| 1. | l. |
| 2. | spring (5) which is passed over turning rollers (6), and means (8) adapted to intro¬ duce the thread formed projections (1) between two windings in the helical spring. |
| 3. | A system as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that a longitudinal solid element (7) is enclosed in the helical spring (5) . |
| 4. | A system as claimed in claim 1, for use in connection with a fishing line baiting apparatus, characterised in a slot formed means (33) adapted to pass thread formed projections from the baiting apparatus (32) to a helical spring (5,34) at a point along the length of the spring where the same is passed over a turning roller (6). . |
| 5. | A system as claimed in claim 3, characterised in means (36,37,38) associated with the conveyer system (34) for the adjustment of the relative speeds of the conveyer and the baiting apparatus. |
| 6. | A system as claimed in claim 1 associated with a baiting apparatus (32) for long line fishing lines. |
| 7. | A system as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that the helical spring (5) is split into a pair of springs operated in series at different conveyance speeds. OMPI_ pτ *2. |
The present invention relates to a conveyer system for an element which is provided with freely suspended thread formed projections spaced along the length of the element. By way of examples of such element it is, in particular, to mention long fishing lines in which the projections are constituted by snoods, and pelt like textiles in which the projections are constituted by the hairs or fluff.
According to the invention, the conveyer system comprises an endless, tightly wound helical spring which is passed over turning rollers, and means adapted to introduce the thread formed projections between adjacent windings in the helical spring, as the individual windings of the spring will spread when the spring is subjected to bending when passing a turning roller so that a projection may enter such an interstice between two windings which again close together when the spring straightens between the turning rollers so that the projections are held firmly.
It is previously suggested to use helical springs to keep fishing hooks or snoods in a retainer, the individual hook legs or snoods being pinched between two adjacent windings in the spring, but in such a case the hook legs must be manually forced in between the spring windings and again forced out. Consequently, the systems are not suited for continuous movement of the hooks, but merely to retain the same.
The invention also comprises a system in which the spring formed conveyer means constitutes an essential component, i.e. a system for continuous conveyance of a fishing line from one place at which the line is stored or baited to a place at which the line is passed into the sea. The characteris¬ tic features of such a system will appear from the claims and from the following description taken together with the accompanying drawings.
Figure 1 is a view of a conveyer helical spring.
Figure 2 is a sectional view at right angles to the axis of the helical spring.
Figure 3 is a side view of a system comprising the conveyer system.
Figure 4 is a top view of the same system as shown in Figure 3.
Figure 5 is a side view of another system comprising a conveyer system according to the invention.
Figure 6 is a side-view, at a larger scale of the system shown in Figure 5.
Figure 7 is a top view of the system shown in the Figures 5 and 6.
Figures 1 and 2 show an embodiment of the conveyer system according to the invention, adapted to the conveyance of a line, not shown, which is provided with snoods 1 in spaced arrangement along the length of the line, and each provided with a fishing hook 2 secured to its snood 1 by means of a snood head 3. Each of the hooks 2 is shown as provided with a bait 4.
The conveyer system consists of a tightly wound tension spring 5 which is so spliced as to work like a belt between a pair of turning rollers 6.
The spring 5 is kept tight by a solid element such as a wire 7 which is enclosed in the spring.
In the drawing merely one end, the insertion end of the system is shown, it being assumed that the other end, the extraction end is made in the same manner as the insertion end.
The turning rollers 6 are made with such a diameter that the spring 5 is subjected to a bending which corresponds to such a space between the windings as to permit a snood 1 to be
passed from a guide slot 8 into the space and be released, respectively. When the spring 5 is leaving the insertion turning roller, the space between adjacent windings is again closed and the snood is pinched until the windings in question open again at the extraction end of the system.
As shown in Fig. 2, the spring 5 passes between two plates 10 and rests upon guides 11. The hooks 2 with their baits 4 are forwarded in a chute 12 at the side of the spring 5. A guide rail 13 is mounted above the spring 5 and prevents the spring 5 from surmounting the top edge of the side plates 10, at the same time as the rail 13 keeps each of the hooks 2 with its bait 4 in the chute 12.
In systems for automatic baiting of fishing lines it is usual to effect the baiting while rapidly forwarding the hooks, with the speed at which the line is passed into the sea, i.e.- the speed of the vessel. This means that the hooks enter their bait at a speed which may be of the order 3 to 5 m/sec. Such a speed makes great demands on the baits and the consistance of the baits, as a great hook speed easily may cause the hook to be torn out of the bait or the bait is not sufficiently secured to the hook. When passing the line into the sea, the bait may easily be shaken off the hook, either because the baits are not sufficiently secured or because the line is alternately tightened and slackened while baiting the individual hooks, i.e. upwards to 3 to 4 times per second.
Consequently, it is advantageous if the hook speed during the baiting might be reduced, as thereby a better control of the baiting is obtained, so that the demands on bait and bait consistancy may be reduced. This might be achieved by placing a buffer at the side of the baiting apparatus or between the same and the place where the line is passed into the sea, so that the baiting proper may be effected at a constant speed, independently of variations in the speed of the vessel such as due to sea. Such a buffer also will
reduce the tightening and slackening of the line to the effect that shaking off of the bait from its hook is avoided. In this manner it is achieved that the now usual relation between the hook speed during baiting and the passing out speed of the line which may be obtained by the use of a buffer may be from 1/10 to 1/20.
A system in which the buffer region is obtained by means of a conveyer system according to the invention is schematical¬ ly shown in the figures 3 and 4 of the accompanying drawings.
In this syte a line which is provided with snoods 4 and hooks 2 is suspended from a guide rail 20 of any known type. By means of a driven roller 21 the line is drawn towards the passing out point at the sterm of the vessel, to the right in the drawing. At the same time the snoods with their hooks are paseed to a conveyer 22, for instance a spring system as shown in Fig. 1, a catch conveyer or a driven disc pro¬ vided with catch means which passes the snood with hook to a baiting apparatus 21 with a distance between the hooks which is adapted to the speed of operation of such apparatus, for instance 10 to 15 cm. In the apparatus 23 baits 24 are passed downwardly to a knife 25 which cuts the bait so that the hook is passed into a ready cut bait.
When the hook is baited, it is passed to a buffer conveyer 26 by means of the conveyer 22. The conveyer 26 may, pos¬ sibly, be an extension of the conveyer 22, but is shown made similar to the system described under reference to Figs. 1 and 2. By means of this system the line with baited hooks is passed towards the stern of the vessel where the line is torn out of the space between two spring windings and passed into the sea in the conventional manner.
In the system shown in Figs. 3 and 4 in which the conveyer system 22 and the buffer conveyer 26 are two separate units, the speeds of the two conveyers may be so adjusted that the
distance between the individual hooks in the conveyer 22 is substantially greater, for instance 2 to 3 times the distance between the hooks in the conveyer 26, in which the distance, in practice, may be as small as 4 to 5 cm, with a correspondingly greater number of hooks fastened in the conveyer.
Figures 5,6 and 7 illustrate another system in which the conveyer system is adapted to cooperate with a baiting machine which is suppliedwith line from a line spool. In this case the conveyer system serves both as a conveyer and as a buffer store for baited line.
Due to seawaves the speed of the vessel may vary substan¬ tially. The present system makes it possible to operate the baiting machine with an approximately constant speed equal to the mean speed of the vessel.
Due to short distance between the hooks in the conveyer, the line proper will be hanging from each hook, as indicated in Fig. 5, as the conveyer speed is by far less than the speed of the vessel. The relation between the two speeds may be about 1 : 20. This means a conveyer speed of about 0,2 to 0,3 m/sec. At such a speed the baited hooks may be inspected before being passed into the sea, with the advantages involved thereby.
In the system as shown in the Figs. 5 to 7, 31 is a spool which is adapted to receive a fishing line provided with snoods and hooks in conventional manner.
From the spool -31 the line is fed to a baiting machine 32 which, possibly, may be combined with an apparatus for hooking the individual snoods and which is provided with outlet 33 which passes the baited line to a conveyer system which is generally designated 34 and which is more closely described above under reference to the figures 1 and 2.
The conveyer catches, in turn, the individual snoods 1 and holds them during passing towards the stern 35. Hereby, the snoods with baited hooks are hanging to one side of the conveyer, as shown in Fig. 7, while the rest of each individual snood and the entire line hang on the other side. The snoods leave, in turn, the conveyer and the line is passed over the stern 35 by pull in the line, with a speed which is adjusted in relation to the speed of the baiting machine and the speed of the vessel in the sea.
As shown in Fig. 6, the conveyer system 34 is provided with feelers 36 and 37 for the adjustment of the conveyer speed in dependency of the filling in the conveyer system. Further, a feeler 38 is arranged for arresting the baiting machine 32 and the conveyer system 34 when the latter is full.
OMPI