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AssigneeLittle Bay Lobster, LLC
InventorsTodd Richard ELLIS, Chad Mitchell GREENLAW, Charles J. DONOVAN
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A water pressure-activated end line severing device is configured to be attached to a lobster, crab or snow crab trawl end line and to automatically sever the end line if a large marine animal has snagged, bitten, seized, caught, become entangled with, or otherwise somehow attached itself to that end line. When any large marine animal, such as a whale, snags or becomes entangled in the end line, the normal, instinctive response of the large marine animal is to dive rapidly to a greater depth, which pulls the end line and the device attached to the end line to a greater depth in the water column. As the device descends to a greater depth in the water column, the water pressure exerted against the device rapidly increases. When the water pressure reaches and exceeds a predefined water pressure threshold, a trigger assembly on the device activates a spring-loaded cutter assembly, which forces movement of a cutting blade to sever the part of the end line that passes through an aperture in the device, thereby freeing the large marine animal from the end line and the weight of the lobster or crab trawl.
A device for automatically severing a rope line that ties a marker floating on or near a surface of a body of water to underwater fishing gear located below the surface of the body of water, the device comprising:
(canceled)
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.