Samuel Allcock & Company
The following history of the venerable British firm of Samuel Allcock was published in the 1888 edition of Wyman’s commercial encyclopædia of leading manufacturers of Great Britain. Allcock was one of the largest — if not the largest — makers of fish hooks in the world and branched out to produce materials for all kinds of angling. Samuel Allcock was a bit of a crank, as well, as I illustrated in a chapter in my History of the Fish Hook in America, Vol. 1.
Samuel Allcock & Co., Fish-Hook and Fishing Tackle Manufacturers
Standard Works, Redditch
Telegraphic Address: Allcock, Redditch.
No house in this trade has entered into it in such a comprehensive way as the above Firm or infused into it such a progressive spirit and invincible determination to succeed, with the gratifying result that they stand in the van of this industry. For more than thirty years Mr. Samuel Allcock, the son of the founder, has been at the head of it. Not only do the Firm possess extensive Works at Redditch, where hand labour of the most skilled kind, combined with long experience and great judgment is employed, but to ensure the very best material for the gut of the hooks they carry on a silkworm factory at Murcia in Spain. Probably no other industry requires such a multiplicity of minute details as fishing-tackle making; to turn out a first-class fishing-rod it has to pass through some dozen sets of skilled operatives, and so with the baits and floats.
Comparatively little machinery is used, but it is the deft fingers and fertile brains of the operatives that are in constant requisition, and it is partly this fact that gives this special industry an impregnable position in this country; for, in spite of the most hostile tariffs the world over, Redditch sends its manufactures into every market, and in yearly increasing quantities; and to keep abreast of the times and still more firmly and wisely to maintain that enviable position, this Firm at once adopt all kinds of improvements, and have a special staff of intelligent employes whose business it is to study not only the different requirements of the varied markets, but to humour the tastes and fancies of the various fishes in the dress-up and appearance of the flies. Salmon, above all fish, are the most wary and fastidious, and require such a perfect presentment of nature, that the distant markets of Africa and the East Indies have to be searched to please him, and fly-making to be elevated to a fine art.
The different parts of the fishing-rod are composed of ash, hickory, greenheart, washaba, bamboo, and certain woods from China and the East Indies, but the best of all is the Dorset English ash, and it is a singular fact that although these woods are grown extensively in the United States, and the industry protected by a high tariff, they cannot rival in quality the best English goods, or keep them out of the market. The manufactures carried on at these Works consist of all kinds of floats, reels, swivels, landing-rings, gaff-hooks, gut-finishing, fly-dressing, and baits, to which there is no limit in change and ideas, comprising a spoon bait, an odd epicurean fish fancy, flexible fish, and the big “Paragon” baits for dolphins; flies, beetles, and other insects, and even lady-birds and frogs are utilised to tempt the appetites of the gourmands of the seas and rivers. The flies especially are of the most elaborate and enticing appearance, and it is no wonder young and old fall victims to the lure. No lesc than 1,700 different kinds and sizes of hooks are made, and are arranged in such order in the storerooms that at a minute’s notice any given size required can be produced. Owing to the numberless articles required the stocks kept are very great, and are a picture of order, neatness, and regularity.
Messrs. S. Allcock & Co. are well-known and successful exhibitors, and were among the first to send contributions to those fishery exhibitions which attracted so much attention, and they carried off gold medals at Paris, Berlin, Wurzburg, Norwich, Toronto, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, South Adelaide, Calcutta, and the highest awards at all the other exhibitions at which they were contributors, and we had the pleasure to inspect a superb case of fishing tackle previously to its departure for the Exhibition at Melbourne in the present year, 1888, and which case will be placed in Group V., Class 38, and will be numbered 725 in the Catalogue, and the contents of it will worthily maintain their present prestige and position in the trade.
MESSRS ALLCOCK AND CO STANDARD WORKS REDDITCH
READERs of the Fishing Gazette have for Very many years been kept up to date with the novelties patents and improvements in fishing tackle for which this up to date firm have become so famous. Although the name of Allcock is as familiar as Household Words it may not be given to every reader to say that he would know him if he met him in Fleet street. The portrait is that of Mr Samuel Allcock and it must be confessed the word General as befits the head of such a firm is written prominently in the firm yet gentle features.
It is no secret that Messrs Allcock and Co are wholesale dealers only but it would be safe to predict that the majority of their specialities are obtainable at almost every tackle dealer’s in the kingdom. From an elaborately printed and splendidly illustrated catalogue of fishing appliances manufactured by them we are enabled to present to our readers several views of their extensive workshops accompanied with a description of the various processes which hooks flies baits swivels rods reels lines floats & undergo before they are placed upon the market.
The history of anything connected with trapping or snaring for the purpose of obtaining food dates naturally from the earliest known records.
The gentle art of fishing finds mention therefore in the literature of most remote ages but only in a most elementary form and the manufacture on a large scale of implements for fishing is of course of comparatively recent date.
In the neighbourhood of Redditch fish hooks to have been made towards the close the last century on a very limited scale but since then the trade has wonderfully developed and now S Allcock and Co find employment for more than 500 persons. They have branch in London Paris Toronto and a silkworm factory at Murcia in Spain. The work of manufacturing the millions of hooks and the innumerable other articles connected with fishing involves an amount of detail which necessitates the different classes of work into several departments.
FISH HOOK DEPARTMENT
The wire used in hook making is best cast steel which must be first quality it will not temper properly the gauge or sizes varying according to the requirements of hook to be made.
First; The operator takes a part of a coil wire in his hand and placing the ends in a gauge and the correct length being arrived at quickly and sharply cuts them into lengths a large pair of shears.
Second Bearding; A number of the thus prepared are arranged on a plane with their right hand ends against upright. The barb or beard is then cut means of a hollow ground knife which ressed forward and deftly turned by of the workman opens the barb to required angle great care having to be exercised in this operation to avoid cutting deep or opening too wide or the barb when used.
Third Filing; The points are now carefully filed Using a pair of tongs specially to hold the wire and rapidly the same a point is filed on it instantly form ing either what is termed a Hollow Kirby Dublin point. All best hooks are filed in this way by hand thus giving to the point three or four knife like cutting edges enabling it to penetrate much more quickly than the less expensive hook.
Fourth Bending; It is now necessary to give the hook its form and for this purpose the workman holds a mould fashioned like the pot hook of our copybooks mounted on a wooden handle. With one deft movement the beard is hooked round the shorter end and a quick turn brings the shank straight with the shank of the mould.
Fifth; The hook is now taken and by the aid of an ingenious machine or hammer the end of the shank is either ringed flatted or marked If intended for salmon or trout flies it is filed to a delicate point or knobbed.
Process Six is most important and is of the hardening of the hitherto soft steel hook and consists in placing the hooks in white heated furnace watched by an who withdraws them on seeing a certain appearance and plunges a vat of oil this converts the temper of soft hook into a highly brittle condition. Mere description will not suffice to do justice to this stage of hook manufacture.
Seventh Tempering; The hooks are then taken from the oil mixed with heated sand and placed in an iron pan over a fire both sand and hooks being kept in constant motion. Ever and anon a hook is picked out and tested and as soon as one lot is deemed sufficiently tempered it is passed on one side and another takes its place. Of course the experience of the operator dictates the finish of each parcel and the man is always selected from those of the highest capabilities. The heat required for each style and size of hooks varies and there is all the difference between a hook too hard or too soft In the former case immediately it is struck against the hard jaw of a fish it breaks either going at the bend or at the point. Nothing is more irritating to the fisher man than to find the fish pricked and gone and the point also minus and this not discovered possibly till he has hit and as he thinks by fault of his own missed the rising fish. The best hooks are those which are tested and found perfect temper and they are of course of best price. Those which by some mistake accident or unavoidable chance are not A1 are placed on one side and sold at a reduction.
Eighth Scouring; For this purpose the are placed with water & in oblong barrels which are kept in motion by steam power one to two days thus removing all scale packages of hooks are then labelled and carefully dried to avoid any risk of rust.
There are over two hundred different sorts hooks each having from twenty to thirty sizes amongst which may be mentioned Quadruple, Treble and Double brazed, Live bait snap hooks, Lip hooks, Kirby, Limerick, Dublin, Limerick, Carlisle, Kendal, Sneck, Round, Bent, Crystal, Mackenzie, Roach hooks, Chestertown Sproat & on & on and the many varieties of cod and sea hooks.
FISHING ROD DEPARTMENT
Various materials are used for the manufacture of fishing rods, steel, wood, cane. Steel if used alone is found to be unsuitable on account of its weight and too great spring but placed in the centre of cane built rods it answers fairly well although we cannot recommend it. Of woods we use Greenheart Washaba Nicobar Blue Mahoo Lancewood Hickory Ash Deal Hazel Snakewood Cedar Beefwood Ebony and of Canes East Indian Mottled Carolina White Japanese Tonquin Spanish White Bamboo or Jungle. Not only has greatest care to be used in the selection of proper growths of wood, but, as many of the foreign woods have little or no sale in the timber market for general purposes, great difficulty is often experienced in obtaining an adequate supply for fishing rod making, which is only met by the direct importation and storage of large quantities, necessitating the outlay of a large capital. Preference is given to the fine-grained foreign woods over native growths, on account of their strength, durability, and lightness. The wood arrives in baulks, measuring 20′ to 50′ long, by 20″ to 24″ square planks of 5′. to 6′. long, and about 3″ thick. After this, the wood is carefully examined, and all faulty pieces are thrown on one side, only the best straight being retained. The planks are stored in large timber sheds, specially constructed with a view to the thorough seasoning of the wood, which takes from two to three years. When perfectly seasoned, these planks are again taken to the sawmill and divided into lengths of the required thickness, and then handed to the rod maker, who, by hand, with a plane, reduces them to the required size. Top joints are usually spliced with jungle cane. The ferrules are then put on and the rod tapered so that an even play is obtained from butt to tip.
The ideal rod should be perfect in strength elasticity quick power of recovery and with a minimum of weight. This being a work of great nicety only a few excel in producing a first class rod. After whipping on the rings with stout silk and fastening ferrules winch fittings the rod is then polished by the application of several coats of very fine varnish allowing one or two days to elapse between each coat. This is of great importance as without the necessary time the durability and appearance of the rod cannot be insured.
For lightness and convenience in carrying spare tops the butts are very frequently hollowed. Boring is a very delicate operation requiring great skill and care or otherwise the butt destroyed by the long augur passing through the side. Rods are made in all lengths from nine to twenty feet and in two to twelve joints.
Rods for sea fishing are made much stouter and stronger as they have to stand the strain of not only a long line and heavy lead weight but of big powerful fish. They are made from six to twelve feet with large revolving pulley top rings and either with a cleat or the ordinary winch fittings. In this department landing handles are made wood or cane hollow for carrying a spare top hinged or telescopic for convenience in carrying. Also landing rings in various qualities of iron fine steel phosphor bronze or whalebone and landing nets in all sizes. A gaff in telescopic form of particularly nice workmanship is made in addition to the cheaper form of landing hooks in.
SPLIT CANE RODS
For many years East Indian cane has used for fishing rod making but about but about twenty years ago we began to make by the greatly improved method of cutting the cane into triangular sections and splicing the same into a six-sided rod. These canes are brought down the Hooghly to Calcutta, and are there carefully selected by our agent. As nearly all cane” are more or less damaged by worms, great difficulty is experienced in obtaining thoroughly sound material. On arriving in the main” factory these are all examined again,” only those found perfectly free from defect are made use of.
The cane is then roughly sawn and carefully planned into tapering sections without injuring the outer silicious bark and made to protected by the unbroken flinty surface of cane.
The consequence is there is obtained that combination of lightness pliability and strength which is necessary to form a perfect rod.
The actual weight of many of these trout rods does not exceed six to nine ounces.
For light weight rods the White Spanish and Japanese canes are considered the best, the Carolina canes being used for the heavier classes.
FISHING REEL DEPARTMENT
The materials used in reel making are silver, aluminium, gun metal, bell metal, brass, ebonite xylonite, hard woods and cork. Reels for trout and salmon fishing are usually made of gun metal and brass and vary in size from 1 to 5 inches. Wood is almost exclusively used for bottom fishing. Ebonite bound with German silver being equally used for all classes of fishing.
The metal is first cast into suitable shapes and sizes for the sides and other parts of the reel. After thoroughly hammering it is carefully turned on lathes mounted on steel beds to give perfect rigidity and as the different parts of the reel require to be turned perfectly true and each part must be adjusted exactly none but skilled workmanship is employed.
To suit various styles of fishing reels are made in several designs such as plain check revolving plate multipliers contracted balanced handle and with removable check. They are made in various qualities varying from a few pence to many shillings.
Some few years ago we patented the Eureka Reel which is formed by striking out at one blow from a single sheet of brass the plate and sides which are then turned up parallel to each other the spindle inserted and the handle riveted on thus avoiding all screws and loose parts and obviating the necessity of constant repairs.
Among the latest improvements in the manufacture of reels the most striking and novel is one for which letters patent have been obtained via a gun metal salmon reel for either spinning the minnow or throwing the fly. The spindle of this reel runs upon steel centres supported by strong springs and revolves perfectly free from the handle thus enabling the caster to throw a much longer and lighter line direct from the reel. By a turn of a milled rim the handle is brought into play and the reel becomes an ordinary check. One of our best reels is made of gun metal with ebonite sides a light strong and pretty reel for either trout or salmon.
THE SILKWORM GUT DEPARTMENT
This is perhaps the most curious and interesting of the many departments in the manufacture of fishing tackle. All anglers make use of silkworm gut but large numbers are quite ignorant of its origin In some parts of the kingdom it is still called Indian weed and looked upon as species of grass and any attempts to prove being really the entrails of an insect are resisted. The following information respecting the of the silkworm gut into an article commerce is taken from communications to editors of the Fishing Gazette London and Forest and Stream of New York, furnished Mr Samuel Allcock principal of the firm of S Allcock and Co when on his visit in the of 1886 to his gut manufactory at Murcia Spain, during what is termed by the natives gut harvest. The worms are bred by the country people their cottages which usually consist of but rooms on the ground floor In some of villages near Murcia this is the sole of the people some of whom only rear the worms while others also perform some of the stages of gut making. On one side of the room of these cottages the worm breeder together a number of bamboo cane reeds a bed from 12ft to 15ft long by 4ft wide and raised from the floor about 4ft worms are spread all over these beds and are fed five times daily by covering them with mulberry leaves.
Before feeding all the dead and sickly worms are picked out so that the others are left in a healthy state. They are kept about fifty days ring which time they sleep twelve days.
When they are ready to spin the cocoon they creep upon branches of small trees which are placed over the cane bed. They are taken off killed by being put into vinegar where they remain for six hours and then into water. The worm is then broken in half exposing one two or three yellow sacs the ends of which are taken between the thumb and finger and pulled out as long as they will go care being taken not to flatten the gut in so doing. When a sufficient quantity say two or three thousand is drawn it is tied in bunches and hung up to dry in the yard or garden. Some worms produce one gut some two and a few three It is afterwards sold by weight to the gut finishers. The latter steep the gut in hot water with soap and a little soda when the outer skin or film comes off easily. It is then washed bleached and hung up in rooms to dry. Girls are employed who place each strand between their teeth holding the other end between the thumb and finger and rub it with wash leather. It is then sorted according to strength thickness and length into the various qualities re-rubbed and tied in hanks of 100 again into bundles of 1000 and 10,000 for sale.
Gut is usually classified under the following heads; Refina (very finest) Fina (fine) Regular (medium thickness) 1st and 2nd Padron (thick or strong) Marana Imperial and Hebra are very thick and strong for salmon fishing. Gut varies in length from 6in to 18in and is made in three qualities Corta or common Estriada and Superior.
In making up the better qualities into casting lines or leaders the greatest care is taken in picking out the best strands and not a little skill and experience is requisite in making the necessary knots. All the best casts are stretched and their weight bearing qualities tested so that in spite of their fragile appearance they are capable of supporting a heavy strain. The breaking strain of salmon gut when made into casts is as under;
Sizes 1/5 2/5 3/5 4/5
Strain 15 12 10 9lb
The shorter lengths of the various qualities are used for tying on hooks with fine strong silk. This work is the object of constant supervision as the greatest importance attaches to the rigidity and firmness with which the hooks are tied. For convenience in carrying these gut hooks the best qualities are supplied in the wrapper patented by S Allcock and Co by which the hooks can be removed singly as required without disturbing the remainder. In order to meet the constant demand for a fine and practically invisible gut for casts, quantities of the gut as received from Spain are subjected to a further operation which consists in passing or drawing each strand through exceedingly minute holes in a steel plate. This supplies what is termed drawn gut.
FLOAT DEPARTMENT
Floats are made of various materials wood celluloid aluminium glass also swan goose and other quills. The of cork are first cut in squares, and then turned on a lathe into various sizes and shapes from the 1/2″ pilot or round float to the 4″ pike float, shapes are egg, thin, barrel, sneck, head barrel, pilot, live bait or jack float trimmer, Eclipse the Acme & the Nottingham. After body of the float is turned in the rough it is ground on a stone next the cavities in nearly all cork are filled up with putty the plug consisting of porcupine quill or and wood is inserted and bound in its place. Then the rings are added and whipped on. Finally the float is painted and varnished.
Floats for roach fishing are usually made of quill without the cork.
Various novelties have been introduced into this department among them the luminous or glow worm float, self cocking float, and the Nottingham Rider float, self striking, roach, Jardine’s Fishing Gazette and celluloid all of which have been protected by letters patent.
LINES
Nothing is so important as a good line. A few years ago the great demand was for twisted and plaited hair lines then came a mixture of hemp and hair and silk and hair combining the lightness of the hair with the strength of the silk.
Owing to the great advancement in the manufacture and method of waterproofing silk lines the demand at the present time is for a flexible braided pure silk line waterproofed with a smooth even surface that will neither crack nor peel off.
The lines of this class take at least four to six months to produce on account of the thinness and slowly drying properties of each coat of enamel.
Our best silk trout and salmon lines are made from carefully selected Naples silk, plaited into a solid square line. Much more silk is required for making a line by this process than by the usual method but considerably greater strength and durability are obtained. A process of waterproofing is then employed by which the thorough permeation of the material is ensured. It takes at least six months before the line is finished and then it requires at least another six months to Season.
These lines are used for all kinds of fresh water fishing. Lines for sea fishing are chiefly made hair, hemp, flax, cotton and jute, in all lengths and the wants of the sea fisherman are now met by the introduction of a variety of patterns lines ready mounted suitable for whiting mackerel pollack cod conger bass.
ARTIFICIAL FLY DEPARTMENT
Although in the manufacture of all the manifold instruments that combine to complete an angler’s equipment there is scope for much ingenious and artistic workmanship in no department is it more readily seen and acknowledged than in the dressing of artificial flies. From the simple sea or mackerel fly to the most imposing specimen of the fly dresser’s art or from the wondrously neat and tiny trout fly to the brilliant and gorgeous monster intended for the bewilderment of some increasing number and variation of patterns lordly salmon there is ample room for the display of individual talent.
An immense variety of material is demanded to complete the requirements of the are levied from almost every member of the feathered tribe. Starlings, jays, turkeys, swans, peacocks, guinea fowl, golden pheasant, and the less familiar jungle cock, bustard eagle, toucan, Indian crow, macaw provide a portion of what is necessary and are together with hackles from the game cock fur from the seal and water rat, hare and other animals dyed mohair and pigs wool in daily demand.
It is almost impossible to give any description of the method of fly making which would be satisfactory as all are dressed by first tying the hook to the gut then the body of the fly is made the hackle is next put on and then the wings the great interest attaching to their preparation being the deft and rapid manner in which the various materials are securely fastened around the hook and the beauty and variety of the finished flies. Owing to the ever increasing demand from all markets for flies of the better qualities great difficulty has been experienced in meeting the same especially as this class of work can only be done by well trained and experienced hands.
ARTIFICIAL BAIT DEPARTMENT
This department requires a large amount of ingenuity and care in the preparation and invention of new patterns a multitude of which have made their appearance during the last twenty years. Some have disappeared but others like the Devon Phantom, Spiral Swiveltail, Bell’s Life, Celluloid, Destructible Champion, Spoon, still hold their own. Among the smaller kind of baits there are lifelike imitations of wasps, humble bees, grasshoppers, frogs, earth and bloodworms, shrimps, prawns.
The materials used in making artificial baits are gold, silver, iron, copper, brass, tin, aluminium, lead, wood, paper, celluloid, silk, fish skin, gutta percha, quill horn & pearl.
SWIVEL DEPARTMENT
A large variety of patterns of these indispensable articles is made such as the box hook spring buckle and watch spring swivels. On a wire of suitable size are stamped the boxes or bodies of the swivels these having been separated and reduced are by two ingenious machines drilled and the ends bevelled. The terminal loops are inserted and formed by hand Brass & steel and German silver are the materials used for their manufacture.
In this department we have several patent swivels not only for fishing but for other such as sail flag and ropemaking. The principal departments of the manufacture of fishing tackle as it is carried out in every branch at the Standard Works have thus been glanced at. Perhaps there are few trades in which so many and varied classes of materials usually widely disconnected are for once associated. Steel for the manufacture of an infinite variety of articles from the tiny fish hook requiring ten thousand to weigh an ounce, to the heavy harpoon, tin for bait cans and kettles, tackle and flight cases of all shapes and sizes an ingenious ground bait n designed by an enthusiastic Russian angler, Baron Tcherkassoff, being worthy of special reference; wood from all lands for an endless variety of purposes, lead for the tiny split shot and the heavy sea lead. India rubber cloth for wading stockings, and brogues leather for the cheap boys fly book, and the rich and beautifully fitted book of Russia leather silk and many other textiles for fishing lines and strong jean for the fishing rod covers, brass for reels, ferrules and for baits. These with the materials of which mention has already been made show what a number of markets must be studied and how wide a knowledge of various materials must be possessed by a firm who manufactures and supplies all the requirements of an angler’s equipment.
The excellent quality of Messrs Allcock’s goods has been abundantly proved by the fact that they have received the highest awards at all the International Exhibitions in which they have taken part. As manufacturers they could not show at local exhibitions but at the same time their goods were shown by their customers who received either a gold medal or highest award in each case.
The list includes 1851, London; 1877, South Africa; the highest award; 1878, Paris, a gold medal and special diploma; Sydney the highest award; 1880, Melbourne and Toronto the highest awards; Berlin and Wurzburg gold medals and diplomas; 1881, Norwich, a gold medal; Adelaide, the highest award; 1882, Murcia, the highest award for silk worm gut; 1883, 4 Calcutta, a gold special diploma; Adelaide, 1887, Melbourne; 1889 highest award first order of merit Paris 1889 gold medal for fish hooks fishing rods and tackle. Large consignments of their goods are exported to all parts of the world including Canada, United States, of America South America the Australian and South African Colonies, India, New Zealand & China.
**The above passage was taken from The Fishing Gazette Circa 1895
Below is a neat cover of a catalog I stumbled across while doing the research.
