1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fishing reel, and more particularly to fishing reel with a unidirectional control device that can be used equally well by a right-handed person or a left-handed person.
2. Description of Related Art
Fishing is a popular way to release working pressure and enjoy natural beauty for people all over the world. Most people fish for fun and enjoy the achievement of catching fish. Therefore, all types of fishers need to have a fishing rod and other fishing accessories handy because the unexpected opportunity to catch the big one may appear. In particular, fly fishing has been considered the ultimate form of grace in angling and unlike many other styles a center pin reel is still used. Despite many refinements, such a reel is much simpler than other reels such as multiplier and fixed spool reels, in that it is in essence a drum revolving on a spindle. In use, line is cast by flexing the rod back and forth, and the momentum of the released fly and line revolves the reel until the fly drops to the water. To retrieve the fly, the angler has to revolve the drum of the reel in the direction opposite to that when releasing the line. If a fish is hooked and puts a struggle further line may be pulled from the reel because the angler cannot immediately overpower the fish. In order to prevent too much line undesirably being pulled from the reel a ratchet system is fitted within the reel whereby varying levels of resistance to outward rotation of the drum is limited. Thus, the reel has a substantially unidirectional mode.
Because the direction of rolling the reel for a right-handed person is opposite to that for a left-handed person, two fishing reels with different unidirectional modes are needed for the use of different users. However, the unidirectional structure of the conventional fishing reel is complex and is not adjustable. The conventional fishing reel has a high manufacture cost and is not easy to maintain by the owner.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention tends to provide a fishing reel to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.
The main objective of the invention is to provide a fishing reel with a unidirectional control device that can be used by either a right-handed person or a left-handed person. The fishing reel has a spool base, a spool, a unidirectional control device and an axle axially penetrating the elements of the fishing reel. The unidirectional control device has a rotating plate, a driving roller, a limiting wheel, a locking device and a trigger device. A driving roller recess is defined in the limiting wheel to receive the driving roller. A plurality of first guide trenches is defined in the limiting wheel and inclinedly extends from the driving roller recess in a first direction. A plurality of second guide trenches is defined in the limiting wheel and inclinedly extends from the driving roller recess in a second direction opposite to the first direction of the first guide trenches. A biasing member is deformably received in each respective first guide trench. A brake block is movably received in each respective first guide trench to be selectively engaged with a corresponding one of the biasing members. The second guide trenches are kept empty. Accordingly, the driving roller and the spool will be limited to roll in a direction by the brake blocks in the first guide trenches. In addition, the rotating direction of the fishing reel is changeable by means of changing the locations of the brake blocks and the biasing members to be used by either a right-handed person or a left-handed person. The use of the fishing reel is versatile, and the cost for manufacturing different types of the fishing reel is low.