Patent Publication Number: US-10327426-B2

Title: Snag free lure assembly

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
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     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
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     THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT 
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     INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC OR AS A TEXT FILE VIE THE OFFICE ELECTRONIC FILING SYSTEM 
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     STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES BY THE INVENTOR OR JOINT INVENTOR 
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     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     (1) Field of the Invention 
     (2) Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98 
     The disclosure and prior art relates to lure devices and more particularly pertains to a new lure device for casting without snagging. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a lure that may be cast into a body of water. Thus, the lure may lure a fish. A retracting unit is positioned within the lure. The retraction unit includes a plurality of hooks. The retracting unit retracts each of the hooks into the lure to inhibit the lure from being snagged when the lure is cast. The retracting unit selectively deploys each of the hooks outwardly from the lure when a fish bites the lure. Thus, the lure hooks the fish. 
     There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto. 
     The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S) 
       The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is a phantom perspective view of a snag free lure assembly according to an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 2  is a left side phantom view of an embodiment of the disclosure in a deployed position. 
         FIG. 3  is a left side phantom view of an embodiment of the disclosure in a retracted position. 
         FIG. 4  is a cross sectional view of a retraction unit in a retracted position taken along line  4 - 4  of  FIG. 1  of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 5  is a cross sectional view of a retraction unit in a deployed position taken along line  4 - 4  of  FIG. 1  an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 6  is a cross sectional view of retraction unit taken along line  6 - 6  of  FIG. 4  an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 7  is a perspective in-use view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to  FIGS. 1 through 7  thereof, a new lure device embodying the principles and concepts of an embodiment of the disclosure and generally designated by the reference numeral  10  will be described. 
     As best illustrated in  FIGS. 1 through 7 , the snag free lure assembly  10  generally comprises a lure  12  that may be cast into a body of water  14  thereby facilitating the lure  12  to lure a fish  16 . The body of water  14  may be a lake or the like. The lure  12  has a first end  18 , a second end  20  and an outer surface  22  extending therebetween. The outer surface  22  is continuous such that the lure  12  is substantially ovoid shaped. 
     A chamber  24  is centrally positioned within the lure  12 . The first end  18  has a first opening  26  extending into the chamber  24 . The second end  20  has a second opening  28  extending into the chamber  24 . The outer surface  22  has a plurality of third openings  30  and each of the third openings  30  extends into the chamber  24 . The third openings  30  are spaced apart from each other and are distributed around the lure  12 . 
     A retracting unit  32  is provided and the retracting unit  32  is positioned within the lure  12 . The retraction unit includes a plurality of hooks  34 . The retracting unit  32  retracts each of the hooks  34  into the lure  12 . Thus, the lure  12  is inhibited from being snagged on an object  36  in the body of water  14  when the lure  12  is cast. The object  36  may be vegetation or the like. The retracting unit  32  selectively deploys each of the hooks  34  outwardly from the lure  12  when a fish  16  bites. Thus, the lure  12  may hook the fish  16 . 
     The retracting unit  32  comprises a cylinder  38 . The cylinder  38  has a primary end  40 , a secondary end  42  and an outer wall  44  extending therebetween. The cylinder  38  is substantially hollow and the cylinder  38  is positioned within the chamber  24 . The outer wall  44  has a plurality of hook openings  46  extending into an interior of the cylinder  38 . Each of the hook openings  46  has a bounding edge  48 . The hook openings  46  are spaced apart from each other and are distributed around the cylinder  38 . Each of the hook openings  46  is aligned with an associated one of the third openings  30  in the lure  12 . 
     A first tube  50  is coupled to and extends away from the primary end  40  of the cylinder  38 . The first tube  50  is positioned within the first opening  26  in the lure  12 . A second tube  52  is coupled to and extends away from the secondary end  42  of the cylinder  38 . The second tube  52  is positioned within the second opening  28  in the lure  12 . 
     Each of the hooks  34  is hingedly coupled to the bounding edge  48  of an associated one of the hook openings  46 . Each of the hooks  34  has a distal end  54  with respect to the bounding edge  48 . Each of the hooks  34  is curved between the bounding edge  48  and the distal end  54 . 
     Each of the hooks  34  is biased to be substantially positioned within the cylinder  38 . Moreover, each of the hooks  34  may be biased via a spring loaded hinge or the like. The spring loaded hinge may have an engaging force ranging between approximately two hundred fifty grams and five hundred grams. 
     A piston  56  is slidably positioned within the cylinder  38 . The piston  56  has an engaging surface  58  and the engaging surface  58  tapers to a point. The piston  56  is positioned in a retracted position in  FIG. 4 . The engaging surface  58  is spaced from primary end  40  of the cylinder  38  when the piston  56  is in the retracted position. 
     The piston  56  is positioned in a deployed position in  FIG. 5 . The engaging surface  58  frictionally engages each of the hooks  34  when the piston  56  is in the deployed position. Thus, each of the hooks  34  is urged to extend outwardly from the associated hook opening and the associated third openings  30  in the lure  12 . Each of the hooks  34  may hook the fish  16  when the piston  56  is positioned in the deployed position. 
     A biasing member  60  is positioned between the piston  56  and the secondary end  42  of the cylinder  38 . The biasing member  60  biases the piston  56  towards the deployed position. The biasing member  60  may be a spring or the like. The biasing member  60  may have a compressive force ranging between one hundred grams and two hundred grams. Thus, the biasing member  60  does not have enough force to urge the piston  56  into the deployed position. 
     A first leader  62  is coupled to the engaging surface  58  of the piston  56  and the first leader  62  extends through the first tube  50 . The first leader  62  extends outwardly from the first opening  26  in the lure  12 . The first leader  62  may be coupled to a fishing line or the like. 
     A second leader  64  is coupled to the piston  56  and extends through the second tube  52 . The second leader  64  extends outwardly from the second opening  28  in the lure  12 . The second leader  64  has a distal end  66  with respect to the lure  12 . Each of the first leader  62  and the second leader  64  may be fishing leaders or the like. 
     A ball  68  is coupled to the distal end  66  of the second leader  64  and the ball  68  may be manipulated. The ball  68  is urged away from the second end  20  of the lure  12  such that the piston  56  is positioned in the retracted position. The ball  68  engages the second end  20  of the lure  12  when the piston  56  is urged into the deployed position. A feather may be coupled to the ball  68  thereby enhancing an ornamental appearance of the ball  68 . 
     In use, the first leader  62  is coupled to the fishing line and the lure  12  is cast into the body of water  14 . The lure  12  is retrieved with the fishing line. The hooks  34  are positioned within the lure  12  when the lure  12  is retrieved. Thus, the lure  12  is inhibited from snagging the object  36  in the body of water  14 . 
     The lure  12  is pulled against the fishing line when the fish  16  bites the lure  12 . The piston  56  is urged into the deployed position and the piston  56  urges each of the hooks  34  to extend outwardly from the lure  12 . Thus, the hooks  34  hook the fish  16  thereby facilitating the fish  16  to be landed. The ball  68  is gripped and the ball  68  is urged away from the lure  12  when the hooks  34  are removed from the fish  16 . Thus, the piston  56  is urged into the retracted position and the hooks  34  are contained within the lure  12 . The lure  12  is repeatedly cast into the body of water  14 . 
     With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure. 
     Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.