Lure question

[RAM]

What is the earliest date plastic lures (celluloid, "ivoroid, any others) were first made?

Bad Bob

[Bill Sonnett]

a clear plastic celluloid tube was used in the Nifty Minny in 1910. My nomination for the first all plastic bodied lure would would be the celluloid bodied Al Foss Oriental Wiggler which came out in 1917

[RAM]

Thanks Bill! Anyone know of an earlier one? I figured they might go back to the mid to late 1800s since ivoroid crank knobs did. Seemed like a logical material in that they could be easily moulded and/ or machined and hooks mounted safely. May be way off base here since I don't deliberately collect lures (once did collect Pflueger metal) and know so little about them. Just curious.

BB. PS: Never quit!

[Mike N]

I suspect a celluloid lure may be out there that pre-dates 1900.

Celluloid was first created in 1856. Celluloid is easily molded and shaped, and it is generally believed that it was initially made as an ivory replacement for billiard balls.

See, http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Celluloid

According to Carl Luckey, the first advertisement for a celluloid lure appeared in the May 1917 issue of the National Sportsman promoting Al Foss' Oriental Wiggler.

https://books.google.com/books?id=DbrmA ... re&f=false

[RAM]

Thanks Mike. New concepts typically were quickly exploited. Seems a bit unusual that this would be an exception. The reel guys took well to vulcanized rubber for plates, celluloid for knobs, anodizing, and a lot of other ideas. E. F. Pflueger was into luminescence early on for lures.
Bob

[Steve]

A bit of nitpicking:

Celluloid was first created in 1856

Cellulose nitrate was first made in Britain during the 1830s. An improved version, "Parkesine" was patented there in 1855, though many sources state 1856. "Celluloid" was coined to refer to the Hyatts' formulation of a far-superior (and less explosive) cellulose nitrate, patented in 1870 (#105,338). The Hyatt boys opened the Celluloid Mfg. Co. Eventually, the term came to be used generically for a variety of cellulose nitrates. (See Reel News, Jan., 2004, pg. 4)

[Mike N]

A bit of nitpicking:

Celluloid was first created in 1856

Cellulose nitrate was first made in Britain during the 1830s. An improved version, "Parkesine" was patented there in 1855, though many sources state 1856. "Celluloid" was coined to refer to the Hyatts' formulation of a far-superior (and less explosive) cellulose nitrate, patented in 1870 (#105,338). The Hyatt boys opened the Celluloid Mfg. Co. Eventually, the term came to be used generically for a variety of cellulose nitrates. (See Reel News, Jan., 2004, pg. 4)

+++++++

But did you know that the term "cellulite" was first used at health spa's in the 1920s?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellulite#History

[Midway Tommy D]

Thanks for the photo at the top of that page, Mike.

Tom

[Steve]

the term "cellulite" was first used at health spa's in the 1920s

If your parents named you dermopanniculosis deformans, wouldn't you change your name?

BTW, Mike, the point of the nitpick was to hint that these online so-called encyclopedias leave something to be desired.

And back to Bad Bob's topic: I wonder if the Brits made any plastic lures before we did.

[RAM]

It may well be that in a collection somewhere there is a 19th century cellulite lure. Surely. Thanks Steve. Always appreciate your research and knowledge of plastics and other tackle materials. Enjoyed your Reel News articles on same.
BB

[Bill Sonnett]

from the April 1917 National Sportsman Magazine

[john elder]

BB, I pulled out the bible on 19th century lures by Arlan Carter and this is the best I could find, although I didn't pour over every page:





These are sort of cheating in that they are not entirely made of celluloid material, but this pushes the date back to 1894..Welch and Graves...wish I had a handful of these!

[Steve]

What is the earliest date plastic lures (celluloid, "ivoroid, any others) were first made?

"Others":
"Mr. Flinn's flexible minnows are far the best...they are made of gutta percha, painted very closely in imitation of the minnow..."
--Manual of British Rural Sports, J.H. Walsh, 1856 (2nd edition), pg. 240.
"Salmon will take...Flinn's (of Worcester) flexible fish-bait."
--A Handbook of Angling, E. Fitzgibbon, 1848 (2nd edition), pg. 321
Other writers called them "India-rubber" minnows. Whatever... They were displayed at the Great Exhibition (London) in 1851, near the Ustonson & Peters display.

Additional artificial minnow info:
Walton described them as having bodies made of cloth.
By 1826, they were still being made of cloth, but "another sort of artificial minnow is made of tin, and painted very naturally, ...and may be bought at the fish-tackle shops..."
By 1833, "Artificial minnows made of mother of pearl, may be bought at the fish tackle shops..."
By 1837, "...the small cork minnow certainly looks very well in the fishing-case, but is otherwise utterly worthless..."

[RAM]

Maybe even earlier??? Thanks Deke, Steve.
Another question-Steve? When was celluloid first molded with color mixed in-for any product? If this was practical early on, another reason someone should have made "plastic" baits well before the turn of the 20th century.
BB

[Steve]

BB, Celluloid was colorable from its moment of birth in 1870:
"Our invention consists, first, of so preparing pyroxyline that pigments and other substances in a powdered condition can be easily and thoroughly mixed therewith before the pyroxyline is subjected to the action of a solvent; secondly, of mixing with the pyroxyline so prepared any desirable pigment, coloring matter, or other material, and also any substance in a powdered state which may be vaporized or liquefied and converted into a solvent of pyroxyline by the application of heat..."
Parkesine, ca. 1855, also could be mixed with pigments to make objects with uniform and marbleized coloring.

[RAM]

All the more reason its seems some company would have made lures with the stuff. Thanks Steve. Maybe one will show up someday.
BB