KEM playing cards
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| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Playing card manufacturer |
| Founded | 1867 |
| Headquarters | Erlanger, Kentucky, United States |
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Key people
|
Micheal Slaughter (President) |
| Products | Bicycle, Bee, Aristocrat, KEM, Aviator (among others) |
| Revenue |
 US$ 130 million (2003 est.) |
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Number of employees
|
750 |
| Parent | Newell Brands |
| Website | www |
The United States Playing Card Company, established in 1867, produces and distributes many brands of playing cards, including Bicycle, Bee, Hoyle, Kem, and others, plus novelty and custom cards, and other playing card accessories such as poker chips. The company was once based in Cincinnati, Ohio, but is now headquartered in the Cincinnati suburb of Erlanger, Kentucky. It is currently a subsidiary of Newell Brands.
The company was founded in 1867 as Russell, Morgan & Co., a printing company. In 1881, Colonel Robert J. Morgan, recruited a talented, young inventor from New York named Samuel J. Murray, whose patented inventions increased the output of cards at the company's Norwood, Ohio plant fourfold and cut labor costs by 66 percent. Murray also created a two-sided enameling machine.
The company began printing four brands of playing cards in 1881: Tigers (No. 101), Sportsman's (No. 202), Army and Navy (both No. 303, No. 505 with Gold Edges), and Congress (No. 404, No. 606 with gold edges). They began printing Bicycle cards, which would become their most popular line, in 1885. Business boomed and in 1891 Russel, Morgan, & Co. changed its name to the United States Printing Company. The playing card business was successful enough that it was spun off as a separate business in 1894, as The United States Playing Card Company.
The same year, it began its history of acquiring smaller playing card manufacturers when it acquired the Standard Playing Card Company, the Perfection Playing Card Company, and the New York Consolidated Card Company (makers of Bee and innovators of the "squeezer" card identifications in the corners: a design still in use today). Acquisitions continued throughout its history: Andrew Dougherty in 1907 (adding Tally-Ho), Russell Playing Card Co. in 1929, Heraclio Fournier, S.A in 1986, Arrco (formerly Arrow) Playing Card Company in 1987, Hoyle Products in 2001, and finally KEM Playing Cards in 2004. In 1930, USPCC subsidiaries Consolidated Card Co., Standard Playing Card Co., and Andrew Dougherty are merged into Consolidated-Dougherty which continues to produce cards from all three brands including Bee and Tally-Ho.
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Wikipedia