I picked up an old 1155 with the dual drag; man, this thing is a beast! I assume it's U.S.-made as I have a couple of 1122's from the Gladding era that are stamped Japan on the reel foot, but this one isn't; just says Patent Pending. Have a few questions...

1) Is there anything special about using the dual drag, anything you need to do outside of typical?
2) The reel looks very "Pflueger-ey"; anyone know who made these South Bend reels?
3) It appears to have a ratchet plate similar to the Medalist reels but I haven't pulled it to see if it has the flange allowing it to be converted to left hand retrieve? Anyone know if it can be?

Innards pictured here; the 1122 on the left has a very simple drag; in fact, it may be just an on/off clicker. I asked my questions on the Classic Fly Rod forum but so far no help. Thanks for any input...