IMPROVEMENTS IN FISH HOOKS
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Warner, of Redditch, in the County of
Worcester, Fish Hook and Needle Manufacturer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN FISH HOOKS."
Sealed the 81st July 1866, and dated the 9th February 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Warner at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 9th
February 1866.
I, JOSEPH WARNER, of Redditch, in the County of Worcester, Fish Hook
and Needle Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FISH HOOKS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of the improvements herein-after described in fish
hooks, whereby the gut is attached more securely and readily to the shanks of
the books than to fish hooks of the ordinary construction. By constructing
fish hooks according to my Invention the gut is also attached without whipping,
and a very neat connection effected.
In fish hooks as ordinarily constructed the gut is fastened either to a loop
at the extreme end of the shank or to a plain shank by whipping, that is to
say, by coiling a thread around the gut and shank of the fish hook.
In constructing fish hooks according to my Invention I make an eye similar
to the eye of a needle near the end of the shank of the hook, the said eye
opening into a depression or groove made at opposite sides of the shank, the,
said depressions or grooves passing from the eye to the top of the shank.. The

page_text: grooves or depressions described are of such a size and depth that they readily
receive the gut to be fastened to the hook. In fastening the gut to a fish
hook of this construction the end of the gut is passed through the eye and
tied round the sbank one or more times as may be necessary, and finally tied
to the gut at the top of the shank, the gut occupying the grooves or depressions
in the sides of the shank. A very neat and secure junction of the gut to the
hook is thus made. Although a much neater connection of the gut with the
hook is made where the eye opens into grooves as described, yet the said
grooves may be dispensed with, and the gut connected with the hook by an
ordinary knot. In this case the eye is made nearer the top of the shank than
when the grooves are employed. The eyes in the shanks of the fish hooks
may be stamped or pierced therein, and the said eyes, as well as the grooves
or depressions starting from the said eyes, may be of various sizes and shapes.
My Invention is applicable to fish hooks of various kinds.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Warner in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
3rd August 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
WARNER, of Redditch, in the County of Worcester, Fish Hook and Needle
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of February, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Joseph Warner, Her special licence that I, the said Joseph Warner,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such, others as I, the said
Joseph Warner, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there;
after during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE
MENTS IN FISH Hooks," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Joseph Warner, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly.
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great

page_text: Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Warner, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
My Invention consists of the improvements herein-after described in fish
hooks, whereby the gut or other material is attached more securely and
readily to the shanks of the hooks than to fish hooks of the ordinary con-
struction. By constructing fish hooks according to my Invention the gut or
other material is also attached without whipping, and a very neat connection
effected.
In fish hooks as ordinarily constructed the gut is fastened either to a loop
at the extreme end of the shank or to a plain shank by whipping, that is to say,
by coiling a thread around the gut and shank of the fish hook.
In constructing fish hooks according to my Invention I make an eye similar
to the eye of a needle near the end of the shank of the hook, the said eyo
opening into a depression or groove made at opposite sides of the shank, the
said depressions or grooves passing from the eye to the top of the shank. The
grooves or depressions described are of such a size and depth that they readily
receive the gut to be fastened to the hook. In fastening the gut to a fish
hook of this construction the out is passed through the eye and tied
round the shank one or more ✓ may be necessary, and finally tied to
the gut at the top of the shank, the gut occupying the grooves or depressions
in the sides of the shank. A very neat and secure junction of the gut to the
hook is thus made. Although a much neater connection of the gut with the
hook is made when the eye opens into grooves as described, yet the said
grooves may be dispensed with, and the gut connected with the hook by an
ordinary knot. In this case the eye is made nearer the top of the shank than
when the grooves are employed. The eyes in the shanks of the fish hooks
may be stamped or pierced therein, and the said eyes, as well as the grooves
or depressions starting from the said eyes, may be of various sizes and shapes.
My Invention is applicable to fish books of all kinds and sizes..
Having explained the nature of my Invention, I will proceed to describe
with reference to the accompanying Drawing the manner in which the same
is to be performed.
Figure 1 represents an elevation of a fish hook made according to my
Invention, the said hook being drawn to a large scale in order. the better to

page_text: exhibit the construction of the said hook, and Figure 2 is a section of a portion,
of the shank of the hook; Figures 3 and 4 illustrate the manner in which the
gut is fastened to the shank of the hook,
a is the shank of the fish hook, near the end of which is an eye b, the said
eye opening into depressions or grooves c, c, made at opposite sides of the
shank a, and passing from the eye 6 to the top of the shank, as represented in
the Drawing. These depressions or grooves c, c, are of a size and shape
proper to receive the gut d to be fastened to the shank of the hook, as
represented in Figures 3 and 4. In fastening the gut d to the hook the end
of the gut is passed through the eye b and tied at the said eye; the gut is
then carried up the side grooves or depressions c, c, and again tied at e, and
finally tied above the top of the shank, as will be understood by an examina-
tion of Figures 3 and 4. The gut d is thus securely fastened to the shank of
the hook without whipping, and a neat connection made. Instead of making
grooves or depressions c, c, in the shank, so that one of them is presented to
the barb of the hook, as illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, the said grooves or
depressions may be made at right angles to those represented in Figures 1
and 2, as illustrated in Figure 5, where the eye is marked 6 and one of the
grooves or depressions c.
Figure 6 represents the upper part of the shank of a fish hook constructed
according to my Invention, in which an eye only (or an eye with short grooves
or depressions) is employed, and Figures 7 and 8 illustrate the manner in
which the gut is fastened to the said shank. The eye is marked f, and the
twisted or doubled gut fastened to the shank by the said eye is marked g. In
fastening the gut g to the hook the gut is passed through the eye and tied at
the said eye, and also above the end of the shank, in the manner represented
in Figures 7 and 8. I prefer to apply the eye and depressions represented in
Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 to small fish hooks, and the eye Figures 6, 7, and 8
to large fish hooks, but either of the methods described may be applied to
various sized hooks and to hooks of various kinds.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details herein described and illustrated in the Drawing,
as the same may be varied without departing from the nature of my Invention;
but I claim as my Invention the improvements in fish hooks herein-before
described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, that is to say, making
at or near the end of the shank of the fish hook an eye (by stamping or piercing
through the wire), either with side grooves or depressions, into which the said

page_text: eye opens, or without side grooves or depressions, substantially as described
and illustrated, by means of which eye, or eye and grooves or depressions, the
gut or other material is securely and readily attached to the shank.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Warner, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this First day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
Witness,
WILLIAM JAMES,
Redditch,
JOSEPH WARNER. (L.S.)