Ensign-Bickford Company
Encyclopedia
The Ensign-Bickford Aerospace & Defense Company (formerly The Ensign-Bickford Company) was started in 1836 in Simsbury, Connecticut
as a manufacturer of William Bickford's safety fuse
for use in mining
. Safety fuse was a great advance in mining technology over the practice of filling holes with black powder. The next step in mining technology was detonating cord
. Ensign-Bickford and other companies developed different versions of detonating cord. Ensign-Bickford's "Primacord
" or "primercord" became the functional generic name
for detonating cord in North America. In 2003 Ensign-Bickford sold the trademark
s and processes to Dyno Nobel
Inc of Australia
(formerly of Norway
).
Simsbury, Connecticut
Simsbury is a suburban town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 23,234 at the 2000 census. The town was incorporated as Connecticut's twenty-first town in May 1670.-Early history:...
as a manufacturer of William Bickford's safety fuse
Safety fuse
The safety fuse is a type of fuse invented and patented by William Bickford in 1831. Originally it consisted of a "tube" of gunpowder surrounded by a water-proofed varnished jute "rope". It replaced earlier and less reliable methods of igniting gunpowder blasting charges which had caused many...
for use in mining
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
. Safety fuse was a great advance in mining technology over the practice of filling holes with black powder. The next step in mining technology was detonating cord
Detonating cord
Detonating cord is a thin, flexible plastic tube filled with PETN . With the PETN exploding at a rate of approximately 4 miles per second, any common length of det cord appears to explode instantaneously...
. Ensign-Bickford and other companies developed different versions of detonating cord. Ensign-Bickford's "Primacord
Primacord
Primacord is a registered trademark of detonating cord used in blasting, originally manufactured by the Ensign-Bickford Company. Ensign Bickford sold the trademark to Dyno Nobel Inc in 2003 and it is now manufactured in Graham, Kentucky...
" or "primercord" became the functional generic name
Genericized trademark
A genericized trademark is a trademark or brand name that has become the colloquial or generic description for, or synonymous with, a general class of product or service, rather than as an indicator of source or affiliation as intended by the trademark's holder...
for detonating cord in North America. In 2003 Ensign-Bickford sold the 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 processes to Dyno Nobel
Dyno Nobel
Dyno Nobel is a major manufacturer of explosives. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Incitec Pivot Limited, and its customers include users in the mining, quarry, construction, pipeline and geophysical exploration industries...
Inc of Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
(formerly of Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
).