A little Thursday Trivia...

[OCauto]

What did the Zero Hour Bomb Company manufacture in 1949?

[Don Champion]

Explosives for oil wells?

[OCauto]

Correct you are Don...
Eectric time bombs used in fracturing oil-well formations

[OCauto]

Another one:

What process was used in producing the Ugly Stik rod?

[Midway Tommy D]

An experiment to fix crooked blank problems in fiberglass/graphite combo rods. Clear resin w/ parallel fibers.

[OCauto]

Pretty close Tommy... in fact, Shakespeare's quality rods were made with an internal spiral fiberglass core and parallel glass fibers impregnated with pigmented polyester resin .The method to make them was referred to as the Howald process.

[Midway Tommy D]

Shakespeare's quality rods were made with an internal spiral fiberglass core and parallel glass fibers impregnated with pigmented polyester resin .The method to make them was referred to as the Howald process.

That would be true, but not in the Ugly Stik final development process.

From the "man in charge of fishing rod development and the engineering group in the FTD" (Fishing Tackle Division) when the U Stik was developed:

"During one of our engineering experiments, I asked Mike to make some sample blanks using graphite instead of fiberglass for the spiral core. Because of the crook problem we had when we blended fiberglass and graphite we decided to use clear resin with the parallel glass fibers so we could detect any stresses that might be occurring while the blanks were curing. This was yet another way of combining fiberglass and graphite as compared to blending parallel fibers. The next day Mike and I were examining these latest casting rod blanks and to our amazement they were stronger than anything we had ever seen, almost un-breakable. Needless to say we were excited and on top of the strength asset the blanks were straight. The following afternoon we had one of those scheduled progress update meetings with Joe Kuti, Clyde Rickard, Mike, and me." ... AND:..."I don't remember if it was the next day or two or three days later but by now these blanks had been looked at by most of Shakespeare's executives. We were informed that there was going to be a new product line with a limited model offering and we were to pursue patent applications and trade marks for the UGLY STIK. The UGLY STIK patent was filed 4-12 -1976 by James Monroe Lindler and Michael Taras Romanyszyn. Joe Kuti is the one that I credit for naming the rod series."

Here is the "rest of the story" http://www.stripers247.com/story-of-the-ugly-stick.php which was written be Geezer in 2005, as sent to him from Harvey Garrison who received from Roxanne Coleman of the Shakepeare Corporation, if anyone cares to read it.

Tom
P.S. Nice article Geez