US 1,996,477 · granted April 2, 1935
The 1935 lure patent
A patent provides a dated engineering record, separate from the history of retail production.
- Documented fact
- Anton J. Lauby’s application was filed September 15, 1933, and patent US 1,996,477 was granted April 2, 1935.
- Interpretive limit
- The patent documents a claimed construction. Its filing and grant dates alone do not date every surviving lure or establish the company’s founding.
Sources & record notes
Photographic or documentary record LLA-REC-0008 · Reviewed September 2026. Record identifiers describe the material shown here; they are not accession numbers for authenticated physical objects.
Back to the collectionProvenance
Document reproduction supplied with the collection; bibliographic facts are checked against the linked patent record. The patent is evidence of an invention, not certification of a surviving object.
Document identification
- Title
- Artificial fish lure
- Inventor
- Anton J. Lauby
- Application filed
- September 15, 1933
- Patent granted
- April 2, 1935 · US 1,996,477
Cite this record
Lauby Lures. “The 1935 lure patent.” Record LLA-REC-0008. Updated September 13, 2026. https://www.laubylures.com/collection/patent-1935. Accessed [your access date].
Publisher: Lauby Lures. Submit a correction or additional evidence.
What Anton designed
The patent describes a floating spoon whose off-center mounting and beveled leading edge cause it to rotate and move irregularly when retrieved. The supporting rod connects the line and hooks while allowing the body to turn. This is a specific mechanical proposal, not simply a decorative lure shape.
Sanders and Slusar both distinguish the drawing from familiar production Wonder Spoons. The patent is central to Anton’s inventive record; a number stamped on a later lure does not make every detail identical to the patent. Sanders & Sanders, December 1999, p. 26; Slusar, p. 365.