Langley made probably the lightest fishing reel ever produced and was responsible for many innovations in its short history before selling out to Brunswick (ZEBCO) in 1962.
The LANGLEY CORP of(San Diego, California) was incorporated in 1939 to make dental equipment. The outbreak of WW II transformed the company into an aircraft parts manufacturer under the guidance of Henry Mandolf.
When WWII ended as many companies did Mandolf transformed the company into a producer of fishing equipment with reels made of lightweight aluminum.
The Langley Brand of fishing tackle was produced between 1946 and 1962. Consisting of 15 models of bait casting reels, 10 models of fly reels, 9 models of spinning reels, 5 models of spin casting reels, 59 models of fishing rods, some lures and the LANGLEY Combination Weight Scale and Tape Measure.
Langley’s well known (Streamlite) Reel only weighed 5 ounces and had holes in the spool arbor which was said to reduce backlashes.
Some of the other early Langley reels were the Narrow Spool Lurecast and a Freespool Reel called the Target.
These reels were made of anodized aluminum and sold very well.
They had many features invented and patented by Henry Mandolf who was very good at production line innovations to save costs.
After the Korean War, Langley introduced a very successful line of spinning reels from ultra-lights to a large surf-casting model named the Spinator.
As time went on the company leaned more and more into aircraft and aerospace work with the all the competition now in the fishing tackle industry.
Then in 1962 Zebco Corporation who had been bought out by the Brunswick Corporation purchased the Tackle part of Langley to get into the market of Spinning reels.
