a circumferential line guide.

3. A one-piece cleat, e.g. a line weight, which comprises a body having a circumferential line guide and one or more members overlapping the line guide, wherein a line can be located beneath a member and around the body.

4. A cleat according to claim 3, which comprises two or more members overlapping the or each line guide.

5. A cleat according to claim 3 or claim 4, wherein the or each member is flexible, and can be opened to allow location of the line.

6. A cleat according to claim 2, wherein the axis of the passage and the line guide are in substantially the same plane.

7. A line or cleat according to any preceding claim, wherein the body is essentially spherical and the line guide is essentially equatorial.

8. A line or cleat according to any preceding claim, wherein the line guide is a groove essentially V-shaped in cross-section.

9. A line or cleat according to any preceding claim, wherein the material of the body is translucent.

10. A line or cleat according to any preceding claim, wherein the body is less than 10 mm in maximum dimension.

11. A cleat substantially as herein described with reference to any of Figures 2 to 5 of the accompanying drawings.

12. A cleat substantially as herein described with reference to any of Figures 6 to 9 of the accompanying drawings.

13. A line fixedly located in a cleat according to any of claims 2 to 12.

14. A weighted fishing line substantially as herein described with reference to any of Figures 1, 3 and 6 of the accompanying drawings.

15. Fishing tackle which includes a plurality of bodies as defined in any of claims 1 to 12.

16. A translucent fishing weight, attached to a line, bait or lure.