My Favorite UK Reel (Sorry Hardy Guys)

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RonG
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My Favorite UK Reel (Sorry Hardy Guys)

Post by RonG »

My favorite UK reel is the Billiken Tournament Casting Reel that was made by C. Farlow & Co., London. The innovative design feature it contained was a fan blade attached to the spool shaft on the back of the reel. The fan acted as a damper, or drag, during the cast. The reel is put in free spool mode by pulling the handle out. Turning the handle reengages the spool. Pretty cool, huh.

1920 Version:

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1930 Version:

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Russ
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Re: My Favorite UK Reel (Sorry Hardy Guys)

Post by Russ »

Great reel love it.
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Midway Tommy D
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Re: My Favorite UK Reel (Sorry Hardy Guys)

Post by Midway Tommy D »

Those are really cool, Ron! Thanks for posting them.
Love those Open Face Spinning Reels! (Especially ABU & ABU/Zebco)

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sdlehr
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Re: My Favorite UK Reel (Sorry Hardy Guys)

Post by sdlehr »

Nice reel! Similar anti-backlash design to that patented by Otto Henze of Penn in '38 for the Squidder spool here.
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Steve
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Re: My Favorite UK Reel (Sorry Hardy Guys)

Post by Steve »

"Gee, I wish I'd thought of that!"

1873:

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john elder
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Re: My Favorite UK Reel (Sorry Hardy Guys)

Post by john elder »

Neat reel, Ron! I wonder how many of those were made? Sure haven't seen others offered up for sale!
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RonG
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Re: My Favorite UK Reel (Sorry Hardy Guys)

Post by RonG »

Here's some pages out of a 1930 Farlow catalog. Looks like they wanted to get into the Tournament bait casting market. According to the second page, they won some Tournaments. Graham Turner's book says the reel was patented in 1911 and 1913. Besides the two reels shown, I have only seen one other offered and it was in one of Mullock's auctions a few years back.

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Re: My Favorite UK Reel (Sorry Hardy Guys)

Post by colby sorrells »

Great reels and great information Ron. Thank you for sharing. Colby
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Re: My Favorite UK Reel (Sorry Hardy Guys)

Post by reelsmith. »

Ron,

Is there no back plate/cover on the later version ?

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Re: My Favorite UK Reel (Sorry Hardy Guys)

Post by RonG »

Hey Dean, no protective plate like that shown in the catalog. The earlier version has 3 locking screws to hold the plate. The later one doesn't.
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