US2955379A - Practice casting plug - Google Patents

Description

1960 R D. HULL 2,955,379

- PRACTICE CASTING PLUG Filed June 16, 1958 ENTOR.

, ATTORNEY R De /-/u// INV ' S es Pate tC PRACTICE CASTING PLUG R Dell Hull, Zebco Co., P.O. Box 270, Tulsa, Okla.

Filed June '16, 1958, Ser. No. 742,269 2 Claims. (Cl. 43-4235) This invention relates to a practice casting plug for use by fishermen in practicing casting.

Conventional practice casting plugs are ordinarily constructed of solid rubber or wooden bodies, and generally have metal fixtures to which the line is attached. These plugs are ordinarily used in various weights and conventional designs require a different plug for each weight.

or wood bodies tend to permit breakage or separation in use, and the metal fixtures to which the line is secured may cause chafing of the line in use with resultant breakage.

It is, therefore, a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved form of practice plug which obviates the disadvantages of more conventional designs. 7 A principal object of this invention is to provide a simple, cheaply constructed type of practice plug having no metal fixtures, and which comprises a telescopically connectable two-part body constructed of non-metallic materials to which the line may be secured in a novel manner without tying it to any metal fixture or the like.

Another object is to provide a practice casting plug comprising separable shank and nose portions which are telescopically connectable to form the plug body, the nose portion having a socket defined by a flexible resilient wall which is adapted to receive and frictionally grip the inserted end of the shank portion. With this telescopic arrangement the end of the line may be led through a bore in the shank portion and clamped be- 1 tween the inserted end of the shank portion and the nose portion grippingly engaged therewith. The inserted end of the shank portion may be provided with an external shoulder which forms an abutment to engage an enlargement, such as a knot, formed at the end of the line which, when the end of the line is bent around the inserted end of the shank portion, will be clamped thereto by the receiving wall of the nose portion.

Other and more specific objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.

Fig. 1 is a view illustrating a generally conventional casting rod and reel showing a practice casting plug secured to the end of the line;

Fig. 2 is a perspective elevational view of the practice plug in accordance with one embodiment of this invention showing the plug secured to the end of a line; I

Fig. 3 is an exploded longitudinal sectional view of the practice plug showing the relative positions of the plug portions and the end of the line just before the latter is clamped between the portions of the plug; and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary longitudinal sectional view of an end of the plug in accordance with a modification of this invention, the nose portion being shown secured to the shank portion of the plug.

Referring to the drawings, the plug constitutes a separable two-part body which comprises. a shank portion, designated generally by the numeral 5, and a nose porice tion, designated generally by the numeral 6. The shank portion comprises a generally frusto-conical body 7 having an axial bore 8 at its smaller end 13 merging into a generally conical bore 9 which opens through the larger end 13a of the shank portion. Bores 8 and 9 permit passage through the shank portion of the end portion 10 extending annular shoulder 12 about the exterior of its rounded at one end, and is provided at its other end with a generally cylindrical socket 16 adapted to telescopically receive the larger end 13a of shank portion 7. Socket 16 has an internal diameter which is made slightly smaller than the external diameter of end 13a at shoulder 12 and is defined by a flexible resilient wall 17 which is radially Moreover, the combination of metal fixtures and rubber distensible to receive end 13a and shoulder 12 of the shank portion. Inwardly of its outer end, wall 17 is provided with a shallow annular groove 18 which thereby defines an inwardly-turned lip 19 on the outer end of wall 17. Nose portion 6, and particularly wall 17, in cluding lip 19, is constructed of a suitable non-metallic flexible, resilient material, which may be rubber or a rubber-like plastic or similar synthetic composition, which will impart to wall 17 a degree of distensibility sufiicient to permit lip 19 and wall 17 to be stretched over the larger end 13a of the shank portion and to tightly grip the latter.

Shank portion 7 is preferably constructed of a nonmetallic, but rigid, material, such as any of the many conventional plastic materials, and may be opaque or transparent, as desired. Nose portion 6 is adapted to be connected to shank portion 7 merely by pushing enlarged end 13a of the shank portion, carrying shoulder 12, into socket 16, lip 19 being thereby distended sufficiently to allow shoulder 12 to enter the socket and seat in groove 18. Lip 19 will likewise seat in groove 14, thus securing the nose portion to the shank portion. To separate the portions, it is only necessary to pull the two portions apart, and lip 19 will again be distended under the force applied to permit the shank portion to be withdrawn from socket 16.

To secure the plug to line L, end portion 10 of the line carrying enlargement 11 will be threaded through bores 8 and 9 and bent over the larger end 13a of shank portion 7, so that enlargement 11 will be positioned behind shoulder 12 and over groove 14. The shank and nose portions are then telescopically inter-connected, as described, and end portion 10 of the line will be thereby firmly clamped between the frictionally engaged portions of wall 17 and larger end 13a of the shank portion. Enlargement 11 will thus be clamped behind shoulder 12 so that when pull is exerted on line L, as during casting, the line cannot slip from between the engaged nose and shank portions of the plug, since enlargement 11 will not be able to pass between shoulder 12 and the co-operating lip 19 which will overhang the shoulder.

An assembled arrangement of the parts is illustrated in Fig. 4 in which, however, body 15a has been modified, as shown, to be considerably longer than body 15 of the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 3. This modification exemplifies one way in which the weight of the plug may be varied, namely, by simply changing the size and weight of nose portion 6. Since it thus becomes unnecessary to change shank portion 7 in order to vary the weight of the plug, considerable saving in cost is possible by providing a number of nose portions of different weights Patented Oct. 11, 1960 which may be used inter-changeably with the same shank portion.

From the foregoing, it will be evident that the present invention provides a practice casting plug which may be easily and cheaply constructed from plastic materials by molding or other conventional manufacturing processes; which requires no metal fixtures; which may be easily varied in weight; and which may be very easily and simply assembled and dis-assembled and attached to a line.

It will be understood that various alterations and modifications may be made in the details of the illustrative embodiments within the scope of the appended claims but without departing from the spirit of this invention.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A practice casting plug for attachment to a fishing line, comprising, separable shank and nose portions, said shank portion having a bore for passage of a fishing line therethrough, said nose portion having a socket defined bya flexible resilient wall adapted to frictionally grip the end of the shank portion inserted therein, an annular shoulder about the exterior of the inserted end of the shank portion, there being an annular recess about the exterior of the shank portion behind and adjacent said shoulder, said recess being adapted to receive an enlargement in the fishing line when an end portion thereof carrying said enlargement is reversely bent over said shoulder, an inwardly turned annular lip on the end of said wall adapted to extend over said shoulder, there being an internal annular groove in said wall adjacent said lip to receive said shoulder, said lip cooperating with said recess and said shoulder to secure said enlargement against the shoulder.

2. In combination with a fishing line, a practice casting plug, comprising, separable shank and nose portions, said shank portion having a bore for passage of one end of said line therethrough, said nose portion having a socket defined by a flexible resilient wall constructed to telescopically receive and frictionally grip one end of the shank portion, an external shoulder about the inserted end of the shank portion, there being an annular recess in the exterior of the shank portion behind and adjacent said shoulder, said end portion of the line being reversely bent over the inserted end of the shank portion and having an enlargement disposed behind said shoulder in said recess, and an inwardly turned distensi'ble lip on said wall co-operating with said shoulder and said recess to releasably secure said inserted end of the shank portion in the socket and to clamp said enlargement against said shoulder.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 86,786 Tellgmann Feb. 9, 1869 100,976 Chamberlain Mar. 22, 1870 1,547,746 Gore July 28, 1925 2,164,206 Gits et al. June 27, 1939 2,546,772 Nefr' Mar. 27, 1951

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