Oliver F Winchester
1855 Volcanic Arms Company – Volcanic Repeating Rifle
Reorganized April 25, 1857 as New Haven Arms Company
Patent number 30,446 belonging to B Tyler Henry Oct. 16, 1860
Henry improved the repeating rifle – result Henry Repeating Rifle
1865 – Henry Repeating Arms Company
1866 – became Winchester Repeating Arms Company
1919 – bought Eagle Pocket Knife Company of New Haven, Conn
Otto Hemming was president of Eagle
1919 – bought Napanoch Knife Company – Napanoch, NY
Expanded the factory for WWI production = decided to manufacture tools after
Established the Winchester Store
1922 – merged with Simmons
Winchester-Simmons Company Items appear with both names
Simmons owned the Walden Knife Company
Walden continued to make branded products with the Walden name
Walden knives were sold in Winchester stores
1923 – Winchester partners with Gillette selling a gold-plated gift set
1929 Simmons withdraws
1931 Winchester bankrupt – ends tools
Western purchased Winchester in 1931 – Winchester-Western
Olin
Western Cartridge Company
Large resellers didn’t take news of Winchester store well – cancelled orders.
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