Meisselbach-Catucci Reel Co.

The Meisselbach-Catucci Corporation was founded in 1910 by A. F. Meisselbach and Pliny Catucci. Catucci was an Italian immigrant who worked for the Meisselbach brothers. He was a great inventor, and held many of the patents on Meisselbach reels. He also held many patents for phonograph designs and parts.

The Meisselbach-Catucci Corporation was started to do the custom machine work business (mainly gear manufacturing) for the Meisselbach’s. M-C also built and sold the Meisselbach-Catucci Gear Hobbing machine. This company was located in Newark, NJ in a building back to back with the A. F. Meisselbach & Bro. facility.

Meisselbach-Catucci was not engaged in reel manufacturing until after the sale of A. F. Meisselbach & Bro. to the Heineman Phonograph Supply Co. When A. F. Meisselbach Mfg. Co. was moved to Elyria, Ohio in 1921, Pliny Catucci decided the Meisselbach-Catucci gear cutting business would expand into fishing reel manufacturing. Many of the reelsmiths from the A. F. Meisselbach Co. went to work for Catucci.

In 1922, Catucci came out with a pair of casting reels, called "Symplopart" Reels; one a non level wind, and the other a level wind reel. By 1924 his Stanton Street factory was making free spool and anti-backlash reels as well, and in 1926 he added a line of Bakelite fly reels. All the Meisselbach-Catucci reels were well designed, and machined.

By the late 1920s the Meisselbach-Catucci Reel Company was one of the major manufacturers of bait casting reels in the United States, and had a reputation for value and quality. The whole Catucci family was involved in the business, with Pliny’s sons William in charge of sales, and Walter working in the factory. Disaster then struck in the form of the crash of ’29, and the resulting depression caught up to him. The reel company was sold to the Bronson Reel Company, of Bronson, Michigan in 1931.

Bronson continued to manufacture the full line of Meisselbach-Catucci reels with no changes. They even still had the Newark, NJ address on them. Some of the Bronson M-C fly reels are stamped "Mfd by Bronson Reel Co. since June 1931" on the foot. Otherwise, it is very difficult to distinguish a New Jersey reel from a Michigan reel.