Berkley & Company, Inc.

Berkley Corporation

Robert L McMickle

James T Rumbaugh

Steven L Grice

Gary B Ader

Robert L Netsch

Danny R Foote

Gary R Oberg

Bradley J Benit

A bail release mechanism for a spinning fishing reel having a spring guided by a drive shoe having no fixed pivot to drive a bail support arm from an open-bail position to a closed-bail position. A ramp integral with a bearing cover on the reel drives a trip spring in the form of a Z-shaped wire which moves the bail support arm from a near-over-center position past an over-center position to a remote non-over-center position. A sliding drive shoe couples a bias spring to the bail support arm to drive the bail support arm to one of the open and closed positions. A manually operable trigger engages the bail support arm to drive the bail support arm to the open position.

Bail release mechanism for a spinning fishing reel

A coupling for fluidly connecting flexible tubing includes a rigid connector and an elastic retaining sleeve. The rigid connector has a main portion and a first and preferably second male end portions projecting therefrom with a fluid passage disposed within the male end portions and the main portion for fluid communication with the flexible tubing. The elastic sleeve member has a connector gripping section that circumferentially grips the main portion of the connector and a first and preferably second section for gripping the flexible tubing. The first and second sections are initially in a retracted position, folded-back over the connector gripping section and are movable to a second tubing-engaging position to grip the tubing. Preferably, handles are attached to the first and second gripping sections of the sleeve proximate their ends so that the sleeve may be gripped manually to facilitate movement of the first and second sections from the retracted position to the tubing-engaging position.

Coupling for flexible tubing

A body implantable intravascular lead with a first layer of plastic defining a tube having a precision lumen therein and at least one electrical conductor wrapped helically along the length of one or more plastic layers. The conductors are substantially parallel along the axis at each end for ease of connection to electrodes and the helical wrap of the conductors may vary throughout the length to form a first length having a first flexibility and a second length having a greater flexibility incapable of sustaining the same axial mechanical loading. The conductive wires are overlaid with one or more layers of plastic separately insulating the wires from each other.

Hollow conductive medical tubing

An artificial fish habitat consisting of individual strands of a buoyant, water impervious material, such as foamed polyethylene or polypropylene, secured to a zinc anchor weight for installation on the bed of a body of water.

Artificial fish habitat

A resilient ferrule cover for joining tapered tubular sections of a fishing rod wherein the ferrule cover is slid over a male ferrule portion with one end of the ferrule cover abutting a female ferrule while covering an exposed portion of the male ferrule and the other end of the ferrule cover abuts a chamfered transition between the male ferrule and its supporting rod segment. After the ferrule is repeatedly assembled, wear of the parts increases, and the ferrule cover, since it is flexible, rides up over the portion of the rod to which the male ferrule is attached, assuring a continued firm ferrule junction while covering the exposed ferrule portion.

Resilient ferrule cover for fishing rods

Fishing rod handle

Portable rotary snow thrower

A rotary cutting assembly with an automatic filament feed. The assembly includes a driven member which is coupled to a drive source and contains a storage spool for the cutting line. The line or filament is automatically advanced from the spool upon displacement of the same through engagement of a ground engaging hub with a surface. Such displacement causes operation of a ratchet means mounted in part on the movable spool or associated therewith and in part on the driven member to permit a limited rotary displacement of the spool within the driven member during rotation of the driven member.

Rotary cutting assembly with filament feed

Fishing reel free spool activator

A portable rotary snow thrower is disclosed. The housing of the snow thrower is baffled to cause the snow to be thrown to one side for a particular direction of rotation of the rotor. The rotor may also be rotated in the opposite direction to throw the snow to the opposite side of the snow thrower through the same opening without repositioning of baffles or other mechanical elements.

The invention relates to a simplified wire snap formed of a bent piece of wire made of a high tensile steel material. The wire snap is formed by bending a length of wire at its extremities so that the bends face back toward one another and on a central body of the wire therebetween. The extremities of the bent wire have hooks therein and the hooks are directed in opposite directions with offsetting or angular bends therein to permit the wires to be readily bent and fit around the main body portion to secure to the same. The hook extremity of one bend portion overlies or extends beyond the hook extremity of the opposite bent portion to significantly increase the tensile strength of the wire snap.

Wire snap

Snap fastener

A fishing reel, particularly a fly fishing reel, which is provided with an auxiliary drag assembly actuated by finger pressure exerted radially inwardly on the assembly. The reel includes a line receiving spool with the spool flanges having an outer peripheral edge defining a braking surface. The frame means includes a circular spool retaining ring comprising first and second concentrically disposed arcuate sectors, with the arcuate sectors having a substantial degree of arcuate overlap wherein one of the sectors is provided with an arcuate cantilevered segment which may be forced inwardly by finger pressure to make contact with the outer edge surface of the spool flange so as to generate frictional drag resisting free rotation of the line spool within the frame.

Growing community of inventors

Spirit Lake, IA, United States of America

Robert L McMickle