Patent ID: 8201515
Filing Date: 2012-06-19
Classification: A01M,B63B,B63C

Abstract:
1. An anchor for use with a floatation unit of a marker buoy or waterfowl decoy wherein said floatation unit is attached to one end of an anchor line and said anchor is attached to the other end thereof, said anchor comprising a shell cover containing an anchor weight composed substantially of non-lead material, said anchor having sufficient weight and density to confine said floatation unit within a circular area of a water body surface, said circular area defined as having a radius of one-half of the deployed length of said anchor line, said circular area being centered on said water surface at a point directly above said anchor, said anchor being of a generally U-shaped configuration having an anchor body and a pair of spaced, opposed clamping arms integral with and extending outwardly from said U-shaped anchor, said anchor weight comprising a plurality of individual anchor weight segments, said individual anchor weight segments being substantially rounded and having generally smooth surfaces to allow said individual anchor weight segments to easily slide against adjacent surfaces of one another for the purpose of allowing said anchor and said arms to flex to open and close substantially, said anchor further comprising at least one stiffener bar, said stiffener bar being a bendable elongated element traversing through the interior of said anchor body and extending longitudinally through the interior of at least one-half of the length of said arms, said stiffener bar having the capability of allowing said anchor and said arms to be easily and repeatedly manually bent to clamp and hold onto said floatation unit, and to be easily and repeatedly unbent to allow the release of said anchor from said floatation unit, said arms also having a cross-section configuration with a least dimension thereof being coincident with a direction of bending of said arms in order to facilitate said arms to spread apart to open, and to close sufficiently to return to their normally substantially closed position in order to springably clamp and hold onto said floatation unit, thereby releasably attaching said anchor to said floatation unit to prevent unwinding and tangling of said anchor line, and for convenient storage of said floatation unit, said anchor line, and said anchor when not in use, said anchor further comprising an anchor line connection member fixedly attached thereto to securely attach said anchor line to said anchor.