AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR FISHING
Year: 1866

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Georges Frère at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 2nd July
1866.
I, GEORGES FRÈRE, of Rue de l'Eperon, No. 7, at Paris, Tinker, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR
FISHING," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of an arrangement of apparatus for catching fish by
means of barbed hooks, in which the line carrying the hook or hooks is
connected to a spring or equivalent elastic object in such a manner that by
such elastic connection the line is capable of yielding to any required extent
to the pull exerted by the fish caught on the hook, thereby preventing the
rupture of the line, while when the power of the fish is expended such
elastic connection will cause the line to be drawn in again so as to bring
the fish close to the shore or other locality where the apparatus is situated.
In carrying my Invention into practice I employ by preference a coiled
steel spring enclosed inside a barrel, which either itself has the requisite length
of thin strong cord wound upon its circumference, or the spring is made to
impart motion to a separate drum upon which the cord is wound. The spring
with the drum and cord is enclosed inside a case, through a hole in the side of
which the end of the cord passes, it being provided with a ring outside of the

page_text: The action of the spring is so arranged that when no pull is exerted on
the cord the latter is entirely wound upon the drum or barrel. One or more
short lengths of line, to each of which a fishing hook is attached, is or are
connected to the ring at the extremity of the coiled cord by means of a spring
loop. This line or these lines is or are baited and thrown into the water,
when upon a fish being caught it will by its efforts to escape draw the cord
off the barrel or drum, the rotation of which will cause the spring to be wound
up more and more as the cord is drawn out, so that when the power of the
fish is expended the reaction of the spring will cause the cord to be drawn in
again so as to allow of the fish being landed.
The case enclosing the apparatus may either be in the form of a moderate
sized box capable of being carried on the back of the operator, which box is
placed upon the river bank or in the boat where the fishing is to be effected,
and in order to obviate the necessity of constantly watching the apparatus I
attach thereto a bell or alarum, which is acted upon by the drum when this is
put in motion by a fish that has been caught, and thus gives information of
the fact to the attendant. Such case may be made with one or more separate
compartments containing bait, spare lines, and other conveniences for fishing,
and in some cases I fix to the outside of the same a rod, the end of which is
made of steel so as to act as a spring, and to this also a fishing line may be
attached, the flexible steel end of the rod acting in a similar manner to but to
a less extent than the coiled spring before described. Or the case containing
the apparatus may be made of small dimensions, and either suspended from a
fixed point on the shore or boat or from the end of a strong rod fixed in the
ground, or it may be fixed to the side of such rod, which may in that case also
have a steel rod attached to the end thereof carrying a fishing line as before
described.