Little History on Spinning Reels

[Reel 224]

I thought this subject would be of interest to some of you spinning reels enthusiast. This article is from On The Water March issue.

Fixed-spool or spinning reels were first invented in Europe in the 1930s. After WW-II, a wealthy American sportsman named Bache Brown went to France, were he helped develop a small spinning reel that he named after himself and brought to the U.S. to market. His company was purchased in 1947 by toy maker Lionel and named Airex. That same year, Airex brought out a new model called the Beachcomber. It was not a very light reel, weighing in at 16 ounces and holding 250 yards of 15-pound-test mono. It had a full bail with an external trip, contrary to the half bail on most European reels. This was the beginning of a whole new era.

   By the 1950s, many more spinning reels came on the scene, primarily freshwater ones from both Europe and America, but some larger ones designed for surfcasting were also coming from Europe From France, there was the Mitchell, RU, Luxor and the Centaure. Italy produced the Alcedo and the Delfino, and Germany made the DAM Quick. Reels from Asia were not on the scene until the 1980s, although Daiwa and Shimano did make a few freshwater reels in 1966 and 1978, respectively.

    Penn came out with the surf spinning reel in 1961_ the model 700, later refined to the 704 and 706. This reel used a worm gear drive the company probably copied from the German Quick.  The 704 and 706 were (and all still are) excellent reels still made in America. No other in history of fishing can come close to matching that longevity.

THE 1950s Reels:   Mitchell 300 (France) RU Star Brevette (France) Luxor Supreme (France) Centaure (France) Alcedo (Italy) Delfino (Italy) DAM Quick (Germany)

This isn't the hole article you can go on www.OnTheWater.com  March issue.       Page 26

[philaroman]

STRAIGHT FROM THE HEAD w/ NO RESEARCH/SOURCES -- doesn't sound right about Asians (i.e., Japan):

• pretty sure Olympic was actively ripping off French reels by late 50's & had [semi]original designs by the 70's...  maybe, even 60's
• Compac also mass-produced before the 80's
• the earliest Daiwa spinners were actually Olympic clones, long after 1966
• Shimano made a HELL of a lot more spinners in late 70's, than "a few freshwater reels [in] 1978"

[STRIPER LOU]

Joe, thanks for posting the article and reference. My first spinner was an Airex. It was broken and a throw away from my brother.
Not having any money, I managed to fashion a new handle and used it for quite a few years.

It was a half bail and actually a handsome reel for its time in black and chrome.

Best,  ..  Lou

[Reel 224]

Lou; I have an RU Mer spinning reel with half bail which I've been using till today. As a matter of fact I had posted the rebuild on site and Keith gave me a donor reel to make it right.

Philaroman; I don't know the history of Asian reel makers, that is why I said at the beginning that I was quoting On the water and you can read the whole article on the web site. If you have any information about this I'm sure others would be interested.

Joe 

[mo65]

   Great stuff Joe...thanks for the link!

[gumpie44]

Joe
Great Read, Thanks For Posting, Lots Of Interesting Reels From Back In The Day, Have A Couple Of Old Timers I'm working On Now: Daiwa 7250RLA From The 70's, And A REEL  Oldie, Airex/Lionel Model 1 Vagabond. Great Fun To Get These Old Timers Back On The Water. Have Had Lots Of Help From The Ohana On This Site, Glad To Be A Member.
Barry

[Tightlines667]

Actually the history of the spinning reel dates much further back.  The Malloch is often credited as being the first pivoting reel where the line comes off of the side of the spool during a cast.  Though there were other predecessors. The Illingworth is often consideted the first true spinning reel, and the Mignon is the first ultralight.  Hardy had the first patented full bail spinning reel, which is why there were very few US spinning reels available until it expired ca. 1955.   Europeans were decades ahead if the US in the development if the spinning reel.  

The late Mr. Wright has alot of published information on the early history of spinning reels.  And Mr. Steve Vernon has written much regarding early patents.  There is more information regarding the fascinating evolution of spinning reels over on the ORCA site.

After looking into this stuff, I was surprised by the vast amount of infirmation, and the incredible diversity in early designs.  There are some interesting and strange reels that were developed here.

John

[Midway Tommy]

Interesting read. The first page early pre-Penn history stuff has many inaccuracies. For the purist, one could reference the Winans & Whistler 1875 US161314 Patent as possibly the earliest documented forerunner to the fixed spool concept or even Peter Malloch's (Scotland) sidecaster in 1884, but most reel historians consider the first fixed spool reel, or threadline as it is sometimes called, to be the Illingworth No.1 introduced in 1905 (prototype in 1903). Fixed spool designs evolved from there and Hardy obtained the first full bail patent in 1932, and as a result of WWII, their patent was extended through 1955. That's the reason why other manufactures' pre and post WWII open face reels were either half bails or manual pickups until about 1954/55.

Bache Brown went to Europe in the mid '30s and collaborated in the development of a Luxor takeoff of which he obtained Patent US229929470 in 1941 and and improved Patent US2344209 in 1944. It was simply named Luxor Made in USA and was later changed to the Airex Mastereel in '46. Bache Brown was the US/Canadian distributor of the French Luxor reel from 1939-44. Lionel purchased 2/3 of the Airex stock in '48 while Brown stayed on as technical adviser. The full bail Beachcomer was introduced in 1953. About that same time Mitchell came out with a full bail, as did many others including Dam, ABU, etc., because the Hardy patent was about to expire.

Ueno Seiko was born in 1948, referenced as Olympic in 1958 and adopted the Olympic name in 1961. They made a lot of copied reels, as well as some of their own designs, throughout that time frame.

I didn't delve into the accuracy of the later references.            

[Reel 224]

That's why this site is good for all to give you guys a chance to include that information that you have collected over the years of your experience. I'm sure we will get a lot of feedback on this subject.

Thanks................Joe

[philaroman]

Philaroman; I don't know the history of Asian reel makers, that is why I said at the beginning that I was quoting On the water and you can read the whole article on the web site. If you have any information about this I'm sure others would be interested.
Joe 

not being critical of you in any way -- just the article...  couldn't find it w/out subscription, but your excerpt doesn't jell w/ what little I know & others who know more seem to agree

I've had a few 50's Ueno Seiko's (flying fish & 5 Olympic rings on emblem, when Olympic was the product line -- not yet Company name)...  nicely made, even if materials were not the best.  Model 81 (300 clone) is most common; oldest half-bail is more collectible.  Model 82, 83, 84, 85 (Centaure/Luxor? clones) are RARE -- a new/mint/complete (nice box + all accessories) could fetch a nice chunk of change, if you allow bids from Japan & sell when their economy is up & speculation peaks. later Olympic, Ltd. & Compac full-bail versions don't have much value

[Reel 224]

Just go to the web site I poster and when it opens go to the top and go to magazine click that and the drop down will say digital magazine click it and just ignore the log on click the issue and turn to that page 26.

Joe     http://www.onthewater.com/onlineedition/NYNJOnline/mar-17-nynj/        Here click on that.

[philaroman]

Thanks...  liked their other articles better than spinner Then&Now

[Midway Tommy]

The article incorrectly claims that the large Luxor and Penns were the only reels at that time to have ball bearings. Many Italian made reels of the late '50s & early '60s had ball bearings between the body & rotor. Interestingly enough, they weren't encased ball bearings as we know them today. They were made up of 3 washers with varying numbers of steel balls. There were generally 2 thin outside washers and a thicker washer with holes that retained the balls sandwiched in between. The balls were a slightly larger diameter than the thickness of the middle washer, smaller in diameter that the holes and the bearings ride on the outer thin washers. When opening one of those reels, if one's not careful, you can easily have multiple steel balls rolling around all over the place or lost in the carpet. A few of the larger reels of that period that had ball bearings were the Pescador 500, Ted Williams 500, 510 & 550, Zangi Titan, Delfino, Dam 270 (Super), etc. The Italian reels mentioned also utilized a worm gear so Penn could have easily modified that design, too, not necessarily just the Dam Quick.     

[Reel 224]

You can write the editor or the writer on the inaccurate statements I'm sure he would appreciate your comments. As far as I'm concerned I don't take anything for granted, I just read or listen to information and either take with a grain of salt or dismiss it altogether. I was intending to send a little.......emphasize Little history on spinning reels. So you guys could take it or leave it what ever suits you.

Joe 

[foakes]

Thanks for posting this, Joe!

We appreciate your taking the time to do this.

Best,

Fred