Bail trip mechanism for fishing reel

Claim 1

In an open faced spinning reel used for casting a bait attached to a fishing line and for retrieving the bait and fishing line after casting, (1) the reel having a housing with a front forward spool end face, a back end and a central passageway extending from the face to the back end defining a central axis, (2) a pinion assembly mounted in the housing, (3) a center shaft rotatably mounted in the housing and coaxial with the central axis, (4) a spool mounted on the shaft for holding the fishing line, (5) a handle and gear train assembly mounted in the housing, (6) a rotor having a movable bail for winding the fishing line about the spool in the retrieving position being coaxial with the central axis, mounted adjacent the face of the housing and rotatable by cooperative movement of the gear train and pinion assemblies, (7) the movable bail mounted on the rotor having an open casting position and a closed retrieving position, the improvement being an internally mounted mechanism for automatically changing the bail from the casting position to the retrieving position comprising: (a) a first cam mounted on the forward face of the housing coaxial with the central axis; (b) the rotor comprising: (1) a central deck having a front opening cylinder extending toward the front end of the reel and a back opening cylinder extending toward the back of the reel having an internal bowl and an external surface, (2) first and second L-shaped ears secured to the exterior surface of the back cylinder and directed toward the front of the reel, the first ear having an L-shaped cavity and a radial pasageway connecting the cavity with the internal bowl, (3) the rotor bowl surrounding the first cam defining a rotor pocket, (4) a raised hub extending from the deck toward the back of the reel and inside the internal bowl; (c) the bail being U-shaped with two ends; (d) first and second bail arms, each one of the bail arms being mounted in one bail arm, the first bail arm pivotally biasably mounted in the first ear and the second arm pivotally mounted in the second ear to permit rotation of the bail from the casting position to the retreive position, the first bail arm having a second cam and a trip ramp projecting into the L-shaped cavity; (e) Z-shaped elongated trip lever means slidably mounted on the deck in the rotor pocket and having a cam follower in the internal bowl adjacent the first cam and a trip end extending into the cavity of the first ear adjacent the second cam and trip ramp, the lever means being substantially perpendicular to the central axis and having a cut out section through which the hub extends, the cut out section defining a stop for engagement with the hub when the trip end is out of engagement with the first cam and trip ramp; (f) means for biasably urging the cam follower towards the central axis and the trip end against the second cam and trip ramp; (g) in the retrieving position the second cam depressed the trip end radially inwardly toward the axis overriding the biasably urging means and moving the cam follower radially outwardly from the central axis; (h) in the casting position the trip end is urged radially outwardly from the central axis by the biasably urging means and seated against the trip ramp locking the bail open for casting and moving the cam follower radially inwardly toward the central axis; (i) rotation of the rotor when the bail is open or in the casting position causes the cam follower to contact the first cam and rapidly move outwardly from the central axis with the trip end concomitantly being withdrawn from against the trip ramp unlocking the bail permitting the bail arms to pivot the bail to the closed retrieve position.