Field of the invention

The present invention refers to a device for disentangling fishing nets or similar nets, at sea as well as at shore.

Prior art

Fishing of today is to a great portion carried on by use of nets, but in spite of this there are very few auxiliary aids and appliances for facilitating the handling of the nets for the fishermen. An especially heavy and inconvenient step is the disentangling of the nets. Today, this is entirely made by hand and furthermore one is obliged to do this at shore. The nets are big and heavy and the disentangling thereof is very laborious. The fishermen stand up in many inconvenient positions and are forced to perform a lot of incorrect movements. The body is additionally worn due to windy and cold weather.

Small fishing boats can carry up to 30 nets per boat, while the big boats can carry up to 90 nets per boat. This additionally illustrates the content of the problem occuring today especially at disentangling of nets.

Today the net - filled with fish - is hauled up into the boat, either by hand of often by means of a device which is described in SE patent application No. 7406877-6. This previously known device comprises a conveyor belt driven by a cylinder and a pressure means in the form of a rotation body. By means hereof the nets can easily be taken out of the water. In connection with the

recovery of the nets the fish is removed and thereupon the entangled net is collected in a trough or other suitable container. These steps can be made at sea, while, today, the latter disentagliπg of the nets must be made at shore. Today the disentangling of the net is made manually. In order to facilitate the disentangling the net may e.g. run across a horizontal bar or similar. The net is then manually drawn up from a* rough in a disentangled position and thereupon allowed to run across the bar and down into another trough. Two persons are needed, one on each side of the net, in order to disentangle it. In- one end of the net there are corks and in the other end there is_ a lead blocker. In order to achieve a proper function of the net when fishing the respective ends with cork and lead blocker must bβ' carefully separated. If one or a few pieces of cork are stuck in the lead portion the net will completely or partially sink towards the bottom.

This manual way is both heavy and compact. One has to stand up: all the time and constantly work in crooked and inconvenient positions. Thus, at present this step is an enormous strain for the body and also a waste of time.

A further disadvantage with today's manual handling is that after each recovery of nets one has to go ashore and disentangle it, whereupon one has to go out again to set the net or the nets. Many times the nets shall be placed in the same or an adjacent place, for which reason the trip to the shore and back again is completely unnecessary. Thus, the present handling is also uneconomical.

Summary of the invention The object of the present invention is to obtain a device in order to disentangle fishing nets or similar nets, whereby this can be made in a simple way, without any greater effort and in an ergonomically correct way.

Another object of the invention is to obtain a device for disentangling of nets, whereby this handling is economically advantageous.

These objects together with the remaining ones evident from

the detailed specification below are achieved by means of a device for disentangling fishing nets or similar nets, which comprise at least two guide units, through which the net runs, one between these guide units arranged stretching unit, for stretching of the net, and a driving unit.

The stretching unit preferably comprises a stretching arch, which is rotatably mounted in both outer ends and may form an angle with the horizontal plane.

The driving unit preferably consists of a driving cylinder and a counter pressure cylinder, which rotate in the opposite directions. The driving cylinder is suitably provided with longitudinal rims, while the counter pressure cylinder can be smooth as well as grooved. The counter pressure cylinder bear against the driving cylinder with a certain pressure, which is suitably adjusted by filling the counter pressure cylinder completely or partly with water.

Brief description of the drawings Fig. 1 is a side view of a preferred embodiment of the device according to the invention;

Fig. 2 is a top view of the device according to the invention;

Fig. 3 is a top view of a preferred embodiment of a collecting vessel for the device according to the invention;

Fig. 4 is a view of the collecting box according to Fig. 3 taken along the line IV-IV, and

Fig. 5 is a partial view of the device showing an embodiment of the counter pressure cylinder; Fig. 6 is a schematic view showing the device at use on a boat.

Detailed description of the invention

The present invention refers to a device for disentangling of fishing nets or similar nets and down below is a detailed description of a preferred embodiment.

The device 1 shown by Figs. 1 and 2 comprises a stand 2,

substantially consisting of two horizontally extending frame portions 3, legs 4 and a front bar 5. The bar 5 is arranged at the front end of the stand, i.e. at the input end of the net. The stand carries - counted from the front bar - a guiding arch 6, a rotatable, front guiding cylinder 7, a stretching arch 10, a rear, rotatable guiding cylinder 8, a driving cylinder 11, and an counter pressure cylinder 13 arranged thereupon.

The counter pressure cylinder is rotatably attached by means of two attachment brackets 14 with appertaining cross bars 15 and it is preferably placed exentrically in relation to the driving cylinder 11. The attachment brackets 14 are rotatably attached at the cross bars 15 so that the counter pressure cylinder may be raised and lowered. The driving cylinder and the counter pressure cylinder are rotatably arranged at the rear end of the stand; the counter pressure cylinder bears against the driving cylinder and they thus rotate in opposite directions.

At the rear end of the stand, below the driving cylinder a collecting vessel 18 is arranged. This collecting vessel may be a simple container, but a preferred embodiment is the one as shown by Figs. 3 and 4. The collecting vessel is there provided with an inner guiding plate 19 and in one end there is an outlet opening 20 for the net.

The stretching arch 10 is rotatably anchored at its outer ends and can be positioned upwardly with a certain angle d. in relation to the horizontal plane; i.e. the position plane.

The device functions in the following way. The net 16 runs in the direction F from the front end at the front bar 5 to the rear end at the collecting vessel 18. The net runs below the outer guiding arch 6, below the front guiding cylinder 7 and then up above the stretching arch 10. The guiding arch 6 is curved or angled upwardly and the guiding cylinders 7 and 8 are attached on brackets 9 so that the net runs freely above the stand 2. The guiding arch 6 also has the purpose of guiding the net so that it runs freely sideways. The net runs with the corks 17 along one of the frame portions 3 and with the lead blocker (not shown) along the opposite frame portion. The stretching arch is inclined forward in the feed direction E of the net providing a certain

angle ct between the horizontal plane beyond the stretching arch and the stretching arch itself. This angle t lies within the range of 0-90°, but preferably within the range of 60 - 75°. When disentangling net without knots, so-called monofilic net, the angle d may suitably be at the upper portion of this preferred range, i.e. about 75 , since there are no knots which can get caught. However, when disentangling ordinary spun net with knots the stretching arch must be further inclined forwardly, in order to avoid hooking, which thus gives a smaller angle i within the lower portion of said range.

Beyond the stretching arch the net runs below the rear guiding cylinder 8; then between the driving cylinder 11 and the counter pressure cylinder 13 and is finally collected in the collecting vessel 18, from where the net is once more brought out into the water for continued fishing.

The net is driven forwardly by means of the driving cylinder 11 and a counter pressure cylinder 13 combination. The driving cylinder is provided with longitudinal rims 12, which are predetermindly spaced, so that the corks 17 are placed between the rims and in this way propel the net. The distance between the rims and the height of the rims is adjusted to the type of corks.

The counter pressure cylinder touches the driving cylinder with a suitable pressure so that the net does not slip over the driving cylinder and the counter pressure cylinder is also suitably positioned excentrically i relation to the driving cylinder, beyond this.

The driving cylinder may e.g. be made of hard plastic, hard rubber or aluminum, but also of another suitable material. On the other hand, the counter pressure cylinder should be made of a softer material, e.g. plastic or rubber. The counter pressure cylinder may be smooth, but in a preferred embodiment the counter pressure cylinder is also grooved, which is evident from Fig. 5. In this embodiment the grooves run at an angle in relation to the cylinder surface and the grooves are divided in two portions, which form an acute angle at the intersectional point. The counter pressure cylinder is preferably hollow and more or less filled with water in order to vary the contact pressure against the

driving cylinder 11.

The entangled net is thus moved in the direction F up above the upwardly angled stretching arch, whereby the net, thanks to the propulsion of the driving cylinder is pressed down along the edges of the stretching arch 10 and in this way is disentangled. The net is brought from the driving cylinder down into the collecting vessel 18. In the special embodiment of the collecting vessel shown by Figs. 3 and 4 the net slips along the inner guiding plate 19, coils neatly and is collected in one end of the vessel 18. In order to bring the net out in the water αnce more the end of the net is attached in e.g a cord to an anchor and by moving the boat forward the net is continously drawn out through an opening 20 in the other end of the vessel 18. Thanks to the inner guiding plate 19 the power, whereby the net is drawn out, is reduced and the risk for entangling the net is moreover reduced. If too high a pile of net occurs it may be difficult to disentangle the net.

Thus, the net is automatically disentangled by stretching the net across the stretching arch 10 and is simultaneously moved forward by the driving cylinder 11 and the counter pressure cylinder 13. This entails that only one person is needed for this step, the person does not need to use any considerable power to disentangle the net and furthermore he or she may sit down and work in a comfortable and ergonomically correct position. Additional essential advantages are that by means of the device according to the invention the fishing can be made more economical and less timewasting. The device according to the invention may easily be applied in a boat, which is shown by Fig. 6, where the net, filled with fish, is hauled up from the water (direction F) by means of a previously known hauling device A. When the fish is removed the net is allowed to run through a device 1 according to the present invention, including the collecting vessel 18, in order to be disentangled and thereupon be thrown back in the water again. By the fact that the net may be hauled up from the water and be brought back again at sea, the trip ashore to disentangle the net is no longer needed. Thereby, the costs for petrol and labour as well as time are saved.

The device is suitably used in combination with a device for hauling up net from the water, and after removal of the fish.

Naturally, the device, if desired, can also be used ashore. The net may then be kept in the collecting vessel, which is placed in the boat when it is of interest to go out again.

Instead of using a stand as in the present, preferred cases, it is possible to attach the different cylinders and arches in a suitable way directly in a boat.

Moreover, the device may be used for disentangling other yarns or nets, e.g. bird nets.

The device may, within the scope of the invention, be modified in different ways and it is only limited by the enclosed claims..