Content provided in partnership with
Featured Titles for Sports
Before Daisy made its first gun, another maker offered a line of well-made air rifles for boys. But whoever heard of ...
IF asked the question "Who made the first BB gun?" most people would probably answer, "Daisy." Actually, two other companies-both in Plymouth, Michigan-were making BB guns before Daisy also began producing airguns in Plymouth. In 1886, William Markham of the Markham Air Rifle Co. began producing the first airgun intended solely for boys. The other firm was the Plymouth Air Rifle Co.
The Plymouth Air Rifle Co. was a joint venture of Clarence Hamilton and Cyrus A. Pinckney, both of Plymouth. In 1880, Hamilton had invented an all-metal windmill and formed a joint-stock company to build it. Possibly prompted by Markham's success with airguns, Hamilton designed his own mostly wood airgun in 1887. For unknown reasons, he left the windmill company and formed a partnership with Pinckney, a druggist who owned the Red Front Store. They filed for a patent on Hamilton's airgun, which was awarded Patent No. 390,311 on October 2, 1888. On April 10, 1888, they filed for a patent on an improved version.
To finance their venture, Pinckney sold his drug store. Hamilton and Pinckney then purchased the E.W. Beam carriage shop in March 1888 to be used as a factory. On April 27, 1888, The Plymouth Mail reported: "Our new manufacturing concern, the Plymouth Air Rifle Co., have got their engine and boiler in place, and are rapidly getting their machinery into shape to begin manufacture of `the Plymouth air rifle' on a large scale. Messrs. Hamilton and Pinckney have associated with them Ed L. Crosby as sales manager ... With Pinckney at the helm, Hamilton in the mechanical department and Crosby on the road, we predict for the Plymouth Air Rifle Co. the success they deserve with their marvelous little rifle."
On June 15, 1888, the company introduced its new improved gun, based on Patent No. 390,297, to the trade. A flyer advertised it as, "The Marvel of the 19th Century!" and said, "It is not a common wooden gun but has a blued iron barrel." The June 29, 1888, Plymouth Mail announced: "The Plymouth Air Rifle company are now making fifty guns per day and expect next week to double that amount. We wish we had several more such institutions as these in town."
By the end of 1888, everything was going well for the company, and the November 30, 1888, Plymouth Mail reported, "The two gun factories [Markham and Plymouth] here are turning out large quantities of their guns and find hard work to keep up with orders. The Plymouth Air Rifle company are working twelve and one-half hours a day, in their endeavor to catch up with orders. Last week we made mention of their receiving an order from a New York house for ten gross ( I ,440) guns, and last Saturday a like order came from a Philadelphia firm. They can turn out about one hundred a day at each factory."
But Hamilton's contribution to the Plymouth Air Rifle Co. was short lived. On January 25, 1889, again according to the Plymouth Mail, "We are to have another gun factory here, or in other words the windmill company have entered into an agreement with C.J. Hamilton to manufacture an air gun, a late invention of his. The manufacture of them will dommence [sic], we are told. just as soon as the machinery and materials can be got together. This will make three gun factories in Plymouth. At this rate our town can soon be classed with such gun producing cities as Hartford, Springfield and Ilion! The windmill company are also considering the feasibility of manufacturing the Wherry mole trap-a certain death to moles."
When Hamilton left the Plymouth Air Rifle Co., he returned to the Plymouth Iron Windmill Company which, in 1895, became Daisy Manufacturing. It is interesting that all three gun factories were within a BB shot of each other.
Yet even with the new competition, business was good. On April 19, 1889, the Plymouth Mail wrote, "The Plymouth Air Rifle Co. has broken ground for the erection of the addition to their factory. The new part will be 26x66 feet, and will add very much to their capacity." A new boiler and a larger engine to power the machinery were also installed.
Through the years the company produced four different models: the Plymouth, the Challenge, the Magic and the Bijou. The Plymouth model was a breechloader with a loading port on the bottom of the barrel and was cocked by an iron lever under the stock. It was priced at $2.35 when introduced, and four variations were made. The first had a bluedsteel barrel, while the second had a nickel-plated brass barrel with a step, a twopiece, riveted trigger guard and an unmarked anchor casting soldered on the bottom of the barrel through which a screw anchored the frame. After the patent was actually issued, the second variation guns had the date "Oct. 2, 88" stamped on the left side of the anchor casting. On the third variation, the trigger guard was part of a two-piece frame, the screw in the frame was perpendicular to the barrel, and the patent date, stamped as "Oct. 2, 88," was on the anchor casting. The fourth variation had a separate one-piece trigger guard, the frame straddled the stock and had a screw on each side. The patent date, "Oct. 2, 88," was marked on the frame and the barrel length was increased to 9X".
The Challenge, a mostly wood gun, was produced to challenge Markham Air Rifle's well-known, all-wood Chicago model. An advertisement for the single-shot in the November 13, 1890, The Youth's Companion called it: "THE BEST AIR RIFLE ON EARTH PRICE $1.00." The Challenge was cocked by a lever under the barrel, and the name "Challenge" was cast in the iron spring anchor.
The Challenge had two variations; a single-shot and a repeater. The repeating mechanism was covered by Patent 477,385, filed on April 23, 1891, and issued on June 21, 1892 to George Sage. According to the 1893-1894 Michigan State Gazetteer, Sage also served as the director of the Plymouth Air Rifle Band.
The Magic functioned like the Challenge. The receiver was cast iron, the barrel nickel-plated brass, and the stock was wood. The first of the four Magic variants was a single-shot with a black-painted frame, and cast in the grip (and surrounded by a cartouche) was the name "Magic." The second was basically the same as the first except it was a repeater. The third was a repeater with its metal parts nickel plated and the name "Magic" cast in the grip. The only change between the third and fourth variations was a round tang added to half of the frame which strengthened the stock-to-frame connection.
The Bijou, a single-shot, break-open model, had its metal parts nickel plated, and there were three variations. The first's frame was 10 1/2" long with "Bijou" cast on the grip and had a wooden stock. The second's frame was 9" long, and the area where "Bijou" was cast resembled a flat plaque with simulated engravings of rays and dots on the corners. The final variant employed a cast-iron skeleton stock and a spring-loaded action latch.
The addition of new products-such as "newly nickel plating" stove fittings and "Ile's patent window drapery" hardwareprompted the company to change its name in 1894 to Plymouth Air Rifle & Manufacturing. But the company was about to go on a roller coaster ride. Months of railroad strikes in 1894 shut down all three airgun companies, preventing them from keeping up with the demand for their products. By October 1894, business was returning to normal. Then on Sunday, October 14, 1894, disaster struck-the factory burned to the ground.
The Plymouth Mail reported, "The cause of the fire is a mystery ... Some who saw the fire in its incipiency say that it was burning in two different places which makes it look very much like the work of an incendiary, yet the true cause cannot be found."
Unfortunately, the company had only $1,500 in insurance. However, the company did make several attempts to raise money to rebuild. Much of the impetus came from the local paper. Thus, on November 9, 1894, the Plymouth Mail reported: "Will We Lose It? The subscription paper [sale of stock] started in behalf of the Plymouth Air Rifle and Manufacturing Co. has not met with a healthy response so far, and it is probable not more than one-half of the sum asked for will be subscribed."
The company was trying to raise $3,000, and when the subscription effort failed, G.M. Shaw, acting for the company, petitioned the village council for the funds. This also failed. The fact that one of the council trustees was Elmer Chaffee, the Secretary and Treasurer of Markham Air Rifle Company could have had something to do with the failure. So ended the Plymouth Air Rifle & Manufacturing Co. A number of the Plymouth Air Rifle Co. employees found work in the Markham and Daisy factories. William Burrows, Pinckney's brother in law, also found work at Daisy where he was to invent and patent Daisy's first lever-action gun.
