PEBECO-katalogen 1942 – AB Urfabriken och de första PEBECO-rullarna.

AB Urfabriken's first fishing reels and the collaboration with
PEBECO

In 1939 AB Urfabriken in Svängsta faced a new and decisive period. For many years the company had worked with precision engineering, above all clockwork and taximeters. When the Second World War broke out, the possibilities of exporting taximeters deteriorated, and Göte Borgström had to find new products that could be made with the company's existing machinery and craftsmanship.

Sport fishing became the new direction.

During 1939 AB Urfabriken developed four different spinning reels: Record 1500, Record 1600, Record 1700 and Record 1800. The reels shared the same basic construction but differed in size, finish and level of equipment. Göte Borgström took part in the development work himself and tested the reels while fishing, among other places in the Mörrum river.

A total of 25 reels of the four models were made in the first trial series. Göte Borgström packed the reels and travelled to Gothenburg to try to sell them to the wholesaler Paul Berghaus & Co.

The name Paul Berghaus can easily give the impression that Göte went to Gothenburg to meet a person by that name. That was not the case. The founder, Paul Berghaus, had died as early as 21 February 1911, almost thirty years earlier. Paul Berghaus & Co lived on only as a company name.

The person who received Göte Borgström and inspected the new reels was the company's managing director, Hakon Sjödahl.

At that time Paul Berghaus & Co was an established wholesaler selling hardware, firearms, ammunition, sporting goods and fishing tackle, with both market knowledge and a well-developed distribution network.

Hakon Sjödahl examined the new reels and asked how many AB Urfabriken could deliver. Göte replied that the factory could make 5,000 reels over the coming three years.

Sjödahl accepted the deal but set one important condition: the reels sold through Paul Berghaus & Co were not to carry the Record name. Instead they were to be marked and marketed under the company's own brand PEBECO.

The name PEBECO was formed from the company name: Paul Berghaus & Co.

The same basic designs were therefore sold under two different model designations. The reels AB Urfabriken sold as Record were given separate model numbers when delivered to Paul Berghaus & Co:

• Record 1500 became PEBECO 111.
• Record 1600 became PEBECO 222.
• Record 1700 became PEBECO 333.
• Record 1800 became PEBECO 444.

The first reels were delivered to PEBECO in the autumn of 1940. A larger marketing campaign for the new reels was carried out in the spring of 1941.

The collaboration with Paul Berghaus & Co gave AB Urfabriken access to an established sales organisation and was an important step in the company's move from clockwork and taximeters to fishing tackle. The reels were developed and made in Svängsta but sold under the PEBECO name through the wholesaler's channels.

The model range was subsequently expanded with more reels. In the confirmed PEBECO publication Handbok med Journal from 1942, besides the four original models, there is also the larger and more exclusive PEBECO 999, corresponding to the Record 2000.

The range expands in 1942

The confirmed model range in the 1942 publication therefore consisted of:

• PEBECO 99 – Record 1400
• PEBECO 111 – Record 1500
• PEBECO 121 – Record 1550
• PEBECO 222 – Record 1600
• PEBECO 333 – Record 1700
• PEBECO 444 – Record 1800
• PEBECO 999 – Record 2000

1943 — the PEBECO range

The brochure that came with the reel confirms that in 1943 there were eight different Pebeco spinning reels, all in the A version, plus two fly reels. The prices below are the brochure's, sales tax included.

• Pebeco 99 A — nickel-plated, quiet-running gears, adjustable bearing caps, chrome-plated worm gear. Price 14:20
• Pebeco 111 A — among other things bearing caps with agate inserts and a two-edged pawl bolt. Price 17:90
• Pebeco 121 A — additionally an adjustable brake on the back plate and a light-alloy spool. Price 23:15
• Pebeco 222 A — adjustable agate bearing caps with oil filtering, extra wide level-wind carriage, reversible stainless pawl bolt in Sandviken special steel, cast light-alloy spool and hard chrome-plated worm gear. Price 29:50
• Pebeco 333 A — additionally very fine, smooth and even braking thanks to a special brake under the handle, plus a cast light-alloy spool. Price 38:—
• Pebeco 444 A — additionally the level wind can be removed without dismantling the reel. Cast light-alloy spool. Price 48:50
• Pebeco 777 A — entirely of light alloy, bearing caps with genuine agate, synchronised balance brake and a double-reversible pawl bolt. Cast light-alloy spool, phosphor bronze gears. Price 84:—
• Pebeco 999 — jewelled with genuine rubies, spool regulator, main and pinion gears in phosphor bronze and chrome-nickel steel, 10-year warranty and a free annual service. Price 125:—

Fly reels

The brochure presents the fly reels as a novelty: there were two models, Pebeco 4 and Pebeco 5. The Pebeco 4 was made of Swedish material and cost 31:50 including sales tax. The Pebeco 5 — the luxury reel — had a side screw for adjusting the pressure on the click spring.