The First Drags and Pflueger

[Penn Chronology]

Some of the earliest drags used on saltwater reels were the ones built into the handle assembly. They were not made by the major manufacturers but they were sold by them and eventually the rights to these drags were bought by the big makers. The most recognized early drag was the Rabbeth and it was being added to reels used around Catalina Island to avoid the damages done to the hand of fisherman when Tuna fishing.


Another early external handle drag was the Williams, seen on many early Pflueger reels and used for many years in many different configurations.

They were simple units that worked to a degree when combined with the external auto-reverse seen on this early 1920's Pflueger.


Pflueger had brought these aftermarket designs to a high level installing them on the Pflueger Templar line of reels.


Here is a Pflueger Templar 300 with a refined Williams Drag and anti-reverse;


Inside the head plate, it was the personification of simplicity, with a bridge actuated by a external lever that moved the main gear into and out of engagement with a spool mounted pinion gear;


From these drags, the internals were developed by a system of trail and error over a period of about 50 years by many makers. No one person invented the drag. Many people credit a few key players in the design but it actually was a consolidated effort on both the East and West Coast of the United States of many putting their heads together to catch big game and keep fisherman fingers attached to their hands.

[Islandgypsy]

Cool stuff, Michael,thanks and keep it coming as time permits. Those are some awesome old reels you have there..GB

[Tightlines667]

Good stuff!  Thanks for sharing!  I bet those early external drags would get a little 'warm' during a prolonged battle.  Then again, they were basically surrounded by air.

[Dominick]

Mike keep up the good work.  I love learning this stuff.  Dominick

[Shark Hunter]

Indeed Mike. We are listening.

[Penn Chronology]

Here is an early drag I just wrote about in the "Reel News". The reel is the mid 1920's Ocean City Dover Club model, highly innovative for its time but odd by today's standards. Base metal is German Silver and the side plates are made from a material called Condensite (I believe that is a crazy name for Bakelite).

First look does not appear to be too dramatic but the differences in the whole package are extreme.

I think this reel has nice lines. The drag wheel is small but there is a reason for that when you look inside. This reel is a quick breakdown reel. The head plate is threaded onto to reel frame. Notice the small tab on the lower right inside portion of the reel, if you push that tab sideways, it pulls a release in that allows you to turn the head plate out of the frame:

Once the head plate is separated, you can see a bridge assembly that is controlled by the eccentric lever on the head plate. That lever causes the bridge to slide up and down, separating the main gear from the pinion gear.

This is not radical at all, it is a standard way to achieve free spool before the constantly in mesh gear system were put into use. But when you take things down further, we see some strange ways of doing things:

The dog is captured in the head plate by the bridge screw (temporarily in place to retain the spring loaded dog in  place). The two common slotted screws in the plastic material are holding the reinforcing plate in place (seen on the outside of the head plate). Nothing too crazy here but then there is the drags and the main gear. Here is where the Dover Club stands alone:

The main gear and sleeve are one piece, next a conical clutch plate slides over the sleeve and a multi disc drag is mounted into the top side of the conical clutch. If you notice the two shoulders on the outside edges of the clutch plate, that is where the dog engages. The anti-reverse gear has only two teeth on the top flange of the conical clutch:


Now when all this is put together you get a drag that has a very weird system. The conical clutch is inherently a higher torque unit for its diameter. A conical clutch has more friction area for the same diameter of a flat plate clutch. The small star wheel presses a sleeve onto to multi disc clutch pack sitting on the top side of the main gear, this clutch pressure presses down on the conical clutch.

The anti-reverse only has two teeth, which means that the back ward motion of the handle will be 180 degrees before it hits a anti-reverse tooth and to top off the crazy feel this reel would have for a modern day fisherman there is one more quirk. Being that the main gear and sleeve are mated together and the handle solidly mounts to the sleeve, when a fish is taking line against the drag, the handle is spinning backward.

All in all, the Dover Club was soon replaced by a new design. It was one of those rare reels that used a design that I do not know of being used on any other reel. These oddities not only make the reel odd, they make it a very interesting collectible.

[Shark Hunter]

I wonder how many busted knuckles this reel made with a fish running?

[Penn Chronology]

I wonder how many busted knuckles this reel made with a fish running? Grin

This reel was probably used on the Northeast coast Stripers and Bluefish off the boats and beaches, so you are probably correct to a degree but at least it was an improvement over a Pflueger Everlaster that simply had a leather thumb stall. The Dover Club was only made for about three or four years before better designs were introduced and then it was phased out, but it is an interesting model, especially for an Ocean City collector.

Yes, believe it or not, there are Ocean City reel collectors

All reel collectors are not Pennheads......................

[coastal_dan]

Too cool!  Yeah, some of these early reels look like a health insurance nightmare!  "Sir this is your third broken knuckle in as many weeks"...."I'm just getting used to some new reels catching big fish ma'am."

I think some of the old Ocean City's are really neat reels, I have a few but don't know much about them...time for some reading.  But, now I want to find an old Pflueger to put in the case...Mike you aren't good for our wallets 

[Penn Chronology]

Insert Quote

I wonder how many busted knuckles this reel made with a fish running? Grin

Here is how Ocean City presented their Dover Club model in the 1920's and it was expensive too!!

I think some of the old Ocean City's are really neat reels, I have a few but don't know much about them...time for some reading.  But, now I want to find an old Pflueger to put in the case...Mike you aren't good for our wallets  Tongue

In order to appreciate some of the finer things in life, we must learn to pay. I find it hard to believe that anyone who is married with children is worried about the cost of a fishing reel. That said,,,,
                                     What model Pflueger are you looking for??

[coastal_dan]

As I'm sure so many here already know, I think finding a balance is the hardest part   That is one thing that I struggle with...learning what to buy when and when to take that extra coin and throw it in my daughters college savings account.  I'm fairly young so I have some time, but I also don't want some of these neat oldies to wither away or cost buckets more in 30-40 years.

No idea on the Plueger, but I'm going to start researching 

[basto]

What material would the red band around the conical clutch be made from? This is a very solid looking reel.
Thanks for showing...very interesting indeed!
Basto

[Penn Chronology]

What material would the red band around the conical clutch be made from? This is a very solid looking reel.

The material is hard and dense. Probably a phenolic of some sort. Kind of like the material Penn puts under their main gear in the conventional reels. It is brittle but when captured in a conical clutch, it can withstand the compression forces with ease. I have had a few of these old Dover Club models over the years and have never had one with a worn out clutch. They were tough reels.

[Penn Chronology]

As I'm sure so many here already know, I think finding a balance is the hardest part Grin  That is one thing that I struggle with...learning what to buy when and when to take that extra coin and throw it in my daughters college savings account.  I'm fairly young so I have some time, but I also don't want some of these neat oldies to wither away or cost buckets more in 30-40 years.

Dan,

Balance is a sign of an intelligent man. You can not have it all, that said, it is great that you try to save for your daughter's college fund but a not too risky investment from time to time is good too. My opinion for you and that Pflueger you want to invest in is a Atlapac 9/O. In my opinion, it is more art and innovation than fishing reel. Right out of the factory, you will think you opened a custom reel when you look inside, besides being a beautiful design, it is also a very strong fishing reel.

The Atlapac was introduced in 1928, the chrome plated one in these pictures is from a few years later. They are super fine production reels, made to handmade standards.

Everything about an Atlapac is Art Deco quality;


The tail plate has a clicker button and a adjustable external lever that actuates a secondary drag that really works well. I will show you the internals and you will want one I suspect.

A fully German Silver lined reinforced head plate. Most internal parts are jeweled. Pillars and stand are pegged into counter bores on the side plates, so they cannot move once they are screwed into place. Movable rod and harness lugs are included. I believe the anti-reverse is double dogged.

Here are the internals of the tail plate. You can see the spring loaded brake shoes in the center of the plate that expand when you press down on the lever. This gives you drag braking on the left side of the spool, which when used with the star drag gives a significant advatage to the drag.
Here is the brake drum mounted to the spool. Of course it sits direct over the brake shoes on the tail plate. A wonderful mechanical brake.


No, I do not own mine anymore and this one pictured here is not mine or for sale: but, they do show up on EBay occasionally and they are a good investment. They have some really nice accessories that come with a complete package. Pflueger offered these reels in a painted wrinkle finished metal case with the reel placed into a soft wool tan colored bag. The Pflueger logo is printed onto the bag and a Pflueger sticker is on the front of the metal case.

These reel usually sell in the hundreds but I feel in the future, nice examples will go up in value.

[Tightlines667]

Wow!  That is one beautiful reel.  A work of art, a marval of engineering, and a significant historical piece to boot.  I immediately noticed the beefy posts, and seriously heavy reel foot.  That baby is not likely to twist or warp on you.  Thanks for sharing!