division of jarden industry fishing tackle founded 1932 headquarters spirit lake iowa formerly philadelphia pennsylvania key people john doerr ceo bill sterback vice president of manufacturing products fishing tackle revenue undisclosed website www.pennreels.com penn fishing tackle manufacturing company is an american manufacturer of fishing tackle primarily known for fishing reels and rods . contents 1 history 2 early reels 3 today 4 external links 5 references history edit otto henze immigrated to the united states from germany in 1922 . 1 at 25 he worked as a machinist for the reel manufacturer ocean city manufacturing company of philadelphia pennsylvania . in 1932 henze rented a 3rd floor loft on 492 north third street in philadelphia from a general machinist firm william schmitz & company . 2 there he completed his first two reel designs the models f and k. in february 1933 the first penn reels were sold to the miller auto supply company in harrisburg pennsylvania . encouraged by the sales henze developed two more designs . privation during the great depression forced families into subsistence fishing aiding company growth . in 1942 penn reels moved to west hunting park avenue . 3 upon henze s death in 1948 1 his wife martha assumed the company presidency . penn reels grew from a regional presence to a world leader in the years that followed . early reels edit the penn model f was a surf reel designed for distance casting . it had bakelite side plates and weighed twelve ounces . 2 this model was a surf reel used mainly for surf fishing . the similar model k added a lever actuated free spool and durable metal reinforced plates . it was offered with and without a star drag . an adjustable bearing allowed the spool be tightened to prevent backlash . in 1933 the model f was renamed the sea hawk the basic model k the bayside and the model k with star drag the long beach . the choice of coastal atlantic and pacific cities for the former k models reinforced their connection to saltwater fishing . 1 in 1936 a revolutionary new reel was introduced to catch the most challenging game fish the senator . 2 immediately successful it led to numerous fishing records being set and remains popular to this day known for its high quality and dependability . 4 it featured high speed stainless pinion gears for taking in line faster and was well adapted to the extra demands of professionally guided charter fishing . in 1938 an exceptional surf casting reel the squidder was introduced . 2 it too became highly popular with anglers and charter boating . some remain in use to this day . today edit penn reels hold a unique place in saltwater fishing reels with over 1 400 international game fish association igfa world records being set using them . over 220 different models are manufactured today . 5 their signature reel remains the penn senator the jig master also being popular signature rods the penn power stick and tuna stick in 2006 penn s torque reel was named the america sport fishing association s saltwater reel of the year . in 2003 the penn fishing reels company was acquired by rival tackle companies sea striker inc. and master fishing tackle . 1 it was acquired in 2007 by k2 sports . external links edit penn reels official website peen spinning reels reviews penn fishing reels reviews best spinning reels references edit a b c d penn fishing reels . fishing reels . http www.fishingreelsnow.com penn fishing reels.html . accessed feb. 6 2011 a b c d the history of penn 1930 . penn. accessed feb. 6 2011 accessed feb. 6 2011 the history of penn 1940 . penn. penn senator reels . jamestown distributor . accessed feb. 6 2011 byrne stephen . penn fishing reel history . trails . accessed feb. 6 2011 retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title penn reels & oldid 743597150 categories 1932 establishments in pennsylvaniaeconomy of philadelphiafishing manufacturers and supplierscompanies established in 1932hidden categories pages using infobox company with unsupported parameters navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 10 october 2016 at 09 56 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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