Line weight or cleat

A shaped cleat, comprising a body with one or more guides or grooves for the location of a line provided around the main body, and (optionally) one or more holes passing from or close to the line guide or guides close to or through the centre of the cleat and right through the cleat. The cleat can be mounted individually on to a line, e.g. using a knot, used to join two or more lines together, or used to attach one or more lines to a solid object. The cleat can be used as a fishing weight or float and can be manufactured in any solid material, including material which are not toxic to living organisms. The cleat can be mounted on to a line without knots and without access to the ends of the line.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to weights (and also, depending on the material 
density, floats) for fixing on a line, e.g. a fishing line, and to cleats 
in general. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
Cleats are well-known devices which are used to attach flexible lines to 
objects such as ships masts. 
Fishing weights are well-known devices which are used to control the 
position of fishing lines, baits, lures and nets. 
Lead shot is presently used for angling, by crimping it on to a fishing 
line, but is causing damage to swans and wildfowl from lead poisoning. 
Alternatives to lead shot are often too hard to crimp on to fishing line 
without damaging either the weight or line. Soft non-toxic alternatives to 
lead shot which are capable of being crimped on to fishing line are 
non-transparent and often expensive. 
Fishing weights having an axial hole are known. These are threaded on to a 
line, for use. A major disadvantage is that the hook must be removed from 
the line before such a weight can be removed or changed. It is desirable 
to avoid that disadvantage. 
PRIOR ART 
U.S. Pat. No. 4,351,128 discloses a bobber or sinker which comprises an 
elongated cylindrical or barrel-shaped body having a longitudinal passage 
therethrough, and a line-receiving slot extending radially from the 
passage to the outside of the body. A fish line-retaining clip extends 
from the top to the bottom of the body; it is rotatably mounted, to engage 
the slot and hold a line on the body, or to allow placement of the line 
on, or its removal from, the body. The outer edge of the clip has a 
longitudinal groove around which the line may be wound, and thereby firmly 
secured to the body. 
GB-A-No. 0751511 discloses a relatively simple, one-piece sinker weight 
which has a longitudinal slot along which the line can be laid, and means 
for securing the line to the weight at each end of the slot. The 
illustrated means are helical wire coils. A line can be simply attached 
to, and detached from, such a weight, and the weight slides freely along 
the line. However, the construction of such a sinker involves the joining 
together of three parts, i.e. the slotted weight and two, say, coils, e.g. 
by brazing, soldering or incorporation during casting. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
For use as a fishing weight, a translucent one-piece body has a 
circumferential line guide around which a fishing line can pass and be 
held therein. If the line is held sufficiently tightly by the line guide, 
it may simply pass tangentially into, around (one or more times), and 
tangentially out of the line guide. In order to secure the line on the 
body, it may be desirable to knot the line, pass a loop of the knot around 
the line guide and tighten the knot. If the knot is, for example, a 
clove-hitch, the line which does not form part of the knot, i.e. the 
essential fishing line, can maintain a generally rectilinear path, while 
the line and the body are freely moveable relative to each other.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
FIG. 1 shows an essentially spherical body 1 in which there is an 
essentially equatorial line guide in the form of a circular 
circumferential V-shaped groove 3. The line 2 has been fixed on the body 1 
by knotting a clove-hitch at 4, passing the loop of the knot around the 
groove 3, and pulling the line tight. 
FIG. 2 shows an essentially spherical cleat 1 having an essentially 
equatorial line guide in the form of a circumferential groove 3 and, along 
a diameter of the sphere, a passage 5. FIG. 3 is a different view of the 
same cleat 1, but to which a line 2 has been fixed by passing a loop 
through the passage 5 and then around the groove 3. 
FIG. 4 shows an essentially spherical cleat 1 having an essentially 
equatorial line guide in the form of a circumferential groove 3 and two 
rigid members 6 which overlap the groove 3. A line 2 is fixed to the line 
weight 1 by passing the line 2 under the members 6, around the groove 3, 
and again under members 6. 
FIG. 5 shows a cleat 1 similar to that illustrated in FIG. 4, but with a 
flexible member 7 instead of the rigid members 6. The flexible member 7 
can be bent open and, after the line 2 has been laid around the groove 3, 
closed to fix the line 2 in position. 
The following features are associated with the present invention: 
1. The cleat can be mounted individually on to a line remotely from any 
other solid object. 
2. The cleat can be attached to a flexible line anywhere along any length 
of line, without access to either end of the line. 
3. No knots are necessary (although a very simple knot is preferred) to 
attach the cleat to the line. The cleat can be moved along the line, if 
desired. 
4. The continuation of a circumferential groove and a knot, or 
circumferential groove with a hole passing from one side of the cleat to 
the other, on or adjacent to the groove, holds the line in position on the 
cleat; illustrated by FIGS. 1 to 3. Such products are simple to construct, 
e.g. by machining or in a two-part mould, and can be cheap to produce. 
5. One or more protrusions on the cleat and the shape of the cleat can hold 
the loop or loops of line in position on the cleat. The protrusions can be 
rigid or flexible, such that flexible protrusions can be used to close up 
the slot through which the line is placed, thus providing extra line 
restraint; illustrated by FIG. 5. 
6. If the line is placed under a tensile force, the major stress on the 
cleat can be made to be compressive, since the tendency of the loop or 
loops of line around the cleat body is to compress the cleat body. 
7. The form of the cleat ensures that the line entering the cleat is lined 
up with the line exiting the cleat. This ensures that the vectors of 
tensile force entering and leaving the cleat are lined up and opposing 
each other and so produce either no force couple or a minimum force 
couple; illustrated by FIGS. 1 to 4. 
8. By looping the line around the major part of the cleat and (if a hole is 
present) by radiusing the hole entry, the diameter of the bend radii in 
the line are maximised for any particular size of cleat. This ensures that 
local distortion in the line, and hence strength reduction of the line, is 
kept to a minimum. The surface finish of the material in contact with the 
line should be smooth to minimise wear on the line. 
9. Small remote cleats used to replace "lead shot" in angling use can be 
manufactured in a non-toxic material, including glass and other materials 
which are strong in compression but relatively weak against other types of 
stress. Especially for such use, the maximum diameter of the cleat is 
likely to be less than 10 mm. 
10. The cleat is prevented from slipping on the line by friction between 
the loop or loops of line and the cleat material. Increasing tensile force 
on the line produces increasing friction by means of the increased force 
applied by the line on to the cleat. A surface finish which increases 
friction can be applied to the surface of the cleat in contact with the 
line. A "V" shaped groove or similar can be provided around the body of 
the cleat to provide extra grip on to the line. 
Shaped transparent bodies are known but, according to the present 
invention, such bodies are used as fishing weights, in association with a 
fishing line. The line may be a simple angler's line or part of a net. The 
line may be attached to bait or a lure for fish, but the association of a 
bait or lure with a substantially translucent or transparent weight 
constitutes a further aspect of the present invention. 
The material of a weight of the invention is, for example, a high density 
glass, e.g. a lead glass. Such materials are generally chemically inert 
and thus non-toxic to wildlife. Because the material is translucent or 
transparent, but depending on its refractive index, the weights in use 
under water would appear as a faint outline with some visual distortion. 
These effects would disturb the fish to a minimal extent. As a result, the 
weight can be placed close to the bait or lure, thus providing good 
control over the action and position of the bait or lure. The material may 
be tinted. 
The weight may be attached to a line using a transparent material or a 
small piece of a non-transparent material, e.g. a loop of wire. The small 
size of any such loop or similar attachment ensures minimum visibility. 
Attachment to a line may also be achieved by virtue of a cleat, or by 
forming the weight in the form of a cleat, of the type described above. 
A specific embodiment of a weight for use in the present invention is a 
pear-shaped piece of a high-density, non-toxic glass having a small wire 
loop cast into the glass at the narrow end of the pear-shape, the ends of 
the wire being embedded into the glass and the loop being external to the 
glass. Line for attachment to the weight is then passed through, or tied 
on to, the wire loop. 
In general, a line weight or cleat of the invention may be any suitable 
size, depending on its use. A line weight may be essentially spherical, 
cylindrical etc. 
The invention has been illustrated with respect to specific embodiments, 
but there is no intention to so limit the invention. Rather, it is 
intended to cover such alternatives, modifications and equivalents as may 
be included within the scope of the invention as defined by the appended 
claims.