MEANS FOR HANDLING A LONG LINE ON A FISHING VESSEL

Abstract: Means for handling monofilament line (10) and branch lines (11) during laying out and drawing in of long line on a fishing vessel. The long line is stored with the hooks (12) in a magazine (17) before laying out and after drawing in. The fishing vessel's bow and stern are each provided with at least one holding fixture (18) for one end of a magazine (17) and an oblong carrier (19) for a coiled main line (10) shaped with extensions in the vertical and horizontal plane and which acts in cooperation with the holding fixture.

Description: TITLE: Means for handling a long line on a fishing vessel TECHNICAL FIELD: The present invention relates to means for handling monofilament line and branch lines during laying out and drawing in of long line on a fishing vessel, which long line is stored with the hooks in a magazine before laying out and after drawing in. BACKGROUND OF THE. INVENTION: A long line used in commercial fishing may have a length of several thousand metres. Handling of a long line during baiting, laying out and drawing in has traditionally been very labour-intensive. Accordingly, equipment has been under development for many years to mechanize this task. Most of the systems for handling long line are directed to the problem of preventing the hooks and branch lines from becoming entwined. The main line is normally allowed to hang freely beneath the hook magazine. This arrangement is satisfactory if the main line is of a woven type. If instead the main line is a single fibre line, i.e. monofilament, the traditional handling of long line is very much adversely affected, particularly when the fishing vessel is subjected to heavy swell. This is because a monofilament line with a diameter, of, for example, 2 mm is relatively stiff and acts like a thin spiral spring which is pulled apart coil by coil during the laying out of the long line. It has however been shown that use of monofilament line is advantageous for fishing since this type of line does not absorb impurities and microorganisms. This implies that the line does not "smell" in the water and is therefore more effective for fishing. TECHNICAL PROBLEM: It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide means on a fishing vessel which allows simpler and safer handling of monofilament line. SOLUTION: This object is achieved by the means according to the present invention which is characterized in that the bow and the stern of the fishing vessel are each provided with at least one holding fixture for one end of a magazine and an oblong carrier for a coiled main line is shaped with extensions in the vertical and horizontal plane and which acts in cooperation with the holding fixture. ADVANTAGES: Due to the arrangement of the oblong carriers at the bow and stern of the fishing vessel, an inexpensive aid for controlled winding up and unwinding of monofilament line is obtained. Preferred embodiments of the invention are detailed in the dependent claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS: A preferred embodiment of the invention will be described in more detail in the following with reference to the attached drawings in which: Fig. 1 shows the carrier at the bow of the fishing vessel together with a schematically illustrated arrangement for drawing in of a long line, and Fig. 2 shows the carrier at the stern of the fishing vessel together with a schematically illustrated arrangement for laying out a long line. A long line is shown in the drawings with a main line 10, branch lines 11 and hooks 12. The long line can have a total length of around 30 km, though in the present case it is divided into sections of around 500 m length. The long line is taken up at the bow of the fishing vessel by means of a schematically illustrated arrangement comprising a winch-drum 13, a collector device 14 with a guide rail 15 for the hooks 12, and a stripper 16 for the main line 10 from the winch-drum 13. The hooks are manually displaced from the guide rail 15 into a magazine 17 in the form of a hollow profile which is connected to the guide rail 15 and which maintains the hooks in spaced relationship in series. The magazine 17 is placed in a holding fixture 18 which is mounted on a support. The support also carries a carrier 19 which comprises a substantially cylindrical oblong body 20 onto which the main line is simultaneously manually wound whilst the hooks are fed into the magazine 17. The oblong body 20 is provided with a groove 21 running along its surface which allows an arm to be inserted so that a strap or similar can be fastened around a main line coil 10a of the long line section. The oblong body 20 is further provided with a conically-shaped end-piece 22 which facilitates the coiling of the main line. The long line section bound by a strap, together _with its associated magazine 17, can now be transferred to the stern of the fishing vessel from where it can later be laid out. Fig. 2 shows a carrier 23 arranged at the bow of the fishing vesel which consists of an extended U-shaped yoke 24 which is fixedly attached to a support 25 and a rod 26 which is movable within the yoke. The rod is pivotabbly attached to the support 25 at a pivot point 27. When the long line coil 10a is to be inserted on the carrier 23, the rod 26 is lifted so that it will end up in the centre of the coil. It is then easy to slip on the coil, whereafter the rod can be released to press down the end of the coil 10a remote from the support 25. The retaining strap can then be removed and the long line section's forward end can be connected to the rear end of the previous long line section. The magazine has meanwhile been placed in a holding fixture 28 which includes a device for automatic baiting and feeding out of the long line. During this feeding out the movable rod 26 ensures that only one loop at a time can be drawn from the carrier 23. So that the feeding out from the carrier takes place smoothly and with just sufficent braking of the line with each removal of the separate loops, the line should be drawn from the carrier at a certain average angle with respect to the carrier's direction of length. This angle is dependent .on several factors, such as the length of the branch lines and the type of laying out apparatus 29, though it should be in the order of 15-30°. The invention is not restricted to the above-described embodiment, and several variants are conceivable within the scope of the appended claims. For example, the carrier 23 may be provided with an inner movable yoke and a central rod 26. The invention is neither resrricted to the_drawing in and laying out apparatus shown in the drawings. Furthermore, various types of magazine can conceivably be used together with the means according to the invention.

Claims: CLAIMS : 1. Means for handling monofilament line (10) and branch lines (11) during laying out and drawing in of long line on a fishing vessel, which long line is stored with the hooks (12) in a magazine (17) before laying out and after drawing in, whereby the fishing vessel's bow and stern are each provided with at least one holding fixture (18; 28) for one end of a magazine (17) and an oblong carrier (19; 23) for a coiled main line (10) acting in cooperation with the holding fixture, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n that the main line carrier or carriers (19) at the bow of the vessel is in the form of an oblong, substantially cylindrical body (20) situated below its associated holding fixture (18) , and in that the main line carrier or carriers (23) at the stern of the vessel is in the form of an oblong carrier situated below its associated holding fixture (28) and comprises a fixed U-shaped yoke (24) and a member (26) displaceable in a vertical plane which is influenced by gravity to press down the region of the coil hanging down from the yoke to form a brake means to ensure that the coil loops are drawn one by one from the carrier (23) during laying out of the long line. 2. Means according to claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n that the body (20) is provided with at least one groove extending axially along the surface of the body, which allows an arm to be inserted in the coil for gathering and binding of the coil and transferring it, together with the magazine (17) , to the stern of the vessel. 3. Means according to claim 1 or 2, c h a r a c t e r i z¬ e d i n that the free end of the cylindrical body (20) is provided with a conically-shaped end-piece (22) .

Inventors: BJOERNSON AEGIR, HASSLOEF HANS-OSKAR, BJOERNSON, AEGIR, HASSLOEF, HANS-OSKAR
Applicants: BJOERNSON AEGIR, HASSLOEF HANS OSKAR, BJOERNSON, AEGIR, HASSLOEF, HANS-OSKAR
Application year: 1991
Main classification: A01K91
IPC codes: A01K91