Articles
Fishing Tackle From Eastern Pennsylvania Part I: The George W. Burgess Rod
Originally published in Fishing Collectibles Magazine, Vol. 8, No. 2, Fall, 1996, pp. 4-9George W. Burgess manufactured canes, whips, umbrellas, and the like for a generation in Philadelphia before moving to Norristown, Pennsylvania, and going into business making fishing rods and other tackle. Beginning sometime around the Civil War, Burgess became one of the country's early rodmakers and experimented with various woods and methods of combining them. He almost certainly influenced, or was influenced by, Thaddeus Norris.
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Fishing Tackle From Eastern Pennsylvania Part II: John Krider and the Sportsmen's Depot
Originally published in Fishing Collectibles Magazine, Vol. 8, No. 3, Winter, 1997, pp.14-20John Krider--gunsmith, hunter, ornithologist, taxidermist, fishing tackle maker--saw his small gunsmithing partnership in Philadelphia grow into one of the country's leading suppliers of hunting and fishing equipment. By the 1870s, he was manufacturing high-quality fishing rods of split bamboo, which he sold from his world-famous Sportsmen's Depot.
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Augustus D. Hendrick and the Star Reel Works: the Connecticut Connection
Originally published in Fishing Collectibles Magazine, Vol. 4, No. 2, Fall, 1992, pp. 4-13Augustus D. Hendrick produced fishing reels for almost two decades, either as an employee or as owner of several firms in New Haven and Birmingham, Connecticut. His reels were relatively inexpensive, but their sales through such outlets as the Sears, Roebuck catalog suggest that his products must have provided some competition for his better-known neighbor, Andrew B. Hendryx. (The article is a 3 MB .pdf file, and it can be viewed with Adobe Reader, which can be downloaded here.)
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Julius vom Hofe 'n' Drag
Originally published in Fishing Collectibles Magazine, Vol. 2, No. 2, Fall, 1990, pp. 11-12
An Abbey & Imbrie reel, made by Julius vom Hofe and inscribed with a 1909 date, was equipped with a "star" drag years before star drags appeared on the famous B/Ocean reels.
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The Smithsonian Institution's Fishing Reel Patent Models
Originally published in Antique Angler, November/December, 1984, pp. 1-4
It's not a large collection, but the Smithsonian owns the models for some important early reel patents. (The article is a 1 MB .pdf file, and it can be viewed with Adobe Reader, which can be downloaded here.)
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Elmer J. Sellers and His Fishing Reel
Originally published in Fishing Collectibles Magazine, Vol. 4, No. 3, Winter, 1993, pp. 4-7
Elmer Sellers, a Pennsylvania pharmacist, patented a side-mounted fly reel in 1934 that was a modern version of the 1859 Billinghurst reel. (The article is an 0.5 MB .pdf file, and it can be viewed with Adobe Reader, which can be downloaded here.)
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The Spinning Reels of Edward F. Small
This article combines two articles originally published in The Reel News, Vol. XI, No. 4, October, 2001, pp. 7-9, and in The Reel News, Vol. XVII, No. 5, September, 2007, pp. 4-7.
Edward Small invented several spinning reels, and his innovations were incorporated into reels manufactured and sold by at least four different companies. They include the "Cormorant," the Ocean City 350, the "Holliday" reels, some "Ted Williams" reels sold by Sears, and several spincast reels made by Horrocks-Ibbotson. (The article is an 850 KB .pdf file, and it can be viewed with Adobe Reader, which can be downloaded here.)
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Who's Yer Reelmaker?
Originally published in Fishing Collectibles Magazine, Vol. 1, No. 1, Summer, 1989, pp. 4-8
The American Reel Co. was founded in Indianapolis, Indiana, to produce a 10X-multiplying casting reel patented in 1882. The remarkable reel was actually manufactured by the Terry Clock Co. An addendum updates the article. (The article is a 1.1 MB .pdf file, and it can be viewed with Adobe Reader, which can be downloaded here.)
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Assailed in Two Cities: John Kopf, Reelmaker
Originally published in The Reel News, Vol. XVI, No. 1, January, 2006, pp. 4-14
John Kopf made reels in Brooklyn and Long Island over a two-decade period. Although some of his cheaper reels are easily and widely recognized, he also manufactured high-quality reels that were among New York's finest. (The article is a 1.8 MB .pdf file, and it can be viewed with Adobe Reader, which can be downloaded here.)
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An American Original: The First Patented Spinning Reel
Originally published in The Reel News, Vol. XVIII, No. 2, March, 2008, pp. 8-10
The first fixed-spool reel for sport-fishing was patented in 1875 by two members of Baltimore's high society: Thomas Winans and Thomas Whistler. (The article is an 850 KB .pdf file, and it can be viewed with Adobe Reader, which can be downloaded here.)
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All articles copyright ©1983-2008 by Steven K. Vernon. All rights reserved. Redistribution or republication of text and/or illustrations in any form without permission is prohibited.