Lower drag helix rope for pelagic trawls and methods

Abstract

A method for forming a helix rope for a trawl comprising the steps of: a) situating upon a portion of a rope a bead of a substance being selected from a group consisting of: (i) a liquid substance; and (ii) a semi-liquid substance. A helix rope (35) for forming portions of a pelagic trawl, the helix rope comprising a braided sheath (398) formed of greater than sixteen strands (397), whereby drag is reduced. A method for forming a high strength synthetic rope useful for towing warps, trawler warps, yachting ropes, mooring lines, anchoring lines, oil derrick anchoring lines, seismic lines, paravane lines, and any other uses for rope, cable or chain.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD[0001]The present disclosure relates generally to the technical field of ropes and more particularly to ropes used in forming pelagic mesh in pelagic trawls where such ropes are formed from a strength member core surrounded by a braided sheath wherein the braided sheath is formed of several strands and one of the strands is significantly larger than the other strands so as to form a series of cambered sections capable of either or both causing lift and reducing drag when such rope is subjected to water flow about the rope in a position that corresponds to a position assumed by ropes used in forming pelagic trawl mesh in pelagic trawls. Such ropes are known as “helix ropes”.BACKGROUND ART[0002]Pelagic trawls include trawls used to catch Alaska Pollock, blue whiting, capelin, herring, mackerel, pearlside, hoki, hake and other fish species. Pelagic trawls have their pelagic mesh formed mainly of ropes. Pelagic mesh in a pelagic trawl is mesh having a mesh size that is fo...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0016]It is also worthwhile to note that the present state of the art and the current trend in the industry is to form ropes for forming pelagic trawl mesh in such a fashion that all portions of the rope maximally contribute to the overall strength of the rope.

Problems solved by technology

A main problem in the pelagic trawl fishing industry and the pelagic trawl net manufacturing industry is high operational costs minimizing profitability.

Price competition is severe and thus high cost and high quality ropes such as ropes used in climbing applications, yachting applications and seismic applications, to name a few are not feasible for use in forming the pelagic mesh of pelagic trawls because the pelagic mesh are constantly damaged and replaced, and require replacement even when not damaged as they are made as thin and as light as possible in order to minimize drag and concurrent fuel consumption, and thus are worked at high loads relative to break points and therefore fail rather quickly.

Indeed, considering the world wide pelagic trawl industry as a whole, it is a fact that it is contrary to the state of the art and against the trend in the industry to design and form the pelagic mesh portion of pelagic trawls from coverbraided ropes.

The difficulty in splicing coverbraided ropes and especially in splicing tightly coverbraided ropes such as helix ropes is another reason that coverbraided ropes have lost favor among pelagic trawl manufacturers and end users.

One of the main problems caused by the fact that coverbraided ropes are largely out of favor in forming the pelagic mesh portion of pelagic trawls is that the most easily handled and in fact the preferred variant of self spreading meshed trawls employ a coverbraid in the self spreading rope construction and it is self spreading trawls that have the lowest environmental impact of all pelagic trawl constructions.

The increased drag concurrently results in smaller trawl openings, reduced towing speed and increase fuel consumption at given tow speeds.

Problematically, it is the helix ropes that also are the preferred form of a self spreading rope for forming a self spreading pelagic trawl because they are the most reliable embodiment of a self spreading rope useful for forming a self spreading pelagic trawl, other embodiments having lost favor and no longer being in use.

That is, the greater the count of strands forming the braided sheath beyond a certain quantity, the greater the manufacture cost.

The braiding machinery that forms the braided sheath is progressively more expensive the more carriers that must exist, it being known to those skilled in the art that each carrier provides the material for one of the sheath's strands.

As inferred above, due to extreme price competition in the commercial pelagic trawl fish net manufacturing industry, including the manufacturing of components for such commercial pelagic trawl fish nets, helix ropes being one possible such component, pelagic trawl makers as well as manufacturers of components for pelagic trawls acquire and use the least expensive components, methods and machinery for manufacturing such components and pelagic trawls as the customers shall accept, and today most customers are unwilling to pay for a coverbraided rope used to form the front part netting portion of a pelagic trawl.

Furthermore, due to the fact that as strand count in the braided sheath of any coverbraided rope increases the cost of such rope also progressively increases, it is safe to say that no pelagic trawl manufacturer or even a manufacturer of ropes for sale for use in forming the pelagic mesh portions of pelagic trawls would have any incentive whatsoever to form a braided sheath of any coverbraided rope intended for use in forming pelagic mesh portions of pelagic trawls from any other than a minimum carrier count required for customer acceptance.

Thus, with helix ropes having lost favor for use in forming front part netting portions of pelagic trawls due to greater costs, and because the greater the strand count the greater the cost, and as the greatest strand count that ever has been used in any helix rope's braided sheath is sixteen strands, it is safe to say that it is absolutely contrary to the state of the art and against the trend in the industry for any one either to make or believe there is any reason or benefit to be obtained by forming a helix rope with greater than sixteen strands in its coverbraided sheath.

In fact, due to extreme price competition, some rope makers are forming helix ropes with lesser strand counts than are normally deemed by others as adequate for the purpose of rigidity for ease of handling.

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