Abstract:
A fish habitat package built up of old tire casings baled together to form a series of chambers into which fish can enter to provide habitat for those fish.

Description:
BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention pertains to fish habitat structures, and more particularly to a structure formed from used tire casings held together in a form which can be submerged in a fish related environment and which then will provide chambers into which fish can swim and be concealed or protected. 
     In many instances, currently both in artificially created fishing ponds formed by dams in streams or formed by excavations below a groundwater line, and also in streams which have been cleared or straightened to provide enhanced drainage, fish are not provided with natural submerged objects to provide habitat. Such matters as submerged trees or exposed tree roots and the like are simply not available. The growth of fish population is not encouraged by such clearing, and use of the pond or stream as a recreational facility is greatly lessened. 
     Artificial structures to provide underwater habitat are becoming more common. Such structures as wooden crates have been used, and even old auto bodies have been suggested to serve the purpose. 
     By the present invention, applicant proposes to assemble a structure from used auto tire casings in a particular assembly which will provide excellent shelter for fish and be ecologically sound. Additionally, the materials used in the structure are waste material, usually difficult to dispose of so that use of such structure provides both the benefit of better recreation as well as a disposal resource for at least a limited amount of the otherwise waste material. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the entire structure, 
     FIG. 2 is a top view of the layers of material immediately below the top layer, 
     FIG. 3 is a sectional view from line  3 — 3  of FIG. 2, and 
     FIG. 4 is an exploded view showing the stacks as they are assembled with three different types of layers. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION 
     Briefly this invention comprises a structure having a plurality of chambers formed in the structure. The chambers are useful for the accommodation of fish when the structure is immersed in a body of water containing fish and may thus form a useful protective environment for the fish in a place where other cover may have been removed or is otherwise lacking. 
     More specifically, the structure of the habitat device is shown in the figures. Primarily the structure is a bale-like assembly of a series of used pneumatic tire casings. The unique feature is the mode of inter-linking of the casings. The bale-like structure  10  is best shown in FIG. 1 where the casings  11  are shown stacked in two apparent stacks and bound by a wire  12  or other confinement means. The appearance is somewhat deceiving. 
     In fact the stacks are principally formed of casings cut diametrically into two half casings  11   a  (FIG. 2) and inter-linked as shown in one layer and then reversed in an adjacent layer so that the open end  13  of the casing on the right side in the drawing will extend opposite the open end of a half casing in the next layer. This stacking is somewhat better shown in FIG.  4 . 
     At the top and the bottom of the stack are full casings  14 . These serve to hold in place the fractional casings used in the rest of the stack, but are not as conducive as partial casings to the providing of openings into which the fish may go for protection. For added stabilization, it is preferred to use a stabilizing layer  15  at occasional intervals in the stack. 
     It has been found that in a total stack of about 20 layers of half casings  11   a,  a simple stabilizing layer  15  will probably hold the bale in form. Larger stacks or more severe conditions of water currents or the like might require several layers at more frequent intervals. 
     The stabilizing layer is preferably formed by using a plurality of casings (these complete casings in the stacks of two side-by-side half casings works well in test cases). These full casings are overlapped in a side-by-side arrangement as shown in FIG. 4 so that frictional contact of the casings within the layer and between the stabilizing layer and the adjacent layer will serve to hold the stacks in place. 
     The preferred structure is formed of sections of larger tires such as those used on trucks or for heavy duty use. The tires are cut diametrically and layered together as shown. The top and bottom layers and the stabilizing layer or layers are then formed of lighter weight automobile tire casings so that those layers do not extend greatly beyond the boundaries of the stacks. The different stiffness of the casings also provides for greater collapse of the lighter casings in the top, bottom and stabilizing layers and the lesser collapse and therefore larger chambers in the partial casings of the regular stack material. 
     It will be apparent that the use of used pneumatic tire casings is suggested because of the need for disposal of such casings and therefore because of the economy involved in such use. It should be equally obvious that any toroidal shaped object of similar flexibility could be used as the basic material of the structure. The particular form desired is the multiple cavities that necessarily are formed by the particular shape of the material used. 
     In use, the structure is simply immersed in the water of the pond or stream. If necessary, reasonable anchors may be used to hold the structure in place where currents of the water may tend to displace it. In the normal course of events, the simple placement of the structure will be sufficient to attract fish so that no more attention will be required.