Searching old fishing magazines is like panning for gold; many times what appears like a rich vein produces next to nothing of use, while other times an unlikely source reveals real nuggets. For this reason I like to chase obscure magazines and journals. Purchasing them is like buying a lottery ticket, sometimes you win, and sometimes you lose.
In this case, I could not have been happier with a small circulation West Coast magazines called The Western Sportsman. One issue in particular--April 1955--revealed a host of fascinating information. Perhaps the most interesting was a reel gizmo I'd never seen before, patented by Richard .C. Tuttle of Salida, Colorado on 02 August 1955 (#2,714,272).
The magazine wrote up the new development as follows:
Something Really New
Brother R.C. Tuttle, over Salida, Colorado way has hit on something so new that he's still blinking his eyes over the sparkle.
He is putting out an item for fly fishermen consisting of a quickly detachable lever which clamps to the rod handle, adjusts to fit the brake lever of any automatic reel, and gives the fisherman "trigger finger" control of his reel.
In providing index finger control, Tuttle not only relieved the awkward little finger of a job it should never have been required to perform, but also made possible a much firmer, more natural grip, farther forward on the rod handle. It also developed that the position of the ReeLever over the brake lever of the reel served as a "trigger guard" to prevent accidental release of the reel.
To the angler who has hooked his finger, broken his rod tip, or stripped his line of flies through accidental release of an automatic reel, this feature is fully as important as the fore-finger control.
For full dope on the ReeLever, write Tuttle Tackle Company, Box 431, Salida, Colorado.
The same magazine ran a nifty pictorial advertisement for the ReeLever:
I'd often wondered why people used automatics, but this idea is quite clever. The problem would be getting it to fit the myriad of different automatic fly reels that were being sold at the time.
Has anyone ever seen one of these before?
-- Dr. Todd
Hello Dr. Todd,
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to say thank you for this post. Richard Tuttle was my uncle, who just passed away on 5/18/12 at the age of 98. I was doing a Google search to see if I could find any mention (or even pictures) of the store he had years ago in Salida, Tuttle's Trading Post, and instead came across your blog entry. I hope you don't mind, I included the ad for his "ReeLever" on my own blog post detailing my recent trip out to Salida from Illinois for his funeral so our family and friends could see and enjoy it (linking back to you of course). http://www.catdoodles.com/dailydoodle/2012/05/31/back-in-the-saddle-again/
I asked my Uncle Dick's (Richard's) daughters if they knew about this invention of his by the way, and they said there was another one also, though did not recall exactly what it was.
Thanks again, it is wonderful having this little bit of history preserved.
Jean Tuttle (Richard C. Tuttle's niece)
Jean,
DeleteWhile I was going through my old fly rods, I found an old, well used bamboo rod with your uncles name and address etched in the handle: RC Tuttle 207 F. Street Salida, CO, please call me at: 303-619-8941 if would be of any interest to you,
Earl Reuter, Thornton, CO