Game imitating the catching of fish by plug casting
A fishing apparatus comprising a horizontally extending fish support, one or more flat, relatively thin fish-shaped members releaseably mounted on the fish support, each fish-shaped member having a tapered mouth at on end thereof and a circular snare opening connecting to the mouth through a guide slot, a cast-over bar supported behind the fish support in spaced parallel relation, the fish support and cast-over bar being made of floatable material, a casting line, a plug adapted to be connected to the end of the casting line so that the plug and line can be cast over the fish-shaped members and the cast-over bar, each plug being made of resilient material and being provided with a nose piece adjacent to the connection of the line to the plug, the nose piece being receivable in the snare opening, whereby, when the plug is pulled into the circular snare opening and the line is pulled thereafter, the fish-shaped member will be pulled away from the fish support in a manner simulating the catching of fish in actual water.
This application discloses an invention which is an improvement over the invention set forth in my prior U.S. Pat. No. 5,094,461, issued Mar. 10, 1992, on “Fishing Game Apparatus.” This application is also a continuation in part of my prior co-pending application Ser. No. 11/903,701, filed on Sep. 25, 2007, which in turn is a continuation of my prior co-pending application Ser. No. 11/788,271 filed on Apr. 19, 2007.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus or device which can be used to simulate fishing. More particularly, the apparatus of the present invention includes one or more artificial fish which are temporarily retained on a support and which are removed from the support using an operation which is similar to the action of fishing by casting a plug. The present application adds to application Ser. No. 11/788,271 the subject matter in four main areas:
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- (1) The game is provided with new supporting structure for the game itself as well as the game board;
- (2) The game board is supported in a slightly different manner from the new support;
- (3) The support for the game is modified such that parts of the game apparatus can be filled with floatable material so that the supporting structure can float on the surface of the water in which case the game board and wallpaper are omitted; and,
- (4) The mouth piece for snaring the fish (as opposed to the mouth for the fish per se) is separable from the fish.
2. Prior Art
There are numerous games or devices wherein “fish” are involved as game pieces or tokens. However, the prior art does not disclose a fishing device or apparatus of the type disclosed herein. Actually, the closest prior art is set forth in applicant's own patent and the two pending applications all referred to above.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention involves a fishing device or apparatus wherein one or more flat vertical objects resembling fish are arranged in a horizontal row along a support. Each “fish” is provided with a releaseable holding means for connecting the fish to its support. In one form of the invention, the releaseable holding means consists of circular support openings in the fish, the support openings being removeably received on or over a button or grommet, which, in turn, is received in a slot on the fish support; other releaseable holding means include spaced clips mounted on the fish support and forming slots for receiving the sides of the fish shaped member therein. Other releaseable holding means can be strips or patches of VELCRO or even magnets. Each fish is also provided with an inclined entrance opening at the forward end of the fish. The center portion of each entrance opening is provided with a guide slot which connects with a circular snare opening located near the mouth of the fish. For the purpose of catching the fish, the would-be fisherman, or player, will utilize a casting rod with a winding reel, which form no part of this invention. The end of the line which connects with the fishing rod and the reel, however, will be provided with a plug which cooperates with the circular snare opening immediately below (or behind) the entrance opening of the fish. The plug is made of resilient material, such as rubber or plastic, and is provided with a nose piece adjacent the connection of the line to the plug. This nose piece is tapered from a diameter of smaller size than the snare opening in the fish to a diameter slightly larger than the diameter in the snare opening. Immediately beyond the larger diameter of the nose piece, the plug is provided with a recess so that when the plug is pulled into the snare opening, the nose piece will squeeze through the opening until the sides of the opening are lodged in the recess. Further pulling on the line will pull the fish off the support and the fish is now “caught”.
In order to assist the fisherman in directing his line into the guide slot and circular snare opening of each fish, the support is located to the rear of an essentially vertical game board or surface which includes at least one vertical gap which is ultimately in alignment with the guide slot in the fish. In one form of the invention, the game board is provided with a single vertical gap extending between two doors which are mounted for swinging opening movement along vertical hinge axes. The entire game board including the surfaces of the two doors is provided with a plastic film, or “wallpaper” on which scenes from a lake or seaside are depicted to provide reality to the game. The upper edges of the game board are tapered inwardly on opposite sides of the gap so that a fisherman, if he gets his line over the upper end of the game board, can manipulate the line, by sidewise tugging, into the gap.
In another form of the invention the game board comprises a plurality of doors which are mounted for swinging opening movement along horizontal hinge axes. A vertical gap is provided between each pair of adjacent doors. An optional flexible and adjustable plastic loop can be located at the upper end of the game board to provide a target for the fisherman to cast his plug between the loop and the upper end of the game board. This target loop can be inverted to provide a long distance casting target. The fish are mounted on a horizontal support behind and parallel to the game board. The guide slots in the fish are in alignment with the gaps in the game board.
Other variations in the invention include a new supporting structure for the game itself as well as the game board which permits the frame of the game to be impaled into the ground; the support for the game is modified such that parts of the game apparatus can be filled with floatable material so that the supporting structure can float on the surface of the water in which case the game board and wallpaper are omitted; and the mouth piece for snaring the fish (as opposed to the mouth for the fish per se) is separable from the fish.
Referring to the drawings in detail,
The horizontal member 22 is provided with rearwardly extending horizontal legs 34 and forwardly extending horizontal legs 36. These legs are received at opposite ends of a pocket 38 which is formed at the bottom of the member 22. Each pocket 38 is provided with a pair of slots 30 which cooperate with ridges 32 on the legs 34 and 36 in much the same manner as vertical support 26 cooperates with its pocket 28.
The game board 20 has associated therewith a pair of doors 40 and 42 which are connected to the vertical supports 26 so as to swing hingedly with respect thereto. That is, the vertical uprights 26 (see now
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As best shown in
The doors 40 and 42 are covered with plastic film or sheets 116 and 118, which can sometimes be referred to as “wallpaper.” The purpose of the film 116 and 118 is to provide a design thereon which will simulate that appearance of a lake or other fishing location. Preferably, the films 116 depict an above water scene whereas the films 118 depict a scene below the water.
The manner in which the fish 90 of the present invention are snared or caught will now be described in relation to
Turning now to
The game board 150 in
In the embodiment shown in
In
In the position shown in
In order to support the game board 150 from the structure, a horizontal connecting pipe 202 extends forward (to the left as it appears in
Referring now to
Referring now to
Referring back to
When casting for fish using the arrangement shown in
Whereas the present invention has been described in particular relation to the drawings attached hereto, it should be understood that other and further modifications of the present invention, apart from those shown or suggested herein, may be made within the spirit and scope of this invention. No particular claim or significance should be attached to the materials employed in the various components of the invention. Purely for purposes of explanation and completeness, the fish 90 can be made from a thin plastic material such as 020″ PVC/Vinyl. Fish graphics can be applied to one or both sides of the fish by decal or screen printing. The plug 124 can be made by injection molding using a soft rubber or plastic material.
The tubing 106 can be polyethylene tubing, for example. The tubing and other structural elements shown in
The game board 20 and base member 22 can be made of ABC plastic ⅛″ thick. The tubes 60 and associated connections can be made from PVC plastic tubing. The “wallpaper” 116 and the coverings for the various doors can be made from graphics decal sheets. The doors themselves can be made from PVC plastic sheets @0.020″ thickness with graphics decals attached.
The fish can be attached to their supports by several different kinds of releaseable holding means; for example the releaseable holding means can be grommets, or clips or VELCRO strips as shown herein, However, other releaseable holding means could be employed such as magnets (not shown), adhesive (not shown), adhesive strips (not shown) or suction cups (not shown).
Claims
1. A fishing apparatus comprising
- a horizontally extending fish support;
- a horizontally extending cast-over back bar connected to the fish support and extending in spaced parallel relation thereto;
- the fish support and back bar being made floatatable so that the fish support and back bar can float on the surface of water;
- one or more flat, relatively thin fish shaped members, each having the outline of a fish and each having an upper end forming an angled mouth and a lower end resembling the tail of a fish, each fish shaped member having a circular snare opening therein mounted directly below the mouth of the fish shaped member and a guide slot leading from the mouth of the fish-shaped member to the circular snare opening, each fish shaped member being connected to the fish support by a releaseable holding means,
- a casting line,
- a plug adapted to be connected to the end of the casting line so that the plug and line can be cast over the back bar and the angled mouths of the fish shaped members, each plug being made of resilient material and being provided with a nose piece adjacent to the connection of the line to the plug, the nose piece tapering outwardly from a diameter of smaller size than the circular snare opening in the fish shaped member where the plug connects to the line to a diameter slightly larger than the diameter of the snare opening in the fish-shaped member, the plug being provided with a recess beyond the larger diameter of the nose piece so that, when the plug is pulled into the circular snare opening in the fish-shaped member, the nose piece will squeeze through the opening until the sides of the opening are received in the recess of the plug, so that pulling on the line after the plug has been received in the circular snare opening will cause the fish shaped member to pull against the releaseable holding means to release the fish-shaped member from the fish support.
2. A fishing apparatus as set forth in claim 1 further including
- a vertical support having an upper end and a lower end;
- the upper end of the vertical support being connected to the horizontal fish support;
- the lower end of the vertical support supporting the fishing apparatus from the ground;
- a horizontal supporting pipe located forward and below the horizontal fish support and parallel thereto;
- the horizontal supporting pipe having an inclined flat surface which extends for the length of pipe;
- a horizontal connecting pipe extending from the vertical support and at right angles thereto to the horizontal supporting pipe at right angles thereto;
- a flat, essentially upright game board having an upper end and a lower end;
- the upper end of the game board resting against the horizontal fish support and over the fish thereon;
- the lower end of the game board resting against the inclined flat surface and being adhesively connected thereto;
- the game board having a gap therein which is in alignment with the guide slot in the fish shaped member, the gap in the game board being disposed between a pair of doors which are mounted on hinge axes for swinging movement when a fish-shaped member is pulled against the doors,
- the game board being tapered inwardly on opposite sides of the gap so that a fisherman, if he gets his line over the upper end of the game board, can manipulate the line by sideways tugging into the gap and thereafter into the guide slot, and continued pulling on the line will cause the fish shaped member to be released from the fish support and to spring out through the hinged doors in a manner simulating the catching of fish in actual water.
3. A fishing apparatus as set forth in claim 2 wherein the game board is provided with
- a flexible and adjustable plastic loop located at the upper end of the game board to provide a target for the fisherman to cast the plug between the loop and the upper end of the game board.
4. A fishing apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein each fish is provided with
- a separable mouth piece adhesively attached to the upper end of the fish;
- the separable mouth piece having therein the snare opening and the guide slot.
Type: Application
Filed: Dec 17, 2007
Publication Date: Oct 23, 2008
Inventor: Arlen J. Lowrance (Tulsa, OK)
Application Number: 12/002,221
International Classification: A63F 9/00 (20060101);