owner acme united corporation website clauss home clauss cutlery s long and vivid history started in 1877 when john clauss and his younger brother henrie established elyria shear works in elyria ohio . at one time the company was the largest manufacturer of scissors and shears in the world and was acquired by acme united corporation in 2004 . contents 1 history 1.1 1877 1918 1.2 1919 1945 1.3 1946 1966 1.4 1967 2004 1.5 2005 present 2 references 3 external links history edit 1877 1918 edit the two brothers john and henrie clauss of german origin started elyria shear works from a one room building in elyria ohio . 1 together with five employees they began manufacturing scissors shears straight razors and serrated kitchen knives . 2 in the early 1880s with his shear business prospering john clauss planned a major expansion . in august 1887 he moved the company to fremont ohio to be near an accessible abundant supply of natural gas which had recently been discovered . 2 the gas was ideally suited to fuel the furnaces for the company s forges and foundry . clauss erected a two stories high plant at the corner of north buchanan street and pine street . within one year the company was producing 3 000 pairs of shears and scissors a day . 2 on january 17 1889 disaster struck as the plant was completely destroyed by fire causing 125 employees to lose their jobs . however in less than four months clauss built a new plant and was back in full operation . 3 the new four story brick building at the corner of state street and sandusky avenue was the largest shear factory in the world at that moment . 3 clauss also used this opportunity to change the company s name to clauss shear company . 1919 1945 edit in 1919 clauss shear merged with henkel company also from fremont ohio to create henkel clauss company . 4 henkel company was founded in 1906 to manufacture manicure and pedicure files knives shears and razors . 5 the henkel clauss merger created a company with over 1 000 employees and had the largest payroll in the united states at that time . john clauss didn t live long to enjoy that success as he died later that same year . in the early 1920s the cutlery business faced a serious setback as germany was permitted to export shears and scissors duty free to the united states . the idea behind this was to help germany pay back its world war i debts . as a consequence german shears were sold at half the price of american made shears . 5 despite the fierce german competition fremont counted twenty five cutlery businesses and was rightfully known as the cutlery center of the world . 6 1946 1966 edit after world war ii clauss was unable to compete with european firms producing household scissors and other simple products because wages were much lower in europe . as a result the company had no other choice than to shift its focus to industrial scissors . unfortunately clauss continued to struggle as much of its sales were to industries in decline or to businesses where automation was reducing the need for scissors . 3 in 1954 the corporate name was changed to clauss cutlery company to eliminate the confusion with the german cutlery firm j.a. henckels . 1967 2004 edit in 1967 clauss was taken over by alco standard corporation . alco standard which later divested its manufacturing companies to create alco industries inc. integrated clauss into its existing structure to manufacture tools for industrial niche markets . for instance clauss made surgical scissors for eye operations heavy duty metal cutting shears poultry shears for gutting chickens and specialty items such as anti acid anti magnetic tweezers for the electronics industry . 7 clauss had approximately 100 employees and produced about 18 million in annual revenues in the late 1980s but profits continued to decline . 7 in may 2004 acme united corporation acquired the clauss inventory trademarks and brand names from alco industries for approximately 500 000 . 8 2005 present edit the clauss business was immediately integrated into acme united s existing operations . since then the number of clauss products has continued to expand . in 2006 and 2007 sewing shears utility knives chef shears hobby knives and a titanium bonded spring assisted pruner were brought to market . 9 in 2008 clauss introduced the speedpak utility knife and its replaceable cartridges with 10 titanium blades . the speedpak works like a normal utility knife except when the blade is dull the user can simply push a button on the side of the knife pull out the blade retract the button and automatically another blade reloaded out of the cartridge . the speedpak won a good design award from the chicago athenaeum museum of architecture and design in 2007 . 10 early 2013 clauss launched a family of titanium bonded non stick putty knives . its coating prevents the tools from rusting which is a very common problem in wet environments and it allows easier application of the putty . 11 more recently acme formed a partnership with the scottsmiracle gro company nyse smg to market and sell two lines of lawn and gardening tools branded scotts airshoc and miracle gro . the tools also carry the powered by clauss technology label . the miracle gro is a line of lawn and garden products such as pruners snips floral knives and spring assisted scissors suited for home gardeners . the scotts airshoc line on the other hand aims at lawn care professionals and serious diy ers . it includes loppers hedge shears branch saws and grass and garden shears . references edit carroll family biographical sketch . rbhayes.org . retrieved on june 28 2009 . a b c great men of america . the bryan times . retrieved on july 2 2009 . a b c firms aim to regain cutting edge . toledoblade.com . retrieved on july 1 2009 . carroll family biographical sketch . rbhayes.org . retrieved on june 28 2009 . a b historic american engineering record pdf . u. s. department of the interior . retrieved on july 4 2009 . carroll family biographical sketch . rbhayes.org . retrieved on june 28 2009 . a b clauss cutlery carves a niche in special field . the blade . retrieved on june 30 2009 . acme united corporation acquires clauss cutlery assets . business wire . june 1 2004 . retrieved on october 16 2012 . 10 k acme united 2010 . edgar online.com . retrieved on april 25 2011 . acme united corporation announces good designaward . allbusiness.com . retrieved on april 25 2011 . scottsmiracle gro and acme united launch innovative lawn and garden tools . reuters.com . retrieved on may 18 2012 . external links edit acme united corp. company website clauss company website j. a. henckels worldwide website alco industries inc. company website v t e acme united corporation subsidiaries c thru ruler camillus cutlery company clauss cutlery company pac kit first aid kits physicianscare first aid and medications westcott rule company retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title clauss cutlery company & oldid 743024199 categories knife manufacturing companiesscissors 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 7 october 2016 at 09 08 . 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 policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers 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