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Horton/Meek Reels
On Monday, August 14, 1916 the
Bristol Press reported on page one:
"General Manager Charles R. Riley and Secretary Towndsend G. Treadway of the
Horton Manufacturing Company returned this noon from Louisville, Kentucky
from a business trip which is very important to this city. While at that
place on Saturday, the purchase of the B. F. Meek Company, manufacturers of
fishing reels, by the Horton Manufacturing Company was completed...."
Thus Horton entered the reel business. In 1916 they went from having no
reels in their catalogs to being the manufacturer of the most famous fishing
reel name in America. Over the years they expanded the line, and at the end
of World War II, the Meek name was finally dropped from their catalogs. Here
are a few of the reels that they produced during that period.
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A pair of Horton Meeks #3 size. This was the most common
Meek reel. The one on the left, however is a tournament reel, with small
crank, balsa arbor, and thumb rest. It is still being used today in
antique tackle casting contests. |
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Another line of "Kentucky" reels produced by B.F. Meek &
Sons, and carried on my Horton was the Bluegrass series. These were
still high quality German silver reels, but at a lower price. |
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A fairly scarce Horton Meek #30. This is the only level
wind reel produced with the Meek name. It came out in the late-1930s,
and was a victim of WWII. |
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The lowest priced Meek designed reels were the Bluegrass
Simplex tube frame models. The #34 (left) was a free spool reel, while
the #33 had a fixed spool. |
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The Bristol Electromatic reel was a beautiful, and
innovative, level wind casting reel that came out after WWII. It had
little success due to the spinning tackle craze. It lessened backlash
with the use of magnets. A practice that is common today. |
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Horton manufactured several fly reels under their own
banner, but they also carried on the Meek series of cast aluminum fly
reels. This is the #55 reel one of three sizes produced. |
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Notes |
| Horton Meek reels have
been relegated to a lower status than the genuine B. F. Meek & Sons
reels. All were machine made, and I have found the quality of the
Horton products to be as good, or perhaps even better than the Meek &
Sons products (blasphemy). |
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