HUMPHREY’S, Denver reel designer Ira B. Humphreys was issued patent #2,584,020 on Jan.29, 1952 for the Humphreys Model 3A, which had been selling since it was first introduced in 1947.
It would be the first in a long line of “Colorado†sidewinder spinning reels produced by a number of Denver-area companies. The Model 3A, along with the larger Model 4A, was actually manufactured by Haywood Mfg. Co. of Denver, a company involved with wholesale sporting goods since 1892. The Humphreys reels were short-lived, victims of the growing spinning reel explosion that offered much more practical (and multiplying) reels of all shapes and sizes. Promoted as a stainless steel (rust-free, for salt water) reel that could be used for “every†kind of fishing, it proved to be too loud and cumbersome for the “ultra-light†craze sweeping the country. Both models were discontinued in 1955.
By Patent granted dates, this makes the Humphreys 3A & 4A "closed face" "sidewinder" the first closed face reel to be patented in the U.S.
Humphreys Patent granted in 1952:
http://www.google.com/patents/US2584020Johnson Patent granted in 1953:
https://www.google.com/patents/US2644647Zebco Patent granted in 1969:
http://www.google.com/patents/US3481554