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| Against
the Odds - In 1980 Agutter and his team
set up Avon for a new range of Laminate Rods for
the UK Market. But he also realised that a
comparison in quality was not the only answer to
beat the Japanese Compititors. Upon conducting a
Company Search on Diawa it was found that the
Company was owned by Seiko International and the
Fuji Bank. The figures spoke for themselves, that
the Japanese had a budget of 15,000,000 pounds to
spend in the UK on advertising alone. No private
company in the tackle industry could compete
against that, regardless of the chants coming out
of Westminster that businesses needed to be lean
and mean. |
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| Agutter
and his team knew they could not beat them on
price, or for finish of the rod. He knew he could
equal the latter. He knew a totally new design of
laminate rod had to be designed so price was not
an issue. |
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| A
Birth of a New Rod - He held secret
talks with British based Company Fothergill &
Harvey Plc, who were contracted by the Military
for making Helicopter Cockpits in Carbon and
Kevlar a subsidiary Company to the British &
American giant Courtaulds. He relayed his concern
to them and Fothergills at that time were
interested in the Tackle industry for Rod Blank
tubes made from Kevlar and Carbon that was far
stronger and forgiving than just pure Carbon. |
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| Agutter
looked at the values of all materials. Glass
fibre, Carbon, Kevlar and Cane. Tubular rods
under stress formed an oval dimension and showed
weekness at the top and bottom of the oval. Where
as cane in Hexagonal form pushed and pulled
against each section. Agutter was the inventor
and the first to concieve a Hollow Hexagonal
Carbon & Kevlar Rod. |
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| Designed
so the sections would push and pull against each
other, the rod could be made to a smaller
diameter, hence less wind resistence. He knew the
material could not be wrapped around a
coventional steel mandril. The mandrill design
had to be in three parts. An internal mandril
with two external mandrils to ensure the wall
thickness was equal throughout the rod blank.
Time money and resources were low. At the same
time the London Chamber of Commerce paid him a
visit to relay special thanks from the Secretary
General of Canada for his Izaak Walton Rod. It
also come with another message, that he was
offered to move his Company to Canada and a John
Church Shoes Factory was at his disposal. He
declined the offer, he was passionate about his
Country. Every penny was sunk into the
development of the New rod. |
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| He
contacted Frank Williams Team at Saudia Williams
to ask who could make the mandrils. The name
advanced Components in Derby were the people,
they at the time made the Formula One Car Chasis
in Kevlar and Carbon. A Proto type was made while
getting the funds for the new design and the
mandrils required, the Banks turned him and his
team down. Not known to him at the time,
Fothergills were interested in a merger. In his
meetings, he was too proud to disclose the
companies financial position and Fothergills did
not disclose their interest. He knew that this
rod would break the morale of the new Competitor
looming on the Horizon. For they would know
however well finished their rods were, there was
no comparison. But the Banks refused funding for
the production of the rods. All was lost, and the
laminate Rod section was closed. |
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