Abstract:
A fishhook disgorger and method of disgorging employ a pair of opposed, widely-spaced, rotating jaws having surfaces configured to grip and hold a fishhook or lure. The jaws are pivotally connected to each other, and a hand operated mechanism uses links and hingepins to draw the jaws toward each other for clasping an impaled fishhook or portion of a fish lure therebetween. The disgorger clasping force may be increased by extending linked elements at an angle to the surfaces configured to hold a fishhook or lure.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to hand operated fishing tackle usable by anglers to disengage fishhooks and fishing lures from the jaw, gullet, gills, throat or mouth of a fish without endangering the user from the teeth or fins of the fish. 
     Prior disgorgers usually required their fishhook engaging parts to slide linearly in a straight line toward each other. The result often was that they were not readily usable to extract hooks from a number of different fish species or sizes, and some were not sturdy enough to be usable to disgorge hooks and lures from large, heavy fish. Others could not be used to grasp a wide variety lures and hooks of varying sizes, or required the user to have a strong grip. The prior disgorgers and disgorging methods often caused fatal or serious damage to delicate parts of a fish&#39;s anatomy. 
     OBJECTIVES OF THE INVENTION 
     Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide improved fishhook disgorgers and methods of disgorging. 
     Another object is to provide fishhook disgorgers that have fishhook engaging jaws that do not slide linearly toward each other when they grasp a fishhook or lure. 
     An additional object is to provide hand operated disgorgers that employ leveraged parts which enables these disgorgers to be comfortably used by anglers not having strong hands. 
     Another object is to provide disgorgers with widely spaced apart jaws that can grasp fishhooks and lures of varying and large sizes. 
     A further object is to provide fishhook disgorgers with jaws that pivot or rotate toward each. 
     An additional object is to provide disgorgers and methods of disgorging that minimize injury to fish and reduce damage to the anatomy of the fish being disgorged. 
     A further object is to provide fishing tackle and disgorgers that are rugged, economical, easy and safe to use, and which do not possess defects found in similar prior art fishing tackle. 
     A further object is to provide improved methods for disgorging or removing a fishhook or fishing lure from a fish. 
     Other objects and advantages of the fishing tackle and disgorgers and methods incorporating this invention will be found in the specification and claims and the scope of the invention will be set forth in the claims. 
    
    
     
       DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective, partially schematic view of an embodiment of a fishhook disgorger in accord with this invention. 
         FIG. 2  is an enlarged a cross sectional view taken along the line  2 - 2  in  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 3  is a partial cross sectional view showing the jaws open. 
         FIG. 4  is a partial cross sectional view corresponding to  FIG. 3  showing the jaws closed. 
         FIG. 5  an enlarged, perspective view of the jaws and links with parts broken away. 
         FIG. 6  is an enlarged, partially broken away, partially cross sectional side view. 
         FIG. 7  is a plan, partially schematic view illustrating a fishhook disgorging method in accord with this invention. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The drawing shows fishing tackle in the form of a fishhook disgorger  5  capable of removing a fishhook  6  from the mouth  4  of a fish  7  and for cutting a fishing line  8 . The fishhook disgorger  5  may have an operating mechanism employing a first hollow, circular, cylindrical tube  10  having a pair of aligned, identical, longitudinal slots  11  and  12  adjacent its rear end  13 , and a transversely extending hand grip  15  is affixed to end  13 . The front end  14  of tube  10  terminates in a radially extending, circular peripheral abutment  16  that surrounds end  14 . A circular, cylindrical shaft  17  is enclosed in tube  10 , and the shaft  17  is slidable longitudinally within the tube. A pair of identical, aligned, separated shelves  18  and  19  protrude from the front end  20  of shaft  17  and extend beyond the front end  14  of tube  10 . 
     A fingerpull  22  has a second hollow circular cylindrical tube  23  enclosing a portion of tube  10 . Finger engagable handles  25  extend transversely from tube  23  in general alignment with hand grip  15 . The ends of a rod  26  are anchored in opposite surfaces of tube  23 . The rod  26  passes through slots  11  and  12  and is attached to shaft  17  adjacent its rear end  21 , and rod  26  is movable longitudinally with shaft  17  when the fingerpull  22  is moved toward or away from the hand grip  15 . 
     A hollow generally cylindrical cap  30  has a bifurcated front end  31  defining longitudinally extending ledges  32  and  33 , and a threaded, circular cylindrical rear end  34 . Cap  30  is removably connected to tube  10  by a threaded circular ring  35  circumscribing the front end  14  of tube  10 . The threads on ring  35  engage the threads on cap  30  so as to pull and hold end  34  against one surface of abutment  16 , while the inside of ring  35  is held against the opposite surface of the abutment. 
     Fishhook disgorger  5  may include a fishhook gripping mechanism  40  that employs a first member or jaw  41  having a front end  42  and an angularly extending rear end  43 , and a mating second member or jaw  44  that has a front end  45  and an angularly extending rear end  46 . Jaws  41  and  44  are pivotally attached to each other, intermediate their ends, inside of cap  30  by a first hinge pin  47  that is anchored in ledges  32  and  33 . Adjacent their front ends  42  and  45 , the jaws  41  and  44  have widely-spaced, aligned, mating fishhook gripping surfaces  50  and  51  that may include one or more pairs of differently sized, mating, circular indentations  52  to enable them to grasp a variety of types of fishhooks and lures of many different sizes. Jaws  41  and  44  may also have aligned sharpened edges  53  and  54  for cutting fishing line or for excising an imbedded fishhook or lure. 
     Extending from its front end  42  toward hinge pin  47  and including gripping surface  50 , the jaw  41  has a predetermined first thickness that terminates in a cliff  55 ; extending from its front end  45  toward hinge pin  47  and including gripping surface  51 , jaw  44  has a corresponding predetermined first thickness that terminates in a corresponding cliff  56 . Extending from its rear end  43  toward hinge pin  47 , jaw  41  has a predetermined second thickness that terminates at cliff  55  and defines an angled, force-multiplying, first lever arm  57 ; extending from its rear end  46  toward hinge pin  47 , jaw  44  has a corresponding second thickness that terminates in at cliff  56  and defines an angled, force-multiplying, second lever arm  58 . The second thickness of the lever arms  57  and  58  is reduced to about half the first thickness of the jaws  41  and  44 , and the lever arms  57  and  58  each extend at an obtuse angle (e.g. 150-160 degrees) to the fishhook gripping surfaces  50  and  51  of their respective jaws. The reduction in thickness of the lever arms  57  and  58  enable the jaws  41  and  44  to cross and overlay each other, and pivot, or rotate, around the same hingepin  47 , and also enable the surfaces  50  and  51  and the edges  53  and  54  to mate in the manner described. 
     A first link  59  having a front end  60  is pivotally connected by a second hinge pin  61  to the rear end  43  of first jaw  41 , and a second link  62  having a front end  63  is pivotally connect by a third hingepin  64  to the rear end  46  of second jaw  44 . The rear end  65  of link  59  and the rear end  66  of link  62  are pivotally connected to each other by a fourth hingepin  67 , which is connected to the shelves  18  and  19  at the front end  20  of shaft  17 . 
     A coil spring  68  bearing against the rear end  21  of shaft  17  normally urges the jaws  41  and  44  into open position, as shown in  FIGS. 1 ,  3  and  5 . When an angler squeezes fingerpull  22  toward hand grip  15  against the resistance of spring  68 , shaft  17  is drawn toward the rear end  13  of tube  10 , and this pulls the rear ends  65  and  66  of links  59  and  62  rearwardly away from hinge pin  47  towards the handgrip  15  and rotates the links around hingepin  67 . The rearward and rotating movement of links  59  and  62  also pulls the rear end  43  of jaw  41  and the rear end  46  of jaw  44  towards each other and rearwardly toward handgrip  15  and further away from hingepin  47 ; this causes the jaws  41  and  44  to rotate, or pivot, around hingepin  47  toward each other in an arcuate path  70  into the closed position shown in  FIGS. 4 and 7 , where the jaws can grip a fishhook between surfaces  50  and  51 , and bring together sharpened edges  53  and  54  for cutting fishing line or for excising an imbedded fishhook. The lever arms  57  and  58  extending at obtuse angles to the gripping surfaces  50  and  52  and cutting edges  53  and  54  multiply the angler&#39;s hand&#39;s force and the pressure exerted by the gripping surfaces and cutting edges; this enables the disgorger  5  to be used by anglers not having strong hands. The pivoting or rotating, instead of sliding linear, movement of jaws  41  and  44  can reduce damage or injury to fish by enabling the widely-spaced jaws to clasp portions of fishhooks, or the larger portions of fish lures, not reachable or graspable by linearly moving jaws. Fish injury can also be reduced by using edges  53  and  54  to cut a fishing line when the hook and line should be removed separately. 
     This invention also includes methods of disgorging a lure or a fishhook  6  from the mouth  4  of a fish in which the fishhook  6  is impaled, as shown in  FIGS. 1 and 7 . A pair of mating pivotable members or jaws  41  and  44  are inserted into the mouth  4  of the fish that is impaled by the fishhook  6 . The pivotable members  41  and  44  are then moved to a position where a portion of the impaled fishhook  6  is located between the pivotable members  41  and  44 . The pivotable members  44  and  41  are then moved, or rotated, toward each other around a common axis defined by hingepin  47  along an arcuate path  70  that intersects the fishhook  6 , until a surface  51  and  52  of each pivotable member engages a portion of the fishhook so as to clasp the fishhook between the pivotable members. The pivotable members are then moved in a way (indicated by arrows  71  and  72 ) that disimpales the fishhook from fish. The pivotable members with the disimpaled fishhook clasped therebetween are then withdrawn from the mouth of the fish. 
     The pivotable members  41  and  44  can be pivoted, or rotated, toward each other until they close on, or clasp, a fishhook or lure by using links  59  and  62  and hingepin  67  for linking together their ends  43  and  46  and moving the ends  43  and  46  of the pivotable members to a distance D 2  that is farther away from the fishhook than distance D 1  occupied when the jaws of the pivotable members were wide open. The hand gripping force of the angler and the fishhook clasping force exerted by the surfaces  51  and  52  can be increased, or multiplied, by extending each of the force-multiplying lever arms  57  and  58  beyond hingepin  67  at an obtuse angle to the respective fishhook engaging surface  51  or  52  of its respective pivotable member. 
     While the present invention has been described with reference to particular embodiments, it is not intended to illustrate or describe all of the equivalent forms or ramifications thereof. Also, the words used are words of description, or of relative orientation of the parts, rather than limitation, and various changes may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention disclosed herein. It is intended that the appended claims cover all such changes as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.