Parris Manufacturing Company

The Parris Manufacturing Company of Savannah, Tennessee is an American company that primarily manufactures toys.

Iowa inventor William G. Dunn (1883–1968) originally owned a hardware business in Clarinda, Iowa. With the start of World War I, Dunn created the Dunn Counterbalance Company that operated out of the hardware store until he built a factory in Clarinda and renamed his company the Dunn Manufacturing Company. Dunn was responsible for 48 patents, 7 to do with wind power. The Dunn Manufacturing Company also built a 3-seat Cruzeaire Monoplane in 1928.

In 1936 Dunn teamed up with Cecil Lewis "Catfish" Parris, a marketing specialist, to form the Parris-Dunn company. The company was formed with Parris as President and Dunn as Vice President to sell a wind driven generator for farms to recharge electrical items. The Dunn Governing Principle was able to use a controllable propellor speed with fewer moving parts than other wind generators. The idea was successful with over 37,000 units created the next year that were sold throughout the USA and foreign countries.Philco Electronics contracted with Parris-Dunn to put their well known name on their "Skychargers" and marketed the items to their customers.

With surplus American arms sent to England and other countries prior to America's involvement in World War II, the American military suffered a severe shortage of rifles. As the U.S. Government decided that wind generators were not a priority item, Parris-Dunn could only manufacture spare parts for the ones in use. When the company sought some war work the government recommended making dummy training rifles with wood and metal that copied the M1903 Springfield.

Impressed by the rifles made for the US Army, the US Navy contacted Parris-Dunn in June 1942 to order their own rifles that they insisted have bayonet studs, adjustable rear sights, and working triggers with a clicker mechanism; the weapon becoming the USN MK 1 Dummy Training Rifle. The Navy ordered 190,000 for their first order. A plastic copy of the M1905 bayonet and scabbard was manufactured by the Pro-Phy-Lac-Tic Brush Company who usually manufactured toothbrushes. With walnut in high demand for real rifles, Parris-Dunn used cheaper wood further reducing the cost of the rifles.

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