Improved Spring Suspender for Attachment to Landing Nets, Gaffs, and the like.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 2nd June, 1898
Complete Specification Left, 4th Apr., 1899-Accepted, 2nd June, 1899
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improved Spring Suspender for Attachment to Landing Nets, Gaffs,
and the like.
CHARLES EDWARD CUMMINS, Fishing Tackle Maker, Bishop Auckland, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to a spring suspender for attachment to landing nets,
gaffs and like instruments that are hung from the person when not in use
and require to be easily displaced for, and replaced after, use. My object is to
provide a simple, cheap and efficient means or device for permitting the accom-
plishment of the attachments and detachments with little inconvenience or trouble.
To carry out my object I take or make a bed-plate of a suitable shape, though
perhaps preferable, in the shape of a piece of tubing, or flat plate, projecting
from this bed-plate I provide a hook, which may be of any desirable shape. This
hook is attached to the bed-plate at one end, but is a little distance from it at
the other.
Through a hole made in the attached end of the hook there engages a slide,
which may be moved along the surface of the bed plate, and when in its right
position this slide is so moved along that it blocks and fills up the opening
which had existed between the bed-plate and the unattached end of the hook.
The slide is held in this position by a spiral or other spring.
Thus by exerting power on the spring by moving the slide from the unattached
end of the hook, the ring on the person can be passed into the hook or out from
it very easily, surely and quickly.
Dated this First day of June 1898.
Improved Spring Suspender for Attachment to Landing Nets, Gaffs,
and the like.
I, CHARLES EDWARD CUMMINS, Fishing Tackle Maker, of Bishop Auckland, in
the County of Durham, 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:-
This invention relates to a spring suspender for attachment to landing nets,
gaffs and like instruments that are hung from the person when not in use
and require to be easily displaced for, and replaced after use. My object is to

page_text: provide a simple, cheap and efficient means or device for permitting the accom-
plishment of the attachments and detachments with little inconvenience or trouble.
I will fully describe my invention in reference to the accompanying drawings,
which illustrate two forms or designs of my suspender. Of the various views,
Figs. 1, 2 and 3 are respectively a front elevation, a central vertical section and
a side elevation showing one form applied to a telescopic handle, rod or shaft,
and Figs. 4, 5 and 6 are similar views of the other form fitted to an ordinary
handle, rod or shaft. Figs. 1, 2, 4 and 5 represent the suspender in the closed or
normal position, while Figs. 3 and 6 indicate the open position.
A is a bed-plate which is fixed by screws or otherwise to the handle B of the
instrument and preferably at or towards the end where the net, gaff or other
implement is secured as usual. This bed-plate may be of any convenient shape;
in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 it is in the form of a tube surrounding the handle B, whereas
in Figs. 4, 5 and 6 it is made flat to rest upon the handle. C is a hook provided
upon the bed-plate A so that an opening or gap c results for permitting the
passage to and from the hook of a ring D which is fastened to the ordinary
sling worn over the shoulders of the fisher; or this ring may be
connected to the basket, basket strap or other appropriate part of,
or on, the person. The hook C may be connected to the plate A
by solder, as in the first design, or otherwise; or it may be integral
therewith, as in the other design. E is a slide furnished with an operating
piece and a tongue el passing through a slot in the hook C and made of
sufficient length to reach into the gap or opening c for closing or blocking it
as in Figs. 1, 2, 4 and 5. F is a spiral spring arranged to co-operate with the
slide E in such manner that it returns and retains the tongue e in the opening c
after it has been removed therefrom by the operation of the slide.
The disposition of the slide E and spring I may vary. In Figs. 1, 2 and 3,
the slide is fashioned with a recess or cavity & wherein the spring is situated with
one extremity abutting upon one end of the cavity and the other upon a pin
or projection a of the plate A. According to Figs. 4, 5 and 6, two slots a¹, a²,
divided by a bridge a³, are made in the plate A, while the slide E is formed with
two projections 3, e¹ for entering and moving in the said slots, as illustrated
clearly in Fig. 5. Between the projection and the bridge a³, the spring F
is situated and to maintain it in position a pin f is inserted through one end of
the plate A, the projection e, the bridge a³, the spring itself and the projection c³,
into the other end of the bed-plate.
The motion of the slide E is guided by the arrangement of the tongue e¹, and,
according to the first design, by another tongue passing through a space
enclosed between the plate A and a semi-ring a soldered or otherwise fixed
thereto, and the extent of the reciprocations is determined by the shoulders e, n
coming in contact with the adjacent surface of the hook C in one direction and
of the ring in the other. In the other form of the suspender, in addition to
the tongue e, the alignment of the slide E is preserved by the co-operation of
the projections e³, and the slots a, a, while the amount of the movement one
way is determined by the shoulder e as before, and if desired by the contact
of the projections e³, with the adjacent end of the slot a¹ and the bridge a
respectively, the movement the other way being limited by the projection e
meeting the contiguous end of the slot a³.
The various parts above described may be of brass or other suitable material
or materials.
In the foregoing, I have explained the construction of my suspender, now I
will describe its practical operation.
As will be understood, when the net, gaff or other instrument is out of use,
it hangs from the person by reason of the engagement of the hook C and ring D.
However, on the instrument being required for use, it is only necessary to pull
the slide E by means of the finger-piece e in the direction of the arrow, whereupon
the tongue e¹ is drawn from the gap e, as represented in Figs. 3 and 6, and the

page_text: hook C is free to be detached from the ring D and therefore the instrument from
the person, and when this detachment takes place and the finger-piece e is
released, the slide automatically resumes its original position under the reaction
of the spring F. When it is required to replace the instrument, the slide E
is operated by the finger-piece e as before, or by simply forcing the tongue e¹
and ring 1 together, to admit of the re-engagement of the hook C and ring,
and on releasing the finger-piece, or when engagement is effected, the tongue el
is returned, as already described, and the necessary attachment is efficiently made
and maintained. Thus it will be seen that my improved suspender, means or
device permits the desired attachments and detachments being accomplished with
convenience and expedition.
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:
1. A spring suspender for attachment to landing nets, gaffs and the like com-
prising the combination of a bed-plate that is fixed to the handle, rod or shaft
of the instrument, a hook on the bed plate for engaging and disengaging a ring
fastened to a sling or other convenient part, a slide for controlling the passage
of the ring to and from the hook, and a spring for co-acting with the slide, all
arranged and adapted for use, substantially as set forth.
2. The combination of the various parts together constituting my improved
spring suspender for attachment to landing nets, gaffs and the like, all arranged,
constructed and operating, substantially as and for the purposes herein described
in reference to, and as shown in, Figs. 1, 2 and 3 of the accompanying
drawings.
3. The combination of the various parts together constituting my improved
spring suspender for attachment to landing nets, gaffs, and the like, all arranged,
constructed and operating, substantially as and for the purposes herein described
in reference to, and as shown in, Figs. 4, 5 and 6 of the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 1st day of April 1899.
J. A. HARVEY,
Patent Agent, 3, St. Nicholas' Buildings, Newcastle-on-Tyne.