The Fishing Reel Patent Archive

The mechanical heart of American angling

Raised pillar frame

Patent drawing showing a cutaway side view of a fishing reel with crank handle and internal gears (Fig. 1), and a front view of the reel's back plate exposing a set of interlocking gear wheels labeled H, I, J, K (Fig. 2).IMPROVEMENT IN FISHING-REELSCharles W. MacCord · February 10, 1874Patent drawing sheets showing a fishing reel's internal spring barrel, planetary gear train, friction brake wheels, and toothed rings, with a side elevation of the assembled reel mounted on a rod handle and hand crank.FISHING-REEL.Elbert Ball Porter · December 6, 1887Patent drawing of an 1888 fish-line reel showing the reel mounted on a fishing rod, an exploded perspective of its spool, shaft, pulley and clutch sleeve, a cross-sectional view along the axis, and the bare frame with pillars and heads.FISH-LINE REELCharles F. Gillet · September 4, 1888Patent drawing showing a jointed fishing rod with a hollow handle section containing an internal reel frame, gears, crank, alarm bell lever, and a friction brake knob, alongside exploded views of the gear and spool components.FISHING-RODLewis Wallace · September 29, 1891Patent drawing showing a fishing reel in longitudinal section with labeled frame, spool, gearing, crank, and a friction spring inside the crank hub, plus enlarged cross-section views of the spring mechanism.AUTOMATIC FISHING-REEL.Henry S. Stebbins · June 18, 1895Patent drawing sheet showing a round fishing reel viewed face-on (Figs. 1 and 3) with internal gears, a pinion, sliding arm, click pawl and crank handle, plus corresponding cross-section views (Figs. 2 and 4) revealing the pivot, pulley hub, gear-wheel and mounting plate attached to a fishing rod, and a small detail view (Fig. 5) of the retarding pawl mechanism.FISHING-REEL.Thomas J. Halleck · December 3, 1895