Ethan Allen (armsmaker)
| Ethan Allen | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Ethan Allen September 2, 1808 Bellingham, Massachusetts, United States |
| Died | January 7, 1871 (aged 64) Massachusetts, United States |
| Occupation | Inventor, businessman |
| Spouse(s) | Mary Harrington, Sarah Mary Johnson |
| Children | Nettie |
Ethan Allen (September 2, 1808 – January 7, 1871) was a major American arms maker from Massachusetts. He is unrelated to the revolutionary Ethan Allen. His first firearm, the "Pocket Rifle" was developed in 1836, and his first patent was granted in 1837.
Allen began his career as a cutlery maker in Milford, Massachusetts in 1831. He gained the knowledge of metalworking and manufacturing processes by producing knives and shoemaking tools before moving his business to Grafton.
While working on a cane gun for a doctor, Allen came up with the idea for an underhammer pocket rifle and designed it in 1836. The following year he applied for a patent for a "tube hammer" pocket pistol and went into business with his brother-in-law, Charles Thurber. Ethan proved to be a true family man, investing and partnering with a nephew in a New York sporting goods retailer, hiring another brother-in-law Thomas Wheelock who was eventually made a partner, and similarly hiring and later making partner his two sons-in-law Sullivan Forehand and Henry Wadsworth. The latter two continued the business under their own names after Allen's death in 1871.
In 1843 the company relocated to Norwich, Connecticut. In addition to armsmaking, they built prototypes of Thurber's typewriter designed for the blind, disabled and those “nervous” about writing by hand. Though patented, the typewriter was never manufactured for commercial sale.
In 1847, the company moved to Worcester, Massachusetts, and in 1854 Wheelock became an equal partner with the firm's name changing to Allen Thurber & Co. In 1856, following Thurber's death, the company reorganized as Allen & Wheelock. After the death of Wheelock in 1865, Allen's 2 sons-in-law, Sullivan Forehand and H. C. Wadsworth, began working for him and the company changed names to Allen & Company. Upon Allen's death in 1871 the two operated the company under their own names: Forehand & Wadsworth, until Forehand reorganized the company in 1890 as the Forehand Arms Company after Wadsworth's retirement.
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