Fishing sinker weight acting as barbs. Claw sinkers are used in surf fishing on sandy bottoms with strong currents, mainly to prevent the sinker from getting carried off with the current. Upon casting a claw sinker, the line is briefly tugged so that the claws will dig themselves into the sand, allowing the rig to stay in place. An ideal material for a fishing sinker is environmentally acceptable, cheap and dense. Density is desirable as weights must be as small as possible, in order to minimize visual cues which could drive fish away from a fishing operation. In ancient times as well
Reaper did not experience mainstream success and acceptance until at least 20 years after it was patented by Cyrus McCormick. This was because the McCormick reaper lacked a quality unique to Obed Hussey's reaper. Hussey's reaper used a sawlike cutter bar that cut stalks far more effectively than McCormick's. Only once Cyrus McCormick was able to acquire the rights to Hussey's cutter-bar mechanism (around 1850) did a truly revolutionary machine emerge. Other factors in the gradual uptake of mechanized reaping included natural cultural conservatism among farmers (proven tradition versus new and unknown machinery); the poor state of many new farm fields,