LIGHT EMITTING FISHING LURE WHICH RELEASES SCENT, EMITS SOUND AND GENERATES ELECTRICITY.

Abstract

A fishing lure assembly utilizing a shaft less electric generator which does not require exterior moving components such as a propeller, shaft and bearing to activate the generator, The lure assembly is made up of two segments with a receiver for a weight, a chromed paper insert and a shaft less generator within the nose segment, and a reservoir for holding scent material in the tail segment. These segments are arranged along a longitudinal axis, with rotation being imparted to the assembly by angled fins on the nose segment; and of which rotating motion activates said generator to release electrical current which powers light emitting diodes, which in turn illuminates the fishing lure through a translucent body; along with a tail portion having a reservoir for inserting scented fish attractant, along with holes to allow water to flow into and exit out of the reservoir, which disperses scented fish attractant into the water slowly as the lure is trolled through the water, along with sound attractant caused by said generators magnet when said generator is rotating.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a fishing lure assembly in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the fishing lure assembly of FIG. 1, showing the components thereof in greater detail;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the forward, nose segment of the fishing lure assembly of FIGS. 1-2, along with a perspective view of the stainless steel weight and chrome paper insert;

FIG. 4A is a front internal view of the tail segment of the fishing lure assembly of FIGS. 1-2, showing the inner reservoir thereof in greater detail;

FIG. 4B is a rear perspective view of the tail segment of the fishing lure assembly showing the exterior scent release holes thereof in greater detail;

FIG. 5A is a perspective view of the rubber seal of the fishing lure assembly of FIG. 2, showing its features thereof in greater detail;

FIG. 5B is a sectioned views of the rubber seal of the fishing lure assembly of FIG. 2, showing its features thereof in greater detail;

FIG. 6A is a sectioned view of the shaft less generator assembly in accordance with the present invention showing the internal components thereof in greater detail;

FIG. 6B is a top view of the shaft less generator assembly showing the center portion thereof in greater detail;

FIG. 7 is a perspective exploded view of the generator assembly of the present invention showing the manner in which this is assembled.

FIG. 8 is a rear perspective view of a squid lure body design which has all the attributes of the fishing lure of FIGS. 1-2, designed with smaller fins, along with removable rubber tentacles/legs.

FIG. 9A is a perspective views of a shaft less generator wherein the body is a round donut shape;

FIG. 9B is a sectioned views of a shaft less generator wherein the body is a round donut shape, and which incases a round ball shaped permanent magnet;

FIG. 10 is a sectioned top view of said generator showing the internal chamber and the direction in which the magnet rotates within, passing through copper coil windings and the direction the generator spins/rotates within the lure body while being trolled or retrieved through the water.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 shows a lure assembly 10 in accordance with the present invention.

As will be described in greater detail below, the lure is made up of two principal subassemblies, i.e., a conical nose segment 12, a tapered tail segment 14, The two are mounted together to form an elongate assembly, with first and second loops 22, 24 at the forward and rearward ends for attachment of a fishing line and a hook, in most instances with swivels at the attachment points.

As can be seen more clearly in FIG. 2, the two segments detachably mount to one another along the common axis 30. In the preferred embodiment that is illustrated, the connections between the members are formed by sliding bolts through side holes 18.a 18.b which are located on each side of the tail segment 14 and screwing said bolts into threaded mounting holes 20.a 20.b which are located on each side of the nose segment 12 however, it will be understood that other forms of connections may be used, such as clamps with fast release tabs and bayonet-type connections, for example.

As will be described in greater detail below, each of the segments 12, 14 provides a particular function in the overall lure assembly; the nose segment 12 contains a weight 38 within its hydro-dynamically contoured shell 12 to reduce buoyancy and keep the lure submerged during retrieval or when trolling.

The housing 12 includes a longitudinal chamber 40 that receives a steel weight 38 in the tip portion of said chamber, a chromed paper insert 36 of which fits over the outer portion of said steel weight 38, a shaft less generator 34 of which fits within the larger open end portion of said housing 12 and slides between interior sleeve arms 44 which helps secure said generator 34 within the inner chamber keeping it from rattling, along with a rubber seal 32 which covers the end portion of said housing 12 and is water tight when sealed together with said tail segment 14, said nose segment 12 holds said generator 34 steel weight 38 and chromed paper 36 firmly within said lure assembly 10 when said segments 12, 14 are securely connected with bolts at points 18 and 20. In addition, the housing portion 12 is provided with angled fins 16a, 16b, on two sides of said housing that cause the lure to rotate as it is drawn through the water and of which rotation activates said generator 34.

The housing 14 of the tail segment, includes a reservoir chamber that can hold a sponge soaked with scented fish attractant oils or amino acid power pellets, that is solubilized by water flowing into the chamber from inlet ports 26a 26b then through the chamber and discharged from outlet ports 28.

As the assembly rotates it activates the generator 34 which transmits electrical current to the light emitting diodes 52 which are mounted on top of said generator 34 and illuminate into the longitudinal chamber 40 then reflect off of the chromed paper insert 36 and outward illuminating said fins 16a, 16b.

The exteriors of the segments may also be provided, in whole or part, with reflective glitter within the translucent body for an enhanced visual pattern, such as silver- or gold-colored glitter for example. Simultaneously, the liquid scent is released from the tail section 14 into the wake of the lure, so that this passes directly over the hook that is trailed a short distance behind the assembly. Moreover, the lure assembly 10 can be reconfigured with different colored light emitting diodes and chromed paper inserts by removing and replacing them with alternate colors, which can be helpful for different species of game fish. Accordingly, the lure assembly of the present invention can be reconfigured and adapted by the fisherman to a variety of fish species, reducing the need to carry multiple lures on the boat.

Having described the overall lure assembly and its operation, the configuration of the subassemblies and the manner of their construction will now be described in greater detail.

As is shown in FIG. 3, the fins 16a, 16b of the nose segment 12 are suitably formed integrally as part of the housing, e.g., as a single piece of molded plastic (e.g., polypropylene); it will be understood, however, that in some embodiments these may be separate pieces, and that the fin in particular may be formed separately (e.g., of a flexible, rubber-like material) and then mounted to the housing by suitable means. It will also be understood that other forms of fins may be used, such as a pair of tail fins, for example. As was noted above, the housing 12 has a generally conically tapered, hydrodynamic exterior surface, and an opening at the rear of which has an interior bore 40.

The housing contains a correspondingly tapered stainless steel weight 38 that is inserted into the bore 40 and seated in the tip portion. A chromed paper insert 36 is then placed over said stainless steel weight 38 so as to hold the chromed paper thereon. A shaft less generator 34 is then placed within the mouth opening of the interior and guided into place by interior sleeve arms 44. A rubber seal 32 is then placed over the end portion of the housing 12; the segments 12 and 14 are then mounted together with bolts as described above.

As can be seen in FIG. 4-A the interior portion of the tail segment 14 has an abutment ledge 84 which the rubber seal 32 seats against as the nose portion 12 and tail portion 14 are connected together and insures a solid water tight seal.

As can be seen in FIG. 5 the seal 32 has an inner groove 46 which snuggly fits over the outer edge opening of the longitudinal chamber 40 of the nose segment 12 sealing said parts 34,36,38 within and preventing water from leaking into the chamber.

As can be seen in the side sectioned view of FIG. 6A the magnet 66 is sealed within the generator and rotates around the inner chamber 62 and through the copper coil windings 54. As can also be seen, insulated copper wire 54 is connected to the light emitting diode posts 52. The light emitting diode socket plate 50 is connected to the generator 34 by four posts 60 which are fastened by screws, the light emitting diodes 52 is pushed into socket 92 on the diode plate 50; the magnifier dome 48 is placed over the diode plate 50 and fastens to the plate by a snap on or screw on mounting.

The generator housing is held together by screws which are screwed into exterior mounts 56. The insulated copper wire 54 is wound around channel 58 as the generator is assembled. The center hole 64 shows the generator design allows the copper wire 54 to be wound around each side of the housing during assembly which is better understood in the following figures.

FIG. 7 shows an exploded view of the generator 34.

As can be seen the generator housing consists of four main body parts, 34a, 34b, 34c, 34d of which 34a and 34b are assembled together at which point the insulated copper wire 54 is wound around the channel 58, the magnet 66 is then placed into the hollow circular chamber 62 and the housing parts 34c, 34d are fastened together with 34a, 34b by mounting screw arms 56.

The light emitting diodes 52 are then inserted into sockets within the diode plate 50, the copper wire 54 is then soldered to the light emitting diodes 52, said diode plate 50 is then fastened to the generator by brass or stainless steel non-magnetic screws through holes 88 in the diode plate which screws into posts 60 on the generator assembly.

The magnifying dome 48 is then fastened to the diode socket plate 50 by either snap on or screw on connections.

FIG. 8 shows a rear perspective view of a lure assembly 70 which incorporates the use of removable rubber tentacle legs 68 along with squid fins 94 to simulate the look of a squid, the only changed to the lure assembly 70 from that of the assembly in FIG. 1 assembly 10: is a change in the size and angle to the fins 90 along with adding removable rubber tentacle arms 68 which attach to the exterior to make the lure appear like that of a squid swimming through the water.

The internal portion of the lure assembly 70 is identical to that of the lure assembly in FIG. 1 assembly 10 with the same tail segment 14 as assembly 10 and only having the exterior fins 16 changed to a smaller fin shape 94.

FIG. 9A shows a perspective view of a shaft less generator housing 74 in which the housing is a rounded donut shape with a channel 58 for winding insulated copper wire around the outer portion within said channel.

FIG. 9B shows a sectioned view of the same housing as in FIG. 9A showing the internal magnet 78 of being spherical in shape.

The generator housing 74 can be placed within the lure housing 12 or 70 in place of generator housing 34 allowing the lure to be used as a jigging lure which is pulled upward in the water and dropped downward, the rounded generator housing 74 along with the ball magnet 80 allows the generator 74 to be activated in any position when spinning and does not need to be pulled through the water in a parallel position but can be jigged up and down with nose of the lure facing towards the water surface and tail facing the ocean or lake bottom.

FIG. 10 is a sectioned view of the shaft less generator 34 showing the direction 82 in which the magnet 66 spins/rotates within the generator 34 and the direction 86 in which it passes through the copper wire coil 54 while the generator 34 is spinning/rotating within said lure assembly 10 and the direction 80 in which the generator is spinning/rotating while said magnet 66 is passing through said copper coil windings 54.

It is to be recognized that various alterations, modifications, and/or additions may be introduced into the constructions and arrangements of parts described above without departing from the spirit or ambit of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. a fishing lure assembly comprising: a first portion having a first chamber for holding a shaft less generator with light emitting diodes attached to said generator, along with an elongated second inner attaching chamber of smaller diameter which holds a stainless steel weight and a chromed paper insert; and a second portion having a reservoir for holding a supply of a scent material; means for creating a flow of water through said reservoir so that said scent material is solubilized therein and released from said lure assembly.

2. The lure assembly of claim 1, further comprising: means for detachably connecting said first and second portions of said lure assembly.

3. The lure assembly of claim 2, wherein said first portion of said lure assembly comprises: a housing having an elongate receiver for inserting a steel weight, a chromed paper insert and a shaft less generator of which has light emitting diodes attached to said generator; and being made of a translucent material for allowing light generated by said light emitting diodes to project there through.

4. The lure assembly of claim 4, further comprising: means for imparting rotation to said lure assembly in response to said assembly being drawn through water, so that said generator is activated by the rotation of said lure.

5. The lure of claim 1, wherein said means for creating a flow of water through said reservoir comprises: an inlet port for introducing said flow of water to said interior reservoir chamber; and a discharge port for releasing said flow of water from said interior reservoir chamber.

6. The lure assembly of claim 6, wherein said inlet port comprises: a mouth opening that faces towards a direction of rotation of said lure assembly, so that rotation of said assembly forces water into said mouth opening so as to create a positive flow through said reservoir.

7. The lure assembly of claim 6, wherein the translucent plastic housing may have glitter or other reflective material added when the plastic mold is formed to intensify the light emitting from the lure body.

8. The lure of claim 4, wherein said first body portion may have fins of different shapes or sizes and should not be limited to the shapes or sizes in the attached drawings.

9. The lure of claim 1, wherein said steel weight is removable and may be of different sizes to allow for different buoyancies of the lure.

10. The lure of claim 4, wherein said means for inducing rotation of said lure assembly comprises: two angled fins located at opposite sides of the body, positioned along the length of said first body portion, of which cause the lure to spin in one direction.

11. The lure of claim 11 wherein there is at least one angled fin on said housing for imparting rotation about a longitudinal axis in response to said assembly being drawn through water.

12. The lure assembly of claim 1, further comprising: first and second attachment loops at forward and rearward ends of said assembly for attachment of fishing lines and hooks thereto.

13. A fishing lure assembly comprising: a nose segment having a weight for submerging said assembly, a small diameter receiver for holding a chromed paper insert along with a larger diameter receiver for holding a shaft less generator with light emitting diodes attached thereon, so that light generated thereby is projected onto said chromed insert and into said surrounding water; a tail segment having a reservoir for holding a liquid scent soaked sponge or a dry solid scent material which dissolves when hydrated within the chamber and discharging said scent material into surrounding water; means for mounting together said nose and tail segments: angled fins on said front segments for inducing rotation of said lure assembly about said longitudinal axis in response to said assembly being drawn through said surrounding water.

14. The lure assembly of claim 14, wherein said reservoir of said tail segment comprises: a reservoir chamber within an interior of said tail segment; at least one inlet port for introducing a flow of water to said reservoir chamber so as to solubilize said liquid scent material therein; and at least one outlet port for releasing said flow of water from said reservoir chamber so that said scent material solubilized therein is discharged into said surrounding water; said inlet opening having a mouth at a surface of said housing that faces towards a direction of rotation of said assembly so that water is forced into said opening so as to establish a positive flow through said reservoir chamber; an outlet opening for releasing said flow of water from said reservoir chamber with said scent material solubilized therein; an attachment loop at said rearward end of said housing.

15. A fishing lure assembly, comprising: a nose segment, a conically tapered housing, having forward and rearward ends; an attachment loop at said forward end of said housing; a connector portion at said rearward end of said housing; and at least one angled fin on said housing for imparting rotation about a longitudinal axis in response to said assembly being drawn through water; and having a longitudinal bore for receiving a steel weight; a chromed paper insert, and generator therein; and is comprised of a translucent material so to allowing light generated by said light emitting diodes to project there through.

16. The fishing lure of claim 1, wherein said electrical generator is shaft less and bearing less not requiring an exterior propeller attached to a shaft or like apparatus to activate said generator within said lure assembly but is activated within the lure assembly by the rotation of the assembly.

17. The fishing lure assembly of claim 1, wherein said lure may embody the use of any design of shaft less generator which is activated by rotation of said generator which does not require apparatus on the exterior of said lure of flasher bodies like a shaft or propeller to activate said generator and should not be limited to the generator design in the attached drawings.