Index of Reel Makers: A – L

Diamond, (Japan) Spin Master Series sold by US distributor.

FOSS, AL FISHING TACKLE (Cleveland, Ohio), The company, mostly know for its lures and pork rinds,  did also sell reels. Al Foss was a dedicated tournament caster who often modified reels from other companies to suit his own purposes. The company went through several buyouts after Mr. Foss’s retirement in 1929. To see the timeline of the progression of Al Foss Company, American Fork and Hoe, True Temper, American Tackle and Equipment and Weber refer to Joe Yates’ page on Al Foss History

FOX, A. H. GUN,  a gun maker from Philadelphia est. 1906,  maker of some fine shotguns,  who also made or had made some reels,  normally there is always one on eBay for sale,  so check there until we can get some pictures here!  They always seemed to square off their designs,  like a tear drop shaped reel that also has flat areas around it!

GYRATORY REEL CO. This unusual reel was patented and first produced by Henry Crandall of Milwaukee, WI  in the early 1900s, The Gyratory reel was patented on 1/7/1908 by Henry F. Crandall of Milwaukee. This was patent #875,694. It was an odd contraption with an eccentric oscillating spool. The reel was also able to free spool for casting. In 1908 Crandall patented (#892,137) another version of the reel integrated into a rod. The Crandall versions of this unusual reel are very rare.

The reel was apparently revised and renamed c1916-17 by the GUY-RA-TORY REEL CO. of 316 Fifth Street in Racine, Wisconsin. This version was widely advertised  in the leading outdoor magazines of the time.  An ad from the May 1917 issue of Outers shown below.  When the reel was reviewed by O. W. Smith, Fishing Editor  of Outdoor Life in the October 1916 issue he commented:

“The gyratory reel was brought to my home by the traveling representative of a certain hardware house, as ‘special’ he was then pushing. We tried it out on the street to the great  amusement of a crowd which soon gathered, and they were not all fishermen either. The illustration gives a good idea of the reel, its rather odd name referring to the eccentric action of the spool, wobbling from left to right like the lodge goat with each revolution, laying the line from end to end of the spool. The lever, shown in the illustration, frees the spool from the crankshaft, so it is a free spool. It will be noticed that it is built in the handle of the rod – is a part of the rod. The crank is of a peculiar shape. All in all, I consider it one of the strangest creations ever produced for winding a line or casting. It certainly would handle a line in a manner to  surprise the doubting Thomases who saw it perform, but a man would need to be  possessed of more than a little courage to take the arrangement out in company on a bass lake.”

This type of review, along with the onset of World War 1,  undoubtedly hastened the demise of the Gyratory reel and contributed to its rarity.  By Phil White. (For more information, see Reel News back issue Spring 1996.) Reel Photos Courtesy of Lang’s Auction

HAWKS & OGILVY New York, Ball handled reels marked with the company name will be pre-1895. Most reels sold by the company were made by the Vom Hofe family of reel makers. Photos Courtesy of Lang’s Auction

HOLMES, L. W.  L.W. Holmes fishing reels. Holmes was a reel-maker in Oronoque, Conn., from after WWII to the early 1950s. His reels are well machined but were designed to fit into the mid range niche of the market. Leslie W. Holmes, according to the city directory, was listed as a reel maker in 1945. He made 4 models or reels, with variations in most of the models. There was one non-level wind casting reel that had a sandblasted aluminum frame and may have been the best made of the lot. The reels were sold by Abercrombie & Fitch for a time, but the company’s demise came about by Hardy’s patent infringement lawsuits. Evidently, the reels resembled some of Hardy’s designs. Also, the post-war competition in the mid range was considerable.  Although it appears the reels were made for five years, they are awfully hard to find. (For more information on the reels and the company see the Reel News back issue, Fall, 1999, by Richard Lodge.)

Pictures below, courtesy of Wayne Benson.

INGLIS, JOHN- SHAKESPEARE,  Inglis Reels of Canada:  As with most reel companies of pre-world war era, John Inglis was one of the largest suppliers of war ordinance of the British Empire making ship engines and Bren machine guns just to name a few.  Sales of the reels started prior to the war,  but do to all the hostilities before the war,  no contracts were signed until later.  After WW2 they started making household goods including sporting goods and around 1947 they signed an agreement with Shakespeare to start producing reels and lures. With the precision machinery that they were already experts at using,  they were quickly able to copy and produce most of the existing lineup of Shakespeare reels to the exact specifications and tolerances of Shakespeare.  6 models and a few rods and some line were the 1st to be added to the lineup and later models were added over the years. The boxes were and exact match to the Shakespeare boxes and along with the famous Shakespeare logo.  Inglis proudly stamped every box and reel with their famous Inglis logo and stamped Made In Canada. Reels were made right into the 1960s and production was stopped to concentrate on making large appliances. Today Inglis is owned by Whirlpool and manufacture large appliances for the Canadian and USA markets,  yet their reels still exist thanks to the high quality of their craftsmanship.  Research and pictures are courtesy of ORCA member Tony Malatesta.

Pictured below from left to right are John Inglis Shakepeare reels,  first is a boxed Criterion No.1960 Mod.GE (1946),  a boxed Ultra 1984 Mod.GE (1946),  a boxed shallow water diver lure,  a Wondereel No.1922 Mod.GE (1946).

You may click on the pictures to enlarge.

Johnson     (Dennison-Johnson) Mankato, Minnesota. Refer to the Johnson Reel Collectors Association website. Also, click on the following link for an article on Johnson Demonstrator reels written by Dick Braun (The Zebco Guy) and posted on Dr. Todd’s Blog Spot: http://fishinghistory.blogspot.com/2010/08/johnson-reels-marketing-genus-by-dick.html.  Research by Dick Braun.

Here is a Johnson article by Dan Uchity:
The Johnson 100B was first seen in catalogs in 1963, so to answer your question, the first 100B’s were made as early as 1962. They continued on until 1979 in catalogs by the Johnson Reel Co. They were made in various shades of green and also a Century 100B Princess was made in Pink for the ladies. Prior to the 100B’s they were called 100A’s and Prior to this just Johnson Century 100’s. 1955 was the year of introduction of the Johnson 100.discontinued by 1979. After a hiatus of several years a 40th year Anniversary issue was provided for 1995. Production probably began in about 93′ for this 100B issue. This one was a dark green issue. From about ’95-’97, a lighter green  40th Anniversary issue was also issued. This green was a close match to the old  original Johnson Century’s.
Also at this time was introduced the Johnson  Century 100B Deluxe in a silver color. This version sported ball bearings and 2  pickup pins and infinite anti-reverse features. For more information, see the Johnson reel collectior’s site. http://www.johnsonreels-online.org/index.php
All the reels spoken of  above were manufactured in the USA. It appears the USA manufacturing ended in 1997. After this the 100B’s were manufactured in China until sometime  around 2000. Two 45th Anniversary versions were issued then. One was a dark  green and the other was a gray color. Also, a silver 100B Deluxe version was  also made there. The finish was not as nice on this one as on the American made  versions. It appears that no more of these fine reels are made in 2010. It will  be interesting to see if they are ever manufactured again.
An interesting  piece of info for those who are into collecting these reels: The Century 100  reels from near the beginning to end of production
were also made for other  companies who used their own Brand name on them. The color range goes from one  that is tri-colored in black, tan and yellow, and color spectrums consisting of  red, various shades of green, pink, gray, silver, copper, brass and gold.  Dan
To some of your other questions: The Johnson Century can be found  with names like Shy Poke, Ward’s, Ace, Hawthorne (another name used by Ward’s),  Cook’s Premier, Revelation (Western Auto product)  and Johnson, of course. I may  be forgetting some others.
The Citation is a larger version of the  Century with a larger line capacity. Besides Johnson, there is a version made by Johnson for the St. Croix rod company. It is a copper color. There may be other brand names on the Citation model, but I am not familiar with them.  Altogether, over the years, I know of about 60 or so variations of the Century reels. They sit on my shelves.
The Pink Princess reels were not anodized and neither were the Shy Poke reels. I think the rest of the models were anodized. Research by Dan Uchity.   What follows are reel names and dates from the catalogs as posted on Reel Talk, Jan 2, 2016:
Sidewinder 10 1949 10A 1950 20 1951 40 1951 40A 1952 60 1952 80 1953 22 1954 44 1954
Century 100 1955-1956 100A 1957-1962 100B 1963-1979 115 1981-1982 135 1981-1982 225 1983-1988 100B Dlx 1995-1999 2000 1994-1999
Century Light 105 1982 125 1983-1988
Century Pro 345 1982-1984
Century II 101 1979 111 1979
Chairman 820 1979-1981 830 1979-1981 840 1979-1981 850 1979-1981
Challenger 730 1979-1980 740 1979-1980 750 1979-1980
Charter 620 1979-1981 630 1979-1981 640 1979-1981 650 1979-1981
Charger 530 1979-1980 540 1979-1980 550 1979-1980 620 1979-1980
Seville 170 1979=1980
Chevron 35 1979-1983 ?135 1979-1983 ?230 1979-1983 ?
Citation 110 1956-1957 110A 1958-1962 110B 1963-1979
Citation II 111 1979 Commander 150 1969-1971 150A 1972-1976
Skipper 125 1971-1978
Crappie Pro 230 1987-1992
Country Mile 6 1988-1994 10 1988-1994 15 1988-1994 20 1988-1994
Magnetic Fly Reel 5 1958-1965 3 1962-1971
Single Action Fly 7 1965-1971 9 1965-1971
Scout 145 1979 95 1981
Sprite 200 1978-1979
Spirit 85 1981 90 1979-1980 111 1983-?
Cisco 65 1981 127 1979-1980
Strike 415 1981 435 1981
Force 315 1981 335 1981 320 1982 340 1982 525 1983-1988
Sprint 205 1981-1982 215 1981-1982 235 1981-1982 445 1983-1988
Champ 430 1979-1981

Research by Dan Uchity.

LANGLEY CORP (San Diego, California) The Langley Corporation was incorporated in 1939 to make dental equipment.  The outbreak of WW II transformed the company into an aircraft parts manufacturer under the guidance of Henry Mandolf., a renowned aircraft designer and inventor. When WWII ended, Mandolf transformed the company into a national producer of fishing equipment with reels made of lightweight aluminum.  Langley’s line of fishing tackle produced between 1946 and 1962 grew to 15 models of bait casting reels, 10 models of fly reels, 9 models of spinning reels, 5 models of spin casting reels, 59  models of fishing rods, a couple of lures and the famous De Liar scale.  Improvements were always being made in each line as time went on, providing collectors numerous versions of Langley products to collect.

Langley’s flagship baitcasting reel, the Streamlite, weighed just 5 ounces and incorporated a perforated spool arbor to reduce backlashes.  Other early reels included the narrow spool Lurecast and the freespool Target for tournament casters.  All of these reels were made of anodized aluminum and became very popular.  They had many features invented and patented by Henry Mandolf, a master at economizing in the production process.  The Gearbox Control reels, introduced in 1948, used a Mandolf invention to allow the gears to be cleaned and lubricated without completely disassembling the reel.

After the Korean War, Langley introduced a very successful line of spinning reels, from ultralites to a large surf-casting model, the Spinator.  New management took the company more and more into aircraft and aerospace work, with the tackle business waning in popularity.  In fact, in 1962 Zebco Corporation, then a division of Brunswick Corp. purchased the tackle part of Langley Corp. specifically to produce Langley’s line of spinning reels, which they did into the early 1970s.

There is something for every collector in the fishing tackle Langley produced, some are common and some are quite rare, but all are colorful and built with precision.  For more information on this great California company contact ORCA members Colby Sorrells, Nello Armstrong or Alan Baracco or write to langleyreels@yahoo.com for information on ordering the book these authors wrote on the company (Langley Field Tested Tackle) that discusses the company in detail.

Top three pictures and research above are courtesy of Alan Baracco; left to right – Rare blond Streamlite and the early blue Model 310A .  Langley Ultralite spinning reels.  Colorful small Langley De Liars and boxes.  Last two pictures courtesy of Jim Madden.

LONGFELLOW,  a company that was in Fraser Mich.  looks like they made a couple spinning reels,  1948 to 1955,  according to patent # 2546465, and # 2712419,  these patents were picked up by Shimano in the 1970s. They also had Bronson make a couple of casting reels, a No.CR2001 and a No.CR3001,  for them.  pictures are coming.  To view one of their spinning reels look in this site: http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-longfellow-spinning-fishing-219271800

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