BREAK-AWAY RELEASE LINK

Abstract

A break-away release link that is used as an attachment to at sea fixed gear commercial fishing. The break-away release link is designed to break away at a designated tensile strength when undersea creatures become entangled with this type of commercial fixed fishing gear. The break-away release link attachment can be used in any commercial fishing industry such as lobster, crab, finfish, or other types whereas fixed gear, such as lobster traps or gillnets that are placed upon the ocean floor and are attached by a buoy rope to a surface buoy for retrieval at some later time by the fisherperson. The break-away release link is designed to break away at a tensile strength of between 600 and 3,000 pounds so that sea going creatures who becomes entangled with the buoy rope can easily part the rope and escape serious injury and or death when they are endangered.

Claims

1. A break-away link to releasably connect a first section of buoy line to a second section of buoy line, the break-away link comprising: a first end which is sewn into an eye splice, where the first end attaches to the first section of buoy line; a second end which attaches to the second section of buoy line; wherein the eye splice of the first end includes stitching having a tensile strength between 600 and 3000 pounds.

2. The break-away link of claim 1, wherein the second end attached to the second section of buoy line includes a second eye splice having stitching with a tensile strength between 600 and 3000 pounds.

3. The break-away link of claim 1, wherein the stitching of the eye splice of the first end has a tensile strength of 1700 pounds.

4. The break-away link of claim 2, wherein the stitching of the second eye splice has a tensile strength of 1700 pounds.

5. The break-away link of claim 1, wherein the break-away link is made of the same type of rope as the buoy line.

6. The break-away link of claim 1, wherein the eye splice of the first end is encircled by heat shrink tubing.

7. The break-away link of claim 2, wherein the second eye splice is encircled by heat shrink tubing.

8. The break-away link of claim 1, further comprising at least one imbedded radio frequency identification (RFID) tag.

9. The break-away link of claim 2, wherein the break-away link is made of the same type of rope as the buoy line.

10. The break-away link of claim 3, wherein the break-away link is made of the same type of rope as the buoy line.

11. The break-away link of claim 4, wherein the break-away link is made of the same type of rope as the buoy line.

12. The break-away link of claim 3, wherein the eye splice of the first end is encircled by heat shrink tubing.

13. The break-away link of claim 4, wherein the second eye splice is encircled by heat shrink tubing.

14. The break-away link of claim 2, further comprising at least one imbedded radio frequency identification (RFID) tag.

15. The break-away link of claim 3, further comprising at least one imbedded radio frequency identification (RFID) tag.

16. The break-away link of claim 4, further comprising at least one imbedded radio frequency identification (RFID) tag.

17. The break-away link of claim 5, further comprising at least one imbedded radio frequency identification (RFID) tag.

18. The break-away link of claim 6, further comprising at least one imbedded radio frequency identification (RFID) tag.

19. The break-away link of claim 7, further comprising at least one imbedded radio frequency identification (RFID) tag.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0029] The invention will be further understood from the following description with reference to the attached drawings.

[0030] FIG. 1 is a drawing of a break-away release link according to the present invention.

[0031] FIG. 2 shows the break-away release link usage in a fixed gear trap fishing (lobster) situation.

[0032] FIG. 3 shows the break-away release link usage in a fixed gear gillnet fishing situation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0033] A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be set forth in detail with reference to the drawings, in which like reference numerals refer to like elements or method steps throughout.

[0034] The exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are described and illustrated below for example purposes only. It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that the embodiments discussed below are exemplary in nature and may be reconfigured without departing from the scope and spirit of the present disclosure. However, for clarity and precision, the exemplary embodiments as discussed below may include optional steps, methods, and features that one of ordinary skill should recognize as not being a requisite to fall within the scope of the present disclosure.

[0035] FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the break-away release link 10, between a first section of a buoy line 12 and a second section of a buoy line 14. The first and second section of buoy line 12, 14 is a typical buoy line well known in the art. In this Figure, each section of buoy line is a 3-strand trap buoy line having eye-splices 16 at the end connecting to the break-away release link 10.

[0036] The break-away release link 10 itself includes an eye splice 18 at least at one end. The eye splice 18 can be completed using any method known in the art. In the preferred embodiment shown in FIG. 1, there is an eye splice 18 at each end. Having the sewn eye splice 18 at both ends would double the chances of escape of a trapped sea creature.

[0037] Each eye splice 18 of the break-away release link 10 includes stitching 20 which has a tensile strength of between 600 and 3000 pounds. The preferred maximum break strength of 1700 pounds is the targeted optimal tensile strength. However, the preferred tensile strength can be adjusted as determined necessary by the scientific community to suit various fisheries, locations, working environments or methods.

[0038] The break-away release link 10, splicing materials and any other components can be synthetic in nature and made from any synthetic fiber such as polyester, nylon, polypropylene. polyethylene.

[0039] Or any natural fiber such as cotton, sisal, jute. Or a combination of any two or more of these fibers. Wherever possible, recyclable materials would be used, but this is not essential to the invention.

[0040] The break-away release link 10 can be made with any color, firmness, diameter or length. Ideally, the break-away release link 10 is made using rope that is similar to the buoy line 12, 14. In the preferred embodiment, the break-away release link 10 is approximately 3 feet long, with the at least one eye splice 18 being approximately 4 inches long. The diameter of the break-away release link 10 would be approximately for an offshore fleet, and for an inshore fleet.

[0041] The break-away release link 10 is made in two stages. The first is where rope is made using any braided or twisted method. Then a stitched eye splice 18 is sewn at one or both ends of the length of rope used.

[0042] The commercial fisherperson can easily splice the break-away release link 10 at pre-determined intervals into the buoy lines 12, 14. The most common method of attachment would most likely be using a tuck splice, thus joining the first section of buoy line 12 and the second section of buoy line 14 with the break-away release link 10, but any type of splice known in the art, or even as simple as tying a knot, would suffice. Once the buoy line sections 12, 14 have the break-away release link 10 installed, the system is ready to be put in service.

[0043] The break-away release link 10 may have one or more imbedded radio frequency identification (RFID) tag (not shown), in order to passively provide intellectual information to the scientific community.

[0044] The break-away release link 10, and in particular the eye splice 18 and stitching 20, may have heat shrink tubing (not shown) encircling its components for protection.

[0045] FIG. 2 shows the break-away release link 10 in use between the first section of the buoy line 12 which leads up to a buoy 30, and the second section of buoy line 14 leading to a fixed gear trap 32.

[0046] FIG. 3 shows the break-away release link 10 in use between the first section of the buoy line 12 which leads up to a buoy 30, and the second section of buoy line 14 leading to a fixed gillnet 34.

[0047] Following from the above description, it should be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that, while the methods and apparatuses herein described constitute exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the invention described herein is not limited to any precise embodiment and that changes may be made to such embodiments without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the claims. For example, it would be understood by a person skilled in the art that the second section of buoy line 14 could lead to the buoy 30, and the first section of buoy line 12 could lead to the fixed gear trap 32 or fixed gillnet 34.

[0048] The scope of the claims should not be limited by the preferred embodiments set forth in the examples but should be given the broadest interpretation consistent with the description as a whole. Likewise, it is to be understood that it is not necessary to meet any or all of the identified advantages or objects of the invention disclosed herein in order to fall within the scope of any claims, since the invention is defined by the claims and since inherent and/or unforeseen advantages of the present invention may exist even though they may not have been explicitly discussed herein.

REFERENCE NUMERALS

[0049] 10break-away release link [0050] 12first section of buoy line [0051] 14second section of buoy line [0052] 16buoy line eye splice [0053] 18release link eye splice [0054] 20stitching [0055] 30buoy [0056] 32fixed gear trap [0057] 34fixed gillnet