Abstract:
A fishing bobber which has a threaded rod positioned internally of the bobber, and which has a weight at one end. The weight can be adjusted along the threaded rod to alter the disposition of the bobber in the water.

Description:
This is a conversion of Provisional Ser. No. 60/123,077, filed Mar. 4, 1999. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates, in general, to fishing bobbers, and, in particular, to a fishing bobber that is adjustable to assume different aspects and functions when in the water, thus allowing for more variety in bait presentations. 
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART 
     In the prior art various types of fishing bobbers have been proposed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 83,681 to Albee discloses a fishing sinker which has a two part body connected by a threaded rod. The parts can be separated or one part can be replaced by turning them in opposite directions along the threaded rod. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 148,926 to Cahoon discloses a fishing hook which has a hollow threaded rod which is used to secure a hook within the bobber body. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 2,598,011 to Pitre discloses a lure having a weight attached to the lure by means of a threaded rod which can be used to adjust the position of the weight. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 2,775,842 to McCode discloses a fish hook with a weight whose position can be adjusted by means of a set screw which engages a linear portion of the hook. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention is directed to a fishing bobber which has a threaded rod positioned internally of the bobber, and which has a weight at one end. The weight can be adjusted along the threaded rod to alter the disposition of the bobber in the water. 
     It is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved fishing bobber. 
     It is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved fishing bobber which has more variety in effective bait presentation. 
     It is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved fishing bobber which is compact and can easily snap on and off the fishing line, without the need for tying or untying the fishing line. 
     These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be fully apparent from the following description, when taken in connection with the annexed drawings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a side view of the present invention. 
     FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the present invention. 
     FIG. 3 is a view of the back of the present invention. 
     FIG. 4 is a view of the top of the present invention. 
     FIG. 5 is a view of the locking device of the present invention showing the device in the closed and open position. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring now to the drawings in greater detail, FIG. 1 shows the bobber  1  of the present invention. The bobber  1  is composed of a head portion  2 , a neck portion  3 , and a rear fin portion  4 . The head portion can have decorative markings such as an eye  5  affixed thereto in any conventional manner. It should be noted that the specific shape, i.e. the head portion  2 , neck portion  3 , and rear fin portion  4 , and the markings  5  can be changed without departing from the scope of the invention. 
     The top portion of the head  2  has a slot  15 ′ (see FIG. 4) which will accept a straight portion  15  (see FIG. 2) of the line holder  6  in order to secure the line holder to the head portion. The front of the head portion  2  has a slot  21  (see FIGS. 1 and 4) which will allow the fishing line  10  to pass through this portion of the head  2 . 
     As shown in FIG. 1, the fishing line  10  will lead from the fishing pole (not shown) to the bottom of the neck portion  3 . At this point it will pass through an eyelet  8  and then continue around to the front side of the neck  3  where it will pass through a second eyelet  8 . The line  10  will continue up the front of the neck portion  3 , pass through slot  21 , and then be “pinched” by holder  6 . From there, the line will pass through another eyelet  8  and descend down in front of the head portion  2  where an attachment  13  is secured to the line in any conventional manner. The attachment  13  will have a fish hook  14  attached thereto, again, in any conventional manner. 
     As shown in FIG. 2, the bobber is made in halves in order to place the threaded rod,  17 , the adjusting wheel  12  and the weight  18  inside. The bobber is shown as being hollow, however, the halves could be made as solid parts with just the slot  16  to allow the threaded rod,  17 , the adjusting wheel  12  and the weight  18  to fit inside the bobber. The halves of the bobber are preferably made from plastic by an injection molding process and then secured together in any conventional manner. However, it should be understood that other materials and other methods of manufacture can be used without departing from the scope of the invention. 
     Secured within a slot  16  on the interior of the bobber, is a threaded rod  17 , with an adjusting wheel  12  threaded thereto. The adjusting wheel  12  projects through a slot  11  in the neck portion of the bobber  1 , as shown in FIG.  1 . This will allow the weight  18  to be moved easily by the adjusting wheel  12  from the outside of the bobber. As shown in FIG. 2, the weight can be moved from the solid line position to the dotted line position merely by rotating the wheel  12 . Secured to the fin portion  4  is another weight  22  which will help to maintain the balance of the bobber when it is in use. 
     Since the wheel  12  projects through the slot  11 , the position of the wheel is fixed vertically with respect to the bobber. However, the threaded rod is not fixed to the bobber except by its threaded connection with the wheel  12 . Therefore, when the wheel is turned, the threaded rod (and the weight  18  secured thereto) will move from the position shown in solid lines in FIG. 2, to the position shown by the dotted lines. This shifting of the weight will change the center of gravity of the bobber and will cause the bobber to ride in more of a horizontal position in the water when the weight is in an upper position with respect to the body of the bobber. Shifting the weight to a lower position, with respect to the body of the bobber, will cause the bobber to assume a more perpendicular position in the water. 
     Therefore, the position of the weight will determine the position of the bobber in the water, which in turn will determine the position of the hook  14 . If the weight is in an upper position, with respect to the body of the bobber, the hook will tend to sink toward the bottom of the water. If the weight is in a lower position, with respect to the body of the bobber, the hook will tend to rise toward the top of the water. This adjustable weight feature, along with the holding clip  6 , will allow the user to position the hook  14  at virtually any position between a position adjacent the surface of the water to a position on the bottom of the body of water that is being fished. 
     As shown in FIG. 5, the line holding means  6  can be moved from an open position, shown by the dotted lines, to a closed position, shown by the solid lines. The movable arm  23  of the holding means is pivoted at  24  to the fixed arm  25 . This allows the pivoted arm  23  to be pivoted from the position shown in solid lines to the position shown in dotted lines. In order to hold the fishing line  10 , the holding means will be moved into the dotted line position, and the line will be placed adjacent the inside portion of  26 , then the arm  23  will be moved to the solid line position, and the line  10  will be pinched between the portion  26  and the portion  23 . This will allow the user to position the hook  14  at any position with respect to the bobber  1  by “pinching” the line  10  in the holding means  6 , as explained above. 
     As can be seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, the fishing line  10  is passed through the two eyelets  8  at the bottom of the neck portion  3 . Each of the eyelets  8  are attached to an arm  19  and  20 , which are held in a slot  28  at the bottom of the neck portion. These eyelets will allow the line to “turn the corner” around the bottom of the bobber without any binding or resistance applied to the line. These eyelets also control the attitude of the bobber by the user pulling or flicking back with the fishing pole. 
     Thus, in use a fisherman would decide what position he/she wants the hook to be in with respect to the bobber. The line  10  would be passed through the eyelets  8  on the arms  19 ,  20 , then passed through the slot  21  and would be “pinched” in the holding means  6  to secure the hook  14  in the proper position. Then the user would decide what position the bobber is to assume in the water, and adjust the weight  18  up or down within the bobber  1  (through the use of the wheel  12 ). 
     When a fish strikes the hook  14 , the force of the fish taking the hook would pull line  10  causing the bobber to tip forward allowing arm  23  to pivot up which releases line  10  from being pinched between  26  and  23  and allowing line  10  to run free through all the eyelets and  26 . This would insure that unnecessary resistance on the line is avoided, as the line will pass freely through the bobbers. It should be noted that the eyelets  8  could be slotted as shown at  29  in FIG. 3 in order to allow fishing line of different strengths to snap into the eyelets. 
     Although the Universal Bobber and the method of using the same according to the present invention has been described in the foregoing specification with considerable details, it is to be understood that modifications may be made to the invention which do not exceed the scope of the appended claims and modified forms of the present invention done by others skilled in the art to which the invention pertains will be considered infringements of this invention when those modified forms fall within the claimed scope of this invention.