Fish Hook Breakaway Clip Reduces Lever Arm
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional fish hooks often detach from a fish due to excessive lever forces when reeling in, particularly when the hook orientation relative to the fishing line causes the hook shaft to act as a lever, leading to detachment.
Innovation Solution
A multi-part fish hook assembly featuring a breakaway clip that disables a universal pivot joint when excessive force is applied, reducing the likelihood of detachment by reducing the lever arm length, incorporating a connecting bar with pivotable ends and rings, and a snap-fit breakaway clip that separates at a preset force.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the hook shaft acts as a lever relative to the hook portion and barb, then the hook can be drawn to retrieve the fish, but the lever force causes the hook to detach from the fish
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the dynamics principle by making the connection between the eye section and hook section pivotable rather than fixed. The universal pivot joint allows the hook section to rotate and adapt its orientation dynamically during retrieval, preventing the hook shaft from acting as a rigid lever that would cause detachment. This dynamic adjustment capability resolves the contradiction by maintaining hook retention while enabling retrieval motion.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the mechanical parameter of connection rigidity from fixed to pivotable. By introducing a universal pivot joint with rotational degrees of freedom, the system transforms the rigid lever arm into a flexible connection that can change its effective lever arm length through rotation, thereby reducing the detaching force while maintaining retrieval capability.
2Device complexity
If a fixed rigid connection is used between eye section and hook section, then the hook structure is simple, but the lever force causes hook detachment
Solution Approach 1:
The universal pivot joint introduces dynamic rotational capability to the hook structure, allowing it to adapt during retrieval. This adds moderate complexity but significantly improves retention by preventing the rigid lever effect that causes detachment in simple fixed-connection hooks.
3Reliability
If the hook section is made pivotable in multiple planes, then the lever force is reduced, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The universal pivot joint provides multi-plane pivotability with a compact mechanism that accepts rotational input from one plane and provides rotational output in perpendicular planes. This efficient dynamic mechanism reduces lever forces effectively while adding minimal structural complexity compared to alternative multi-axis solutions.
Data Source
AI summary
A fish hook includes a breakaway clip that initially disables a universal pivot joint. When a fish is hooked, if a pivot force on the universal pivot joint exceeds a predetermined pivot force, the breakaway clip is detached from the hook thereby enabling the universal pivot joint. The resulting amount of force on the hook shaft is reduced by reducing the size of the lever arm, which thereby reduces the likelihood that the hook will be detached from the fish.