FISHING REELS. 97 



overrunning or backlashing be prevented ; or the pressure 

 on the spool can be regulated by the lever-drag, or thumb- 

 piece, which operates the same spring as the sliding button 

 just mentioned. With this thumb-piece any amount of 

 tension can be brought to bear upon the spool, when cast- 

 ing, or the line stopped, simply by the pressure of the 

 thumb ; or when a fish is hooked the tension can likewise 

 be regulated by the thumb-piece from a free-running spool 

 to a light drag, heavy drag, or a complete stop. On the rim 

 of the end plate is an adjustable click, to be used only in 

 fly-fishing. It will hereafter be placed on the same side of 

 the reel as the automatic drag. Either the click or the drag 

 can be operated while the reel is in motion. 



The bearings of the shaft are compensating, by which it 

 can be properly adjusted, or any wear taken up. This 

 compensating principle I know to be a good one, as it is 

 the same as applied to reels about forty years ago by Mr. 

 Snyder, a watchmaker of Paris, Kentucky, and a contem- 

 rorary of Mr. Meek, of Frankfort, Kentucky. The reels 

 of both of these makers were built upon the same plan, 

 but Mr. Snyder constructed his spool-shaft with conical 

 ends, fitting into screw-pivots with beveled recesses. I ex- 

 amined one of Snyder's reels, a year or two ago, that had 

 been in constant use for more than thirty years, which, by 

 virtue of the compensating device, ran as smoothly as when 

 first made. 



Mr. Chubb's reel is made of the best quality of German 

 silver, and has steel gears and steel pivots throughout. 

 The wheels and pinions are cut with oblique teeth or cogs, 

 which gives greater power in reeling and more freedom in 

 casting than the ordinary straight cogs. The reel is made 

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