1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to fishing lure storage boxes.
2. Description of Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 5,185,952 to Bruce teaches a box with a display panel having a plurality of tracks, each track holding one or more clips, each clip comprising two resilient bifurcated legs having a hook receiving cavity between them. The hooks of adjacent lures stored in Bruce's box may become entangled unless a precisely positioned clip is provided for each hook.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,958,730 Bunten provides an elastic retainer holding one hook of a multi-hooked lure to the top of a lure drawer. A second hook is retained by a fixed rod adjacent the bottom of the lure drawer.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,240,222 Covington discloses a modular, multi-compartmented tackle box having various means (e.g., a transverse rod, a channel filled with a resilient foam, or a pierceable board) for suspending a lure by one hook. Covington's tackle box, if jostled, may be found to contain entangled lures.
Malmquist, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,608,459, teaches a tackle box comprising a plurality of separate lure storage compartments, each compartment lined with cork and having a bifurcated body extending across it near the top of the compartment. A lure is stored in Malmquist's box by inserting the shank of its tail hook into the bifurcating slot and suspending the lure from the tail hook, the tines of which are embedded in the cork. Fabrication of the individual compartments in Malmquist's box is time consuming and expensive.
Baumgartner, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,268,920, teaches a flexible band for mounting about the crown of a hat, the band having a plurality of safety-pin-like retainers spaced apart along its length. A fishing fly may be attached to each of Baumgartner's retainers by threading one leg of the retainer through the eyelet of the fly hook and then pushing that leg into a clamped position. Baumgartner's apparatus relies on the spacing between retainers being greater than twice the length of a lure in order to keep adjacent lures from becoming entangled. Although this may be satisfactory for relatively small dry flies, the use of Baumgartner's system for larger spinning or baitcasting lures would result either in entangled lures, or in apparatus having a severely restricted carrying capacity.
Nelson, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,364,807, teaches a lure storage box having a slotted platform. The hooks of stored lures extend downward through the slots into a separate chamber. Lures are held in position by rubber band stretched across the top of them. Nelson's apparatus involves components having complex shapes that are difficult to fabricate, and requires awkward hand motions by the fisherman who wishes to disengage a lure from the box.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,065,234 Martinez teaches a fly box having a plurality of rigid rods extending across the surface of a resilient rubber sheet. A fly to be stored has its hook threaded carefully between a rod and the springy rubber sheet and is thereby held in a fixed position. Martinez's box is difficult to use without occasionally sticking the point of a hook into the rubber, which tears the rubber and diminishes its utility as a springy retainer.
Schweigert, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,164,259 discloses storage apparatus for fishing flies, in which the curved portion of each fly's hook is draped over a rigid rod. Adjacent flies are separated by small metal tabs, and the flies are held on the rod by a single spring. Schweigert's apparatus is not suitable for the storage of multi-hooked lures, as those hooks not draped about the rod would become entangled.
Figley, in U.S. Pat. No. 1,482,678, teaches a dry fly book in which each fly hook is retained intermediate two leaf spring elements. Figley's apparatus, like that of Schweigert and others, is not suitable for use with multi-hooked lures.
Madsen, in U.S. Pat. No. 1,076,898, teaches a storage box for skeins of yarn and the like. Madsen provides metallic spring fingers pinching the yarn against fixed projections extending inward from a wall of the box.