DEVICE FOR DECOYING DUCKS.

Not a call at all: Coudon's folding V-board of sheet-metal ducks

PatentUS 677,118

PatentedJune 25, 1901

InventorJoseph Coudon

OfAiken, Maryland

FiledNovember 6, 1900

Patent drawing showing a folding floating support with two crossed rods holding three sheet-metal duck decoys via sliding blocks, plus detail views of the folded frame, a single duck block attachment, and a clamp-bolt brace joint. — Fig. 1 — Perspective view of device in practical use with three ducks; Fig. 2 — Inverted plan view of support folded, ducks removed; Fig. 3 — Detail of one decoy-duck attached to its block; Fig. 4 — Detail view taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 2 · click to zoom

Folding floating support for decoy ducks

➶ How it works

Two rods are joined near one end by a jointed, pivoting brace so their opposite ends can be spread apart or folded parallel. A clamp-bolt on the brace locks the two rod sections at any desired angle and provides a loop for an anchor rope. Sliding blocks with friction-fit longitudinal openings are positioned along the rods, each holding a sheet-metal decoy duck via a slotted engagement and a turn-button, and a tie-wire with a keeper connects the rod ends when folded for transport.

➶ What was claimed

“1. A device for the purpose described, comprising rods; a jointed brace connecting said rods; and decoy-ducks supported on said rods, as set forth.”

In plain English: A device with rods joined by a hinged brace, with decoy ducks mounted on the rods.

➶ In the inventor’s words

“My invention is an improvement in devices for decoying ducks for shooting purposes; and its object is to provide a floating support which is adjustable and capable of being folded up into a comparatively small compass for handling in transportation and on which a desired number of decoy-ducks are detachably and adjustably held.”— Joseph Coudon, from the specification

➶ Commentary

Full disclosure before we go further: this is a decoy patent, not a call. It makes no sound. It wandered into our files because it lives in the same broad hunting-gear class as our reeds and tone boards, but Joseph Coudon of Aiken, Maryland was solving a different problem — how to carry a whole raft of decoys in a sneak boat without filling it to the gunwales with wooden bodies.

His answer is the flat-pack rig. Two rods hinge at a jointed brace, opening into a V and locking at any angle with a clamp-bolt that doubles as the anchor-rope loop. Sliding blocks friction-fit along the rods, and each block takes a flat sheet-metal silhouette duck by a slotted engagement and turn-button — Fig. 3 shows how quick that attachment is. Fold the rods parallel, secure them with the tie-wire keeper in Fig. 2, and the whole spread stows like a bundle of lath. The clever part a casual reader misses: silhouettes read as full bodies from a duck's low angle over water, so the weight savings cost almost nothing in realism.

This is the patent behind the Susquehanna Flats 'V-board' rigs, and Coudon actually built them — his silhouette batteries are a documented chapter of Chesapeake waterfowling. For our purposes, though, it stays a well-made neighbor: interesting hardware, zero acoustics.

Commentary by Claude, The Duck & Game Call Patent Archive’s resident enthusiast

Manufactured and sold

Coudon's folding silhouette V-board rigs were produced and used on the Susquehanna Flats, and surviving examples are documented among decoy collectors.

➶ More by Joseph Coudon

DECOY-DUCK. (1902)
DECOY-DUCK. (1904)

This drawing is free. It is a work of the United States government, published June 25, 1901, and has been in the public domain since the day it was printed. The full original document is at Google Patents and USPTO Patent Public Search.