A derivative of the word Automatic, the first Auto Bail was the Mitchell Otomatic (no number) first released in 1955. It was the predecessor to all future Auto Bails made by Mitchell. At a time when the numerical sequence had not yet been adopted for the growing Mitchell range of reels Carpano & Pons “Mitchell” thought they should find suitable names, and protect then against copiers. Under French patent laws one could not protect a common dictionary word (automatic) so they chose the derivative word Otomatic. The name changed in 1957 to Mitchell with Otomatic 330 underneath. In the late sixties the name changed to Mitchell 330 with just Otomatic underneath. Garcia’s version changed these to just Garcia Mitchell 330 in the early sixties which stayed the same throughout their history. (Updated October 5th, 2008 by JP Gumprich)