Reuben Heaton

1857

Reuben Heaton has its roots firmly set in the angling industry and was founded in 1857 by its namesake Reuben George Heaton.

In the early years, the company was predominantly a manufacturer of fishing reels, but this manufacturing base was quickly extended to cover many other items of angling equipment. By the early 1870's Heaton's fishing reels and angling products were sold worldwide in their tens of thousands. Right from his early years in the industry to around the turn of the century, Reuben Heaton was responsible for many of the early innovations that have shaped the angling equipment we know today.
The first angling scales appeared in the company catalogue as simple spring balances around the turn of the century. It was much later in the 1920's before the first dial scales appeared. Because of the company's engineering capabilities, Heaton's have been involved in the manufacture of various products over the years such as bicycle wheels and brake testing equipment in addition to the angling products which dominated the company's catalogues up to the early 1970's.
It was as a result of one particular engineering project that the first dial scales appeared. Initially made of cast iron and then much lighter aluminium Heaton's match scales were a soon common sight on canal and riverbanks. Later in the 1980's individual anglers were added to the range, and this aspect of the company has continued to develop to the present day.

Reuben Heaton is still an engineering based firm based in Warwickshire, manufacturing high quality ... show more

Reuben Heaton has its roots firmly set in the angling industry and was founded in 1857 by its namesake Reuben George Heaton.

In the early years, the company was predominantly a manufacturer of fishing reels, but this manufacturing base was quickly extended to cover many other items of angling equipment. By the early 1870's Heaton's fishing reels and angling products were sold worldwide in their tens of thousands. Right from his early years in the industry to around the turn of the century, Reuben Heaton was responsible for many of the early innovations that have shaped the angling equipment we know today.
The first angling scales appeared in the company catalogue as simple spring balances around the turn of the century. It was much later in the 1920's before the first dial scales appeared. Because of the company's engineering capabilities, Heaton's have been involved in the manufacture of various products over the years such as bicycle wheels and brake testing equipment in addition to the angling products which dominated the company's catalogues up to the early 1970's.
It was as a result of one particular engineering project that the first dial scales appeared. Initially made of cast iron and then much lighter aluminium Heaton's match scales were a soon common sight on canal and riverbanks. Later in the 1980's individual anglers were added to the range, and this aspect of the company has continued to develop to the present day.

Reuben Heaton is still an engineering based firm based in Warwickshire, manufacturing high quality

weigh scales and weighing equipment as well as angling products. Scale manufacture now dominates production and Heaton's supply many markets both home and abroad, with an extensive range of products covering both commercial and sporting markets including the angling trade where Heaton's high profile is underlined by its sponsorship of national teams and international events.
Heaton's continue to manufacture in the UK, an aspect of the company that after 150 years, we are very proud of. Heaton's now import and export not only their own products but also other brands around the world. With recent investments abroad, Heaton's are also able to design and build scales to suit most markets.

Our History - in Brief
The name Heaton was well known in Birmingham, with family members involved with the Birmingham Mint. At the tender age of eighteen, Reuben Heaton was given a sum of money to enable him to start out in life. This appears to have been the case with all the Heaton's children when they came of age, and with this new-found wealth Reuben, a keen angler with an inventive mind set himself up in the business of tackle manufacture, and hence the company was born.
Hospital Street, Birmingham
Very little is known about the early years of the company prior to the 1880's. The evidence of Reuben's business success and his influence on angling is borne out by the prolific number of inventions and patents applied for during this period. From the Hospital Street premises, we see the evidence of frantic development in rods, rod rings and ferrules, landing nets, balances, gut twisting machines, baits and of course the full range of metal and wood reels including both centerpin and multiplying designs. Initially at 9 & 10 Hospital Street, then just number 10 and finally 161-165, the company continued to evolve and expand before moving on in the early 1900's to new premises in Aston Birmingham. Some of the more familiar patents and products to appear during this time were as follows. 3250 Strike From The Winch Reel - 1884 
13388 The Sun Nottingham Reel - 1885
18817 Spindleless Reel - 1888
8957 Patent Drum Catch - 1897.

New Street, Aston, Birmingham
Business continued to flourish at the new site during the early 1900's, with the product range as strong and diverse as ever. The mainstay of the production at this time were the wooden reels for both course and sea, with the company proudly boasting of its production rate in the tens of thousands per year. The range of metal reels in brass and alloy shows development in this sector too, but the emphasis was on wood. As seems to be the case throughout the company's history, the majority of products bore no Heaton's marks. Many reels were manufactured in great quantity for other companies such as Allcocks and Army and Navy, and more often than not stamped with the customer's name, or just left blank.
Other events of the early 1900's saw a young Reuben Heaton 2nd join the firm, around the same time that the Great War began to take its toll. Heaton's began to manufacture munitions for the war effort, as did many companies at this time, and the resulting suspension of trade combined with the inevitable drop in sales around this time saw Heaton's suffer along with everyone else. Products were sold cheaply just to recoup money in an effort to survive, Heaton's made many changes to both production techniques and product range, focussing much more on reels and less on accessories. 1923 saw the death of Reuben Heaton 1st aged 83.

New Street Continued
Around 1930 the production of dial scales for match fishing began. This product is still being manufactured to the present day, indeed many products continued in production for long periods of time virtually unchanged in some cases, confirming their design as being ahead of its time. However, resistance to change in certain areas showed a lack of will to accept changes occurring in the angling trade, a trend that would cost the company dearly. Whilst the list of countries and companies being supplied during this time was impressive to say the least, new ideas in angling and the advent of fixed spool reels, saw Heaton's for once not at the forefront of the development race. There is evidence that Heaton's dabbled with designs for fixed spool reels, but for some reason these trials never bore fruit.
Product ranges tended to stay the same, and this period sees Heaton's become decidedly set in its ways. As the face of angling began to change in the late 40's and early 50's Heaton's product range began to look very dated.
Trends in both markets and tackle technology saw the end of many of the old established lines, and the product range altered accordingly. The early 1930's saw the production of the first scales, adapted from brake testing units which the company made alongside their tackle products. The design of the scale has changed very little over the years apart from the adaptation of the adjustment system, now located at the top of the scale instead of the side. The present day scales are still machined and individually calibrated by hand; no two scales are identical. It is this authenticity which enables Reuben Heaton to achieve the high standard of workmanship and personal service expected by its founder over one hundred and forty years ago.

Taken from the Reuben Heaton Website.