graphite fiber reinforced vinylester a modulus of elasticity on the order of about fifty or fifty five million pounds per square inch works extremely well union carbide p 55 is an example of such a graphite fiber the ribbon is formed by saturating bundles of fibers or filaments of this graphite with a thermosetting resin and pulling the wetted mass through a heated forming die the faces of the ribbon rod are covered with plies 18 and 20 of a woven material such as glass fabric to provide transverse strength glass or kevlar corner tows 21 facilitate the pultrusion process used in making the ribbon rod and provide increased damage tolerance a typical ribbon rod has a width on the order of about one and four tenths inches and a thickness on the order of about eight hundreths of an inch this ribbon rod is stiff and strong enough to transmit oil well pumping loads and is flexible enough for winding on a reel having a spool that is on the order of six feet in diameter for example this material is highly resistant to the corrosive environment found in an oil well referring to fig1 and 13 the reel includes a hub referred to generally at 1 spokes 2 extend radially outward from the hub on each side of the hub and are connected to a pair of rims 3 and 4 a circular ribbon rod support member 5 is attached to the spokes 2 the support includes a ribbon rod connection portion including a curved.