FISHING REELS. 99 



cal recesses of the shaft. By this compensating device the 

 reel can be made to run smoothly always, thus avoiding the 

 wabbling, unsteady, and noisy working of the spool in or- 

 dinary reels after they become worn, and renders this por- 

 tion of the reel " practically everlasting." 



Wm. Mills & Son's new " Imperial" Black Bass reel is 

 another very meritorious candidate for the favorable con- 

 sideration of the angler. It is a double multiplier, with 

 steel pivots and screw-off caps for oiling; has a strong 

 frame of German silver, with raised pillars, and end plates 

 of hard rubber. By the raised pillars the capacity of the 

 spool is much increased without adding to the size or 

 weight of the reel. It has an improved adjustable click on 

 the back plate (the cut wrongly shows it on the crank plate), 

 allowing it to be operated while the reel is in motion, and 

 is as well adapted for the fly-rod as for minnow-casting. 



A novel feature in connection with this reel is a simple 

 device for throwing the handle in and out of gear, so that 

 in casting the minnow the spool revolves entirely independ- 

 ent of the handle and gearing, thus doing away with con- 

 siderable friction and allowing the bait to be cast with 

 greater ease and delicacy. The device for this purpose is 

 operated by a short, arrow-shaped lever which occupies the 

 position on the crank plate that is wrongly appropriated by 

 the click button in the illustration on page 96. 



