Abstract:
The fishing lure assembly is a completely weedless lure because hooks in the fishing lure assembly are completely retracted into a housing. This prevents the fishing lure assembly from snagging weeds or getting caught in debris in the water once the fishing lure assembly is cast therein. The fishing lure assembly includes a fulcrum about which the hooks are spring loaded. A trigger is rotatably secured within the housing. The trigger receives and hold the hooks in their respective retracted positions and, upon a fish moving the trigger, the hooks will be released to catch the fish.

Description:
BACKGROUND ART  
       [0001]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     This invention generally relates to fishing lures. More specifically, the invention relates to fishing lure assemblies that have the ability to protect the fishing lure from snagging objects in the water prior to the fishing lure being received by a fish.  
         [0003]     2. Description of the Related Art  
         [0004]     A fisherman encounters several problems while fishing. Many of the problems relate to the use of bare hooks, in combination with lures or not, that are exposed to objects within the water. By way of example, fish hooks get snagged in weeds and get caught on rocks, logs, debris and the like. The potential for this is great with every cast of the hook into the water. If the line isn&#39;t broken as a result of the snag, the hook is dulled from the encounter.  
         [0005]     There have been many attempts at protecting the hooks while maximizing the efficiency of the fishing experience. U.S. Pat. No. 4,726,142 discloses a spring-loaded fish hook assembly. This assembly has two legs terminating in a pair of barbed hooks. A loop is formed in the middle of the legs and provides a means for securing the fish hook assembly to a fishing line. A trigger arm has a latch which cooperates with a catch member to have the hooks overlap each other. When the trigger arm is released, the hooks are released to catch the fish that has triggered the fish hook assembly. While the concept of having releasable hooks provides an advantage to the fisherman, the hooks are still somewhat exposed to the obstacles found within the water and the opportunity for snagging weeds is far from remote due to the exposed barbs.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0006]     A fishing lure assembly, which is securable to a fishing line, includes a housing that defines an interior space. The fishing lure assembly includes a fulcrum secured to the housing. A hook is fixedly secured and extends out from the fulcrum oriented in an extended position such that a portion of the hook extends outside the housing. The fishing lure assembly also includes a trigger that is rotatably secured within the housing for receiving and holding the hook in a retracted position such that the hook will move to the extended position upon being released by the trigger as the trigger rotates. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0007]     Advantages of the invention will be readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:  
         [0008]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of one embodiment of the invention within artificial bait, shown in phantom;  
         [0009]      FIG. 2  is a cross-sectional side view of one embodiment of the invention with the hooks in retracted positions;  
         [0010]      FIG. 3  is a cross-sectional side view of the invention with the hooks in the extended positions; and  
         [0011]      FIG. 4  is a cross-sectional end view of the invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0012]     Referring to  FIGS. 1 through 4 , a fishing lure assembly is generally indicated at  10 . The fishing lure assembly  10  includes a carriage or housing  12  that is embedded or encased within artificial bait  14 . The artificial bait  14  may be hard or soft bait and it is contemplated that the artificial bait  14  would be manufactured such that it would provide a space for the insertion of the fishing lure assembly  10  therein. It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the fishing lure assembly  10  could be manufactured separate from the artificial bait  14 , thus allowing the fishing lure assembly  10  to be inserted into any artificial bait  14  with which a fisherman would want to match the fishing lure assembly  10 . For purposes of simplicity, the remainder of the discussion of the fishing lure assembly  10  will be associated with an artificial bait  14  that is soft in nature.  
         [0013]     The housing  12  defines an interior space  16 . The housing  12  also includes slots  18 ,  20  and openings  22 ,  24 . The slots  18 ,  20  and the openings  22 ,  24  will be discussed in greater detail subsequently.  
         [0014]     The fishing lure assembly  10  includes a fulcrum  26  that extends therethrough. The fulcrum  26  has a hook  28  wrapped thereabout. In the embodiment shown in the Figures, there are two hooks  28  that are wrapped about or around the fulcrum  26 . In one embodiment, the hooks  28  are fabricated from a single strand of metal. The hooks  28  are wound such that, in their relaxed state, they extend outside of the housing  12 , shown in  FIG. 3  and in phantom in  FIG. 4 . Wrap portions  32 ,  34  of the hooks  28  create a spring force that is minimized when the hooks  28  are in the extended position.  
         [0015]     In the preferred embodiment, shown in  FIG. 1 , the slots  18 ,  20  are configured to facilitate manipulation by a person that is right handed. In an alternative embodiment shown in  FIGS. 2 through 4 , the slots  18 ,  20  are positioned opposite that of the positions shown in  FIG. 1  to facilitate manipulation by a person that is left handed. It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the position of the slots  18 ,  20  can be either of these two positions without changing the inventive entity. Regardless of the position of the slots  18 ,  20 , the slots  18 , 20  must always be extending up and down so the bumpers (discussed subsequently) can be positioned laterally with respect to the housing  12 . This maximizes the ability of the fishing lure assembly  10  be retained in the mouth of a fish. In other words, the hooks  28  extending up and down will have a better chance of being embedded into the fish than if the hooks  28  were to extend out laterally from the housing  12 .  
         [0016]     Extending through a portion of the housing  12  is a barrel  36 . In the embodiment shown, the barrel  36  extends through the fulcrum  26 . The barrel  36  extends out of the housing  12  through an anterior end  38  thereof. An eyelet  40  is secured to the barrel  36  at an anterior, exposed end  42 . The eyelet  40  is used to facilitate the attachment of the fishing lure assembly  10  to a fish line  44 . The barrel  36  extends from the exposed end  42  to a distal end  46  within the inner space  16 . The distal end  46  includes a threaded interior  48  that receives a barrel button, generally shown at  50 . The barrel button threadingly engages the threaded interior  48  of the distal end  46 .  
         [0017]     The barrel button  50  has a button  52  designed for manual rotation. The button  52  is inside the housing  12  and is only accessed when the housing  12  is taken apart. The housing  12  may be taken apart should any parts within the housing  12  need to be replaced or refurbished.  
         [0018]     The button barrel  50  includes a button shaft  54 . The button shaft includes a male threaded portion  56  which is smaller in diameter than the button shaft  54 . The male threaded portion  56  threadingly engages the threaded interior  48  of the distal end. Together, the barrel  36 , the button shaft  54  and the male threaded portion  56  define a relief  58 . The relief  58  is an effective reduction of diameter in the barrel  36 .  
         [0019]     The fishing lure  10  assembly also includes a trigger, generally indicated at  60 . The trigger  60  is rotatably secured within the housing  12 . The trigger  60  receives and holds the hooks  28  in their respective retracted positions such that the hooks  28  will move to their respective extended positions upon being released by the trigger  60  as it rotates. The trigger  60  defines a hole  62  at a rotation end  64  of the trigger  60 . While the rotation end  64  is shown to be in a middle section  65  of the trigger  60 , it is contemplated that the rotation end  64  may be an end about which the trigger  60  rotates in alternative embodiments should a single hook or an odd number of hooks be used. The hole  62  receives the male threaded portion  56  of the button shaft  54  therethrough. The relief  58  positions the trigger  60  within the housing  12  preventing the trigger  60  from moving with respect to the housing  12  other than rotating about the male threaded portion  56 .  
         [0020]     The trigger  60  includes a bellcrank  66  that rotates about the rotation end  64 . The bellcrank  66  includes the middle section  65  and extends between the rotation end  64  and a bumper end  68 . Because the embodiment of the fishing lure assembly  10  is shown having two hooks  28 , the bellcrank  66  has two bumper ends  68 ,  70 , which complement each other about the rotation end  64  and hole  62 . Each of the bumper ends  68 ,  70  include a bumper  72 ,  74 , which is snap fit onto the bumper ends  68 ,  70 . The bumpers  72 ,  74  are snap fit into place so they can be removed should the housing  12  require disassembly for repair or replacement of the hooks  28 . The bumper end  68 ,  70  and the bumpers  72 ,  74  extend outside the housing  12  allowing the bumpers  72 ,  74  to receive forces generated by a fish closing its mouth over the fishing lure assembly  10  forcing the bumpers  72 ,  74  inwardly with respect to the housing  12  as is shown in phantom in  FIG. 4 . The forces, generally represented by arrows  76 ,  78  may be directed at any angle generally inwardly toward the interior space  16  of the housing  12 .  
         [0021]     The trigger  60  also includes nesting surfaces  80 ,  82  which extend between the bellcrank  68  and trigger branches  84 ,  86  respectively. The nesting surfaces  80 ,  82  are curved and hold the hooks  28  in their retracted positions.  
         [0022]     In operation, the lure tool  88  is used to retract the hooks  28  such that they are received by the nesting surfaces  80 ,  82  of the trigger  60 . This defines the retracted positions for each of the hooks  28  The fishing lure assembly  10  is then cast into an area to fish. When a fish receives the fishing lure assembly  10  in its mouth, forces  76 ,  78  generated by the fish mouthing the fishing lure assembly  10  will force the bumpers  72 ,  74  to rotate the bellcrank  66 . Rotation of the bellcrank  66  releases the hooks  28  by forcing the nesting surfaces  80 ,  82  to move laterally away from the hooks  28  such that the hooks  28  spring to their extended positions exposing their pointed ends  100 ,  102  (the pointed ends  100 ,  102  may be barbed or non-barbed) to catch the fish.  
         [0023]     Once the hooks are released, they must be reset. To do so, the hooks  28  must be forced back into engagement with the nesting surfaces  80 ,  82  of the trigger  60 . A cocking device  88  is incorporated into the fishing lure assembly  10  to cock the hooks  28  back into engagement with the trigger  60  to reuse the fishing lure assembly  10 . The cocking device  88  includes an alignment plate  90  which extends through the entire cross section of the interior space  16  of the housing  12 . The alignment plate  90  includes two hook engaging arms  92 ,  94  that extend out perpendicularly therefrom. The hook engaging arms  92 ,  94  have forked distal ends  96 ,  98  to guide the hooks  28  when they are being forced back into the housing  12 .  
         [0024]     A cylinder  104  extends out from the alignment plate  90  perpendicularly therefrom in a direction opposite of the direction of the hook engaging arms  92 ,  94 . The cylinder  104  extends over a portion of the barrel  36  and out past the artificial bait  14 . The fisherman forces the cylinder  104  into the housing  12  which will, in turn, force the hook engaging arms  92 ,  94  into the hooks  28  to force the hooks  28  back down into the housing  12  and into engagement with the trigger  60 .  
         [0025]     The cocking device  88  also includes retraction spring  106 . The retraction spring  106  retracts the cocking device  88  to a position away from the hooks  28  to allow the hooks  28  to move freely outside the housing  12  when the trigger  60  releases them. Therefore, unless a force is being applied to the cylinder  104  by the fisherman using the fishing lure assembly  10 , the retraction spring  106  maintains the cocking device  88  in a retracted position, thus allowing the full range of motion designed for the hooks  28 . The cocking device  88  also includes a spring plate  108  that abuts the wrapped portions  32 ,  34  of the hooks  30  to assist in maintaining the retraction spring  106  in the proper position by creating a surface against which the retraction spring  106  may abut without creating alternative forces in directions other than parallel to the barrel  36 .  
         [0026]     The invention has been described in an illustrative manner. It is to be understood that the terminology, which has been used, is intended to be in the nature of words of description rather than of limitation.  
         [0027]     Many modifications and variations of the invention are possible in light of the above teachings. Therefore, within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced other than as specifically described.