5" Harlow reel

[George387]

Guys,
A friend got in touch today and said he had won a 5" harlows centre pin reel and asked me if I knew anything about them, I was stumped and cannot help him, anyone shed any light on it?

[Chavender]

i beleave harlows was the shop that sold the reels ,the reels was made by a rolls royce engineer (probably at work) .all veriations on a theme .they're basically a stanton reel a copy of renaulds original reels ,not as identical as adcocks (cliff stuck to renaulds design) but in the same style.

i know some was adonised black ,and ,some have the centre screw some dont ,as they was made by the same people ,they're hard to distinguish from other rolls royce versions .

i have pictures of both types ,and i own a rolls royce stanton and the only difference is mine has the centre screw (and a modern foot i had made for it) .some engineers made there own reel while others made it a sideline .another known named versions was the ken lee reels (it is rumoured ken lee is the chap who made the harlows reels).you could line them all up & without checking for names not know the difference

they all have the flat front plate (much easier to do than the dished renaulds ones) with 6 or three finger winding holes ,the spool is released via the rear screw ,they're usually 5¼" dia (probably because thats close too the bar stock dia ) the knarled edge is for batting with .it'll run on open cased ball bearings mounted on a axel inside the hub of the spool .early ones usually have a star back like a old nottingham reel with a rather wide foot ,later ones a cast back

harlows stanton with handles



ken lee stanton




rolls royce stanton




unknown maker but possibly a later harlows




oh and one for frogmore ,another veriation on a theme ,i've no details as to maker but ,these are not that far from the others above.

[George387]

Thanks mate I knew someone on here would have an idea. :thumb:

[Frogmore]

The last one IS the same as mine. It arrived today and spins beautifully.
Take a look - http://www.flickr.com/photos/48059764@N ... 266055217/

Colin.