Abstract:
There is hereinafter provided a reciprocating/oscillating structure for use in a fishing reel, wherein the guide carries a guide slot within it that is asymmetric in shape, and that creates two separate spool movement velocity regimes as the spool is moved forward and backward during recall of fishing line into the reel. The guide slot of the instant invention is asymmetrically constructed to produce, in a two-cycle-type spool movement arrangement, one spool velocity profile in the forward direction and a different spool velocity function in the rearward direction. In the preferred embodiment, the two velocity profiles (asymmetries of the guide) will be chosen to be complementary in the sense that imperfections in the velocity function in one direction can be compensated for to some extent during movement in the second cycle.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates generally to fishing reels and, more particularly, to an improved oscillation mechanism for use when fishing line is drawn into a reel. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     From a user perspective, fishing reels are devices for distributing fishing line during a cast and winding it up again when the bait is retrieved. During normal operations, a fisherman ties some sort of object (e.g., a fishing lure) to one end of a long continuous piece of fishing line, the other end of which is secured to the reel&#39;s spindle or spool. The excess fishing line is wrapped about this same spool. Then, the selected object and the line attached thereto are cast into the water, with line from within the reel being smoothly released from the reel so as to impede as little as possible the flight of the cast object. The line is then recalled back to the reel through the use of a handle or crank, thereby winding it once again about the spool. Of course, in the preferred scenario a fish will be attached to the remote end of the line when it is so-recalled. 
     It is the recall of line to the reel and the associated rewinding of it onto the spool which is the subject matter of the instant disclosure. More particularly, when line is retrieved, care must be taken to distribute it on the spool in such as manner as to insure that it can be extracted smoothly again at the next cast, thereby insuring that the next cast is as long as is possible under the circumstances. 
     In a typical spinning fishing reel arrangement, when the crank is turned to recall the fishing line back to the reel, oscillatory longitudinal movement is imparted to the spool in a direction substantially traverse to the direction from which line enters the spool (i.e., parallel to the longitudinal axis of the spool, the “longitudinal” direction, hereinafter) so as to distribute the line more uniformly along the length of the spool. The spool&#39;s oscillatory motion is typically created as follows. Rotation of the crank turns a drive gear that contains a protrusion or pin on its face. The pin engages a guide slot that is cut into a slider-type guide, which guide is mounted on a movable central shaft that is constrained so as to be movable only in the longitudinal direction. As the gear rotates, the pin does likewise, thereby imparting reciprocating movement to the guide as the pin traces a path through its slot. Movement of the guide is then translated to the shaft which, in turn, moves the spool. 
     In other instances, the guide might take the form of a lever arm which is pivotably attached to the reel housing at one end, with the other end of the lever being free to move along with the pin. As the pin travels through the guide slot, it moves the lever arm which, in turn, imparts longitudinal motion to the spool. An example of this sort of guide may be found in Tipton et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,143,318, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
     It is well known that the shape of the guide slot substantially influences the resulting movement of the spool and, hence, the distribution pattern of line that is deposited thereon. Many sorts of guide shapes have been suggested, each of which has its own advantages and disadvantages. Early efforts focused on the use of a straight guide slot, but it has been determined that this shape tends to pile up line near the outer margins of the spool. Better results have been obtained using “shaped” guide slots, with the shape being selected to make the line distribution as uniform as possible across the width of the spool. Two examples of the sorts of patterns that others have tried with varying degrees of success include the “Z” pattern of Shibata (U.S. Pat. No. 5,921,489) and the “S” pattern of Baumgartner et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,350,131), the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
     However, a problem with conventional spinning style reels is that they are susceptible to having the line bury itself as it is retrieved, which can cause binding the next time the line is paid out, as during a cast. One explanation for this phenomena is that the same velocity function—as defined by the shape of the guide curve—controls the distribution of the line as it moves out and back again. In other words, the coils of line tend to wrap closely next to each other as the spool moves slowly in each direction. The result of this is that the overlying turns align with and tend to be guided into the gap between adjacent underlying turns, thus, causing the line to “bury” itself. Further, since the actual velocity imparted to the spool can never really be constant—which would be the ideal situation—imperfections in the velocity function will be reflected in imperfections in the distribution of line along the width of the spool. Still further, problems in the out-going spool velocity profile will be mirrored by the in-coming spool velocity. 
     One solution to this problem, as suggested in Tipton et al., cited previously, is to place the guide slot within a lever arm that is mounted in such as way as to cause an asymmetric velocity profile, such that the time for the spool to pass through the out-going cycle is longer (or shorter) than the time required for the spool to pass through the in-coming portion of the cycle. This has the effect of causing the line turns laid in one part of the stroke cycle to be more closely spaced than those in the other part of the stroke cycle. However, this approach is limited to use on a lever-arm based mechanism: it does not generally address the underlying problem of uneven line distribution on any type of reel. 
     Heretofore, as is well known in the fishing reel arts, there has been a need for an invention to address and solve the above-described problems. Accordingly, it should now be recognized, as was recognized by the present inventor, that there exists, and has existed for some time, a very real need for a device that would address and solve the above-described problems. 
     Before proceeding to a description of the present invention, however, it should be noted and remembered that the description of the invention which follows, together with the accompanying drawings, should not be construed as limiting the invention to the examples (or preferred embodiments) shown and described. This is so because those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains will be able to devise other forms of this invention within the ambit of the appended claims. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     There is hereinafter provided a reciprocating/oscillating structure (or “guide”) for use in a fishing reel, wherein the guide carries a guide slot within that is asymmetric in shape, and that creates two separate spool movement velocity regimes as the spool is moved forward and backward during recall of fishing line into the reel. The guide slot of the instant invention is asymmetrically constructed to produce, in a two-cycle-type spool movement arrangement, one spool velocity profile in the forward (first cycle) direction and a different spool velocity function in the rearward (second cycle) direction, where forward and rearward are measured with respect to the rod tip and reel handle, respectively. In the preferred embodiment, the two velocity profiles (asymmetries of the guide) will be chosen to be complementary in the sense that imperfections in the spool movement in one direction can be at least partially compensated for during movement in the other direction. 
     According to a first preferred embodiment of the instant invention, there is provided a slider-type guide with an asymmetric guide slot placed therein, which imposes different velocity functions on the movement of the spool during each portion of the oscillation cycle. In more particular, during the first (rearward) portion of the movement cycle, the pin is within a section of the guide slot that is substantially straight and oriented to be roughly transverse to the spool movement direction. During the second (forward) portion of its stroke cycle, the pin will travel through a curved section that is “C” shaped, with the concave portion of the “C” oriented to face the rear of the reel. These two portions of the guide slot are preferably smoothly connected by a linear ramp. 
     According to another preferred embodiment, there is provided an asymmetric guide slot substantially as described above, but wherein the guide takes the form of a lever arm which is rotably affixed at one end to a stationary member within the reel and which is engaged at its other end with the central shaft. Thus, movement of the pin through the asymmetric slot results in a pivoting movement of the lever arm about its fixed end which, in turn, is communicated to the spool. 
     Of course, there are many other variations of this concept that might be applied in practice. However, the broad approach suggested by the instant inventor is that the two halves of the guide slot should be chosen to be different from one another and, to the extent possible, complementary—velocity wise—to insure as the rewound fishing line be distributed as evenly as possible on the spool. That is, the spool motion in one direction is specifically selected so as to compensate for deficiencies (e.g., non-uniformities) of the spool motion in the other direction. 
     While the instant invention will be described in connection with a preferred embodiment, it will be understood that it is not intended to limit the invention to that embodiment. On the contrary, it is intended to cover all alternatives, modifications and equivalents as may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent upon reading the following detailed description and upon reference to the drawings in which: 
     FIG. 1 is a cut-away view of a typical spinning reel, which illustrates the general environment of the instant invention. In this figure, the spool is near its point of maximum forward travel. 
     FIG. 2 is a cut-away view of a typical spinning reel in which the spool is at its most rearward position. 
     FIG. 3 is a plan view that illustrates in more detail how the pin on the drive gear is situated within the guide slot. 
     FIG. 4 is a side view of the guide-drive gear assembly. 
     FIG. 5 is a plan view of a preferred embodiment of the instant guide and guide slot. 
     FIG. 6 contains a side view of a preferred embodiment of the instant guide and slot. 
     FIG. 7 is a more detailed plan view of the instant guide/guide slot combination. 
     FIG. 8 illustrates the how the position of the guide changes during one part of the stroke cycle. 
     FIG. 9 illustrates how the position of the guide changes as the pin traces the other half of the guide slot. 
     FIG. 10 contains a schematic illustration of how fishing line is laid onto the spool during the different portions of the cycle illustrated in FIG. 8 and 9. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     General Background 
     In FIGS. 1 and 2, a spinning style fishing reel  10  is shown, which reel  10  is of the type suitable for incorporation of the present invention. The reel  10  consists of a fixed housing  12  with an integral mounting stem  14  with a foot  16  thereon for attachment to a fishing rod (not shown). 
     As is conventional for this sort of reel, a spool  18  is provided at the front of the reel  10  that holds a supply of fishing line. To effect wrapping of the line around the spool  18  during recall of the line, a rotor  20  is provided. The rotor  20  has diametrically opposed bail ears  22 ,  24  which rotate about a longitudinal, fore and aft axis  26  of the reel  10 , i.e., an axis generally parallel to the central shaft  72 . This rotation is imparted by turning a conventional external crank handle  28  through a mechanism to be described in detail below. 
     The bail ears  22 ,  24  cooperatively define a support for a pivotable bail assembly  29  consisting of spaced bail arms  30 ,  32  and a formed wire bail  34  connecting therebetween. As the rotor  20  is operated, a line guide  36  on the bail assembly  29  engages the line and wraps the line around the hub  38  of the spool  18 . Because the line guide  36  preferably has a fixed axial position with respect to the reel as it is operating, it is necessary to reciprocate/oscillate the spool  18  about the fore and aft reel axis  26  to cause an even distribution of line on the spool  18  during retrieval. This reciprocation/oscillation occurs cyclically, with a spool stroke between the position of FIG. 1, representing the forwardmost spool position, and the position of FIG. 2, representing the rearwardmost spool position. 
     Broadly speaking, there are two sorts of spinning reels that would be appropriate for use with the instant invention. The first is a slider-type reciprocating/oscillating mechanism of FIGS. 1 and 2. The second sort of spinning reel is one that utilizes a lever arm to produce the reciprocating/oscillating motion of the spool. An example of this sort of reel may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,143,318, cited previously. 
     Preferred Embodiments 
     The instant invention is directed to a structure for asymmetrically reciprocating/oscillating the spool  18  during retrieval of fishing line, with the details of a preferred embodiment of that structure being shown in FIGS. 3 to  7 . Operationally, and as is well known to those of ordinary skill in the art, within a typical fishing reel  10  rotation of the rotor  20  is effected by turning the reel crank handle  28 , the rotational force of which is preferably communicated by way of a crank shaft  62  to a face gear  66  inside of the reel body, which engages a pinion gear  56  which fixedly surrounds a hollow tubular shaft,  50  so that rotation of the face gear  66  causes rotation of the tubular shaft  50 . In the preferred embodiment, the tubular shaft  50  is journalled for rotation at its forward end (the end nearest the spool  38 ) by a plurality of bearings (not shown). The tubular shaft  50  at the end nearest the front of the reel  10  is fixedly connected to the hub of the rotor  20 , so that rotation of the tubular shaft  50  is thereby communicated to the rotor  20 . 
     At the same time that the rotor  20  is operated by the crank handle  28 , the spool  18  is caused to reciprocate in the line of the longitudinal reel axis  26 . This reciprocating/oscillating movement of the spool  18  is permitted by mounting the spool  18  on a reciprocating/oscillating center shaft  72 , which is coaxial with the tubular shaft  50  and is closely received within a bore extending axially therethrough for guided movement in the fore and aft directions. 
     Fore and aft axial shifting of the center shaft  72  is accomplished through the oscillating oscillation/drive gear  88  in combination with guide  42 . As can be more clearly seen in FIG. 3, the guide  42  roughly takes the form of an elongate rectangle in which a slot  96  has been incised. Obviously, the external dimensions of the guide  42  are unimportant for purposes of the instant invention, and its overall shape may be modified to suit the space requirements within a particular reel  10 . It must be at least large enough to encompass the chosen guide slot  96 , though. 
     A pin  94  on the drive gear  88  engages the slot  96  and travels through that slot  96  as the drive gear  88  rotates. The guide  42  is preferably affixed to (or engaged with) center shaft  72  and the rotational movement drive of gear  88  moves the pin  94  through the guide slot  96  and causes a corresponding fore and aft movement of the guide  42  which, in turn, is communicated to the center shaft  72  and on, ultimately, to the line spool  18 . 
     According to a first preferred embodiment of the instant invention and as is illustrated in FIG. 7, the guide structure  42  preferably takes the form of a “slider” as that term is known to those skilled in the art. Sliders are so-called because they “slide” forward and backward along the reel axis  26  in response to rotation of the drive gear  88 , thereby driving oscillatory longitudinal motion of the rotor  20 . Incised within the slider  42  on the side facing the drive gear  88  is a preferably blind asymmetric slot  96  which is engaged with pin  94  on the face of the drive gear  88  so that rotation of the drive gear  88  is communicated to the guide structure  42  and on ultimately to the spool  38 . 
     As can be seen more clearly in FIG. 7, the guide slot  96  of the preferred embodiment consists of two distinct regimes—a substantially straight upper terminus  200  and a curved lower terminus  220 —separated by an optional transition region  210 , where the terms “upper” and “lower” are used for purposes of specificity only, as the shapes of the two termini are obviously completely interchangeable. As is described later, it is critical for purposes of the instant invention that the upper terminus  200  and lower terminus  220  be differently shaped, with the preferred shapes having been selected so as yield velocity profiles that are complimentary with each other. Said another way, the guide slot  96  consist of two asymmetric halves, where its asymmetry is measured with respect to its center line  280 . It is preferable that the guide slot  96  be oriented so as to be substantially transverse to the direction of motion of the center shaft  72 , i.e., its center line  285  should be at least approximately perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the reel  10 . That being said, the instant inventor has specifically contemplated that guide slot  96  might be mounted at other angles with respect to the longitudinal axis. This sort of arrangement is well known to those of ordinary skill in the art. 
     The transition region  210  is defined to be a central region of the guide slot  96  and is generally located between the positions of the pin  94  when the spool  38  reverses its movement direction. This may be seen most clearly by comparing FIGS. 1 and 2. In FIG. 1, the spool  38  is pictured as being proximate to its most extended position. The position of the pin  94  when the spool  38  is in this position broadly defines the uppermost extent of the transition region  200  of the guide slot  96 . In FIG. 2, the spool  38  is pictured as being at nearly its most rearwardly retracted position and the pin  94  location in this figure broadly represents the lowermost extent of the transition region  210 . The function of the transition region  210  is to smoothly link the two different shapes of the slot termini  200  and  220 . That being said, it should be clear to one of ordinary skill in the art that transition region  210  is an integral part of the guide slot  96  and has only been introduced for convenience in describing the asymmetries of the termini of the slot  96 . Further, although transition region  200  is shown as being roughly linear, that is only a preferred shape and it might be made to be curved or otherwise formed to suit the needs of a given reel. 
     As is illustrated in FIGS. 8,  9 , and  10 , the shape of the guide slot  96  at its termini largely controls the pattern of line distribution in the center of the spool  38 . FIG. 8 contains a series of “snapshots” showing the position of the guide slot  96 /pin  94  combination at different points during in the rotation of the drive gear  88 . More particularly, points A through F of FIG. 8 are separated by equal rotation angles of about 30° while the pin  94  is within the lower terminus  220  of the guide slot  96 . If the guide slot  96  corrected perfectly for the circular motion of the drive gear  88 , fishing line would be laid into spool  38  at equally spaced intervals. However, the corresponding line lay locations (A though F of FIG. 10, corresponding to slot  96  positions A through F of FIG. 8) are not equally spaced—compare the B-C and D-E separations of FIG.  10 . However, note that on the reverse pass of the line guide  36 , i.e., during the time that the pin  94  is within the upper terminus  200  of the slot  96  (FIG. 9, L though G) the line also is laid at unequally spaced intervals, but the intervals G to L tend to alternate with the lay locations of the other terminus  220 , A to F. Note, for example, that lay positions B and C of FIG. 10 tend to “fill in” between the larger gap K to J (similarly with D, I, H, and E). The net effect is to fill the spool  38  more evenly than the pattern of either terminus—operating in duplicate—would tend to do. 
     Finally, it should be noted that the instant inventor has specifically contemplated that the asymmetric guide slot of the instant invention could be used in any type of fishing reel that utilizes a guide slot. For example, in another preferred embodiment, there is provided a guide and guide slot for a fishing reel substantially similar to that discussed previously, only wherein the guide slot is positioned on a lever arm, rather than on a slider. An example of this general sort of configuration, albeit with a symmetric guide slot, may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,143,318, cited previously and incorporated herein by reference. It should be clear to one of ordinary skill in the art how the guide slot of the instant invention could be fashioned to operate on the lever of the cited patent. 
     While the inventive device has been described and illustrated herein by reference to certain preferred embodiments in relation to the drawings attached hereto, various changes and further modifications, apart from those shown or suggested herein, may be made therein by those skilled in the art, without departing from the spirit of the inventive concept, the scope of which is to be determined by the following claims.