1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to winding tools for winding wires, and more particularly to such tools preferably consisting of a simply constructed single piece for winding first parts of wires about second parts of the wires while forming a loop with parts of the wires which are intermediate the first and second wire parts. This type of winding is particularly useful to form wire leaders for use as leaders for fishing tackle such as fish hooks, flies, plugs, lures and live bait. The invention also includes the method of using the single piece tool to wind wires.
2. Description of the Related Art
The following U.S. Patents are the closest prior art known to the inventor at the time of filing. None of these disclosures includes a wire winding tool
U.S. Pat. No. 6,185,858—Michael C. Choron, filed May 18, 1998 and issued Feb. 13, 2001
U.S. Pat. No. 5,542,843—Michael T. Price, filed Mar. 22, 1995 and issued Aug. 6, 1996
U.S. Pat. No. 5,309,954—David J. Franssen, filed Sep. 1, 1992 and issued May 10, 1994
U.S. Pat. No. 5,297,593—Robert P. Holzman, filed Feb. 6, 1993 and issued Mar. 29, 1994
U.S. Pat. No. 5,280,812—Richard S. Bigelow, filed Nov. 20, 1992 and issued Jan. 25, 1994
U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,774—David J. Goulet, filed May 1, 1989 and issued Feb. 20, 1990
U.S. Pat. No. 4,421,145—Dewey O. Broberg, Jr., filed Apr. 26, 1982 and issued Dec. 20, 1983
U.S. Pat. No. 3,861,430—Elwin G. Story, filed Nov. 5, 1973 and issued Jan. 21, 1975
U.S. Pat. No. 3,578,035—Orval Parker, filed Feb. 25, 1969 and issued May 11, 1971
U.S. Pat. No. 3,374,805—E. Schroeder, filed May 10, 1965 and issued Mar. 26, 1968
U.S. Pat. No. 3,221,779—W. J. Noel, filed Aug. 29, 1962 and issued Dec. 7, 1965
U.S. Pat. No. 3,168,118—J. G. Holman, filed Feb. 21, 1963 and issued Feb. 2, 1965
U.S. Pat. No. 3,092,152—T. Neff, filed Apr. 17, 1961 and issued Jun. 4, 1963
U.S. Pat. No. 3,030,984—P. E. Vogt et al, filed May 31, 1960 and issued Apr. 24, 1962
U.S. Pat. No. 2,934,100—H. J. Huber et al, filed Nov. 23, 1954 and issued Apr. 26, 1960
U.S. Pat. No. 2,824,583—P. D. Knoester, filed May 25, 1955 and issued Feb. 25, 1958
U.S. Pat. No. 2,454,997—I. Diamond, filed Mar. 16, 1944 and issued Nov. 30, 1948
U.S. Pat. No. 2,438,984—E. M. Adams, filed Feb. 14, 1945 and issued Apr. 6, 1948
U.S. Pat. No. 2,006,355—J. K. Howell, filed Aug. 22, 1934 and issued Jul. 2, 1935
U.S. Pat. No. 1,779,733—R. H. Hambly, filed Nov. 21, 1929 and issued Oct. 28, 1930
U.S. Pat. No. 1,038,052—C. K. Wolf, filed May 23, 1910 and issued Sep. 10, 1912
U.S. Pat. No. 852,836—M. Hays, filed Nov. 14, 1906 and issued May 7, 1907
U.S. Pat. No. 815,754—D. C. Smith, filed Aug. 15, 1904 and issued Mar. 20, 1906
U.S. Pat. No. 775,143—K. K. Lerol, Jr., filed Mar. 21, 1904 and issued Nov. 15, 1904
U.S. Pat. No. 620,826—J. R. Bardelmeier, filed Dec. 1, 1898 and issued Mar. 7, 1899
U.S. Pat. No. 608,467—H. L. Maitland, filed Dec. 5, 1895 and issued Aug. 2, 1898
Of these, U.S. Pat. No. 2,438,984—E. M. Adams, U.S. Pat. No. 1,779,733—R. H. Hambly and the earlier-issued ones listed above are the most pertinent. These have a single piece tool which is used in a stage of twisting or coiling parts of one wire around or to another, usually in the field of fencing manufacture or installation or splicing two wires together to make a longer wire. They also typically require the separate preforming of either one or both of the wires being used, and the use of other tools to accomplish one or more stages. Some of them accomplish the winding stage by rotational movement of the tool, but this must be preceded by some previous bending and preparation of one or both of the wires. Even when the patents disclose the making of a loop or eye in a wire, that is still true. None of them have a single tool provided with a slot and a hole so that they can take a single wire, insert its ends into parts of a single tool and twist one of the wire ends about the other wire end to form a loop on one wire end, as is taught and claimed herein.
The tool embodying the invention preferably consists of a simply constructed single piece having a slot through which one part of a wire is placed so that the wire extends generally transversely of the tool, and another part of the wire has its end received through a hole that is formed through the cheeks forming the slot side walls so that the another wire part in the hole is located skew but substantially perpendicular to the wire one part within the slot. The two wire parts are connected to a loop part of the wire formed incipiently formed as a loop between the wire one and the wire another part when the two wire parts are placed or inserted as above described in the slot and the hole of the tool. The loop part is held against rotation as the tool is rotated about the axis of the wire one part, causing some of the second part of the wire, which is located between wire part extending through the hole and the wire loop part, is spirally wound about the section of the wire one part positioned just before it enters the slot. The tool being disclosed and claimed is therefore the tool body having the slot and the hole therein for receiving the two wire parts, the tool body preferably being made as a single piece and being rotatable about the axis of the wire one part to wind a part of the wire other part about a part of the wire one part. If any wire winding tool is purposely made of two or more parts in an effort to avoid any claim herein, but functions the same as if the tool were made in a single piece, such a tool is considered to be within the purview of the invention as claimed. The tool may be rotated and the loop part may be held by hand when wire of the typical fishing tackle leader wire is being wound. If wires which are very resistant to being wound because they are too large in diameter or too stiff, the loop may be held against rotation mechanically in a suitable clamp or vise and the single element tool may be driven by a rotatable power source such as a power drill tool or, in even larger applications machinery similar to a lathe.
Tools embodying the invention are either made from plastic bar stock and machined to provide the finished tool, or are formed by other procedures such as injection molding. Tools embodying the invention, particularly when used in heavy duty winding applications, may be made of metal which will resist wear and tear in the tool slot and hole being described. Even for small manually operated conditions, such metal tools will last longer than plastic, but will usually be more expensive. The single piece tool 18, shown in
Tool 18 is a single piece, and includes a longitudinally extending axis 20 and therefore a longitudinally extending body section 22 which may have any of several overall shapes, but for simplicity in manufacturing, packaging and use, is essentially a three-dimensional, rectangularly shaped body section having relatively narrow upper and lower side surfaces 24 and 26, relatively wide side surfaces 28 and 30, and end surfaces 32 and 34. Surfaces 24, 26, 28 and 30 are illustrated as being parallel to the tool's longitudinal axis 20, and surfaces 32 and 34 are illustrated as being at right angles to that axis with that axis passing through their centers. These parallel and right angle descriptions do not limit the tools to such restrictions, it being within the purview of the invention that there may be modifications made to the precise shape and relative locations of these surfaces, and that at least some of these surfaces may not be planar as shown, but may be shaped to make them easier to hold, use and manipulate the tool as will be described. The body section 22 has opposed ends 36 and 38 respectively having end surfaces 32 and 34 thereon.
End 36 has a slot 40 formed therethrough, which opens through the entire vertical length of end surface 32 and also through the parts of upper and lower side surfaces 24 and 26 also forming parts of the end 36. The portion of body section end 36 having slot 40 therein therefore provides laterally spaced cheeks 42 and 44 which are laterally separated by slot 40.
The slot 40 may be formed in different shapes, such as the rectangular shape of it shown as slot 46 in
Slot 48 also opens through the entire vertical length of end surface 34 and also through the parts of upper and lower side surfaces 24 and 26 of the body section 22 which are considered to be parts of the tool end 36. However, it is not as deep from the end surface 32 where it intersects lower surface 26, so that its base surface 52 is not perpendicular to the upper and lower surfaces 26 and 28, but is slanted at an angle. The precise amount of such angular slant, identified as angle “s” in
The person doing the wire winding will hold the single piece tool embodying the invention with his right hand, usually between the thumb and the fingers of that hand. At the same time, he will hold the third part 78, and the ring, of the wire 70 in his left hand, with the tool so oriented generally vertically as shown. The person first lays the second part 76 of the wire, which leads away from the loop 72, in the slot 40, 46 or 48, with the hole section 60 of hole 54 being held so that it faces him, and is therefore toward his left. The wire second part 76 extends from the slot 46 toward his right, and on to the other end of the leader being formed. The first part 74 of wire 70 then has its end 82 inserted first through the hole section 58 formed through cheek 42 and then through the hole section 60 of hole 54 formed through cheek 44 of the end 36 of the tool body section 22. Usually, when winding a wire of typical size used for leaders, wire end 82 is extended beyond the cheek 44 for about two inches, and it is then bent downwardly along the side surface 30 of tool 18 as seen in
As can be seen, when using a single piece tool 18 having the slot 46, the body section 22 of the tool 18 is rotated with the wire third part 78 being the axis of that rotation. The rotation is in a plane which is substantially perpendicular to the direction of the wire third part 78 as it extends rightward as seen in
It is to be understood that, if the person doing the winding is left handed, and desires to use his left hand to rotate the tool 18 during the winding process, he does the same progression of steps as shown in
When the tool 18 embodying the invention is being used to make leaders for fishing tackle, the tool is usually made of plastic such as Lexan, Lexeon, Lucite, or Plexiglass, by way of example but not limitation. Other suitable plastics may be used so long as they are sufficiently hard to withstand the winding action without substantial bending, and strong enough not to break during that action. The single piece tool 18, as well as the modifications of the tool body shown in
A typical single piece tool that has been made and successfully used to make fishing tackle leaders has had a body length of about 2¼″, a narrow width of about 3/16″ and a wide width of about ⅝″. The slot has had a depth of about 5/16″ from the outer end surface 32 to its base surface 50. When made with the slanted slot base surface 52, the base surface where it is intersected by the axis 20 is about 5/16″ from the outer end surface 32. The hole 54 is located about 3/16″ from the lower side surface 26 and the same distance from the outer end surface 32. That hole may be about the diameter of a #54 drill, which will accommodate leader wire having diameters such as 0.012″ (32 lb. test); 0.020″ (86 lb. test); 0.0295 (174 lb. test). These are typical leader wire sizes commercially available from American Fishing Wire™. Other wires for that purpose are provided by other manufacturers, and these are given only as an example. Wires up to 0.0358″ have been successfully wound by devices embodying the invention. While devices embodying the invention can wind wire smaller that 0.012″ such smaller wires are not considered to be very practical as fishing tackle leaders.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
2438984 | Adams | Apr 1948 | A |
3168118 | Holman | Feb 1965 | A |
4195401 | Galloup | Apr 1980 | A |
4421145 | Broberg, Jr. | Dec 1983 | A |
5309954 | Franssen | May 1994 | A |
5359782 | Langmaid | Nov 1994 | A |
5520227 | Kelley | May 1996 | A |
5839201 | Young | Nov 1998 | A |