for the surname see leupold surname . leupold & stevens inc. type private industry optics and lenses founded 1907 headquarters beaverton oregon united states 45 31 26 n 122 49 21 w 45.52380 n 122.82243 w 45.52380 ; 122.82243 coordinates 45 31 26 n 122 49 21 w 45.52380 n 122.82243 w 45.52380 ; 122.82243 key people bruce pettet ceo revenue approx . 160 million 2010 1 number of employees approx . 700 nov. 2010 1 slogan america s optics authority website www.leupold.com leupold & stevens inc. is a manufacturer of telescopic sights red dot sights spotting scopes and binoculars located in beaverton oregon united states . the company started in 1907 is family owned and has been run by five generations of the family . 2 3 contents 1 history 2 products 3 see also 4 references 5 external links history edit leupold & stevens was originally founded by the german markus friedrich fred leupold and his brother in law adam voelpel in 1907 under the name leupold & voelpel . at the time the company specialized in the repair of survey equipment . 4 in 1911 leupold & voelpel was contracted by john cyprian j.c. stevens to manufacture a water level recorder he had designed and patented . after the initial success of the product he was made partner in 1914 and the company was renamed leupold voelpel and co. 5 besides the first water level recorder the company invented several other innovative pieces of equipment such as the telemark water recorder which was patented in 1939 . 5 this device could transmit water level information via telephone allowing for remote monitoring of water resources to become feasible . in 1942 the company name was changed to its present form leupold & stevens . surveying equipment rifle scopes and related products are sold under the leupold name while water monitoring instrumentation such as level and flow recorders are marketed under the stevens brand . 5 after world war ii leupold & stevens began making gun scopes after marcus leupold failed to hit a deer with his rifle . his scope fogged up and he is reported to have exclaimed hell i could build a better scope than this as the deer bounded off . 3 4 by 1979 the leupold scopes were generating twice the total revenue of stevens instruments . 3 6 in 1969 the company acquired a majority interest in the company nosler bullets also a family company and then sold off their portion in 1988 . 3 4 other ventures include biamp systems 1985 1986 makers of sound equipment and fabmark 1984 1990 a sheet metal fabrication division that serviced high technology companies . by 1996 the company had sales of 100 million . 4 in 1998 the water monitoring portion of leupold & stevens was spun off into its own privately held portland based business stevens water monitoring systems inc. with leupold & stevens also retaining the stevens name as part of their corporate identity . 6 in 2002 leupold & stevens won a wausau insurance gold award for workplace safety at the company s factory . 7 by 2006 the company employed 600 people at its beaverton facility . 8 the company is now in its fifth generation of ownership . 3 in 2008 leupold & stevens purchased redfield optics along with its brand name and all intellectual property rights . 9 in 2010 the company added almost 100 employees bringing total employment to almost 700 by november of that year . 1 in late 2010 a portland business journal article gave the company s annual revenue as approximately 160 million citing reference.com for the estimate . 1 a new chief executive bruce pettet was named in february 2014 . 10 products edit the company s gun scopes are used by organizations such as the united states army the secret service and the navy seals . 11 the united states navy and the marine corps also use their scopes . 12 leupold & stevens also manufactures binoculars for sport hunting . 2 see also edit list of companies based in oregon references edit a b c d siemers erik november 12 2010 . leupold & stevens targets new markets . portland business journal . retrieved december 18 2012 . a b leeson fred november 17 1996 . all in the family . the oregonian . a b c d e van zwoll wayne 2007 . 1907 2007 leupold & stevens ... the first century . primedia inc. isbn 978 1 8929 4774 1 . a b c d marks anita february 14 1997 . origin of the species . portland business journal . retrieved december 18 2012 . a b c stevens john cyprian . the autobiography of a civil engineer published 1959 . a b brinckman jonathan march 10 2006 . firm no longer out of its depth in digital age scott south modernizes stevens water monitoring of beaverton . the oregonian . leupold & stevens recognized for workplace safety . portland business journal . september 24 2002 . retrieved december 19 2012 . monroe bill february 27 2006 . oregon firms get shot in arm . the oregonian . http www.redfield.com redfield story kish matthew february 24 2014 . leupold & stevens names new ceo . portland business journal . retrieved 25 february 2014 . world class oregon . october 2 2005 . the oregonian . woodward steve october 14 2001 . military shops in oregon . the oregonian . external links edit guns magazine leupold & stevens v t e oregon based companies nyse listed greenbrier companies lithia motors nike nw natural portland general electric nasdaq listed columbia sportswear electro scientific industries erickson inc. fei flir lattice mentor graphics radisys rentrak schnitzer steel umpqua holdings private companies a dec banfield consumer cellular esco franz bakery hoffman construction infocus kindercare education laika leupold & stevens les schwab the old spaghetti factory parr lumber plaid pantry reser s fine foods roseburg forest products shari s vigor industrial other bi mart tillamook creamery western family foods list of companies based in oregon retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title leupold % 26 stevens & oldid 711785589 categories companies based in washington county oregonoptics manufacturing companiesprivately held companies based in oregoncompanies established in 19071907 establishments in oregonhidden categories coordinates not on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 24 march 2016 at 21 49 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy 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