Brunton, Inc.

Brunton, Inc. is a manufacturer of technical gear for outdoor activity located in Riverton, Wyoming. Brunton is well known for innovation in the categories of recreational compasses and navigation gear, binoculars, backpacking equipment, family camping, GPS, headlamps, solar panels for portable power, and surveying instruments.

Founded in 1895 by David W. Brunton, a Canadian-born geologist and mining engineer, and William Ainsworth, a skilled watch repairman, the firm is most famous for its earliest product, the Brunton Pocket Transit, a compass and measuring tool used by geologists, foresters, surveyors, and archaeologists. Often simply called a "Brunton", the Pocket Transit was first patented in 1894 by David Brunton, who commissioned William Ainsworth & Sons to manufacture his invention in Denver, Colorado. The company later incorporated as William Ainsworth Inc. and for many years produced the Pocket Transit along with surveying transits, theodolites, and other instruments.

Beginning in 1965, William Ainsworth Inc. was owned by a series of corporate conglomerates, and product quality varied as the company changed hands repeatedly. In 1972, a group of Riverton, Wyoming businessmen bought the company and formed Brunton, Inc. The company was moved to Riverton, Wyoming where it began producing a new series of recreational outdoors compasses, hunting knives, and binoculars in addition to the Brunton Pocket Transit.

In 1996, the company was acquired by Silva of Sweden AB, the original Swedish-based manufacturer of the Silva brand compass. Initially, Brunton began selling Silva of Sweden compasses and GPS devices imported from Sweden under the Elite Pro Elite, Nexus, and MNS labels after Johnson Outdoors retained the exclusive rights to the Silva brand name in North America. Brunton also began sourcing some of its compass models from Asia.

In 2006, Brunton's parent company, the Silva Group, was in turn acquired by the Finnish Fiskars Corporation, and along with the rest of Silva Group, Brunton became part of the Outdoor division of Fiskars, which also includes Gerber Legendary Blades. As of 2009, Brunton, Inc. employed about 40 people.

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