Improvements in or relating to Trawl-nets.
Year: 1897

page_text: This print is in accordance with the Original Specification as it stands after
Amendment (under Section 18 of the Patents, &c., Act, 1883) as allowed by
the decision of the Chief Examiner of the 3rd day of December 1898.
Improvements in or relating to Trawl-nets.
We, JAMES WILLIAM PEARSON, Minister of the Presbyterian Church of England.
of 17, Elm Grove, Cricklewood, and WILLIAM JOHN WOOD, Advertising Agent, of
12, Ashford Road, Cricklewood, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention to be as follows;.
Our invention relates to trawl-nets and is chiefly designed to provide more
efficient means than have heretofore been employed for keeping the net extended
to its full capacity without the use of the usual horizontal beam, and for mair-
taining the inflator-boards, or upright heams used in place thereof, in an upright
position in the water notwithstanding stoppages or slowing down of the vessel
by which the net is being dragged. Our improved net can, therefore, be advan-
tageously used both with sailing vessels and with steamers.
One feature of our present invention is the provision of what we term wing
inflators, which are secured in the wings of the trawl-net and which, by intercepting
or offering resistance to the flow of the water through the net at the wings, cause
the automatic extension of the net by the action of the water. A larger net can,
therefore, he used than is practicable with the ordinary horizontal beam trawl or
with the "otter" board trawl.
Another feature of our said invention is the employment of ballasted or weighted
spheres or the like in combination either with inflator-boards or with upright
beams, to which the heads of the wings of the net are attached, whereby the said
boards or beams will be maintained in an upright position in the water whether
the net is being dragged along or is stationary. The said ballasted spheres or the like
are preferably made hollow and of iron encased in soft wood or other suitable protec-
tive material. and partiy filled with lead or other heavy material. To these ballasted
spheres or the like the aforesaid wing inflators are attached, and the inflator-
boards are secured in or to the said spheres or the like by means of the "head line
rope, the "wing line rope and the " ground rope of the trawl-net, so that they
serve in place of the ordinary
otter" boards or the horizontal beam. By these
means the net will do its work with less noise and friction, and the mouth of the
net will be kept open even when stationary in the water, and will, therefore, be
capable of capturing a larger quantity of fish than the nets heretofore used.
Our said invention also comprises the employment in combination with the
inflator-board or upright beams. of spring brackets whereby the pull of the towing
ropes or warps is equally distributed over the whole of the net. These spring
brackets are attached to the inflator-boards or upright beams and to the aforesaid
ballasted spheres or the like for the attachment of the towing-ropes or warps, and

page_text: serve in place of the ordinary slings or metal brackets of the "otter" boards. For
example, each ballasted sphere or the like has three spring brackets which are
fixed internally; two of these are attached to a triangular bracket on the outside
of the sphere: the third is attached to the ground rope of the trawl-net and each
inflator-board. or each upright beam, has two spring-brackets fixed on the outside,
which are attached to a bracket on what is called the towing side of the inflator-
board or upright beam. These two triangular brackets are joined together and
serve for the attachment of the towing rope or warp. The pull or stress, therefore,
first passes through the spring brackets, then through the inflator-boards or
upright beams to the net, and by means of the various attachments is distributed
equally over the whole net.
The inflator boards are tapered from the bottom upwards so as to make them as
strong as practicable whilst reducing their resistance to their being drawn through
the water.
When the net is in motion and the ballasted spheres or the like, with the inflator-
boards or upright beams, are being pulled through the water, the water acts upon
the same and upon the aforesaid wing inflators in such a manner as to keep the
net extended to its utmost capacity and the whole gear moves on the smooth
round surfaces of the said spheres, thus reducing the noise and friction to a
minimum. The maintenance of the inflator-boards or upright-beams always in
an upright position efficiently obviates the liability to fouling or entanglement
of the trawl gear.
The aforesaid upright beams are to be used as an alternative for the inflator-
boards, and, in a rough sea, are very advantageous for casting and raising the net.
Dated the 29th day of November. 1897.
D. YOUNG & Co.,
11 and 12, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicants.
Improvements in or relating to Trawl-nets.
We, JAMES WILLIAM PEARSON, Minister of the Presbyterian Church of England,
of 17, Elm Grove, Cricklewood, and WILLIAM Jons Wood, Advertising Agent, of
12. Ashford Road, Cricklewood, in the County of Middlesex, 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:-
Our invention relates to trawl-nets and is chiefly designed to provide more
efficient means than have heretofore been employed for keeping the net extended
to its full capacity without the use of the usual horizontal beam,
and to provide for maintaining the inflator-boards, or upright beams
used in place thereof, in an upright or nearly upright position in the
water notwithstanding stoppages or slowing down of the vessel by
which the net is being dragged. Our improved net can, therefore, be advan-
tageously used both with sailing vessels and with steamers.
An important feature of our said invention is the employment of self-righting
inflator-boards or upright beams, that is to say, inflator-boards or upright beams
attached to the sides or wings of the net and mounted upon balancing spheres or
other suitably weighted or ballasted rounded bodies in such a manner that, should
they be pulled or pushed over in any direction, they will at once resume their up-
right or nearly upright position, or can be very easily brought back to this position

page_text: by a pull upon the towing chains or warps, without the necessity for hauling in the
net. By these means also the gear can travel very easily over the sea-bottom so
that the net will do its work with less noise and friction than heretofore, and the
mouth of the net will be kept open even when stationary in the water, and will,
therefore, be capable of capturing a larger quantity of fish than the nets heretofore
used.
Another feature of our said invention is the provision of what we term wing-
inflators, which are secured in the wings of the trawl-net, and which, by inter-
cepting or offering resistance to the flow of the water through the net at the
wings, cause the automatic extension of the net by the action of the water.
larger net can, therefore, be used than is practicable with the ordinary horizontal
beam trawl or with the "otter" board trawl.
A
Our said invention also comprises other improvements hereinafter set forth.
In the accompanying drawings we have shown how our said invention may be
conveniently and advantageously carried into practice.
Figure 1 is an inside view, and
Figure 2 a plan showing one wing of a trawl-net having our improvements
applied thereto.
Figure 3 is an edge view of the inflator-board and sphere, and
Figure 4 is a section on the liner, r, Figure 3, showing the corrugations in the
inflator-board.
Figure 5 is a similar view to Figure 1, illustrating another form or modification
of our invention.
Figure 6 is a section on the line r, r, Figure 5.
Figure 7 is an edge view, partly in section, and
Figure 8 is a section on the line, Figure 7, illustrating a further modifica-
tion of our said invention.
The forward end of each wing of the net A is attached either to an inflator-
board B, or to a vertical beam B. Each of the said inflator-boards or upright
beams is mounted on a hollow balancing sphere C, which is made of sheet iron or
other suitable material. preferably encased with soft wood or other protecting
material, and is ballasted by being partly filled with lead or other heavy material
secured in position therein, so that the centre of gravity of the whole will be below
the centre of the sphere, and, when the said sphere is placed on a flat surface, the
inflator-board or beam will assume an upright or nearly upright position. If the
said board or beam he made of wood, its buoyancy will promote this self-righting
action when the net is immersed in water.
Each of the spheres C is provided on its underside with a wearing shoe C of steel
or other suitable material. which is secured in position by screws C2 or other
suitable fastenings so that, when worn, it can be easily removed and replaced by a
fresh one.
These shoes ride over the sea-bottom and prevent wear of the material
of which the sphere is constructed.
The inflator-boards B are tapered from the bottom upwards as shown in Figure 3,
so as to make them as strong as practicable whilst reducing to a minimum, their
weight and their resistance to being drawn through the water. The part of the
board B forward of its centre may advantageously be provided with vertical grooves
or corrugations B on its inner side, as more clearly shown in Figure 4. so as to
assist in maintaining the said board at the desired angle or sheer as it is moved
relatively to the water, and so that, when the water passing up the corrugations
arrives at the smooth or uncorrugated part above them it will slip over the top of
the board..
The spheres C serve to maintain the said boards or beams in the desired position
in the water whether the net is being dragged along or is stationary: therefore the
mouth of the net will be kept open even when stationary in the water, and the net
will consequently be capable of capturing a larger quantity of fish than the nets
heretofore used; moreover our spheres and inflator-boards or beams are much

page_text: lighter than the "otter" boards hitherto employed, and the net will do its work
with less noise and friction than those provided with "otter" boards.
The head line D of the net is preferably secured to an eye E at the upper part
of the inflator-board B or beam B'; it may, however be secured to the said board
or beam at a lower point; the ground rope l' is secured to an eye G on the balancing
sphere C. The wing line, if such be employed, is also attached to the board B or
beam Bl.
The tow-ropes or warps H are attached to two sets of chains J, J¹ through a ring
Je, the chains J, in the arrangement shown in Figure 1. being each attached to
an eye-bolt sccured in one or other of a series of holes K' in plates K attached to
the inflator-board B, and the chains J to eyes L on the sphere C. By shifting the
eye-bolts from one to another of the holes K' we are enabled to adjust the
amount of sheer or inclination of the inflator-boards B or beams B and also
to vary the slip of the water over the top thereof, the latter result being more
especially useful when the head line is attached to the inflator-board at a point
below the top thereof, as it prevents the flow of the water from the said board onto
the top of the net.
When we use upright beams B' as shown in Figures 5 and 6, we secure the eye-
bolts J3 in holes in a transverse bar M which is adjustable vertically on the
beam B¹, and is adapted to be secured in position by means of a bolt Me passing
through one or other of a series of holes in the beam B'.
In the arrangement shown in Figure 5, in each wing of the net A, at the end
thereof next to the beam B1, is sewn or otherwise secured a wing-inflator N con-
sisting of a triangular or other suitably shaped piece of sail-cloth, canvas or other
suitable material. This wing-inflator and the forward end of the wing of the
net are clamped to the beam B by means of a metal bar N¹ and bolts N°, and to
the sphere C by means of flanges C. The said wing-inflators are so shaped as to
prevent the passage of the water through the wings of the net at this part in such
a manner that the said wings will be forced outward and the net distended or
inflated as it is dragged along in the water.
In the case of large nets, wing-inflators N can be employed in combination with
inflator-boards B, such as that shown in Figure 1.
When the net is in motion and the ballasted spheres C with the inflator-boards B
or upright beams B', are being pulled through the water, the water acts upon the
sane and upon the wing inflators N (when such are employed) in such a manner
as to keep the net extended to its utmost capacity: and the whole gear moves on
the smooth round surfaces of the said spheres, thus reducing the noise and friction
to a minimum. The maintenance of the inflator-boards or upright beams always
in an upright or nearly upright position efficiently obviates the liability to fouling
or entanglement of the trawl-gear.
The aforesaid upright beams are to be used as an alternative for the inflator-
boards, and, in a rough sea, are very advantageous for casting and raising the net.
The inflator-boards or upright beams, in our improved gear, will right them-
selves should they happen to be pushed or pulled over in any direction.
of time and labour in hauling in the net for the purpose of righting the inflator-
boards is, therefore, entirely avoided by our invention.
Waste
It is evident that we can, if desired, use other suitably weighted or ballasted
rounded bodies in place of the spheres for effecting the righting of the inflator-
boards or upright beams without the necessity for hauling in the net. and to faci-
litate the travel of the gear over the sea-bottom.
We sometimes use, in combination with the inflator-boards or upright beams,
spring brackets whereby the pull of the towing ropes or warps is equally dis-
tributed over the whole of the net. These apring brackets are shown in Figures 7
and 8. They are attached to the inflator-boards B or to the upright beams and
to the balancing spheres as shown (for the attachment of the towing ropes or
warps), and serve in place of the ordinary slings or metal brackets of the "otter"
boards. Each bracket consists of two rods a or a that take the place of the

page_text: move
chains J or J and are coupled at one end to an eye-bolt J the shank of which
extends through a hole in the board B or sphere C and is provided with a volute
or spiral spring b. The outer end of each rod a or a is coupled to the towing
chain or warp, so that the said brackets are not rigid but are free to
through a small angle. The pull or stress first passes through the spring brackets
and then through the inflator-boards or upright beams or the spheres to the net,
and by means of the various attachments is distributed equally over the whole
net.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is:-
First. The employment of self-righting inflator-boards or upright beams
attached to the sides or wings of a trawl-net, substantially as hereinbefore
described, and for the purposes specified.
Second. An inflator-board or upright beam for a trawl-net, mounted upon a
balancing sphere or other suitably weighted or ballasted rounded body, substan-
tially as herein before described and for the purposes specified.
Third. The employment, in a trawl-net, of wing-inflators secured in the sides
or wings of the net next the inflator-boards or upright beams, for the purpose
above specified.
Fourth. Trawl-gear comprising inflator-boards or upright beams mounted upon
balancing spheres provided with removable wearing pieces or shoes, for the pur-
poses above specified.
Fifth. A trawl-net provided with self-righting upright beams and with wing-
inflators, substantially as, and for the purposes, herein before described.
Sixth. An inflator-board for a trawl-net having grooves or corrugations in the
part thereof in advance of the point or points of attachment of the towing chains
or warps, for the purposes above specified.
Seventh. An inflator-board or upright beam for a trawl-net, provided with
means for changing the points of attachment of the towing chains or warps, to
vary the sheer of the said board or beam and the slip of the water, substantially
as herein before described.
Eighth. A trawl-net provided with our improved gear constructed substantially
as described with reference to Figures 5 and 6 of the drawings, for the purposes
above specified.
Ninth. Trawl-gear wherein the towing chains or warps are secured to the
inflator-boards or upright beaus through the medium of spring brackets, substan-
tially as described with reference to Figures 7 and 8 of the drawings, for the
purposes above specified.
Dated the 5th day ar
D. YOUNG & Co..
11 and 12, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicants.