Oh patents! Chouinard river wading crampons

Copyright© Françoise Herrmann

Inspired by mountain crampons, designed to prevent mountaineers from slipping and falling on hard ice, Yvon Chouinard (2016), the famous environmentalist, inventor of mountain climbing tools, and founder of the sportswear company Patagonia Inc., designed river wading crampons. River wading crampons are intended to provide traction, preventing fishermen from slipping, on the wet, slimy, algae-covered rocks, beneath their feet. The Chouinard wading crampons invention is recited in the US utility patent US9918518B2, titled Wading crampon, awarded March 20th 2018 to Yvon Chouinard, and assigned to Patagonia Inc. 

The patent discloses a non-cleated crampon that attaches to a wading shoe or boot, alternatively that could be permanently fixed to the outer sole of a wading shoe or boot. The crampon is made of a soft, malleable metal, such as aluminum, designed to “resiliently conform” or “grab” slippery, wet rocks, beneath the surface of the water. The crampon is attached with a binding system, which is strap-like in the embodiments depicted, although unlimited to this particular type of attachment system. 

The abstract of the invention is included below, together with the invention Figure 3, extracted from the patent, and an image of the Patagonia river wading boots, equipped with the invention wading crampons.

Specifically, according to the Figure 3 drawing, extracted from the patent, and the recitation of the invention, a perspective view of an embodiment the invention 200 is depicted, where the invention traction device 204 is strapped to a wading boot footwear item 202. The traction device 204 comprises a front shank 206 and a heel shank 208, joined with a hinged connecting bar 210, allowing rotation of the front shank 206, relative to the heel shank 208. The traction device also comprises front L-shaped brackets 212, and heel brackets 214, respectively attached to the front (206), and heel (208) shanks. Front and heel semi-rigid attachment members, 216 and 218, designed to conformingly receive the footwear 202, are respectively secured to the L-shaped brackets 212 and 214. A strap 220 and cinching buckle 222 are further provided to adjust and tighten the traction device 204 to the footwear 202.

A non-cleated, soft metal traction device reduces or eliminates slippage on wet and hard surfaces , such as mossy rocks beneath the water surface of a body of water . The traction device includes at least one external metal shank, plate or bar attachable to a footwear item with a desired binding system. The shank is preferably made from a soft metal material, such as a non-heat- treated aluminum alloy, so it is soft enough to grip and elastically conform to moist , wet or otherwise slippery rock and shale . The contact surface of the shank may include grooves, ribs, spaced apart ridges , or other small surface variations to improve the traction of the device in transition environments. [Abstract US9918518B2]

References

Chouinard, Y (2016). Let my people go surfing: The Education of a reluctant business man. New York, NY: Penguin Books.

Patagonia Inc. https://www.patagonia.com

Oh, patents! Saving albatrosses with Hookpods

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

Competing for a European Inventor Award in the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) category, the Hookpod invention, marketed by FishTek Marine, was designed to protect sea birds, albatrosses (1) in particular, from getting baited with pelagic longline fishhooks. Indeed, a great many albatrosses are cruelly killed, when they dive for bait, attached to longline fishhooks on the surface of the ocean, before the fishhooks are able to sink deeper into the ocean, where they are intended to bait fish, such as tuna and swordfish. 

In response to this inhumane situation, and the unsatisfactory prior art of tori lines, acting as scarecrows, branch line weighting, and water-degradable ingestion barriers, the Hookpod invention invokes a pod cover for the fishhooks. The Hookpod encloses the fishhooks until they are deep enough to be released, thereby providing reliable and cost-effective means, preventing albatrosses from getting baited when they dive, without reducing the volume of the catch. Means that consequently put an end to an excessively cruel consequence of longline fishing, referred to as seabird bycatch. Seabird bycatch where, according to the Birdlife International Albatross Taskforce, an estimated 100,000 magnificent albatrosses are killed, each year, across the globe (Mulligan,2015).

The Hookpod invention is recited the European patent EP2731423A1, titled  Hook Pod. The invention recites a Hookpod comprising two parts: a cover and a body, connected by a pivot, made of transparent plastic, preferably that can withstand repeated use in deep seawater. The Hookpod further comprises a weight and line guidance slot. In the closed position, the Hookpod houses a portion of the online fishhook, making it inaccessible to birds. As the Hookpod sinks at east 20 feet beneath the surface of the water, water pressure builds within the cavity of the pod, forcing the piston-activated pod to open and release the hook The Hookpod further comprises an LED light to attract fish.  

The abstract of the Hookpod invention is included below, together with the patent Figure 2 depicting the Hookpod in an open position. Specifically, the Figure 2 drawing depicts: the body 2 of the Hookpod and its cover 3, connected via a pivot 4; a weight 5 is shown above a locking collar 15, designed to trap the longline passing through a guidance slot within the weight 5. The Figure 2 drawing further depicts the distal end of an additional locking mechanism 8a, wihich wraps around the body 2, and snap-fits on a mating protrusion 11, on the cover 3. The additional locking mechanism 8a is connected to a water-pressure activated piston, housed inside a cylindrical barrel 14, on the inner surface of the Hookpod body 2, where it is designed to slide, in view of releasing the pod's locking mechanism 8a (and 8b not shown on Figure 2). The fishhook is retained within the pod in a circular cavity 16, comprising two semi-circular doors 12a (and 12b not shown on Figure 2), respectively mounted to the body 2 and cover 3, via pivots 13a and 13b.

A Hookpod for attachment to a longline and for releasably retaining a hook, comprises a body and a cover, the body and the cover being relatively movable from a closed configuration to an open configuration, such that in the closed configuration the body and cover are relatively positioned to form a cavity therebetween, the cavity dimensioned to retain a portion of the hook therein in use, preventing access to the hook portion, and in the open configuration the body and cover are relatively positioned such that the hook is released from the cavity. [Abstract  EP2731423A1]

The EPO Youtube video below covers the Hookpod invention, and its two sibling inventors, Ben and Peter Kibel, hailing from Great Britain.

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Note (1) Albatrosses are the world’s largest flying birds. Fully deployed, the albatrosses’ wingspan measures up to 12 feet, from the tip of one wing, to the tip of the other. Using the much observed, analyzed and emulated principle of dynamic soaring, albatrosses stay airborne for weeks, without even flapping their wings when cruising, traveling far offshore for food. Because albatrosses produce a single egg per attempted breeding cycle that lasts a year, their survival is also threatened by ineffective fishing regulations. Albatrosses also bond in pairs for life.

References

Birdlife International Taskforce 

http://www.birdlife.org

Birdlife Albatross Taskforce https://www.birdlife.org/news/tag/albatross-task-force

European inventor Awards 2021

 https://www.epo.org/news-events/press/european-inventor-award.html

Fishtek Marine 

www.fishtekmarine.com

Hookpod 

https://www.hookpod.com/en/

Mulligan, B. (2015) Speaking your language to save albatrosses.

 https://www.birdlife.org/worldwide/news/speaking-your-language-save-albatrosses