rods with no rings came out about 30 years ago
(maybe copying an older design who knows) it used an american crank handle so the reel (a closed face) was in line with the rod,unfortunatly it had inherent flaws ,if you cast with even a small bit of weed attached to the line on the reel it blocked the end hole and the blank swiftly wore through ,as for feeder floats even older,unfortunatly now adays MOST technology is copywrited in some way ,if you invent something that isn`t then the patent law is a minefield ,an old employer invented a ladder that was used on boats ,it only bent one way,therefore it didn`t go under the bulge of the boat when climbed ,it cost him over a ?100,000 to patent worldwide