What's Special about Ft. Wayne?

[Steve]

These companies all made reels in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. Were they related somehow, or did Ft. Wayne just specialize in specialties?

F. W. Specialties Co.
National Specialties, Inc. (made a 5-twisted-arm reel like the Peters)
D. & T. Specialty Mfg. Co. (made a 5-bent-wire-arm reel)

[Harvey]

Just TWO!
That is all that specialized in Specialties. The other one's specialties was Specialty. Hope I cleared that up!
"H"

[Jim Schottenham]

Steve,
Lots of other Indiana reel makers set up shop in Ft. Wayne also:
The National Specialties was listed as a manufacturer of mechanical and electrical specialties, this from a flyer I tried to restore from parts and pieces:

Then there was the S. L. Kuntz reel, also from Ft. Wayne:

Add to that the one that started the whole thing, the Rider reel:

Then there was the O. K. Machine works reel, makers of the Creek Chub Wawasee:

The D&T paperwork is kinda neat:

I know this really didn't answer your question, but it looks to me like there are too many other companies to all be directly related. Was Ft. Wayne a big industrial area in the 20's?
Jim S

[SWIM JIG]

Jim you are correct they were also and still are a large trasnportaion HUB, now they have a decent airport , and the Trucking and train frieght (spoke) out for delveries! They had access to raw materials, plenty of machine shops and a lot of trained labor. At one time money was not a item to worry about. The shops had a certain amount of (open Time)beter to make reels than have a place not running. This is what I remeber from my 10 grade civics studies. As for today its still a major truck terminal or several of them. Your frozen Ohio Conection On lake erie Col M lorens aka SWIM JIG

[Steve]

Harvey, how silly! They all have the same family name: Company

Jim, I don't know how long it took you to find all those separate National Specialties flyer pieces on eBay, but I'm impressed. Just a few more auctions and you'll have a complete flyer!

Milt, if you can remember anything from 10th grade, you're a lot less senile than I am.

But just a reminder: Were there really at least 3 separate companies in Ft. Wayne making "specialties?"

[SWIM JIG]

yes, one made novilties, and politacal items ie custom hand outs badges, rullers , etc. another one many years ago made specilty soft drinks and flovored beverages, One made toys, and plastic injected items, another made specialty tools about the time Full automatic transmisions came into play, the fort was buick then olds in 1939,had a semi auto trans however it used a clutch to star and stop. Another made moldings for the auro industry generaly short run items. and many more companies were using the Ft Wayne address, as most everone knew where Ft. Wayne is located! All this imfo is listed in 2 or 3 places 1 the manufactors us directorys by staet and product, 2 the public liabray has list of business that were on the tax rolls, 3 the product itself had the city and state on it, exception to this was a chemecal custom maker called (lable OFF both of Ft.Wayne and Akron OHIO. the other place to find these is the Court houes as they have listings of all cmpanies under their jurisdiction! ( now this generaly applies to any city, village , cross roads, and counties in the USA! Your public Liabray is a wealth of research items, anothe is your local historic society in each city. GOOD researching in the future! Col. M. Lorens aka SWIM JIG in 9degree ohio