Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 02380704 2002-03-22
"Environmental Friendly Lead-Free Fishing Weight Alloys"
Background of the Invention
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fishing weight and, more particularly, to
an
environmentally safe fishing weight,
For many years fishing weights have been made of Lead. They are made in
various sizes
such as 1 ounce, 2 ounces, etc., and are used to prevent fishing lines, hooks
and nets from
floating on the top of the water. The weights cause the lines, hooks and nets
to remain below
the water surface. The weights often drop to the bottom of the sea.
There exists a real danger of Lead poisoning and or contamination, due to
handling and use
of such Lead fishing weights and the proximity of Lead weights to fishing
tackle and caught fish.
There also exists the danger of Lead contamination in the water, due to lost
of Lead weights.
Fishermen frequently handle Lead weights and their catch with Lead
contaminated hands. In
addition, Lead fishing weights stored around the house, in basements or sheds,
are a health
hazard to children who will find and play with then or put them in their
mouth.
An alternative much more safer fishing weights, such as this invention, will
reduce the
dangers of Lead contamination permanently.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Traditionally, Lead weight has been used as fishing weight to prevent fishing
lines, hooks
and nets from floating on the top of t:he water. The weights cause the lines,
hooks and nets to
t
below the water surface. The function of the weight is to sink to the bottom
of the sea. There
CA 02380704 2002-03-22
are various types of fishing weights in the market. The most common one is
Lead weight,
which is still being used in fishing. There are concerns, when an angler loses
a Lead weight in
the water, the Lead slowly releases toxins into the surrounding environment,
depending on the
levels of nitrates, chlorine and oxygen in the water. Lead also poses a
serious threat to
waterfowl that ingest the lead weights or absorb the toxin through the water.
Lead levels also
pose some threat to recreationalists who routinely use the water for
sport/recreation. Polluted
sediments are accumulating bacteria and toxins, degrading the quality of the
aquatic bottom
dwellers, such as crabs, shrimp, oysters, clams and shellfish, making them
unfit for human
consumption.
In recent years, many environmental friendly fishing weight products have been
developed.
To name a few of them, such as: Thermal Plastics, Tungsten Composites, Glass
Beads, Steel,
Brass, Zinc Alloys, Ceramic Composite and Iron-Ferrite-filled Polymer-based
Composite. All
of these materials are now being used to make the environmental friendly
fishing weights.
These new materials are not usually available and they are quite expensive in
the market.
It is desirable for this new environmental friendly fishing weights to aid in
similar
performance comparable to Lead Fishing Weights, and yet, do not cause
significant impact on
the price of these new inventions.
Summary of the lnvention
To achieve the foregoing and other advantages, the present invention, briefly
described, provides
a Tin-based compositions for one of its objects an improved fishing weight
which poses no
danger of Lead contamination.
Another object of the present invention is the provision of an improved
fishing weight which is
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environmentally safe.
Another object of the present invention is the provision of an improved
fishing weight which
will not violate the environment even if its surface is chipped or cracked.
The alloy composition comprises Tin, Copper, Silver, Antimony and/or Zinc. The
said alloy
compositions are for making of environmental friendly fishing weights.
The above brief description sets forth rather broadly the more important
features of the present
invention in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be
better understood, and
in order that the present contributions to the art may be better appreciated.
There are, of course,
additional features of the invention that will be described hereinafter and
will form the subject
matter of the claims appended hereto.
In this respect, before explaining the preferred embodiments of the invention
in detail, it is to be
understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details
of the construction
and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following
description. The invention
is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in
various ways. Also,
it is to be understood, that the phraseology and terminology employed herein
are for the purpose
of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception, upon
which this disclosure is
based, may readily be utilized as a basis for designing other structures,
methods and systems for
carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It is important,
therefore, that the
claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they
do not depart from
the spirit and scope of the present invention.
Further, the purpose of the foregoing Abstract is to enable the Canadian
Intellectual Property
OfFce (CIPO) and the public generally, and especially the scientists,
engineers and practitioners
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in the art who are not familiar with patent or legal terms of phraseology, to
determine quickly
from a cursory inspection the nature and essence of the technical disclosure
of the application.
Accordingly, the Abstract is neither intended to define the invention or the
application, which
only is measured by the claims, nor is it intended to be limiting as to the
scope of the invention
m any way.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a new and
improved composition for
environmental friendly fishing practice, which has all of the advantages of
the prior art and none
of the disadvantages.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a new and improved
alloy compositions
for environmental friendly Lead-free fishing weights, which may be efficiently
manufactured
and marketed.
An even further object of the present invention is to provide a new and
improved alloy
compositions for environmental friendly Lead-free fishing weights, which is
susceptible of a low
cost of manufacture with regard to both materials and labor, and which
accordingly is then
susceptible of low prices of sale to the consuming public, thereby making such
alloy
compositions available to the buying public.
Still yet a further object of the present invention is to provide a new alloy
compositions for
Lead-free fishing weights, which is easily moldable to any physical forms.
These together with still other objects of the invention, along with the
various features of novelty
which characterize the invention, are pointed out with particularity in the
claims forming a part
of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating
advantages and the
specific objects attained by its uses, reference should be made to the
following detailed
description of the preferred embodiments of the invention.
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Description of the preferred )Embodiment
The present invention entails the use of a Tin alloy to form the fishing
weight. If a fishing
weight made of Tin alloy is exposed to fresh water or salt water, there will
be a chemical
reaction between the water and metal alloy, forming the inter-metallic
compound(s), but there
will be no toxic contamination. Should the surface be damaged in usage,
resulting in bare
metal exposure, there will be no environmental or human endanger merit as
would be the case
with Lead fishing weights.
The preferred seven (7) formula from which the fishing weights of the present
invention are
made can be summarized as below:
Formula Balance 0.1%-3.5% Silver
1: Tin
Formula Balance 0.1 %-1.0% Copper
2: Tin
Formula Balance 0.1%-3.9% Silver 0.1%-1.0%
3: Tin Copper
Formula Balance 0.1%-2.0% Silver 0.1%-1.0%
4: Tin Copper
Formula Balance 0.1%-50.0% Antimony
5: Tin
Formula Balance 0. L %-5.0% Zinc
6: Tin
Formula 100.0%
7: Tin
Formula Balance 0.1%-5.0% Nickel
8: Tin
Formula Balance 0.1%-5.0% Nickel 0.1%-1.0%
9: Tin Copper
The above-mentioned nine (9) Tin-based alloy metals are melted at
approximately from 220°C to
232°C, and injected into a steel mold under high pressure, i.e. over
800 lb./inch2 in any well
known state-of the-art die casting machine. With the use of currently
available,
well-maintained equipment, up-to-date technology, highly skilled labor and
close inspection,
solid Tin alloy castings with excellent surface finish and minimum porosity
may be obtained.
As the castings are removed from the mold, they are quenched in a special
solution (any
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well-known and existing solution) to prevent corrosion. They are then manually
pick-up and
prepared for finishing.
While the present invention has been fully described above with particularity
and detail in
connection with what is presently deemed to be the most practical and
preferred examples) of
the invention, it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that
many modifications
thereof may be made without departing from the principles and concepts set
forth herein.
Hence, the proper scope of the present invention should be determined only by
the broadest
interpretation of the appended claims so as to encompass all such
modifications.
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