Patent Application
20190281803
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The disclosure and prior art relates to minnow holders and more particularly pertains to a new minnow holder for retaining a minnow in a position that facilitates the hooking of the minnow.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a tubular member having a first end, a second end and a perimeter wall extending between the first and second ends. Each of the first and second ends is open. The tubular member includes a first portion including the first end and a second portion including the second end. The perimeter wall of the first portion has a plurality of elongated slits therein extending into the first end and toward the second portion. The slits are configured to expose portions of a minnow held within the tubular member such that a hook can extend through the slits and through the minnow.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.
The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
The perimeter wall 18 includes an upper wall 28, a lower wall 30, a first lateral wall 32 and a second lateral wall 34. The slits 24 include an upper slit 36 positioned in the upper wall 28 and a lower slit 38 positioned in the lower wall 30. The slits 24 may further include a first lateral slit 40 positioned in the first lateral wall 32 and a second lateral slit 42 positioned in the second lateral wall 34. A first lower section 44 of the perimeter wall 18 is defined between the lower slit 38 and the first lateral slit 40 and a second lower section 46 of the perimeter wall 18 is defined between the lower slit 38 and the second lateral slit 42. The lower wall 30 of the first 44 and second 46 lower sections each is curved upwardly adjacent to the first end 14 to help to retain the minnow 70 within the first portion 20 of the tubular member 12. The second portion 22 of the tubular member 12 may have a plurality of apertures 48 extending therethrough and the lower wall 30 of the second portion 22 is planar.
A handle 50 is attached to the tubular member 12. The handle 50 extends upwardly from the upper wall 28 and may be positioned between the first 14 and second 16 ends. The handle 50 may be threadably coupled to the tubular member 12 so that the handle 50 is removable from the tubular member 12 for storage purposes.
A funnel 52 is provided which includes a receiving end 54 and a dispensing end 56. Each of the receiving 54 and dispending 56 ends is open. The funnel 52 tapers inwardly from the receiving end 54 to the dispensing end 56. The dispensing end 56 is removably extendable into the second end 16 of the tubular member 12 as shown in
A container 58 may be provided which includes a bottom wall 60 and an outer wall 62 that is attached to and extends upwardly from the bottom wall 60. The container 58 is fluidly couplable to the receiving end of the funnel 52. Moreover, the funnel 52 may include first mating members 64 that are engageable with second mating members 66 on the container 58 to connect the receiving end 54 to the container 58. The container 58 is configured to deliver the minnow 70 into the funnel 52. A cover 68 may be provided which may be secured to the container 58 to allow the funnel 52, handle 50 and tubular member 12 to be stored within the container 58 and cover 68.
In use, the funnel 52 is engaged with the tubular member 12 and a minnow 70 is placed into the funnel 52 so that the minnow 70 moves from the funnel 52 and into the tubular member 12. The minnow 70 will move forward so that it becomes stuck in the first end 14 of the tubular member 12. In this position, the head of the minnow 70 is exposed so that a hook 72 can be extended through the minnow 70. The tubular member 12 securely holds the minnow 70 so that it cannot move during the hooking process and prevents the need to attempt to grip the minnow 70 by hand.
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
