Process for forming fishing lure component and article formed thereby

A fishing lure component is made by arranging heat-fusible hair-like fiber substantially in a plane, then a heated bar forms a hot flexible bond of the material of the hair-like fiber by which the fibers are bound together, after which the hot flexible bond is wrapped around an elongated member, and is immediately placed with the member in a mold whereby the bond is internally and externally shaped and cooled, the wrapped bond being fully fused together at the ends that extend around opposite sides of the elongated member. The elongated member can form a part of the lure component, or it can be so formed that it can be removed to provide a fishing lure component having hair joined together at one end by a molded tubular common bond of the hair material. During the initial bonding, there is formed on the tooling and the bond a surface which feels waxed to the touch, and in the molding, such surface on the bond is at least partially destroyed to enable the ends of the bond to be joined together during the molding around the elongated member.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
This invention pertains to a method for making a fishing lure component and 
a resulting article. 
2. Prior Art 
Heretofore, fishing lures have included hair-like materials such as 
bucktail, bear hair, impala, squirrel tail, or thermoplastic fiber hair. 
These various hairs or fibers have typically been placed on the lure, and 
the practice has been to use thread to tie such materials to the lure. In 
use, it has been found that the thread used in tying a lure has been 
severed by teeth of fishes, and also that the thread has been abraded by 
rubbing action on rocks. Further, when one or more strands of hair or 
fiber have been pulled out of the tied lure, there is a gradual or rapid 
loss of remaining hair strands. Further, hand-tying techniques that have 
been used commercially have contributed materially to production costs 
because of the labor. Also, there have been various attempts to cement 
hair or hair sections onto or into a lure component, and such attempts 
have been faced with similar difficulties. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention is directed to the use of heat-fusible material 
formed as hair-like fiber that is fused together by heat at a relatively 
closely controlled temperature, such fused-together hair comprising a hot 
flexible bond which is placed around an elongated member and jointly 
placed in a mold for reshaping the internal and external contour of the 
bond the same has cooled to the setting point. Such molding necessitates 
the use of a force or pressure of such magnitude as to effect not mere 
engagement of the ends of the bond, but as to effect actual joining of the 
ends of the bond together. 
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to overcome the 
problems that are created by the formation of a film on the surface of the 
heated common bond. 
A further object of the present invention is to provide a re-mold bond 
which will be structurally strong for keeping the hair fibers attached to 
the hook or for keeping the hair fibers strongly attached to the lure 
component. 
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method by which 
certain fishing lure components can be inexpensively produced. 
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a fishing lure 
component made in accordance with the present invention. 
Many other advantages, features and additional objects of the present 
invention will become manifest to those versed in the art upon making 
reference to the detailed description and the accompanying sheets of 
drawings in which a preferred structural embodiment incorporating the 
principles of the present invention is shown by way of illustrative 
example.

AS SHOWN ON THE DRAWINGS 
In accordance with the method, a quantity of heat-fusible material formed 
as hair-like fibers lying in a generally common direction is placed in a 
substantially flat planar manner as shown in FIG. 1, generally indicated 
by the numeral 10. The fibers comprise a short length of modacrylic fiber 
(such as sold under the trademarks Dynel, and Kaneckalon) arranged as a 
tow or part of a tow. Such fibers may have a previously made brittle bond 
11. Such quantity of fibers can constitute a portion of a hair "bundle" 
broken from a bundle such as illustrated in FIG. 1 of U.S. Pat. No. 
3,864,864 issued Feb. 11, 1975, and assigned to the assignee of the 
present application. Such initial bond may be made as described in U.S. 
Pat. No. 3,972,760 issued Aug. 3, 1976, a division of the first-mentioned 
patent. 
The bundles normally have hair of a length that is proper for the 
manufacture of a particular lure component, or that is too long. The 
bundles normally have a width greater than necessary. As mentioned, a 
quantity can be broken from the brittle bundle which has enough hairs to 
make the desired component. 
A pair of heated bars 12,13 are provided to reheat or soften the bond 11, 
such heating being at a temperature of about 375.degree. F. If the desired 
length "x" of the hair for the lure component is less than that of the 
bundle, then the hair can be placed between the bars as shown in FIG. 1 so 
that a new hot flexible narrow planar bond of the hair material is formed 
as shown at 14 and which extends transversely to the fibers and lies in 
the plane of the hair or material 10. If a heating bar is utilized as 
shown in the above-mentioned patents, then there will be automatic 
severance along the length of the bond 14. On the other hand, any other 
form of trimming away the excess material may be utilized while the bond 
14 is still hot. The heated bars 12,13 perform their heating while the 
hair is compressed or clamped therebetween. 
After any necessary trimming has been completed, the hot flexible bond 14 
is wrapped around an elongated member, such elongated member here 
constituting the shank of a treble hook 15. As there are two or three 
wires in the shank 15, the portion of the hook that is surrounded by the 
hot band 14 is noncircular in cross-section, taken as a whole. 
With the hot bond 14 in place around the shank 15, the bond with its hair 
and the shank are jointly immediately placed into a mold shown in FIG. 3, 
there typically being a lower portion 16 which is fixedly supported and a 
movable portion 17. If desired, the mold portions 16,17 may be provided 
with cutting edges 18,19 to trim away any excess thermoplastic material. 
The mold halves 16,17 are then brought together, preferably with an impact 
and with a substantial pressure, the pressure being typically in excess of 
1000 psi. The mold halves 16,17 are not of themselves heated, and they 
provide a shaping function to the outside of the bond, and because of 
reaction by the elongated member 15, the interior of the re-molded bond is 
also determined. The mold 16,17 is held closed until it has chilled the 
bond so that it is no longer flexible. Because of the configuration of the 
cross-section of the elongated member, the molded bond is securely affixed 
to such elongated member or lure component. 
In working with this method, I have found that the bond 11 and the bond 14, 
as a consequence of the heating described, acquire a film thereon which is 
waxy to the touch, and the material of this film also adheres to certain 
tooling that has been used. It is therefore believed that such film is a 
decomposition product of the material of which the synthetic thermoplastic 
hair is made. This film forms a barrier that tends to prevent the joining 
together of the ends of the bond 14 that are shown adjacent to each other 
in FIG. 2. However, when there is sufficient temperature, pressure, and 
movement within the die, part of which comes as a consequence of impact on 
closing the die, such film appears to be adequately broken so that the 
material beneath the film at the opposite ends of the bond can in fact 
join together and be as strong as other parts of the original bond. 
Where the elongated member is to comprise a single element 20 of circular 
cross-section, it then becomes desirable to provide some form of roughness 
21 on the surface. For example, such roughness could be provided as an 
adhesive. On the other hand, when the roughness 21 is omitted, the 
elongated element 20 can constitute a highly polished mandrel to which the 
molded bond will not stick, and because of the waxy surface of the 
interior of the resulting tubular bond 22, FIG. 6, the molded component 
will readily slip off the mandrel 20 to provide an alternate form of 
fishing lure component. The film inherently has a low coefficient of 
friction which not only facilitates the removal of the component of FIG. 6 
from the mandrel of FIG. 5, but which has a utility in use. The article of 
FIG. 6 is slipped over a fishing line and it is permitted to slide 
therealong until it reaches some other component near the end of the line 
that blocks further movement. If the hook-end of the line extends from the 
end where the hair is joined, the hair will tend to flow backward in use 
over whatever element is there in abutting relation, for example a swivel 
(not shown). If the lure component of FIG. 6 is put on in the other 
direction, then the hair tends to form a cone that fans out and forms a 
larger diameter effect in the water. 
If desired, the molded portion of the article of FIG. 4 or the molded 
portion of the article of FIG. 6 may be covered with an epoxy-base paint. 
If painting is desired, it should be kept in mind that the film on the 
molded bond will prevent the adherence of most paints, but a paint having 
the adherence-property of an epoxy-base paint should therefore be used. 
Although the invention can be practiced optionally beginning with an amount 
of loose hair fiber cut to proper length, it is more convenient to 
manufacture the lures beginning with the article of U.S. Pat. No. 
3,864,864 as a starting material. A typical area that would be heated in 
the step of FIG. 1 would be three-eighths inch along the length of the 
hair and three-fourths inch along the length of the heater bars. If so, by 
trimming, the 3/8 inch dimension can be reduced to 3/16 inch. The 
dimension "x" typically is on the order of two inches. 
The nature of the apparent break-down of the modacrylic fiber is not fully 
understood, but the effect thereof and the manner of overcomming such 
effect is adequately set forth herein. The scrubbing action of the heated 
bond within the mold is one of the factors that disrupts such film to 
enable formation of the bond-to-bond joint. Thus the result is a uniform 
forgewelded, integral common material head. The avoidance of weakness at 
such joint is essential to provide the necessary structural strength. 
The resulting articles have molded bonds that cannot be adversely effected 
by the teeth of fish or by the rubbing action on rocks, and any loss of a 
few strands of hair or fibers has no effect whatever on the integrity or 
strength of the molded bond. 
Although various minor modifications might be suggested by those versed in 
the art, it should be understood that I wish to embody within the scope of 
the patent warranted hereon, all such embodiments as reasonably and 
properly come within the scope of my contribution to the art.