"Penn" Reel Box?????

[Rick H]

Help...Anyone recognize this as a "Penn" reel box? It carries the name Penn, but the Patent is attributed to William Schmid. Any insight out there?

Dr Todd said in Aug. this year on his blog that...
"Schmid was one of Shakespeare's most brilliant engineers and responsible for at least a dozen of Shakespeare's fishing reel patents between 1912 and 1930..."

How would that fit with Penn?

[Reel Geezer]

Do a search on United States Reels. These have been discussed before. The Penn was one of several state named reels produced by... ? Was it Bronson? There is also an article about them in a back issue of the Reel News,.

[Rick H]

Thanks Phil. That's kinda what I was thinkin'. I tried googling Unites States Reels and got nothing. The hint was..."100 Yd. & Quadruple". Not reel fitting for a Penn.

[robert ellis]

Schmid, and McMahon started the Bronson Reel Co. in 1923, and McMahon, was the previous Sales Manager for Shakespeare, we have some of the United States Reels, in our website, so that should have popped up for you Rick, I may have to change something, I just saw one of those boxes on Ebay, is this the one? We show the reel that goes in your box ? have 3 different named state ones, so we need more pics if any one has one? and they are Bronson reels, I hate when I have to go to my own website to find info!

[robert ellis]

ORCA search says that Jim Garret, and Skip Brooks, wrote something on the United States Reels, I still can not find it, this is the link Teal said it was on ? I see when you google United States Reels, a gazillion things pop up! I will try to make some changes on our site, so it might show up on the 2nd, or 3rd page, when you Google!:roll:
http://fishinghistory.blogspot.com/

[john elder]

Robert...you just needed to use todd's search window on the right instead of the one up top, which searches the web...go here:

http://fishinghistory.blogspot.com/2009 ... by-jk.html

[robert ellis]

Funny I did use the one on the right, so this time I used the one on top, and got it, great stuff! I wish I had seen this a long time ago, seems like we have all the Bronson casting reels already, and no boxes. Already have Dr. Todd's link in the site, I will explain in the site how to get to it now
Thanks Doc Thanks John

[Rick H]

Hey Robert...see that box in the pic above...It's for a Bronson made reel...
Now go find the reel...and I'll send ya the box ! This one won't be as easy!

[Jonathan P. Kring]

Ok

[robert ellis]

Jon, we already have your reels pictured in our site, and Rick how about just a pic of one ? Karl White has one in his book of reels Vol. 2, he gave us permission to post the pics on our site already

[Rick H]

Robert...as soon as it shows up. Two days maybe...it's comin' from a local guy who tossed it in, with the Penn Model K I bought.

[Reel Geezer]

Just look in the back issue list on this website:

The Reel News, March 2005, page 6. The article shows several boxes, etc.

[David Lehmann]

Here is an interesting twist to (and maybe the start of) the "Penn Casting Reel" story. I recently acquired a "Penn Casting Reel" box that contained similar text as boxes previously described here and in The Reel News. The one difference is it contains a different reel than the one reported by Stu Lawson and one other. The reel in my box is a clearly unused 1st model Bronson Altoona, reportedly offered only in 1932. This reel (also pictured above) includes no manufacturer's marks. For those of you not from central Pennsylvania or who did not pay attention to the literary value of the movie "Flashdance," Altoona is a small city between State College and Johnstown, PA. So, was the Penn simply a redundantly named Altoona designed to appeal to a broader customer base if the Altoona fell flat? Or, was the Altoona a re-introduced Penn that was marketed to have more local appeal but then took off with a life of its own? I would bet that if someone scoured Altoona newspapers from the early 30's, an answer to that question could be found. Because before "Flashdance," a named fishing reel would have been big news and a source of pride in Altoona. If you doubt that, spend a few days in Altoona!