Early open throat racket - any ideas?

[Henry Hub]

Happy new year everyone. I have a bit of a head scratcher for the budding Sherlocks of this forum on which, as ever, I would be grateful for your collective wisdom.

Does anyone have any ideas who manufactured this racket and when?

https://imgur.com/a/GSxn0Mr

It is a curiosity because it seems to be a 1930s racket with a very open throated design, much more open throated than other contemporary rackets such as the Top Flites (though not as extreme as the Hazell Streamlines). I cannot find anything in the works of Kuebler, Cherry or Everitt on this racket.

Distinguishing features other than the throat: (1) the basic thin leather grip around its bevelled handle (suggesting not before 1930); (2) whipped cord shoulder wrapping (suggestive of 20s/early 30s); (3) 3 plies with rawhide strips inbetween (5 plies?) and a faded Laminated Construction decal above the handle; (4) squared off profile around the head but otherwise the same head size and shape as an early 1930s Maxply; (5) I have no idea about the strings other than that they don’t seem like gut as they have a dark element wound through the clear string (poorly explained, apologies); (6) the name of the racket or manufacturer is not legible under magnifying glass or UV light - it’s faded black decal text but the writing isn’t as stylised as most 1920-1940s US/UK decal text, which makes me think it could be German, French or other mainland European in origin.

Like I say, it’s a puzzler but could be of some historical interest if it is from the 1930s, given the pronounced open-throat design.

 

[retrowagen]

Not sure I have anything of value to add to this topic, but am amazed as it must be a very early open-throat, looking very much like a fairly orthodox wood frame whose heart fell out, and who was redrilled to consolidate on an opportunity to cleverly and more directly string the central mains.

 

[Bagumbawalla]

I have something similar, but possibly not as old.
It's called Air-O-Flow, by Regent.
???

 

[Sanglier]

If a Spalding "Tilden Cannon Ball" and an Andreef "Speedshaft" had a baby, it would probably look something like this.

Its throat appears rather fragile however, compared to that robust-looking head. No wonder Retro thinks there might have been a wedge there originally. Had that been the case, there should be a few unoccupied string holes beyond the bridge. Do you have better pictures of the shoulder and bridge area?

Given how much effort you have put into researching ancient history, if you don't know what this is, odds are none of us would either. However, open-throat designs had been proposed almost since the game was first standardized, so there may be even older examples that are still awaiting your discovery! The earliest US patent for an open-throat design was issued in 1891 (see below). This simple and intuitive layout lives on to this day; the only thing that has changed is the frame material. Early open-throat wooden frames were plagued by delamination problems in the throat, because the torque in the area was more than the glue used could sustainably handle. Later designs like those of the "Tilden Cannon Ball" and "Speedshaft" sought to overcome this problem through reinforcements, but the much simpler solution was to just close that space with a wedge, until metal and composite overtook wood as the default construction material...

 

[Henry Hub]

Thanks gents, I am liking this excised wedge theory - I’ve added some photos below of the shoulders and bridge as well as of the logos and laminated construction decals. Thanks to @Bagumbawalla I have taken a spin through Google images of Regent rackets and, while I am finding it hard to match up the logos, I love the 50s Americana nomenclature of the Air-O-Flow so it would be really neato (?) to see a photo!

https://imgur.com/a/9LdVrKx

 

[Sanglier]

I am not seeing any unused holes? While the person making the modification could have changed the string pattern after adding new holes and redirecting old holes, the bridge here looks needlessly stout for a design that came with a wedge. After all, in a traditional closed-throat design, string tension merely passes through the wedge to be borne by the shoulder, not by any bridge element (if one is present at all). Based on these new photos, I lean towards this frame being made as an open throat from the start.

How much does it weigh? Is it as crudely finished as the photos suggest? These close-ups brought back memories of a similar beast I had come across years ago at a thrift shop. It too sported anachronistic features all over, was roughly finished, with a brand name that I didn't recognize, and was extremely light for its size (so it was unlikely to have been made using 'proper' materials like ash or maple). On the black leatherized canvas butt cover was printed in gold lettering: "Made in Pakistan". I almost wish I had bought it, just to keep it around as reference. It was probably made at the tennis equivalent of Darra Adam Khel!

 

[Henry Hub]

It comes in at 360g, which is probably fairly on-market given the weight lost from the lack of a throat.

I had exactly the same thoughts as you about whether this could have been a cheap frame built to catch the eye (and save on materials while they were at it!) rather than to be playable. To lend weight to that argument, it is as you noted in a pretty grotty state and there are knots in the wood on the shaft which is a fairly sure sign this has not been subject to the most rigorous of quality control.

All in all, I have no doubt that this would be up there with the worst rackets ever to hit a tennis ball. And yet… As you say, there are some rackets that are worth picking up no matter how bad (and often because of how bad) they are and I think this one fits that bill. If nothing else, it’s interesting to see someone between the wars making the same unusual design choice as Malings was kicking around 30-40 years before!