Spinning reel which prevents inadvertent bail closing during casting

A spinning reel includes a reversing mechanism and a one way clutch. The one-way clutch includes a ratchet wheel defining a plurality of teeth, and a ratchet pawl. The one-way clutch, an engaging section of a reel body and the reversing mechanism are in such a positional relationship that the reversing mechanism contacts or lies close to the engaging sections when a rotor is stopped by the one-way clutch.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
This invention relates to a spinning reel, and more particularly to a 
spinning reel having a bail arm connected to a rotor supported by a reel 
body to be freely rotatable, the ball arm being switchable between and 
retainable in a takeup position and a release position by an urging force 
of a toggle mechanism, a reversing mechanism for contacting an engaging 
section of the reel body when the rotor is rotated in a line winding 
direction with the bail arm set to the release position, to switch the 
bail arm to the takeup position against the urging force of the toggle 
mechanism, and a one-way clutch for allowing rotation of the rotor only in 
the line winding direction. 
2. Description of the Related Art 
A known spinning reel having a reversing mechanism as noted above is 
disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication Kokai No. 62-80570, for 
example. In this prior construction, the toggle mechanism includes a 
compression spring mounted in an oscillatable case. When the rotor is 
rotated in a line winding direction with the bail arm set to the release 
position, an operating force is transmitted from an oscillatable piece 
contacting an engaging section projecting from the reel body, to the case 
of the toggle mechanism, whereby the case reaches a position beyond a dead 
point. 
When the angler swings a fishing rod at high speed for throwing a bait far, 
for example, a strong force may act on a handle of the reel having the 
reversing mechanism, to turn the handle and the rotor in the line winding 
direction. As a result, the bail arm may be switched to the takeup 
position by the reversing mechanism. 
This switching operation is effected against the urging force of the toggle 
mechanism, and thus takes place in a situation where the rotor rotates in 
excess of a certain angle to produce a relatively strong dynamic inertia. 
When such a switching operation is carried out in a natural way at a bait 
casting time, the fishing line is stopped being unwound from the spool, 
which results in breaking of the fishing line or a reduced bait casting 
distance. Thus, there is room for improvement. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The object of the present invention is to provide an improved spinning reel 
which checks switching of a bail arm to a takeup position even if a handle 
is in a position to be turned readily at a bait casting time. 
The above object is fulfilled, according to the present invention, by a 
spinning reel having a reversing mechanism and other components as noted 
in the introductory part hereof, wherein the one-way clutch includes a 
ratchet wheel defining a plurality of teeth, and a ratchet pawl; and the 
one-way clutch, the engaging section and the reversing mechanism are in 
such a positional relationship that the reversing mechanism contacts or 
lies close to the engaging section when the rotor is stopped by the 
one-way clutch. 
This construction has the following functions and effects. 
The present invention may be embodied as shown in FIGS. 1 through 4. When 
throwing a bait, the rotor 4 is rotated backward to a phase of rotation to 
be stopped by the one-way clutch C. Thereafter, the bail arm 3 is set to 
the release position B. The rotor 4 is then prevented from rotating 
backward by the one-way clutch C as shown in FIG. 1. At the same time, the 
reversing mechanism R contacts or lies close to the engaging section 24, 
which locks the rotor 4 with little play in either direction of rotation. 
In this state, the rotor 4 is free from a great dynamic inertia even if 
the handle 1 is in a position readily rotatable in the line winding 
direction at a bait casting time. 
Further, according to the present invention, the reversing mechanism R may 
be set to a position for contacting or close to the engaging section 24 in 
relation to a plurality of phases of rotation in which the rotor 4 is 
prevented from rotating backward by the one-way clutch C. Thus, the rotor 
4 may be locked promptly regardless of the phase of rotation of the rotor 
4. 
The rotor is readily lockable at a fishing time regardless of the phase of 
rotation of the rotor. The present invention thus provides an improved 
spinning reel which checks switching of the bail arm to the takeup 
position even if the handle is in a position to be turned readily at a 
bait casting time. 
Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent 
from the following description.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
A spinning reel according to the present invention will be described in 
detail with reference to the drawings. 
As shown in FIG. 4, this spinning reel has a handle 1 connected to a reel 
body 2. The reel body 2 includes, in forward positions thereof, a rotor 4 
carrying a bail arm 3, and a spool 5. The reel body 2 further includes a 
winding transmission system for transmitting torque from a handle shaft 6 
to the rotor 4 through a drive gear 7, a pinion gear 8 and a sleeve shaft 
9, and an oscillating mechanism for transmitting drive from the pinion 
gear 8 to a spool shaft 13 as converted to a reciprocating motion through 
an input gear 10, a screw shaft 11 and a slider 12. 
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, this reel has a one-way clutch C for preventing 
backward rotation (in a direction to unwind a fishing line) of the rotor 
4. The one-way clutch C includes a ratchet wheel 14 defining a plurality 
of teeth 14A, and a ratchet pawl 16 urged by a spring 15 to a position to 
engage the ratchet wheel 14. The one-way clutch C is operable by a control 
lever 17 mounted on the reel body 2, to allow backward rotation of the 
rotor 4. 
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, the bail arm 3 is connected to oscillating arms 
19 supported to be oscillatable on a support axis 18 by a pair of arms 4A 
of the rotor 4. Thus, the bail arm 3 is switchable between a takeup 
position A and a release position B. One of the arms 4A contains a toggle 
mechanism T for maintaining the bail arm 3 in the takeup position A or 
release position B. 
The toggle mechanism T includes a pin 23 connected to the arm 19 and urged 
by a compression coil spring 22 to project relative to a case 21 
oscillatably supported on an axis 20. 
The reel body 2 further includes a plurality of engaging projections 24 
corresponding to the plurality of teeth 14A for preventing backward 
rotation of the rotor when the rotor 4 is rotated in a line winding 
direction W with the bail arm 3 set to the release position B. These 
projections 24 are contactable by a reversing mechanism R for switching 
the bail arm 3 to the takeup position A against the urging force of the 
toggle mechanism T. The reversing mechanism R includes an oscillating 
piece 26 supported by a screw 25. The oscillating piece 26 is operable 
through contact with the projections 24 to oscillate the oscillatable case 
21 of the toggle mechanism T. 
This reel is devised to prevent the bail arm 3 from being switched by the 
reversing mechanism R when a force is applied at a bait casting time to 
turn the handle 1 in the line winding direction. For this purpose, as 
shown in FIG. 1, the projections 24 and reversing mechanism R are arranged 
in such a positional relationship that the reversing mechanism R contacts 
or lies close to the projections 24 when the rotor 4 is stopped by the 
one-way clutch C. Thus, when the bail arm 3 is set to the reversing 
mechanism R, rotation in either direction is locked with little play. 
As shown in FIG. 3, the handle 1 includes a portion 1A connected to the 
handle shaft 6, a portion 1B having a grip 27, and a parallelogram link 
mechanism 1C interconnecting the two portions 1A and 1B. The handle 1 
further includes a screw type adjuster 28 for adjusting an arm length X 
and an extent of projection Y from the reel body 2. 
Apart from the foregoing embodiment, the present invention may be worked in 
various other forms. For example, the reversing mechanism R may be 
modified to apply an operating force directly to the oscillating arm 
instead of transmitting the force through the toggle mechanism T.