Iver Johnson
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[edit] History
In 1871, Iver Johnson joined Martin Bye to form the Johnson Bye & Company, merging his own (1841-1895) and Martin Bye's gunsmithing operations. During this period, Johnson and Bye filed for and received several new firearms features and firearms feature improvement patents. Their primary revenues came from the sale of their self designed and manufactured inexpensive models of revolvers. Not much is known about Martin Bye, as there is very little documented information about his life. However, there is more documented information on Johnson. Iver Johnson is documented as having immigrated to Worcester, Massachusetts from Norway in 1863 at the height of the American Civil War, a time when gunsmithing was a welcome skill in the country. Johnson was a gunsmith by trade at the time, but also worked as an inventor in his spare time, which would come in handy later on as he sought new and creative uses for his partially idle manufacturing equipment, a thought process which would eventually lead him and his heirs to diversify the corporation's businesses. His early work involved not only gunsmithing locally in Worcester, MA, but it also included providing designs and work to other firearms companies (notable Allen & Wheelock for whom he made so-called "pepperbox" pistols). He married Ms. Mary Elizabeth Adams on April 9th, 1868, in Worcester, with whom he had 3 sons and 2 daughters over the next several years.
Little is known of Martin Bye. He and Johnson filed jointly for and were awarded multiple patents together, mostly related to firearms designs, beginning in 1876. The company’s name changed to Iver Johnson & Company in 1883 upon Johnson's purchase of Bye's interest in the firm. Bye continued to work in the firearm industry for the remainder of his life.
The company's name changed again to Iver Johnson Arms & Cycle Works in 1891, when the company relocated to Fitchburg, Massachusetts, (sometimes incorrectly referred to as "Fitzburg") in order to have better and larger manufacturing facilities. The Iver Johnson Complex, as it is known today, resembles other abandoned Industrial Revolution-era properties in New England. As has been the trend, the complex is often a target for real estate developers who intend to exploit its buildings' industrial brick aesthetics and open floor plans to create retail, residential, or other types of usable space.
Iver Johnson died in 1895, and his sons took over the business. Frederick (born 10/2/1871), John (born 6/26/1876), and Walter (birthdate unknown), had vastly different levels of involvement in the company ranging from executive leadership to barely any involvement at all. They shepherded the company through a phase of expansion, as bicycle operations grew, then converted to motorcycle manufacturing and sales. They also saw the growth of the firearms business and the eventual restructuring of the company to focus on firearms and related business as they divested non-firearms concerns, such as the motorcycle business, in the face of growing firearms demand, World War I's armaments industry expansion, and other factors. As family ownership waned and outside investment via publicly traded stock and mergers/acquisitions/partnerships took hold, the company changed ownership and moved several times during its operation. The company eventually dropped "Cycle Works" from its moniker when that part of the business was shut down. The business successfully weathered the Great Depression (in part thanks to higher rates of armed robbery crimes, which helped maintain demand for personal firearms) and was buoyed by the dramatic increase in the market for arms leading up to and during World War II. As a result of changes in ownership, the company had the first of two major relocations in 1971 when it moved to New Jersey. It moved again to Jackson, Arkansas, before it finally ceased trading under its own name in 1993, at which time it was owned by American Military Arms Corp (AMAC).
Iver Johnson gained a reputation over the years for producing low cost, sturdy, reliable firearms. Iver Johnson firearms are collectible today (21st century) at reasonable prices, but some cannot be reliably fired unless they are checked by a certified gunsmith.
[edit] Iver Johnson firearm models
Iver Johnson nomenclature refers to its top-break revolvers as Safety Automatics. These are revolvers, not semi-automatic pistols. The term “Safety Automatic” refers to Iver Johnson’s transfer bar safety system (“safety”) and the automatic ejection of cartridges upon breaking open the revolvers (“automatic”).
[edit] Safety automatic
Standard models with external hammer:
- First Model (1894-1895), single post latch system
- Second Model (1896-1908), double post latch system
- Third Model (1909-1941), double post latch system
[edit] Safety automatic hammerless
- First Model (1895-1896), single post latch
- Second Model (1897-1908), safety lever added to face of trigger
- Third Model a.k.a. New Model (1909-1941), no safety lever on trigger
[edit] William McKinley assassination
Presidential assassin Leon Frank Czolgosz shot and killed U.S. President William McKinley in Buffalo, New York on 6 September 1901 with an Iver Johnson .32 caliber Safety Automatic revolver (serial number 463344). The revolver is currently on display at the Erie County Historical Society in Buffalo.
Third Model safety Hammerless pictured on left
[edit] Robert Kennedy assassination
Convicted assassin Sirhan Sirhan shot and killed Presidential candidate United States Senator Robert F. Kennedy in Los Angeles, California on 5 June 1968 with an eight-shot Iver Johnson .22 caliber Cadet 55-A revolver (serial number H-53725, Trial-People's Exhibit #6, misidentified in trial testimony as S/N H-18602).
[edit] Bicycles
Iver Johnson bicycles are classic examples of early American bicycles, and during the bicycle boom of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the company had a very productive bicycle manufacturing and sales line of business. Today, Iver Johnsons are considered to be "classics" by vintage bicycle collectors, and are considered to be especially pleasing from an aesthetic point of view.
Bicycle production ceased in 1940 with the buildup of arms production prior to world war II.
Today, Iver Johnson bicycles are highly collectible and are no more rare than most other major manufacturer's products from that time. The name Iver Johnson is well known amongst vintage firearm collectors, but aside from that, bicycles would be the brand's next most popularly associated product. There is even an Iver Johnson bicycle on display at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History in the America on the Move exhibit.
[edit] Motorcycles
Launched in Fitchburg, MA in 1907, The Iver Johnson Company motorcycle division was born from the conversion of a line of business that had been manufacturing bicycles for some 23 years prior to that point. Ultimately, the arms division of the business was growing so rapidly to meet demand that management decided to focus on that market and as a result motorcycle operations closed in 1916 (varying sources claim the last year as being 1915, with 1916 seeing only the sales of remaining 1915 produced inventory), bringing to an end 33 years of total cycle operations (23 for bicycles, and another 10 for motorcycle and run-off bicycle business).
In The Illustrated Directory of World Motorcycles, author Mirco de Cet reports:
In 1916 the market for weapons began to seriously outstrip the prospects for motorcycle sales, so the company turned its attention to firearms and tools.
Though all vestiges of Iver Johnson as a going concern are now gone as of 1993, there is still a great deal of interest in the company and the collection of their products, although that interest is focused on their firearms business and not their motorcycle business. Where their motorcycles are collected, they are collected as examples of early motorcycles (as is the case with the products of many of the companies from the early days of the industry) and in an effort to catalog all of the early manfacturers, not so much out of inherent interest in Iver-Johnson motorcycles themselves.
[edit] External links
- Iver Johnson firearms - armscollectors.com
