Carrom Company

Carrom Company (also Carrom Industries) was a manufacturer of games and furniture, headquartered in Ludington, Michigan. It started as Ludington Novelty Company in the 19th Century. Its main product was the game of Carroms. The game was sold in the US by the tens-of-thousands starting at the end of the 19th Century.

Beginnings (1889–1900)

Henry L Haskell

Henry L. Haskell started the Ludington Novelty company in 1889, making baskets and games. The names of the first games of "Novelty" are unknown. Haskell was a Sunday school teacher at the time and was concerned that young boys were loitering around pool halls, exposing them to develop bad habits.^[1] In 1892, he invented a game called "carroms" that the whole family could play^[2] on a carrom board, a design he later patented.^[1] A 1953 Ludington Daily News article talks of an 1895 newspaper advertisement that said, "you can keep the boys home nights by giving them a good carrom game."^[3]

The first carrom game boards were made by hand in 1892.^[4] At that time a game board was made and then sold before another was started. Haskell convinced his friend John A. Mitchell to invest in this venture in 1893.^[4] Mitchell invested $1000 in Haskell's enterprise, his brother Chauncey also invested, and the Ludington Novelty company was founded. In 1893, the company's production was about ten game boards per day; approximately 2,500 were produced in the first year. They were made by hand with the assistance of crude machinery from a Ludington planing mill partly owned by Haskell.^[5] Haskell's Carrom game was marketed from Ludington and by 1901 had been introduced to ten states by their traveling salesman Eugene C. Allen.^[4]

1898 advertisement for the game of Carroms

Haskell patented the carom game board (USD27788S) on October 26, 1897. His invention became popular in the US, then spread globally. An 1898 advertisement for the game of CARROMS in a Ludington journal used the slogan "A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men." The ad went on to say that a fascinating way of nonsense was through the best parlor game made – CARROMS. The advertisement notes that it was patented on October 26, 1897, and that other associated patents were "pending." Readers could obtain a catalog of the CARROMS products be requesting one from Ludington Novelty in Michigan.^[6]

Associated patents

• 
  Game board 1897 patent
• 
  Carom back stop board
• 
  1900 corner-pocket patent
• 
  Carom game-piece rings
• 
  Carom spring cue shooter

Early history (1900–1915)

Justus Stearns

Justus Smith Stearns, a local businessman, bought part of the company in 1900 and took over its management. The company prospered under his leadership. Other products were added to the game line, like the carrom folding card tables and other furniture. Carrom games and products were sold throughout the US by the thousands.^[1]

John Mitchell was the president of Ludington Novelty Company in 1901 and his brother Chauncey E. Mitchell was treasurer. Haskell was secretary of the company at this time. Production had increased to 600 Carrom games per day. The company employed 95 men, 85 women, 14 girls, and 8 boys.^[7] The string pockets for the four corners of the Carrom game board for collecting the ring "strikers" were made by local Ludington housewives and provided extra income for them.^[8] See 1900 corner-pocket patent US648561.

Ludington Novelty Company bought out the game manufacturer Archarena Company of Peoria, Illinois in 1902 and they merged. Archarena was founded by Charles C. Harper and Edgar L. Williams. Harper was a clerk for Aetna Fire Insurance Company at the time. Williams had patents on four game boards associated with Archarena. The company became the Carrom-Archarena Company and was one of the largest employers in Ludington, Michigan in the early 1900s. The Carrom-Archarena Company became Carrom Company in 1912. At this point the game was sold in Europe and Asia.^[4][9]

Mid history (1916–1939)

Haskell Manufacturing Co. (c.1917)

In 1916 Haskell obtained the building at 801 N. Rowe Street in Ludington. Carrom game boards were produced there. In 1917 the new Haskell Manufacturing Company was formed from the Carrom Company. The Carrom-Archarena company became part of the Haskell Company and was also located in this building. From 1917 there were other Haskell-owned companies in the building, under the Haskell Company name, including the Haskell Boat Company.^[10]

The enterprise built a second plant in Grand Rapids in 1918 which became the Haskelite Manufacturing Corporation.^[11] The US Government helped finance this plant and initially owned it. Haskell had the right to buy the building from the government at a later date. This plant was an important contributor to US war efforts of World War I. It produced plywood for the construction of 3,000 military airplanes for the US and its allies.^[12] In 1926, the Carrom Company received from Haskell and J. W. Beiger the shop rights to the blood-albumen glue they had patented.^[13] The company prospered and expanded through the 1920s. Haskell remained with the company until 1930.^[4] It had some financial set backs in the 1930s because of the Great Depression in the US. It was reorganized and became Carrom Industries in 1939.^[14]

Later history (1940–1966)

Commercial and dormitory furniture

Haskell died on April 3, 1940. In 1942 the Carrom Company was sold by Stearn's grandson to William Ross of Milwaukee. Ross sold the company in 1950 to Lee Smith who retired from the company in 1960. In April 1961 three key company employees - William J. Mueckler, Robert Erickson, and Albert DelZoppo - resigned and started their own company to market games. The first letters of their last names formed their company name, Merdel Game Manufacturing Company.^[4]

Carrom Company (also known as Carrom Industries)^[15] was bought out by Shampaine Industries in 1951. The company was headquartered in St. Louis and made furniture for institutions. Carrom's division in Ludington became a fractional part of their total business. By 1952, the total sales of Carrom game boards over the first 63 years of production was estimated at over $4 million.^[1] The journal Wood Working Digest estimated 5 million boards had been sold by 1958.^[16] By the 1980s the Carrom Company was selling between 80,000 and 100,000 game boards annually through toy and department stores.^[9]

Formed in 1961, the Merdel Games Manufacturing Company of Ludington manufactured their own version of the well-known game. It was sold under the name "Carom" (single "r"). Shampaine Industries filed a lawsuit against Merdel Corporation in 1961 for copyright infringement, as the original game was CARROMS with double "RR"s. This lawsuit was ultimately dropped and dismissed on February 28, 1967.^[17]

Recent history (1967–1999)

Games division in Ludington, Michigan

Affiliated Hospital Products Inc. acquired Shampaine Industries in mid-1967, including the Carrom Games with the registered trademark of "Carrom" with the double "r" in the name. The company became one part of Affiliated's seven divisions.^[2] Affiliated Hospital Products made mostly furniture for hospitals. The Carrom Games division, a fraction of their total sales, moved production of their toys and games to Red Lion, Pennsylvania for a short time in 1968. They continued to make the game of CARROMS and competed against Merdel Manufacturing's "Carom" game.^[18][19]

There was a lawsuit filed against Montgomery Ward & Company in 1969 by Affiliated Hospital Products, owner of the original CARROMS game. The lawsuit alleged that Montgomery Ward's Christmas catalog and newspaper ads misrepresented the "Carroms" name by marketing a similar product made by Merdel with the name "Carom" with one "r" to mislead the public. The lawsuit claimed that Montgomery Ward salespeople were representing to the public that what they were buying was the genuine original game of CARROMS, which was not correct. Their stores were in fact selling the copied reproduction of the game that was being produced by Merdel Manufacturing and sold for a lower price than the original game from Carrom Company.^[18][19]

The Carrom games branch of the Affiliated Hospital Products company moved to Sardis, Michigan in 1972 and shut down later that year. This branch was sold to Merdel Manufacturing Company of Ludington. Merdel then began marketing the game with double "RR's" in the name since they owned all rights to it. Merdel Manufacturing was acquired in 1981 by the Lightning Guider Sled Company of Duncannon, Pennsylvania. Merdel bought game manufacturer William F. Drueke & Sons Company of Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1992 for just under $5000,000.^[20] Merdel Company was attractive to the Drueke Company because they manufactured parts and boards to family oriented games like backgammon, checkers, cribbage and chess.^[20] At one time in the 20th century it was the only domestic manufacturer of chess sets; in the 21st century it was in financial difficulty and nearly went out of business.^[20]

The Drueke Company, along with its employees and equipment, was merged into the game division of Merdel Manufacturing Company in Ludington after Affiliated Hospital Products Company acquired it.^[20] Merdel changed back to the original name of "Carrom Games" with the two "RR"s in 1994.^[21] In 1996, the Carrom games branch of the Affiliated Hospital Products Company bought what remained of the bankrupt Recreational Products Company. It moved its production of their air hockey game, pool tables and other works to Ludington. That part created the Carrom Sports branch division of Affiliated Hospital Products.^[22]

Copies and reproductions

There were several companies that made copies of Haskell's Carrom game board. The Transogram Company made a version of Haskell's game board in the 1950s and called it Skooker.^[23] Coleco in the 1980s made reproductions with names like "Carom-playing Games Board" with up to 202 derived replication games.^[23] Some variants in the 1970s were called "101 Games Board" and "Carom-playing 166 Games Board".^[23] An ice-box manufacturer made "Combinola" and "Crokinola" boards as variants of the game.^[23]

Vintage Carrom game boards

References

Sources

• Dunbar, Willis Frederick (1955). Michigan Through the Centuries. Lewis Historical Publishing Company. 
• MichMan (1918). Michigan Manufacturer & Financial Record. 
• Saarinen, Eero (2006). Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-9724881-2-X. 
• Smith, S.H. (1930). Veneers and Plywood. S.H. Smith. 
• Ward, Darrell (1958). Wood Working Digest / Keep-em playing with CARROM games. Hitchcock Publishing Company. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Carrom Company.

• Carrom vintage board museum
• Factory assembly steps of Carrom games