28 THE ANGLER AND HUNTSMAN 



injunction to prevent the corporation, "B. F. Meek & 

 Sons (J. H. Sutcliffe and others)," from using the words 

 "Frankfort," "Kentucky" or either of said words in de- 

 scribing a fishing reel, and, further, that the defendant be 

 compelled to disclose profits and that plaintiffs be given 

 judgment for all profits made by defendant on reels 

 so manufactured and sold. Judge Miller granted the relief 

 sought. The facts as brought out in the case will prove of 

 interest to fishermen, as they show a concise history of this 

 famous reel and give credit to the real institutors of this 

 commodity. The product put out by Meek today may be 

 all that is claimed for it, but the angler must bear in mind, 

 after reading the following facts brought out in the trial, 

 that Milam and not Meek invented the reel, and should be 

 given credit accordingly: 



The evidence shows that crude reels were made in 

 Kentucky before 1830 (investigation has shown that as 

 early as 1810 a reel was made in Paris, Ky.) Mr. Theo- 

 dore Noel, a watchmaker, made a reel in Frankfort about 

 1830. B. C. Milam was an apprentice under Mr. Noel's 

 brother. Noel quitting the business, Milam went to work 

 with Jonathan Meek. Not liking watchmaking, he (Mi- 

 lam) took up the reel business and developed the multiply- 

 ing reel to its present state of perfection. He has devoted 

 his whole life to it. For over sixty years he did nothing 

 else. The first reels he produced were stamped: "J. F. 

 & B. F. Meek," then "Meek & Milam" then "The Frank- 

 fort, Kentucky Reel, B. C. Milam & Son." By constant ap- 

 plication he has built up a great reputation for his reel, 

 built it under different names, but the same reel all the 

 time. At last he was forced to go to the courts to ask 

 protection for what he had been so many years honestly 

 acquiring, and the courts sustained him. 



In 1835, Jonathan F. Meek moved to Frankfort from 

 Danville, Ky., and engaged in the jewelry business. His 

 yoimger brother, B. F. Meek, and B. C. Milam went to work 



