Whip finishing implement
United States Patent [1 1 Zauskey 51 Apr. 15, 1975 WHIP FINISHING IMPLEMENT [76] Inventor: Fredrick Thomas Zauskey, 2090 Lampman Rd., Gold Hill, Oreg. 97525 [22] Filed: Sept. 20, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 399,133  
 [52] US. Cl. 289/17 [51] Int. Cl. D03j 3/00 [58] Field of Search 289/l.5, l7, 18; 140/122 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,859,994 ll/l958 Whitlinger 289/l7 2,899,226 8/l959 Lint t. 289/17 Primary Examiner-Louis K. Rimrodt Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Clarence M. Crews [57] ABSTRACT This invention provides an implement for facilitating and expediting the formation of a neat and secure whip knot at the eye or on the shank of a clamped fish hook. To this end the implement is made to include two parallel, rigid hooks secured in fixed, spaced relation to one another and to a carrying sleeve, and a handle member is provided in which the sleeve is free to rotate and to slide lengthwise. If the user is right handed, the end of the thread which has been used for wrapping lure material to the hook shank is held in the left hand, the hooks are engaged with the thread to form a closed loop and the implement is moved round and round the axis of the hook shank to wind the thread from the loop into a tight spiral winding which progressively covers and binds to the hook shank a portion of the thread end held in the left hand of the user, the spiral building up from left to right. When a sufficient winding (three to five turns or more) has been produced, the lower hook is detached from the thread and the held end of the thread which has been partially covered by the tight winding is pulled to draw tautly under the winding whatever is left of the loop. The thread held by the upper hook is then detached by a slight twist of the tool, while tension is maintained on the free end of the thread. Any surplus thread end is then cut off. It is not essential that the wound thread portion form a perfect helix as long as the several turns of overlying thread are drawn taut. By the same expedient of fabricating the tool with hooks facing 180 in the opposite direction such a tool can be adapted for left hand operation.  
 4 Claims, 12 Drawing Figures WI-IIP FINISHING IMPLEMENT This invention relates to an implement for producing a finishing whip knot on the shank or at the eye ofa fish hook, in thread which has been used for binding lure or fly material onto said shank.  
  When one or more lure or fly elements have been tentatively secured on the shank of a fish hook by wrapping thread around the lure or fly material and the hook shank, the problem is presented of finishing off the job in a manner which will preclude diminuition of tension on the thread.  
  When the entire operation is manually executed, without the benefit of any implement, the operation is slow and tedious and the operative is likely to close off the operation with a clumsy half-hitch which may prove to be insecure.  
  Implements have been contrived for the purpose of facilitating and expediting the operation of knotting the free end of the lure tying thread, but these have proved unsatisfactory for a variety of reasons. Foremost among these are the following: (a) slowness and clumsiness of operation; (b) inability to apply enough tension to provide a tight, firm knot; and (c) lack of sufficient control necessary to put a neat whip finish tie-off exactly where the operator wants it.  
  The primary object of the present invention is to prom, vide a novel whip knot finishing implement in whicli 7 these difficulties are overcome.  
 Other objects and advantages will hereinafter appear.  
 In the drawing forming part of this specification,  
  FIG. 1 is a perspective view of my novel whip knot finishing implement;  
  FIG. 2 is a side view of my novel whip finishing tool showing hook construction detail;  
  FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the first step in the use of the implement;  
  FIG. 4 is a view in side elevation showing the initiation of a first winding turn;  
  FIGS. 5 to 10, inclusive, show successive steps involved in the winding of the thread;  
 FIG. 11 shows the thread fully wound and ready to be cut; and  
  FIG. 12 is a fragmentary view showing an idealized finished knot at the eyc of a fish book after the surplus length at the free end of the thread has been cut away. No lure or fly material is shown in FIG. 12, nor are any of the thread wrappings preceding the whip knot shown.  
  The illustrative whip finishing implement 10 (FIG. 1) is designed for use in conjunction with a conventional fly vise or other clamp 12 (FIG. 3) in which a fish hook 14 is made fast for the purpose of first applying lure or fly material by means of a thread, followed by a finished whip knot 15 (FIG. 12).  
  The whip knot finishing implement comprises a rod 16 which is hollow, and two spaced, parallel, rigid hooks l8 and 20. The hook l8 desirably has a shank portion 19 which extends radially outward adjacent and at a right angle to the left end of the rod. The hook 20 includes a like shank portion 21 at an appropriate distance outward from the rod end. As seen in FIG. 2, the hooks l8 and 20 may desirably be integral vith one another. As shown, the hooks are substantia y semicircular in form, and each has its open side faced always toward the axis of the rod or sleeve 16. The hook 18 has a body portion 22 of substantial length which is secured in fixed position within the rod 16 for substantially its own length, and the hook 20 has a considerably longer body portion 24 that not only extends lengthwise within the rod 16 but projects for an appropriate distance beyond the end of the rod.  
  A handle member 26 (FIGS. 1 and 2), desirably of spherical form, is mounted on the rod 16 with freedom to rotate on its own axis and to shift lengthwise along the rod to accommodate any size hand.  
  A plug 28, composed of a head 30 and a shank 32, has its shank firmly fitted into the end of the rod 16 remote from the hooks l8 and 20 for limiting movement of the handle in one direction and thereby preventing detachment of the handle.  
  A sleeve 34 desirably of soft, resilient rubber, surrounds the rod 16 at the end adjacent the hook 18. The sleeve 34 limits movement of the handle 26 toward the hook bearing end of the rod 16. It also serves as a control member for frictional engagement by a thumb and- /or finger of the user and for gripping of the rod during threading and unthreading of the hooks.  
  The manner in which the implement is used is illustrated in detail in the drawing (FIGS. 3 to 10). Before the implement is brought into play the fish hook 14 is secured firmly in the vise or clamp 12 with a substantial portion, at least, of the hook shank, and with the hook eye exposed as best seen in FIG. 4.  
  A length at the very end of the thread is first laid along the hook shank together with a lure or fly com ponent and the thread is wrapped for a number of turns around the hook shank, the idle thread end and a portion of the lure component. As shown, a helix may be developed along the hook shank toward the eye. This is an idealized condition, however, there being no practical necessity for nicely providing a helical winding. This procedure may be repeated one or more times with additional lure or fly components added. These are conventional preliminary details and in the interest of clarity they are not shown in the drawing. In the end it becomes desirable to finish off the free thread end in a dependable form of knot.  
  When the thread is wrapped directly with the fingers ofthe right hand, it is common practice to conclude the operation with a half-hitch, which may or may not stand up, or a manually tied whip knot, which is difficult to learn, is a much slower operation and is extremely difficult to apply on small hooks.  
  With the aid of my implement the tying off may be effected more conveniently, more rapidly and more securely than has been possible with hand tying or with the aid of implements heretofore devised. My implement functions efficiently on hooks down to size 22. The procedure is as follows:  
  After the wrapping of the thread 36 around such lure or fly material as is desired, the same thread is engaged by the hooks 18 and 20 of the implement 10, held in the right hand, while the free end of the thread is held in the left hand, as seen in FIG. 3. The implement is then shifted to the position shown in FIG. 4 with a first thread portion 36a extending from the shank of hook 14 to the hook 20, a second thread portion 36b extending from hook 20 to hook 18, a third thread portion 36c extending from hook 18 across a point on the hook shank well removed from the eye, and a fourth or final portion 36c that extends beyond the hook shank and is held in the left hand of the user.  
  In FIG. 4 the portions 36a, 36b and 360 form a triangular loop of controlled dimensions. The implement is held by the handle 26 in which the hollow rod 16 is free to turn. With the thread end 36d held firmly in the left hand and the implement 10 pulled away from the fish hook 14, a triangular loop 36a, 36b, 36c is defined with the thread under tension. Since the rod is free to turn in the handle the hook shanks 19,21 and the tensed triangular loop formed by segments 36a, 36b, 36c will normally extend tangentially to the fish hook shank. This is an important point because it prevents accidental detachment of the thread from the openmouthed hooks.  
  As the user moves the implement clockwise as viewed from the right, with the thread under tension through the successive positions shown in FIGS. 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8, thread from portion 36a feeds into a wrapping, desirably helical, which encircles the fish hook shank and the end of portion 360 which lies adjacent to the fish hook shank. During this operation the thread is free to feed from 360 to 36b, from 3612 to 36a, and from 36a to the accumulating winding on the fish hook shank, so that the loop progressively diminishes in size.  
  When the winding has been effected to the desired extent the implement is swung to the position illustrated in FIG. 8 and the thread is put under increased tension for tightening the winding and for straightening the length of thread over which the winding has been formed.  
  Finally, the thread is detached from hook 18, as seen in FIG. 9. At that point thread portion 36a is pulled to draw the thread and hook down until hook 20 touches the fish hook (FIGS. 9 and 10). While maintaining tension on the free end of thread 36d, the tool is rotated on its own axis with thumb and forefinger, disengaging the attached thread from hook 20. The thread end is thus drawn tautly beneath three to five, or perhaps more, tight turns of the thread, and the surplus length of thread is then cut away as seen in FIGS.  
 U and 12.  
 l have described what I believe to be the best embodiment of my invention. What I desire to cover by letters patent, however, is set forth in the attached claims. I I claim: 1. A whip knot finishing implement, for usewith any fixed fly tying vise or clamp, comprising, in combination,  
 a. a straight rod, b. a pair of rigid, adequately spaced, essentially iden tical and parallel hook members, both unitary with claim 1 in which the rod is cylindrical in form, and 1 which further includes a frictional sleeve that surrounds the rod in fixed relation thereto at the end of the rod adjacent to the hooks, and forms a stop for limiting sliding movement of the handle.  
  3. A whip knot finishing implement as set forth in claim 2 in which the rod is tubular in form and in which a plug is provided at the end remote from the hooks, said plug having an enlarged portion of sufficient size to provide a second limiting stop for the handle, thereby to prevent accidental separation of the handle from the rod.  
  4. A whip knot finishing implement as set forth in claim 1 in which the hook members are integrally united with one another to form a hook unit, and the hook unit includes a portion which is fixedly secured