Clauss Cutlery Company
Encyclopedia
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.
origin, started Elyria Shear Works from a one-room building
in Elyria, Ohio. Together with five employees, they began manufacturing scissors, shears, straight razor
s and serrated
kitchen
knives
.
In the early 1880s, with his shear business prospering, John Clauss planned a major expansion
. In 1877, he moved the company to Fremont
, Ohio to be near an accessible, abundant supply of natural gas
which had recently been discovered. The gas was ideally suited to fuel the furnace
s for the company’s forge
s 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.
Three years later, 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. The new four story brick
building at the corner of State Street and Sandusky Avenue was the largest shear works in the world at that moment. Clauss also used this opportunity to change the company’s name to Clauss Shear Company.
and pedicure
implements, files
, knives, shears and razors. 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
debt
s. As a consequence, German shears were sold at half the price of American made shears. Despite the fierce German competition, Fremont counted twenty-five cutlery businesses and was rightfully known as the "Cutlery Center of the World".
, Clauss was unable to compete with Europe
an firms producing household scissors and other simple products because wage
s were much lower in Europe. So 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.
In 1954 the corporate name was changed to Clauss Cutlery Company to eliminate the confusion with the German cutlery firm J.A. Henckels.
s. For instance, Clauss made surgical
scissors for eye
operations, heavy duty metal
cutting
shears, poultry
shears for gutting chicken
s and specialty items such as anti-acid
, anti-magnetic tweezers
for the electronics
industry.
Clauss had approximately 100 employees and produced about $18 million in annual revenues in the late 1980s, but profits
continued to decline. In May 2004, Acme United Corporation acquired the Clauss inventory
, trademark
s and brand names
for approximately $500,000.
-bonded spring-assisted pruner were brought to market.
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.
In 2010, Clauss introduced two new lines of gardening tools
. The Enviro-Line is a family of lawn & garden products like pruners, snips, floral knives, spring assisted scissors, etc. The AirShoc line includes professional lawn & garden tools like loppers, hedge shears, branch saws and grass and garden shears as well as their respective replacement blades.
The Company spent over 3 years researching, designing, developing, manufacturing and improving these new tools. In 2010 the Clauss AirShoc line won six Good Design awards.
Elyria, Ohio
-Community:Elyria has an extensive, although financially burdened, community food pantry and "Hot Meals" program administered through the Second Harvest Food Bank and several churches Elyria is served by Elyria Memorial Hospital.-Recreation and parks:...
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
. At one time the company was the largest manufacturer of scissors
Scissors
Scissors are hand-operated cutting instruments. They consist of a pair of metal blades pivoted so that the sharpened edges slide against each other when the handles opposite to the pivot are closed. Scissors are used for cutting various thin materials, such as paper, cardboard, metal foil, thin...
and shears in the world
World
World is a common name for the whole of human civilization, specifically human experience, history, or the human condition in general, worldwide, i.e. anywhere on Earth....
and was acquired by Acme United Corporation
Acme United Corporation
Acme United Corporation is a supplier of cutting, measuring and safety products for the school, home, office, hardware and industrial markets. The company was organized as a partnership in 1867 and incorporated in 1882 under the laws of the State of Connecticut...
in 2004.
1877 - 1918
The two brothers John and Henrie Clauss, of GermanGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
origin, started Elyria Shear Works from a one-room building
Building
In architecture, construction, engineering, real estate development and technology the word building may refer to one of the following:...
in Elyria, Ohio. Together with five employees, they began manufacturing scissors, shears, straight razor
Straight razor
A straight razor is a razor with a blade that can fold into its handle. They are also called open razors and cut-throat razors.Although straight razors were once the principal method of manual shaving, they have been largely overshadowed by the safety razor, incorporating a disposable blade...
s and serrated
Serrated blade
A serrated blade is a type of blade used on saws and on some knives or scissors. It is also known as a dentated, sawtooth, or toothed blade.A serrated blade has a cutting edge that has many small points of contact with the material being cut...
kitchen
Kitchen
A kitchen is a room or part of a room used for cooking and food preparation.In the West, a modern residential kitchen is typically equipped with a stove, a sink with hot and cold running water, a refrigerator and kitchen cabinets arranged according to a modular design. Many households have a...
knives
Knife
A knife is a cutting tool with an exposed cutting edge or blade, hand-held or otherwise, with or without a handle. Knives were used at least two-and-a-half million years ago, as evidenced by the Oldowan tools...
.
In the early 1880s, with his shear business prospering, John Clauss planned a major expansion
Economic expansion
An economic expansion is an increase in the level of economic activity, and of the goods and services available in the market place. It is a period of economic growth as measured by a rise in real GDP.The explanation of such fluctuations in aggregate economic activity is one of the primary...
. In 1877, he moved the company to Fremont
Fremont, Ohio
Fremont Public Schools enroll 4,450 students in public primary and secondary schools. The district administers 9 public schools including seven elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school, Fremont Ross. In addition, the city is home to one private catholic high school, Saint Joseph...
, Ohio to be near an accessible, abundant supply of natural gas
Natural gas
Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...
which had recently been discovered. The gas was ideally suited to fuel the furnace
Furnace
A furnace is a device used for heating. The name derives from Latin fornax, oven.In American English and Canadian English, the term furnace on its own is generally used to describe household heating systems based on a central furnace , and sometimes as a synonym for kiln, a device used in the...
s for the company’s forge
Forge
A forge is a hearth used for forging. The term "forge" can also refer to the workplace of a smith or a blacksmith, although the term smithy is then more commonly used.The basic smithy contains a forge, also known as a hearth, for heating metals...
s and foundry
Foundry
A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal in a mold, and removing the mold material or casting after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals processed are aluminum and cast iron...
. Clauss erected a two stories
Storey
A storey or story is any level part of a building that could be used by people...
high plant
Factory
A factory or manufacturing plant is an industrial building where laborers manufacture goods or supervise machines processing one product into another. Most modern factories have large warehouses or warehouse-like facilities that contain heavy equipment used for assembly line production...
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.
Three years later, disaster
Disaster
A disaster is a natural or man-made hazard that has come to fruition, resulting in an event of substantial extent causing significant physical damage or destruction, loss of life, or drastic change to the environment...
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. The new four story brick
Brick
A brick is a block of ceramic material used in masonry construction, usually laid using various kinds of mortar. It has been regarded as one of the longest lasting and strongest building materials used throughout history.-History:...
building at the corner of State Street and Sandusky Avenue was the largest shear works in the world at that moment. Clauss also used this opportunity to change the company’s name to Clauss Shear Company.
1919 - 1945
In 1919, Clauss Shear merged with Henkel Company, also from Fremont, Ohio, to create Henkel-Clauss Company. Henkel Company was founded in 1906 to manufacture manicureManicure
A manicure is a cosmetic beauty treatment for the fingernails and hands performed at home or in a nail salon. A manicure treatment is not only a treatment for the natural nails but also for the hands. A manicure consists of filing, shaping of the free edge, treatments, massage of the hand and the...
and pedicure
Pedicure
A pedicure is a way to improve the appearance of the feet and the nails. It provides a similar service to a manicure. The word pedicure refers to superficial cosmetic treatment of the feet and toenails...
implements, files
Nail file
A nail file is a tool used to gently grind down and shape the edges of nails. They are often used in manicures and pedicures after the nail has been trimmed using appropriate nail clippers...
, knives, shears and razors. The Henkel-Clauss merger created a company with over 1,000 employees and had the largest payroll
Payroll
In a company, payroll is the sum of all financial records of salaries for an employee, wages, bonuses and deductions. In accounting, payroll refers to the amount paid to employees for services they provided during a certain period of time. Payroll plays a major role in a company for several reasons...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
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
Problem
A problem is an obstacle, impediment, difficulty or challenge, or any situation that invites resolution; the resolution of which is recognized as a solution or contribution toward a known purpose or goal...
as Germany was permitted to export
Export
The term export is derived from the conceptual meaning as to ship the goods and services out of the port of a country. The seller of such goods and services is referred to as an "exporter" who is based in the country of export whereas the overseas based buyer is referred to as an "importer"...
shears and scissors duty free to the United States. The idea behind this was to help Germany pay back its World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
debt
Debt
A debt is an obligation owed by one party to a second party, the creditor; usually this refers to assets granted by the creditor to the debtor, but the term can also be used metaphorically to cover moral obligations and other interactions not based on economic value.A debt is created when a...
s. As a consequence, German shears were sold at half the price of American made shears. Despite the fierce German competition, Fremont counted twenty-five cutlery businesses and was rightfully known as the "Cutlery Center of the World".
1946 - 1966
After World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Clauss was unable to compete with Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an firms producing household scissors and other simple products because wage
Wage
A wage is a compensation, usually financial, received by workers in exchange for their labor.Compensation in terms of wages is given to workers and compensation in terms of salary is given to employees...
s were much lower in Europe. So the company had no other choice than to shift its focus to industrial
Industry
Industry refers to the production of an economic good or service within an economy.-Industrial sectors:There are four key industrial economic sectors: the primary sector, largely raw material extraction industries such as mining and farming; the secondary sector, involving refining, construction,...
scissors. Unfortunately, Clauss continued to struggle as much of its sales
Revenue
In business, revenue is income that a company receives from its normal business activities, usually from the sale of goods and services to customers. In many countries, such as the United Kingdom, revenue is referred to as turnover....
were to industries in decline or to businesses where automation
Automation
Automation is the use of control systems and information technologies to reduce the need for human work in the production of goods and services. In the scope of industrialization, automation is a step beyond mechanization...
was reducing the need for scissors.
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
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 marketNiche market
A niche market is the subset of the market on which a specific product is focusing; therefore the market niche defines the specific product features aimed at satisfying specific market needs, as well as the price range, production quality and the demographics that is intended to impact...
s. For instance, Clauss made surgical
Surgery
Surgery is an ancient medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, or to help improve bodily function or appearance.An act of performing surgery may be called a surgical...
scissors for eye
Human eye
The human eye is an organ which reacts to light for several purposes. As a conscious sense organ, the eye allows vision. Rod and cone cells in the retina allow conscious light perception and vision including color differentiation and the perception of depth...
operations, heavy duty metal
Metal
A metal , is an element, compound, or alloy that is a good conductor of both electricity and heat. Metals are usually malleable and shiny, that is they reflect most of incident light...
cutting
Cutting
Cutting is the separation of a physical object, or a portion of a physical object, into two portions, through the application of an acutely directed force. An implement commonly used for cutting is the knife or in medical cases the scalpel...
shears, poultry
Poultry
Poultry are domesticated birds kept by humans for the purpose of producing eggs, meat, and/or feathers. These most typically are members of the superorder Galloanserae , especially the order Galliformes and the family Anatidae , commonly known as "waterfowl"...
shears for gutting chicken
Chicken
The chicken is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird...
s and specialty items such as anti-acid
Acid
An acid is a substance which reacts with a base. Commonly, acids can be identified as tasting sour, reacting with metals such as calcium, and bases like sodium carbonate. Aqueous acids have a pH of less than 7, where an acid of lower pH is typically stronger, and turn blue litmus paper red...
, anti-magnetic tweezers
Tweezers
Tweezers are tools used for picking up and manipulating objects too small to be easily handled with the human hands. They are probably derived from tongs, pincers, or scissors-like pliers used to grab or hold hot objects since the dawn of recorded history...
for the electronics
Electronics
Electronics is the branch of science, engineering and technology that deals with electrical circuits involving active electrical components such as vacuum tubes, transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, and associated passive interconnection technologies...
industry.
Clauss had approximately 100 employees and produced about $18 million in annual revenues in the late 1980s, but profits
Profit (accounting)
In accounting, profit can be considered to be the difference between the purchase price and the costs of bringing to market whatever it is that is accounted as an enterprise in terms of the component costs of delivered goods and/or services and any operating or other expenses.-Definition:There are...
continued to decline. In May 2004, Acme United Corporation acquired the Clauss inventory
Inventory
Inventory means a list compiled for some formal purpose, such as the details of an estate going to probate, or the contents of a house let furnished. This remains the prime meaning in British English...
, trademark
Trademark
A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...
s and brand names
Brand
The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."...
for approximately $500,000.
2004 - Present
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 titaniumTitanium
Titanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ti and atomic number 22. It has a low density and is a strong, lustrous, corrosion-resistant transition metal with a silver color....
-bonded spring-assisted pruner were brought to market.
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
Good design awards
The Good Design Awards are chosen annually by The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design in cooperation with The European Centre for Architecture, Art, Design and Urban Studies...
from the Chicago Athenaeum, Museum of Architecture and Design in 2007.
In 2010, Clauss introduced two new lines of gardening tools
Garden tool
A garden tool is any one of many tools made for gardens and gardening and overlaps with the range of tools made for agriculture and horticulture...
. The Enviro-Line is a family of lawn & garden products like pruners, snips, floral knives, spring assisted scissors, etc. The AirShoc line includes professional lawn & garden tools like loppers, hedge shears, branch saws and grass and garden shears as well as their respective replacement blades.
The Company spent over 3 years researching, designing, developing, manufacturing and improving these new tools. In 2010 the Clauss AirShoc line won six Good Design awards.