Edward vom Hofe, New York, NY

Edward vom Hofe is known for his high quality fly, bait casting and salt water reels. The company was established in 1867. His first reel patent was Sept. 2, 1879 for a spring device to apply pressure to the spool like a drag. In January 23, 1883 he also got a patent forclick device with an arrow shaped pawl and two curved springs. The July 14, 1896 patent for an automatic drag is best known by fly reel collectors and is seen stamped on the oil caps on the Restigouche model. The best known patent that is marked on the reel bearing oil caps is the May 20, 1902 patent and is for the star drag. This patent date is seen on the Universal Star reels. Around 1940, the vom Hofe factory was moved from New York to Philadelhia. The company continued making reels up until World War II. Afterwards, the business was sold to Otto Zwarg. His reels are considered highly collectable and are sought after by collectors. Other vom Hofe's associated with reel making are his brother Julius and his father Fredrick.