JP7851538B2 - Fishing lures - Google Patents

Description

This invention relates to a fishing lure, and more particularly to an improvement on a fishing lure that allows for different center of gravity positions to be set during casting and during retrieval after the lure hits the water.

Generally, lures that imitate fish bodies have a line attached near the head, and multiple hooks are provided on the underside of the belly and near the tail. Furthermore, lures that dive or oscillate from side to side have a lip that protrudes downwards from the underside of the head to generate these movements in response to water currents.

Because such lures adopt a slightly forward-sloping posture underwater when diving, it is preferable that their center of gravity be located towards the front.
On the other hand, when casting, it is preferable for the center of gravity to be located towards the rear (towards the tail) in order to stabilize the posture and increase casting distance.

Therefore, many designs have been proposed that allow the weight to be moved within the lure body so that a preferred center of gravity can be set, positioning the weight towards the rear (tail) during casting and holding it forward during retrieval.
Most fundamentally, a groove is provided at the front of the lure body to allow the weight to be positioned after it hits the water, or a magnetic material such as a steel ball is used as the weight, with a magnetic piece positioned towards the front to hold it magnetically (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2).

In the case of weights held magnetically, while the retention is secure, the weight material is limited to ferromagnetic materials such as steel balls. Therefore, to achieve a certain weighting effect, the diameter must be larger compared to cases using other high-density metals (mostly paramagnetic and not magnetic), which consequently imposes limitations or constraints on the design of the lure shape.

Furthermore, magnets used to magnetically attach ferromagnetic materials such as steel balls, which are made to a large diameter, naturally require a stronger magnetic force. As a result, the magnetic force of these magnets extends over a wide area. Moreover, when ferromagnetic materials such as steel balls are magnetically attached to the magnets, these ferromagnetic materials also become magnetized, and consequently, the magnetic force of the magnets extends over an even wider area.
As a result, the hook may become magnetically attached to ferromagnetic materials such as magnets or steel balls via the lure body. In this case, the lure will not be able to assume the desired underwater posture, leading to a decrease in catch rates.

Of course, recognizing these problems, there have been attempts to use high-density, paramagnetic metal materials such as tungsten, while also coating the surface of the weight with a magnetic metal to hold the weight in place by magnetic force (see, for example, Patent Document 3).
However, producing weights with such special specifications is costly, and in some cases, it's simply impossible to manufacture them due to limitations in production facilities and other factors.

Thus, conventionally, when magnetically attaching weights made of high-density, paramagnetic materials such as tungsten, product development was carried out based on the technical concept of adding a separate metal to the weight.

Patent No. 4472834 Patent No. 3299184 Japanese Patent Publication No. 2005-287359

This invention was made in consideration of the above background, and its objective was to develop a fishing lure that can be used without requiring special specifications even when a weight made of a high-density, non-magnetic metal, such as tungsten, is applied, and that can reliably hold the weight in place.

In other words, the fishing lure described in claim 1 is a fishing lure having a weight that is movable in the front-to-back direction within a lure body that imitates a fish body, and is equipped with a holding mechanism that can loosely hold the weight when it moves forward within the weight's movement space within the lure body. This holding mechanism comprises a magnetic piece provided on the front side, a spacer made of a soft magnetic material that is magnetically attached to the rear of the magnetic piece and has an open end at the rear, with the inside serving as a weight storage area, and a sealing piece made of a soft magnetic material and positioned behind the spacer. On the other hand, the weight is made of a high-density, non-magnetic material, and when the weight moves forward, it fits into the weight storage area of the spacer, and the sealing piece is magnetically attached to the open end of the spacer in a loosely held state by the magnetic force from the magnetic piece, so that the weight can be loosely held by the holding mechanism.

Furthermore, the fishing lure described in claim 2, in addition to the above requirements, is characterized in that the weight has a weight core hole, the sealing piece has a sealing piece core hole, a guide core wire is provided along the longitudinal direction in the moving space of the lure body, the weight is movably supported on the guide core wire in the weight core hole, and the sealing piece is movably supported on the guide core wire in the sealing piece core hole.

Furthermore, the fishing lure described in claim 3 is characterized in that, in addition to the above requirements, the magnetic force at the open end of the spacer magnetized by the magnetic piece is set to a magnetic force suitable for loosely holding the sealing piece by adjusting either the area of the open end or the length dimension of the spacer, or both.

Furthermore, the fishing lure described in claim 4 is characterized in that, in addition to the requirements of claim 1 or 2, the magnetic piece is made of a neodymium magnet.

Furthermore, the fishing lure described in claim 5 is characterized in that, in addition to the requirements described in claim 3, the magnetic piece is made of a neodymium magnet.

Furthermore, the fishing lure described in claim 6 is characterized in that, in addition to the requirements of claim 1 or 2, the weight is made of tungsten or an alloy mainly composed of tungsten.

Furthermore, the fishing lure described in claim 7 is characterized in that, in addition to the requirements described in claim 3, the weight is made of tungsten or an alloy mainly composed of tungsten.

Furthermore, the fishing lure described in claim 8 is characterized in that, in addition to the requirements described in claim 4, the weight is made of tungsten or an alloy mainly composed of tungsten.

Furthermore, the fishing lure described in claim 9 is characterized in that, in addition to the requirements described in claim 5, the weight is made of tungsten or an alloy mainly composed of tungsten.
The aforementioned problems are then addressed by means of the requirements described in each of these claims.

First, according to the invention described in claim 1, a weight made of a high-density, non-magnetic material can be securely and loosely held by the holding mechanism, and the center of gravity of the lure can be loosely held in a position suitable for generating diving and oscillating motion due to the action of the lip.

Furthermore, according to the invention described in claim 2, the frictional surface area between the weight and sealing piece and other members can be made extremely small, thereby improving the durability of these members and allowing the weight and sealing piece to move smoothly.

Furthermore, according to the invention described in claim 3, the magnetic force at the open end of the spacer can be set by adjusting the dimensions of the spacer, thus accommodating size variations and changes to the lure body, using the magnet piece and sealing piece as common components.

Furthermore, according to the inventions described in claims 4 and 5, the magnetic force of the magnetic piece can be made sufficient, and the sealing piece can be magnetically attached to the open end of the spacer that has been excited by the magnetic piece.

Furthermore, according to the inventions described in claims 6, 7, 8, and 9, the weight can be made to provide a certain weighting effect without resulting in an increased size.

These are a side view and a front view showing a partially cut section of the fishing lure of the present invention. The diagram shows a perspective view (a) of the holding mechanism and weight and its surrounding components, a rear view (b) and a longitudinal side view (c) of the shielding cap and assembled magnet piece, and a longitudinal side view (d) of the magnetic field lines of the magnet piece alone. This is a side view showing the weight movement and holding mechanism in stages. These are side views (a) showing the state of a cast fishing lure in flight, (b) showing the state upon landing on the water, (c) showing the state at the start of retrieval, and (d) showing the state during steady retrieval. The images show a perspective view (a) of the spacer, a rear view (b), and a rear view (c) of an embodiment with a different cutout shape. This is a perspective view showing spacers with different shapes. This is a side view showing a partially broken section of a fishing lure with a different configuration of moving space.

The embodiments of the present invention are described below as examples of preferred embodiments, and also include various modifications within the technical concept of the present invention.

The present invention will be described in detail below based on the illustrated embodiments.
Reference numeral 1 in the figure denotes the fishing lure of the present invention, which has an external shape that imitates a small fish, and is constructed by attaching a hook H to a hook eye 18 provided near the belly and tail, as an example.
More specifically, as shown in Figure 1, the fishing lure 1 comprises a resin lure body 10 as a component, and this is often constructed by combining body elements 10a and 10b, which are divided into left and right halves in a front view, in a so-called "monaka" (Japanese sweet) joinery manner, as shown in Figure 1(b).

Furthermore, the head of the lure body 10 shown in this embodiment is provided with a line eye 19, and the lip 11 is formed to protrude downwards and forwards at an angle. Depending on the specifications of the fishing lure 1, the lure body 10 may be in a form without a lip 11.
Here, "front" and "back" refer to the head side of the lure body 10, which is modeled after a fish, as the front, and the tail side as the back.

Furthermore, a hollow movable space 12 is formed inside the lure body 10, and the weight 13 is configured to move within this movable space 12 along the longitudinal direction of the lure body 10.
And on the front side of this moving space 12, for example, inside the part corresponding to the pectoral fin or pelvic fin of the lure body 10, there is a holding mechanism K that can loosely hold the weight 13 that has moved forward. This holding mechanism K is composed of a magnetic piece 15, a cylindrical spacer 16 which is magnetically attached to the rear of the magnetic piece 15 and has a weight storage section 16H on its inside, and a washer or plate-shaped sealing piece 17 for sealing the open end 16E formed on the rear end side of the spacer 16.

In the embodiments shown in Figures 1 and 4, a guide core wire 12A is provided within the moving space 12 along its longitudinal direction, and the weight core hole 13A provided in the core of the weight 13 and the sealing piece core hole 17A formed in the center of the sealing piece 17 are supported so as to pass through the guide core wire 12A, and the weight 13 and the sealing piece 17 are configured to move smoothly using the guide core wire 12A as a guide.
Of course, the movement of the weight 13 and the sealing piece 17 is not necessarily limited to a combined structure of the guide core wire 12A and the weight core hole 13A; as shown in Figure 7, it is perfectly acceptable to have a simple tunnel-shaped movement space 12.

Furthermore, the rear end of the guide core wire 12A or the moving space 12 is provided with a cushion C made of an elastic material such as rubber.
Furthermore, in the assembly of the holding mechanism K, guide core wire 12A, and cushion C to the lure body 10, as an example, ribs are provided in the moving space 12, and these ribs are used to position and hold these components.

In this embodiment, the magnet piece 15 is enclosed in a shielding cap 14, for example, made of a soft magnetic material, thereby forming a so-called cap magnet. As shown in Figure 2, the shape of the shielding cap 14 covers the front and peripheral portions of the magnet piece 15, leaving the rear portion open. The front portion of the magnet piece 15 is magnetically attached to the inside of the cap, creating an enclosed state. In this state, as shown in Figure 2(b), a small gap P is formed between the inner circumference of the shielding cap 14 and the outer circumference of the magnet piece 15. With this configuration, as shown in Figure 2(c), magnetic field lines (directing from the north pole to the south pole) are concentrated in the narrow area between the exposed rear end surface of the magnet piece 15 and the rear end surface of the shielding cap 14. Therefore, as shown in Figure 2(d), an attractive force 3 to 4 times greater than that of the magnet piece 15 alone is obtained. A magnet piece core hole 15A is formed in the center of the magnet piece 15.

Here, we will describe the materials of the main components of the fishing lure 1 of the present invention.
First, as the aforementioned magnetic piece 15, one example is a rare-earth magnet with a magnetic force 10 times or more that of a ferrite magnet, and neodymium magnets, which are relatively inexpensive and have strong magnetic force, are particularly used. If there are no price or other constraints, other rare-earth magnets such as samarium-cobalt magnets, which have the next strongest magnetic force after neodymium magnets, may also be used.
Furthermore, the shielding cap 14, spacer 16, and sealing piece 17 are formed from a soft magnetic material with low coercivity and high permeability. Examples include iron or an alloy with iron as the main component (silicon steel, permalloy, sendust, permendur, etc.).

Furthermore, as an example of a high-density metal that can provide a certain weighting effect, tungsten, which is a non-magnetic material, is used for the weight 13.
Furthermore, as the material for the weight 13, a tungsten-based sintered alloy, which has tungsten as its main component and nickel, copper, iron, etc. as a binder, can also be used.

By constructing these components from such materials, the sealing piece 17 is magnetically attached to the open end 16E of the spacer 16, which is excited by the magnetic piece 15, thereby sealing it, and the weight 13 is loosely held by the holding mechanism K while housed in the weight storage section 16H.
The term "loose holding" is used here because, as will be explained in more detail later, during casting, the weight 13 is released from the holding mechanism K, and the weight 13 is positioned towards the rear (tail) within the moving space 12. This operation can be performed with a slight rod action or within a series of casting movements, so a loose holding state is adopted rather than a rigid one.

By the way, in order to achieve the loose holding state of the weight 13 by such a holding mechanism K, it is required that the magnetic force of the sealing piece 17 by the open end 16E of the spacer 16, which is excited by the magnetic piece 15, be appropriate.
Therefore, in this invention, the magnetic force at the open end 16E of the spacer 16 is set to a magnetic force suitable for magnetically attaching the sealing piece 17 in a loosely held state by adjusting either the length dimension of the spacer 16 or the area of the open end 16E, or both.

Specifically, as shown in Figure 5 as an example, the shape of the spacer 16 is made cylindrical, and the area of the open end 16E is adjusted by forming a notch 16S at one end of the open end 16E. As an example, as shown in Figure 5(b), a pair of opposing notches 16S are formed over an angle θ range from the center in a rear view. If the value of θ is set to be larger than this, the area of the open end 16E decreases, and if the value of θ is set to be smaller than this, the area of the open end 16E increases. Eventually, when θ is set to 0, the notches 16S disappear as shown in Figure 6(a), and the area of the open end 16E becomes the maximum.
By adjusting the area of the open end 16E in this way, the magnetic force at the open end 16E of the spacer 16, which is excited by the magnet piece 15, can be set in proportion to this area.

In Figures 5(a) and 5(b), two notches 16S are formed, but as shown in Figure 5(c), three or more notches 16S may be formed. In this case, since the sealing piece 17 is magnetically attached to the open end 16E, it is preferable to make the spacing between the notches 16S equal.

Furthermore, the magnetic force at the open end 16E can also be adjusted inversely to the length of the spacer 16, which is the distance L16 from the magnet piece 15 to the open end 16E.

Furthermore, the magnetic force at the open end 16E can also be adjusted inversely to the dimension of the gap P formed between the inner circumference of the shielding cap 14 and the outer circumference of the magnet piece 15.

Another example of a modification of the spacer 16 is to form a cylindrical spacer 16 with slits on its side circumference, as shown in Figure 6(b).
Furthermore, as shown in Figure 6(c), the spacer 16 can also be made into a coil shape, with the inside of the winding serving as the weight storage section 16H.

The fishing lure 1 of the present invention has the configuration described above. It is used by attaching a swivel S, which is tied to the end of the line L, to the line eye 19. It operates as follows, allowing for the acquisition of a suitable center of gravity G position during casting and retrieval.

First, before the angler begins the casting motion, the weight 13 may be in either a state where it is located at the rear end of the moving space 12 as shown in Figure 3(a), or in a state where it is loosely held by the central holding mechanism K as shown in Figure 3(d).
Even when the weight 13 is loosely held by the holding mechanism K, the centrifugal force from the subsequent casting motion, or the slight rod action applied to the fishing lure 1 suspended by the line L with the line eye 19 facing upwards, causes the weight 13 to push down the sealing piece 17, releasing the magnetic attachment of the sealing piece 17 by the spacer 16, and resulting in the weight 13 being positioned at the rear end of the moving space 12.

As shown in Figure 4(a), the fishing lure 1, cast in this manner, flies with its tail facing the direction of travel. Because the center of gravity G is located towards the tail, the flight posture is stable, and the desired sufficient flight distance can be achieved.

Eventually, the fishing lure 1 will hit the water as shown in Figure 4(b). At this point, because the center of gravity G is located towards the tail, it will float with its tail submerged. Of course, depending on the specifications, some lures may not float but slowly sink into the water. In any case, at this point, the fishing lure 1 will be facing downwards towards the tail.

Next, the angler begins the retrieval motion. By reeling in, the line L is wound, and the fishing lure 1 is pulled in. At this time, as shown in Figure 4(c), the action of the lip 11 causes the fishing lure 1 to assume a forward-sloping posture. As a result, the weight 13, which was located towards the tail, moves towards the spacer 16 as shown in Figure 3(b), and then enters the weight storage section 16H as shown in Figure 3(c).

Eventually, as shown in Figures 4(d) and 3(d), the open end 16E of the spacer 16, which is energized by the magnetic piece 15, is sealed by the magnetic attachment of the sealing piece 17 to it.
As a result, the weight 13 is loosely held by the holding mechanism K while housed in the weight storage section 16H, and at this time, the center of gravity G of the fishing lure 1 is located closer to the head than the longitudinal center of the lure body 10, thus maintaining a posture that is slightly tilted forward.

Subsequently, the angler adds rod actions such as twitching and jerking in addition to retrieving, causing the fishing lure 1 to repeatedly undergo sudden changes in direction and speed. However, the loose holding state of the weight 13 in the holding mechanism K is maintained, and the position of the center of gravity G is also preserved.
Incidentally, even if an unexpected change in speed occurs and the loose holding state of the weight 13 by the holding mechanism K is released, the action of the lip 11 accompanying the angler's rod action causes the fishing lure 1 to dive and assume a forward-sloping posture, so the loose holding state of the weight 13 by the holding mechanism K is immediately restored.

Furthermore, because the magnetic field lines (directing from the north pole to the south pole) are concentrated in the narrow area between the rear end surface of the exposed magnet piece 15 and the rear end surface of the shielding cap 14, when the holding mechanism K is installed within the movement space 12 of the lure body 10, the magnetic field lines do not extend outside the lure body 10. Therefore, it is possible to avoid the hook H becoming magnetically attached to the holding mechanism K via the lure body 10, and better fishing results can be expected.

1 Fishing lure 10 Lure body 10a Body element 10b Body element 11 Lip 12 Moving space 12A Guide core wire 13 Weight 13A Weight core hole 14 Shielding cap 15 Magnet piece 15A Magnet piece core hole 16 Spacer 16E Open end 16H Weight storage section 16S Notch 17 Sealing piece 17A Sealing piece core hole 18 Hook eye 19 Line eye

C: Cushion, G: Center of Gravity, H: Hook, K: Holding Mechanism, L16: Distance, L: Line, P: Gap, S: Swivel

Claims (9)

A fishing lure having a weight that can move freely in the front-to-back direction inside a lure body that imitates a fish body,
The lure body is equipped with a holding mechanism that can loosely hold the weight that has moved forward in the weight movement space,
This holding mechanism includes a magnetic piece provided on the front side,
A spacer made of a soft magnetic material is positioned magnetically attached to the rear of this magnetic piece, with its rear end open and its inner side serving as a weight storage area.
It comprises a sealing piece formed from a soft magnetic material and positioned behind the spacer,
On the other hand, the weight is made of a material that is high in specific gravity and non-magnetic.
This weight, when moved forward, fits into the weight storage section of the spacer,
A fishing lure characterized in that the spacer's open end is magnetically attached to the sealing piece in a loosely held state by the magnetic force from the magnetic piece, thereby allowing the weight to be loosely held by the holding mechanism.
The aforementioned weight has a weight core hole,
On the other hand, guide wires are provided along the longitudinal direction of the moving space of the lure body.
The fishing lure according to claim 1, characterized in that the weight is movably supported on the guide core wire in the weight core hole.
The magnetic force at the open end of the spacer magnetically attached by the aforementioned magnetic piece is,
By adjusting either the area of this open end or the length dimension of the spacer, or both,
A fishing lure according to either claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the magnetic force is set to be suitable for magnetically attaching a sealing piece in a loosely held state.
The fishing lure according to either claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the aforementioned magnetic piece is made of a neodymium magnet.
The fishing lure according to claim 3, characterized in that the aforementioned magnetic piece is made of a neodymium magnet.
The fishing lure according to either claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the weight is made of tungsten or an alloy mainly composed of tungsten.
The fishing lure according to claim 3, characterized in that the weight is made of tungsten or an alloy mainly composed of tungsten.
The fishing lure according to claim 4, characterized in that the weight is made of tungsten or an alloy mainly composed of tungsten. The fishing lure according to claim 5, characterized in that the weight is made of tungsten or an alloy mainly composed of tungsten.