Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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My invention relates to apparatus for preparing
fishing bait and particularly the herring strips which are
so popular with salmon fishermen.
Herring strips must be very carefully cut from the
bait fish if they are to be effective in simulating a
, wounded small fish likely to cause a salmon to strike. Manyfishermen lack the skill, or indeed the patience, to follow
; the numerous prescribed steps for cutting side slices from
the herring and subsequently dressing the slices as the more
particular fishermen do. Commercial suppliers of fishing
bait must cut up tons of herring to supply the demands of
their customers and this is a time consuming and tedious
task to perform by hand as it is usually done.
; I offer a solution to this long-standing problem
by providing a machine for reducing herring into bait strips.
The machine is operable by one man who can quickly and
easily process the large quantities of bait fish which
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normally are required by a commercial establishment such as
a marina or guide service.
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More specificall~, apparatus for cutting bait
strips from bait fish according to the present invention
comprises a frame, opposing cutters mounted on the frame for
~i movement between open and closed positions, operating means ;~
for opening and closing the cutters, said cutters having
corresponding blades arranged to cut through the bait fish
from opposite sides thereof whereby to separate a selected
~ body portion from other unwanted portions of said fish.
!~1 In drawings which illustrate a preferred embodiment
JI~ of the invention; -
Figure 1 is a front elevation of my bait cutting
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apparatus,
Figure 2 is a perspective view of a pair of
cutters of the apparatus,
Figure 3 is an enlarged vertical section taken on
the line 3-3 of Figure 1 and showing the pair of cutters
closed upon a bait fish,
Figure 4 is a perspective view of a body portion `
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of a bait fish as produced by the pair of cutters, and
Figure 5 is a horizontal section taken on the line -~
5-5 of Figure 1 and showing side-slicing blades and associated
parts of the present apparatus.
Referring to the drawings, the numeral 10 indicates ~,
generally bait cutting apparatus in accordance with the ;;
~ present invention. Appparatus 10 comprises a frame generally :
? 15 indicated at 11 and including a base 12 on which a plate 14
~ is mounted. The rectangular plate 14 is fitted on opposite ; ~;
;1 sides with guide posts 15 which are connected at their upper ~ ;
ends by a horizontal bar 16. ;
~` Slidably mounted on the guide posts 15 is another ;
~ 20 plate 18 which is disposed parallel to the stationary or
'I fixed lower plate 14 carried by the base 12. The plates 14
, and 18 are fitted with cutters 20 and 21 respectively.
j As shown best in Figure 2, the cutter 20 has a
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straight side blade 24 twhich may be some five and one half
inches long), a relatively short end blade 25 disposed at
~, and acute angle to the former blade, and another side blade
,, 26 which extends from the end blade for a short distance
~arallel to the first side blade and then curves inwardly to
join said side blade near one end of the plate 14. The
blades 24, 25 and 26 are perpendicular to the face of the ~ ~
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plate 14 and are removabl'y secure in this position by screws
27 which extend through flanges 28, 29 and 30 provided on
the lower edges of the blades. Thus, the three blades of
the cutter 20 are removable so that their cutting edges can :~
. 5 readilv be sharpened or the individual blades can be replaced
if damaged. ~
Figure 2 also shows that the cutter 21 is of : .
substantially the same construction, viz., it has blades 32, .
. 33 and 34 secured to the base of the upper plate 18 by
. 10 screws 35 which extend through flanges 36, 37 and 38.
The opposing cutters 20 and 21 are adapted to cut
through a fish in a prescribed manner and, for this purpose,
are moved between the open position shown on Figure 1 to the ~-
closed position shown in Figure 3. The several blades of
15 the cutter 21 move parallel to corresponding blades of the -:: :
cutter 20 during the opening and closing movements of the
cutters and the several cutting edges of the blades do not :
quite touch when the cutters are fully closed as shown in
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Figure 3. .: .
In order to open and close the cutters, apparatus
. 10 is provided with operating means generally indicated at ~.
45. Figure 1 shows best that a preferred means 45 comprises
a hydraulic cylinder 46 which has one end secured by a pin
:~ 47 to a brac]cet 48 depending rom the underside of the top `~ -
bar 16. The vertically depending cylinder 46 has a piston
rod 50 and the lower end of this rod is secured by a pin 51
to a bracket 52 carried by the upper face of the movable . ~ :~
plate 18. Opposite ends of the cylinder 46 are connected by
hoses 54 and 55 into a suitable hydraulic circuit (not
.. j 30 otherwise shown) which includes a valve controlled by the :
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operator of the apparatus.
The bait cutting apparatus so far described is ,
operated to cut up herring to provide a portion which is
later sliced into strips suitable for use as bait while
trolling for salmon and the like. In Figure 4, such a body
portion of a bait fish is indicated at 60 and I find that ; ;
the apparatus works best when the fish are frozen hard
before being initially reduced so that they can easily be `
handled and cut through by the stamping action of the -
10 cutters. ~;
A frozen herring is placed on its side suitably
positioned on top of the fixed cutter 20. The operator
carefully arranges the fish to position the head so that it
projects just beyond the end blades 25 and 33 as shown in
15 Figure 3. The tail of the fish projects beyond the meeting
ends of the several side blades and the amount of this
projection, of course, will depend on the length of the ;
herring. The back of the fish projects a short distance
laterally beyond the vertically aligned side blades 24 and
20 32. Similarly, a strip extending along the belly of the
~ish projects laterally beyond the vertically aligned blades
26 and 34.
, When the operator trips the control valve, the
` cylinder 46 is pressurized to close and open the cutters ;~
7~ 25 with a stamping action. This results in the head and tail
being cut off as well as strips being cut from the back and
belly of the fish leaving the body portion 60 of the fish as
shown in Figure 4. In Figure 4, the body portion 60 will be
I seen to have a top flat 61, a front flat 62, and a bottom
3 30 flat 63 which curves upwardly towards what was formerly the
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tail of the fish. The spine 64 of the fish is left intact
and the frozen viscera 65 usually remains in the stomach ~-
cavity. In other words; the blades 25 and 33 cut off the
head of the fish, the side blades 24 and 32 co-operate to
form the top flat 61 and the side blades 26 and 34 oppose
; one another to cut off the tail and form the bottom flat
63. -
Referring again to Figure 2, the three blades
making up the cutter 20 will be seen to provide a cavity 70
above the face of the plate 14. A similar cavity 72 is
provided by the blades of the cutter 21 below the face of
` the plate 18. Normally the body portion 60 would tend to -~
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stick within either the cavity 70 or the cavity 72 when the `
two cutters are moved apart or to the open position by the
operating means 45 but I overcome this tendency by providing
the present apparatus with ejection means 75. ~--
Figure 2 shows the means 75 as comprising a
;i resilient pad 76, preferably foam rubber, which partially
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' fills the cavity 70. A similar pad 77 is bonded within the
`l 20 cavity 72.
~ Thus, when the cutters 20 and 21 are moved apart,
;~ the body portion 60 is ejected from the cavity by the pads
which were previously compressed by the body portion 60 when
the cutters were closed. Portion 60 can then be lifted free
of the pad 76 upon which it rests when the cutters are
~, apart.
, A suitable number of herring are cut up in this
manner to provide a supply of the body portion 60 which are ` ~ ;-
~ then sliced through by another part of the present apparatus
;`i 30 which will now be described. In Figures 1 and 5, the plate
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12 of the frame will be seen to support a pair of rails 90
and slidably mounted on these rails is a carriage 91. A
~; handle 92 on the carriage allows the operator of the apparatus
^~ to run the carriage back and forth on the rails between a
loading position which is shown by dotted lines in Figure 5
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, and a cutting position which is shown by solid lines in
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~igure 5. The cutting position is determined by stop 94 ;
'~ which is fitted to the plate 12 to be engaged by a side of
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the carriage opposite the handle 92.
Near the handle 92, a carriage is fitted with a ~
, 10 fixed fence 97 which is spaced a suitable distance from a ~-
, movable fence 98. Fence 98 is secured to the ends of rods
99 which slidably project through openings 100 formed in a
vertical flange 101 mounted on the carriage.
; On either side of the rails 90, channel-like
15 guides 104 are mounted on the base plate 12. These guides
carry slides 105 which inwardly projecting arms 106 are
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'~ mounted. Adjusting screws 107 are threadably secured to the
j inner ends of the arms 106 in alignment with the rods 99.
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The plate 12 is provided with spaced brackets 110
and a pivot pin 11 extends through these brackets. One end
of a blade 114 is pivotally secured to the pin 111, the
blade extending across the rails 90 so that the free end of ~
~ the blade can slide up and down between arcuate guide posts `~-
;~I 115 fixebly mounted on the plate 12.
Another blade 118 is pivotally mounted on the
~` PiVot pin 111 to extend parallel to the blade 114. The pin
111 slidably projects through a hole 119 formed in one end
~¦ of the blade 118 so that said blade can be moved towards and
away from the fixed blade 97. An opposite end of the blade
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118 is received between guide posts 120 which project
upwardly from the slide 105 to slidably support the free end
of the blade 118. ~:
It will be appreciated that the several parts of
-` 5 the present invention which are shown in Figure 5 provide
the apparatus 10 with means generally indicated at 120 for
clamping a body portion 60 as it is sliced through by the
` blades 114 and 118. Means 120, of course, comprises the
. fences 97 and 98 mounted on the carriage 91. Slides 105 and
10 associated parts provide the apparatus 10 with means generally :
.. indicated at 122 for supporting the blade 118 so that it can
. be moved towards and away from the blade 114. The screws
~`i 107 which serve as abutments for the rods 99 provide the
:. apparatus 10 with adjusting means generally indicated at 124
15 enabling the blade 118 to be spaced a suitable distance from ~ .
`, the blade 114, a distance determined by the thickness of a ~-.
particular body portion 60. .` :
~` The slide means 122 urged towards the handle end
of the carraige 91 by spring means generally indicated at : ~ ~
126 in Figure 5. Preferably, the means 126 comprises a pair :: :
` o~ tension springs 127 which secure the arms 106 to vertical
flanges o~ the channel-like guides 104. This arrangement : : .
`, normally maintains the bl.ade 118 at a minimum spacing from ~
.` the blade 114. : : .
`i 25 The blades 114 and 118 are adapted to be moved ,~
` scissor-fashion with respect to the carriage 90 by operating
.! . :::! means generally indicated at 130, see particularly Figure ~:
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:~ 1. The means 130 is shown in Figure 1 to comprise another ~;
hydraulic cylinder 132 which may also depend from the under- ~
side of the top bar 16. A pin 133 is shown connecting this
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cylinder to a bracket 134 on the underside of the bar 16.
The vertically disposed cylinder 132 has a piston rod 137
and the lower end of this rod is attached by a pin 138
interconnecting the blades 114 and 118. It will be noted in
Figure 5 that pin 138 slidably extends through an opening - -
139 in the blade 118 so that said blade can move towards and
away from the blade 114. Opposite ends of the cylinder 132
are connected into the same hydraulic circuit by hoses 140
, and 141 and a separate control valve (not shown) is provided
in the circuit for swinging the blade up and down.
- To operate this part of the apparatus 10; the
person cutting bait takes a body portion 60, which by this
time may be slightly thawed, and places the portion bottom
flat 63 down on th~ carriage 91 which has been withdrawn to
the loading position. The portion 60 is placed against the
fixed fence 97 as shown in Figure 5 whereupon the carriage
is pushed in until it abuts the stop 94. Just before the ~-~
`~ carriage is brought to a halt by the stop 94, the rods 99
engage the screws 107 so that the slides 105 are moved a ,~
.J~ 20 short distance along the side channels 104. Thus, the blade ~`
118 i shifted away from the blade 114 a distance determined
~1 by the thickness of the body portion 60 of the fish and that
'! portion is then correctly positioned directly beneath the
two parallel blades 114 and 118 which are then in the raised
or upwardly inclined positions shown in Figure 1. The
I operator then pressurizes the cylinder 132 to swing the
,~1 blades down and execute the cuts indicated by the chain
`! dotted lines 145 in Figure 4. This removes side slices 146
from the body portion 60 and it is these side slices which
are used for bait. The slices 146, of course, still have
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the scales thereon which attract the game fish. The remainder
of the fish containing the spine 64 and viscera 65 is
considered waste and is discarded.
~ From the foregoing, it will be apparent I have
- 5 provided a mechanism which will greatly decrease the time
and effort required to prepare a large number of bait strips
by hand. The resulting strips taper slightly from one end
to the other and have scales on one side and flesh on the
other as is desirable for bait. Some fishermen prefer to
trim or finish each stip using a sharp hand knife but this
is not absolutely essential and the herring strips may be
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~ used in the condition they are discharged from the apparatus.
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