Fishing reel clutch mechanism

A clutch mechanism for a fishing reel having a spool shaft supported at both ends thereof, said mechanism comprising:

• a pair of side plates supporting opposite ends of said spool shaft;
• a handle for rotating said spool shaft;
• a drive gear connected to said handle;
• a pinion gear engaged with said drive gear, said pinion gear being slidably mounted on said spool shaft;
• means on said spool shaft for engaging said pinion gear;
• and
• clutch means on said spool shaft to selectively engage and disengage said pinion gear from said engaging means on said spool shaft in response to said pinion gear being moved axially on said spool shaft, said clutch means including a clutch cam concentric with said spool shaft for moving said pinion gear axially, a cam arm for actuating said clutch cam, a clutch operating layer linked to said clutch cam for disengaging said pinion gear from said engaging means, means for causing said pinion gear to engage said spool shaft in response to forward rotation of the handle, a lever shaft affixed to said operating lever, a lever plate affixed to one end of said lever shaft and pin means connecting said lever plate and said cam arm to transmit rotary motion of said operating lever to said cam arm, said operating lever being rotatably supported by said lever shaft affixed to said operating lever, said lever shaft extending between said pair of side plates and being supported thereby, a dead point spring for urging said lever plate to move in either of two directions from a dead point of said spring, wherein said dead point spring is a hairpin type spring, and a flipping lever rotationally mounted to one of said side plates, and means for limiting the rotation of said flipping lever, one end of said spring being engaged to said lever plate, and an opposite end of said spring being engaged to said flipping lever.