Improvements in Otter or Béam Trawls.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 29th Oct., 1896
Complete Specification Left, 13th Jan., 1897-Accepted, 2nd Oct., 1897
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Otter or Béam Trawls.
I, WALTER CONNELL, of 17 Bloomdale Street, Bloomfield, in the Townland of
Ballyhackamore, Parish of Holywood, Barony of Lower Castlereagh and County of
Down, Ireland, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to Improvements in Otter or Beam Trawls, and has for its
object the construction of Expanding Pockets attached to the Nets to enable
iniature fish to escape, doing away with the flapper system.
The outer portions of the Net are so arranged that the meshes will open instead of
closing with pressure, and my invention will keep the Trawl clear of the sand
and mud.
The Expanding Nets will be diamond mesh, and can be made any width, strength
or gauge required. My invention also includes an improvement in attaching the
Cod Line, so enabling the Trawl to be towed in better position than at present.
Dated 27th October 1896.
WALTER CONNELL.
I, WALTER CONNELL, of 17 Bloomdale Street, Bloomfield Avenue, Bloomfield
Barony of Lower Castlereagh and County of Down, Ireland Net Maker, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
My Invention relates to Improvements in Otter or Beam Trawls by employing
expanding pockets & outer Nets, and has for its object the escape of immature Fish.
In order that my invention may be clearly rendered, reference may be had to the
accompanying Sheets of Drawings, in which Fig. 2. is the improvement when attached
to Figs. 1. & 3. Similar letters of reference are used to indicate the mode of fixing
which is performed by lacing in the ordinary way of fixing Trawls.
The double lines in Fig. 1. marked with letters B B and CC, and Fig. 3. marked
with letters F F and G G are made double to increase strength-also to show the
lines of fixing the expanding pockets.
The Nets forming pockets and outer Nets are all diamond mesh, and can be made
any width, strength or gauge required. The trawl now in use is widest at the mouth
narrowed down to the purse end and made in two parts as shown in drawings
Figs. 1 & 3 and are attached together forming a bag:-Fig. 3 which is called the
square &baitings is laid upon Fig. 1. which is called the belly and wings and the
two edges on each side laced together from top to bottom. When the net so fixed
receives any weight into it the ineshes close often retaining quantities of mud and

page_text: sand or other substances that may be swept into it injuring the large fish and
destroying the small and the improvement described below is intended to remedy this.
The improvement consists in Fig. 2 which is inserted between Figs. 1 & 3. This
figure is perspective (that is it shows the nets in a perpendicular position). They
are attached to Fig. 1 in the following way.
Attach the edge marked A in Fig. 2. to the edge marked A in Fig. 1; the edge
marked B in Fig. 2 to the double lines (or threads) marked B in Fig. 1. then the
edge marked C in Fig. 2 to the double lines C in Fig. 1, and the edge D in Fig. 2. to
the edge D in Figure 1. These two figures so attached form Fig. 4. and by
attaching Fig. 3 on Fig. 4. the net is complete. It is done as follows.
Attach the edge E in Fig. 4. to the edge E in Fig. 3, & the edge marked F in
Fig. 4 to the double lines (or threads) F in Fig. 3. The net is now tank shaped and
is completed by joining the edge H in Fig. 4 to the edge H in Fig. 3.
The inner nets are not joined at the points M Fig. 4, but are left open to let the
fish (which enter at T) through into trap or purse end. When the fish get through,
the points being laced to Fig. 1 & Fig. 3 will naturally close the aperture and they
can only return up the passage between the outer and inner nets to point marked K.
The furthest extremity of trap is tied with a cord and by removing the cord the
end opens and the fish are taken out.
To provide for the expansion of trap the inner nets are wider at the points M on
Fig. 4. and taper longitudinally for about two feet. They can be made wider by
putting in larger meshes or increasing the number of meshes.
The outer nets which comprise the trap can if necessary be kept open at S Fig. 4.
by passing wooden or other stays through each mesh.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is:
The mode of making and the introduction of inner nets laced between the upper
and under side of existing Trawls nets forming a trap, as herein before described, the
object being to keep the upper and under nets apart enabling the current to pass
freely through, and the net to be towed with greater ease, preventing mud, sand or
other unnecessary substance collecting, and allowing the trawl more room to expand,
also as the meshes will be open and free from dirt the immature fish smaller than
such meshes can escape.
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