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Bear Archery is a manufacturer and marketer of bows and archery equipment located in Gainesville, Florida, owned by Escalade Sports. [1]
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Bear Archery is a manufacturer and marketer of bows and archery equipment located in Gainesville, Florida, owned by Escalade Sports. [1]
The company was founded in 1933 as the Bear Products Company in Detroit by Fred Bear and Charles Piper. [2] The initial focus was on silk-screening and advertising support work for automotive companies.
In 1938 Fred Bear hired Nels Grumley, a woodworker and bowyer, and the company expanded to offer hand-made bows. [3]
Fred Bear sold the advertising side of the Bear Products Company in 1940. The archery business was named Bear Archery.
In 1947 the company moved to a new facility in Grayling, Michigan. The Grayling plant focused on making and marketing recurve bows and longbows in a growing archery market. Bow manufacturing changed from hand-made bows to mass production using fiberglass and other modern materials.
Fred Bear sold the company to Victor Comptometer in 1968, [4] but remained the president of Bear Archery. The company was not one of the first compound bow manufacturers, but eventually found success with early models like the Whitetail Hunter.
Bear Archery moved manufacturing from Michigan to Gainesville, Florida in 1978.
Over the next three decades Bear Archery changed hands in a series of mergers, acquisitions, and spin-offs from Victor Comptometer to Walter Kidde & Co, [5] Hanson PLC, U.S. Industries, [6] Fenway Partners [7] and the North American Archery Group.
In 2003 Escalade Sports acquired the North American Archery Group and currently does business as Bear Archery Inc. [8]
Grayling is a city and the county seat of Crawford County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the only incorporated community in Crawford County. The population was 1,884 at the 2010 census. The city is surrounded by Grayling Charter Township, but the two are administered autonomously.
LucasVarity plc was a UK automotive parts manufacturer, created by a merger of the British Lucas Industries plc, and the North American Varity Corporation in August 1996.
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Fred Bear was an American bow hunter and manufacturer. Although he did not start bow hunting until he was 29 and did not master the skill for many years, he is widely regarded as a pioneer in the bow hunting community. Bear was a world traveler, film producer, and the founder of Bear Archery. He died in Gainesville, Florida and is inducted in the Bowhunters Hall of Fame.
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Jas. D. Easton, Inc. is a manufacturer of archery equipment. The company was started by James D. (Doug) Easton in 1922. His son James (Jim) L. Easton took over the company following his death in 1972. The independent, family owned archery division consists of two companies, Hoyt Archery, Inc. and Easton Technical Products, both located in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. The two companies employ approximately 800 people in the manufacture of compound bows, recurve bows, and arrows. Easton arrows have been used to win every Olympic Games title in archery since the restoration of archery to the Olympic program in 1972. Easton Technical Products is also a supplier to the military, medical and outdoor sports industries for high-strength carbon fiber and aluminum alloy tubing. Hoyt and Easton are run as independent divisions of Jas. D. Easton, Inc. Greg Easton is the third generation President of Jas. D. Easton.
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Spartus Corporation was an American consumer electronics manufacturer originally based in Chicago, Illinois. Founded as the Utility Manufacturing Company in 1934, it produced a wide variety of products, including wall clocks, alarm clocks, electric shavers, analog cameras, and more. It sold these through a medley of brands—including Falcon, Spartus, Galter, Regal, Monarch, Spencer, among others. It was founded in 1934 by Jack Galter (1904–1993) as a continuation of his father's manufacturing company.