Elbert Dyer of Bandon, Oregon
Like many of pioneer stock
that settled in the west in the 1800's, Elbert Dyer was always searching for
new horizons. And Elbert came from pioneer stock and was involved in many
projects as he searched for his personal horizon. The Dyer reel was one of
these many projects that came and went along the way.
Dyer's parents, George and
Fannie, arrived in Curry County, Oregon in 1854. George was a judge and
county commissioner in Coos County i the 1860s. Elbert was born in 1864 and
shortly afterward the whole family moved up the coast to the new seaport
town of Bandon.
George and Elbert Dyer owned and managed a large general store in Bandon
until the early 1890s when they sold out. Elbert then ran the city water
system, which was owned by his mother, from 1902 to 1914. He was also
involved in many other business ventures in Bandon. He owned a wharf for
shipping, manufactured broom handles and match sticks, had a shingle mill,
and formed a San Francisco company to market these products. This company
was also the agent for the steam-schooner Elizabeth, which served Bandon as
it sailed the Pacific coast from San Francisco to Bandon.
Even though he was involved in all these business enterprises, Elbert spent
a great deal of time in the outdoors. Edgar Capps of Bandon (Elbert’s great
nephew) relates that Elbert and his regular hunting group annually hunted
deer and elk in the hills of Curry County. Capps also said that Elbert made
an 8-gauge shotgun that he mounted on the front of a rowboat to shoot ducks
on the water (apparently similar to the market gunners of the east coast).
However, Capps’ grandfather told him that the gun didn’t work very well, and
he didn’t get many ducks with it. (1)
We don’t know when Elbert Dyer came up with his idea for the Dyer fishing
reel, but on February
12,
1924 he was granted a patent for a “Fishing Line Reel”. The patent had been
applied for in March of 1923. One-fourth of the patent was assigned to R. V.
Leep and one-fourth to L. C. Eaton, both of Bandon. Leep was a popular town
doctor, and Eaton his next door neighbor. Leep was tragically killed in a
hunting accident in 1929. I assume that Leep and Eaton were financial
backers for the reel.
Elbert Dyer’s reel was a salmon trolling reel. It was similar to the large
Meisselbach Expert #33 from the early 1900s, in that it had a cage
surrounding the spool. The Meisselbach Expert #33 was dropped from
production during World War I, and was no longer available by the 1920s.
Apparently there was some demand for this type of trolling reel, for the
Ocean City Manufacturing Company started manufacture of a Hermos trolling
reel that was virtually identical to the Meisselbach product in the
mid-1920s.
This construction was much sturdier than the open spools used at the same
time by Pflueger and other unknown manufacturers. The cage, or frame, also
did not allow the line to slip off the reel spool.
Dyer’s
patented reel was different from the Meisselbach and Ocean City reels,
however, in that it had a slip drag, and a spool brake which was operated by
line pressure on a roller on the cage. The cage itself rotated slightly. The
reels that I have examined did not have this roller and the cage did not
rotate. They had an arm mounted inside the cage that put pressure on the
spool when activated. (see photo above). I would guess that Dyer found the
rotating cage and roller quite a bit more difficult to manufacture.
The Dyer reels do not have the crank knobs attached to the spool, as do
almost all examples of this type of single action trolling reels. The crank
is attached to the reel by a large knurled nut. This nut puts pressure on
several washers attached to the spool, which creates a friction drag. The
drag is adjusted by turning the nut to the desired amount of pressure. I
felt it would work a bit better with a felt or fiber washer included, and
maybe the reel did originally have such a system. The crank knobs appear to
be walnut and were painted black.
Dyer’s reel has a gravity activated anti-reverse mechanism located on the
frame just above the foot. This was a triangular shaped piece of nickel
plated brass that stopped the handle from rotating backward, but pivoted out
of the way when reeling forward. It was very simple and undoubtedly worked
well.
The Dyer reel frames were an aluminum casting, and Edgar Capps can remember
playing with these castings when he was a young boy of five or so (2). This
would have been around 1929, and apparently there were still unfinished
reels lying around Dyer’s workshop. Capps doubts that Dyer completed many
reels. Based on the few number of reels found in Northwest reel collections,
I’m inclined
to
agree with Capps’ production assessment. Tom Harwood, past ORCA President,
and “weird reel” afficiando has only seen the three reels pictured with this
article, and he owns two of them. Harwood owns the smaller reel in the
photos, which is different from the other two examples in construction as
well as size. It does not have a cage, but does have a slip drag and
anti-backlash mechanism. This reel is unmarked as to the maker, but was
obviously made by Dyer.
Most of the features of the Dyer reel were not new, but the application of
the slip drag and line brake on a large, vertical trolling reel was
innovative. The use of an aluminum casting for a trolling reel frame was
also different. The reel in my collection is nicely made, and works well.
I’m sure that the few fishermen who used the Dyer reel got good use out of
them. Perhaps more will turn up due to publication of this article. If any
of our members own one of Eldon Dyer’s reels, I would appreciate hearing
from them.
The town of Bandon experienced a devastating fire in September 1936, and
according to Capps “...everything he (Elbert Dyer) owned burned up in the
Bandon fire.”(3) According to Bandon Historical Society volunteer Paul
Shelton, Eldon Dyer died in Marion Country, Oregon on July 21, 1939.(4)
Footnotes:
1. Edgar
Capps, personal correspondence, 1/2/02
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
References:
Peterson, Emil R. & Powers, Alfred A.,
A Century of Coos and Curry,
Portland, 1952.
Dow Beckham,
Bandon By The Sea.
