Carlton reel questions

[Jason]

I believe we have some serious Carlton collectors amongst us who may be able to answer the following question.

Have you seen a Carlton catalog that distinguishes the difference between a lightweight and an amateur? I thought I read in a book that the horizontal version was called an amateur. I once had a bronze horizontal that was marked "Lightweight" on the front of the counter balance and "Amateur" on the backside of the counter balance. I think I sold that reel to someone in Texas.

Contrary to that belief, I now have a bronze vertical reel with the exact markings. I'm beginning to wonder if the designation of "Amateur" is for the bronze plated reels.

I also read that Carlton Lightweight reels could not be disassembled. Even the guy who wrote a famously inaccurate picture book got that right. While its true that some of them cant be disassembled because the pillar heads were stamped too large, many can be disassembled by squeezing the pillar inward. A clear notch is present to suggest this was by design. You wouldn't even need to remove the handle screw to open it up and clear a line tangle. Those that cannot be disassembled usually have unevenly shaped pillar heads leading me to believe they were altered to prevent disassembly under strain. What are your thoughts?

Jason

[Reel Geezer]

Your guess about the stampings on the Lightweight crank counterbalance might be correct, but it also might be that they started out naming the reel Amateur, and then realized that Meisselbach had been making an Amateur reel since 1886. And since the Amateur was still in production in 1906 - after releasing some of the reels and hearing of two Amateurs - they turned over the already stamped cranks, and restamped them Lightweight. I think that makes more sense than Bronze vs. Nickel or sidemount vs Vertical (even though I bought into that one in my booklet). With my theory there could be reels stamped Amateur and nothing on the other side as well as reels with both stampings.

I've never seen a Lightweight that wasn't designed to be disassembled by squeezing the pillars. I'd guess that you are correct that some anglers peened the pillar ends to prevent accidental opening. I believe that all worked properly when manufactured, otherwise how would Carlton have put the reel together?

I would also like to know if anyone has a Carlton Catalog. I've got lots of ads and general tackle catalogs with Carlton reels in them, as well as Carlton ads from Dealer Journals, but have never seen a Carlton catalog. They also didn't have any in any of the research museums and historical societies I visited in Rochester.

Not to turn this into a commercial, but anyone interested in Carlton reels might get some answers from my Carlton booklet. You can go to the following web page and get the details:
http://www.oldreels.com/carlton-rochester.htm