Patents Examined by Darren Ark
  • Patent number: 6158164
    Abstract: A fishing bobber for releasable attachment to fishing line comprising a forward and a rearward portion forming a buoyant member with an elongated staff on a forward end and an aerodynamic fairing on a rearward end with all elements aligned along a longitudinal axis. There is present an integral weight cast into the forward portion. Both portions and the weight are cast from similar material in a common mold. The bobber is provided with weight and an aerodynamic form to promote casting distance. The bobber assumes a horizontal position upon the surface of the water and is capable of accepting metallic lures of minimal weight while remaining in a horizontal attitude on the water, thereby maintaining a high degree of sensitivity inherent in a fishing bobber of elongated design.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 1999
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2000
    Inventors: Kenneth Richard Mack, Eugene Joseph Rozmenoski
  • Patent number: 6105302
    Abstract: In a fishing rod having a reel seat on a rod pipe, the fishing rod has a finger trigger on the side which is opposite to the side where the reel seat is provided, in such a manner that the finger trigger is so positioned and configured as to allow an angler to cast the fishing line while palming the fishing rod and a reel mounted on the reel seat with one hand.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 1996
    Date of Patent: August 22, 2000
    Assignee: Daiwa Seiko, Inc.
    Inventors: Shigeru Yamamoto, Teiji Matsubara, Mitsuyoshi Oyama
  • Patent number: 6105306
    Abstract: A portable electronic insect-killing device includes a handle connected to an insulating frame which has top and bottom frame portions, and a plurality of negative and positive bare wires which extend alternately from the top to bottom frame portions in a plane. The top frame portion has a front surface adjacent and parallel to the plane of the wires, and a plurality of shallow recesses in the surface to receive the negative and positive wires. Adjacent shallow recesses are spaced apart from each other via deep isolating valleys which are indented from the front surface to a depth greater than the depth of the shallow recesses. The shallow recesses and deep isolating valleys have substantially the same length along the direction of the bare wires so that the top frame portion is free of any part to bridge adjacent shallow recesses, thereby preventing possible occurrence of short-circuiting when the surface of the top frame portion is wetted.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 1998
    Date of Patent: August 22, 2000
    Inventor: Hsi-Hsiung Teng
  • Patent number: 6099452
    Abstract: A stacker and cart are provided for vertically stacking forms fed from a printer, folder, or other mechanism, by a conveyor, which do not require tilting of the cart to allow offloading of the forms. The stacker has a housing with side walls parallel to and spaced from each other in a first dimension and a base which mounts the side walls so that they are inclined with respect to the vertical (e.g. about 15 degrees), tilted in a second dimension perpendicular to the first. A number of forms-supporting stacker tines are parallel to and spaced from each other in the first dimension, and an elevator mechanism moves the tines in unison generally vertically with respect to the side walls. A stacker cooperates with a cart, a part sensor mounted on or adjacent the stacker base, and a latch on the cart cooperating with a latching mechanism on the stacker.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 1995
    Date of Patent: August 8, 2000
    Assignee: Moore Business Forms, Inc.
    Inventors: Thomas J. Hoza, James C. Folsom, Robert E. Godfrey
  • Patent number: 6056683
    Abstract: An active stacker which accepts paper through a formed wire guide at the top thereof. The wire guide directs the paper into a drive roller and idler set which pulls the paper from the printer and drives the paper downward so that it drops at about the center of the stack. The paper stacks on a horizontal tray which drops as the weight of the paper thereon increases, so that the top of the accumulated paper stack maintains a substantially constant position. The edges of the paper are packed by fingers which move vertically downward to the ends of the stack. One or more edge or side guides may be provided to prevent the stack from skewing sideways as it builds.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 8, 1997
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2000
    Assignee: Pentax Technologies Corporation
    Inventor: Robert Reider
  • Patent number: 6047495
    Abstract: Spraying tubes (20 . . . ) through each of which a plurality of spraying holes are perforated along the longitudinal axis of each tube are placed in prescribed positions upper than feces boards (10 . . . ) of henhouses; and the spraying tubes (20 . . . ) are connected to agent-supplying means for supplying an agent such as a tank, a pump, etc. and airsupplying means for supplying compressed air such as a compressor, etc. The spraying holes make an angle not smaller than 5 degrees and not greater than 90 degrees as measured downward from the horizontal plane at the time of spraying an agent, in order to make it possible to spray the agent to feces boards (10 . . . ) and feces floor (12). The eggs of pests such as housefly and the like laid on the feces adhering to the feces boards and feces floor can efficiently and certainly be controlled.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 1996
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2000
    Assignee: Novartis Corporation
    Inventors: Syunji Matsumura, Isao Takada, Toshiaki Mima, Kazuo Fukui
  • Patent number: 6032406
    Abstract: An insect trap device comprising a housing, the housing having an interior which is in communication with the atmosphere outside the device, the housing containing:(i) an insect attractant source;(ii) means for generating an ion wind to facilitate dispersal of the insect attractant source into the atmosphere outside the housing; and(iii) insect retaining means.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 1996
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2000
    Assignee: University of Southampton
    Inventors: Philip Edwin Howse, John Farrell Hughes, Graham Leslie Hearn
  • Patent number: 6016621
    Abstract: A fishing rod comprising: a grip handle 2 provided with a reel pedestal fixing device 1, and a fishing rod member 3 having two or more fishing-line-guiding rings 5 fixedly secured to the lower surface thereof. The fishing rod member 3 is connected with and fixedly secured to the leading end of the grip handle 2. The fishing-line-guiding ring 5' located nearest to the grip handle 2 out of said fishing-line-guiding rings 5 is inclined to the side of the grip handle relative to the direction at right angles to the lengthwise direction of the fishing rod member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 8, 1997
    Date of Patent: January 25, 2000
    Inventor: Masashi Maeda
  • Patent number: 6003264
    Abstract: An artificial fly includes a body mounted about the shank of a fish hook between the eye and bend of the fish hook. In one embodiment, the body is flexible and surrounds a rigid insert fixedly mounted to the fish hook. The insert is V-shaped with two spaced side legs connected to a common edge disposed over the shank of the fish hook. Preferably, the side legs extend toward the tip of the fish hook. Attractor designs and color are applied to the exterior of the rigid insert which has an attractor fish shape.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 5, 1998
    Date of Patent: December 21, 1999
    Inventor: Thomas A. Hnizdor
  • Patent number: 6003263
    Abstract: An improved fishing rod of the type having a substantially cylindrical body with a peripheral surface. The improvement is a mark on the body situated so that the circumference of the fishing rod body with the mark thereon simulates the torso of a selected species of fish, with the mark having markings characteristic of markings on the torso of the selected fish species.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 21, 1995
    Date of Patent: December 21, 1999
    Assignee: Zebco Division of Brunswick Corporation
    Inventors: John Michael Thurber, Robert David Bagby
  • Patent number: 5996274
    Abstract: A rodent trap for drowning a plurality of rodents and other small pests without the need for resetting the trap is disclosed. The inventive device includes a ramp engageable to a rim of a conventional pail and a rotating body positionable horizontally within the pail. The pail is partially filled with water or a mixture of water and ethylene glycol in such manner that the rotating body is free to rotate a distance above the water or mixture line. The rotating body includes a cylindrical body rotatably mounted to a shaft in such manner that a rodent or like pest is unable to feed upon a rodent-attracting substance such as peanut butter spread on the cylindrical body without stepping upon the cylindrical body and thereby causing the cylindrical body to rotate and force the rodent or like pest into the water or mixture of water and ethylene glycol.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 1998
    Date of Patent: December 7, 1999
    Inventors: Larry E. Smith, Jeanette Smith
  • Patent number: 5992087
    Abstract: A simple, lightweight, reusable three element trap for attracting and capturing flying insects, especially whiteflies, consists of a transparent enclosure attached to a yellow base with a truncated cone shaped interior for admitting flying insects into the transparent enclosure, and a deflector plate suspended over the top opening of the base to impede the insects' flying out of the trap. The trap does not require bait or adhesives. The flying insects are attracted to the yellow base, land and crawl inside, where they are attracted to the light passing through the transparent enclosure. The insects attempt to fly away, and become trapped inside the trap.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 30, 1999
    Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of Agriculture
    Inventors: Chang-Chi Chu, Thomas J. Henneberry
  • Patent number: 5987801
    Abstract: A folding frame apparatus is provided that contains a removable and pivoting rod clamp employed to hold a ice fishing jig rod in the desired position, and is designed in a manner that it can be used with almost all of the ice fishing jig rods on the market today. The frame of the present invention is constructed in a manner that all joints are pivotal by the use of a wing nut assembly, which allows the frame to be opened or closed as desired by the user. The present invention is also equipped with a signal flag assembly which, when a fish takes the bait, causes the flag to move to an upright position and alerts the fisherman to the presence of a fish.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 1998
    Date of Patent: November 23, 1999
    Inventor: Arne Ray Anderson
  • Patent number: 5983555
    Abstract: A fishing hook remover having a selectively closed loop which protects the fish from trauma and retains the fishing line inside the loop, and further having set limits of optimum travel for its moving parts. The fishing hook remover has a plastic stator body and a plastic armature body which is mounted to the stator body in slidable in relation thereto. The stator body includes a hand rest at its near end and a flat fork at its distal end. The armature body includes a pair of finger holds at its near end, an open loop at its distal end, and a release button therebetween. The stator body includes an internal cavity into which is slidably interfaced the armature body, with the exceptions of the finger holds, the loop and the release button thereof. The armature body is resiliently biased relative to the stator body by a spring within the stator body in a direction toward the distal end thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 1998
    Date of Patent: November 16, 1999
    Inventor: Joseph W. Biel
  • Patent number: 5983557
    Abstract: Provided is a breeding container which is adapted to be lethal to container breeding mosquitoes which contains:a walled structure defining an internal volume, the walled structure being constructed and arranged to contain an aqueous liquid within at least a portion of the internal volume;at least one opening in the walled structure disposed so as to allow mosquitoes to enter the walled structure;mosquito egg laying structure in the internal volume constructed and arranged such that female mosquitoes contact a surface of the mosquito egg laying structure; andan insecticide that is lethal to mosquitoes present in an amount sufficient to kill the female mosquitoes in contact with the surface. Also provided is a lethal mosquito breeding container kit and a method for controlling the population of container breeding mosquitoes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 6, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 16, 1999
    Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army
    Inventors: Michael J. Perich, Brian C. Zeichner
  • Patent number: 5983552
    Abstract: The present invention relates to an animal figure that has utility as a hunting decoy, a lawn ornament, a crop protection device, a museum display piece, and a theatrical prop. The animal figure has a body portion, a head portion attached to the body portion, feet and legs attached to the body portion, and a support frame attached to the feet. The animal figure has a skin over the head and body portions, which skin has a photograph of the animal printed thereon. The animal figure of the present invention may be easily assembled and disassembled for storage and transport. A method for producing the animal figure is also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 16, 1999
    Assignee: Cabela's Inc.
    Inventor: Ronald D. Nelson
  • Patent number: 5970652
    Abstract: An insulated, flexible, canvas container which attaches to a boat when in use. The bag has several parallel, longitudinal fasteners for closing the bag thereby providing means for adjusting the size of the bag to fish of various diameters. The bag has an internal flap which provides a means for shortening the length of the bag. The bag is made from rugged, water-impervious material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 12, 1997
    Date of Patent: October 26, 1999
    Inventor: Scott C. Hohmann
  • Patent number: 5961434
    Abstract: A cluster of twist-ties is formed by arranging twist-ties generally parallel to one another and interconnecting the twist-ties at a common end. The twist-ties are severed proximate the common end so that a person can pull on an opposite, free end of any twist-tie to remove it from the cluster.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 1996
    Date of Patent: October 5, 1999
    Assignee: Twist-Ease, Inc.
    Inventor: James Ray Helseth
  • Patent number: 5960582
    Abstract: The present invention relates generally a device for storing fishing lures such as spinning baits, or spinner baits as they are also known in the art. In more particular, the present invention is directed toward an improved spinning bait storage container wherein the unique configuration of this sort of lure is accommodated by a specially designed individual storage container which prevents the lure from becoming entangled with other lures. The instant invention consists of a generally rectangular box within which are erected barriers that support and restrain the lure when it is placed therein. This arrangements prevents the lure from becoming entangled with other lures, reduces compressive stress on the skirt, and reduces the risk of injury to the fisherman due to exposed fishhooks.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 1997
    Date of Patent: October 5, 1999
    Inventor: John A. Wilkins
  • Patent number: H1865
    Abstract: A lure including a connector member to be attached to a fishing line, and a fish-luring member provided on the connector member. The connector member has a portion made of a shape memory alloy which may exhibit superelasticity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 17, 1997
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2000
    Inventor: Shizuo Aoki