| William Shakespeare Jr. | |
| Birth Date: | September 21, 1869[1] |
| Birth Place: | Kalamazoo, Michigan |
| Death Place: | Melbourne, Florida |
| Occupation: | Businessperson, entrepreneur and inventor |
| Known For: | Inventing the level-winding fishing reel |
William Shakespeare Jr. (September 21, 1869June 25, 1950) was an American inventor.
Shakespeare was born to William Shakespeare, Sr. and Lydia A. Markley in Kalamazoo, Michigan, in 1869.[1]
He invented the level-winding fishing reel.[2] Shakespeare also founded and was one of the key people of Shakespeare Fishing Tackle,[3] which he founded in 1897, as a fisherman aiming to improve the fishing-reel mechanism.
He was a traveling salesman of patent medicines.[4]
In addition to numerous fishing-tackle innovations, Shakespeare also received patents for camera equipment[5] and a carburetor.[6]