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2 in a series of 4
For most of the first half of the 20th Century, Billiards was the Company's largest and most profitable business, as Brunswick built its enduring stature as the unchallenged Number One Name
In Billiards. The Company's bowling sales were also rising, but there soon came to be much more to the Brunswick story; for when Benjamin Bensinger assumed the Company's presidency following his father's death, he
quickly began to prepare for future growth. Toward that end, Mr. Bensinger began planning a major new manufacturing facility, while also searching for new ways to use both the Company's leadership position in
vulcanized rubber technology, and its traditional woodworking skills.
1906
Development of the new manufacturing facility was completed on October 15, with the opening of a 100,000 square-foot
plant in Muskegon, Michigan. 1906 also witnessed the debut of the Brunswick Mineralite bowling ball. A huge technological breakthrough over the wooden bowling balls of that time, the vulcanized rubber Mineralite
became an immediate bowler favorite.
1912
Brunswick introduced Whale-Bone-ite, the first rubber toilet seat. An instant success, it quickly obsoleted the uncomfortable wooden models which had
theretofore been standard. Among its major customers, Whale-Bone-ite seats were standard equipment on the Pullman cars which were everywhere on America's railroads.
1916
Two more highly
acclaimed products emerged. Recognizing the potential of the infant automobile industry, the Company's rubber know-how produced the first Brunswick tires. And Brunswick entered the music business, as the Company's
craftsmen used their woodworking skills to create cabinets for the first Brunswick phonographs.
1922
The Company became an even stronger presence in the music industry, with the pressing of the
first Brunswick records; a label which soon attracted such top recording star's as Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman and Cab Calloway. The first Brunswick radios went on sale two years later; and one year after that, a
collaboration with the General Electric Company led to the debut of the revolutionary Panatrope, the first all-electric phonograph.
1929
Al Jolson's Brunswick recording of Sonny Boy topped the
pop music charts, and the legendary singer was made a member of the Company's Board of Directors. With the continuing growth of its three principal businesses ... billiards, bowling and music Brunswick's sales
topped $29 million.
But the Great Depression hit Brunswick hard. To help save the Company, Benjamin Bensinger and his son Bob sold the music business to Warner Brothers for $10 million. Earnings plunged and
operations were severely cut back, but the Brunswick Balke-Collender Company survived.
The fight for survival was helped by the development of more new products. The Blue Flash refrigerator became one of the
Company's most successful products of the 1930's, and its new line of soda fountains was also well accepted.
1935
After the death of Benjamin Bensinger, his sons Robert F. ("Bob") and
Benjamin, Jr. ("Ted") assumed control of Company operations. Bob was its President, and Ted its Executive Vice President. accepted.
1941
Pearl Harbor and America's entry into World War
II signaled Brunswick's conversion to defense production, as the Company's manufacturing resources turned out a broad array of products for the war effort.
1945
In a landmark year, Brunswick
celebrated two significant milestones: the end of World War 11, and its 100th anniversary
1950
Ted Bensinger was named Brunswick's President and his brother Bob became Chairman of the Board. The
search for new markets continued, as the Company entered the school furniture business. The 1953 debut of school furniture line was enthusiastically received, and highlighted by the award of a gold medal by the
Industrial Designers Institute.
NEXT. The Company had begun-to explore the revolutionary concept of an automatic pinsetter for bowling as early as 1911, but the pace of development began to heat up during the
late 1940's and early 1950's ... setting the stage for one of the most explosive growth periods in Brunswick's history.
end of the second page.
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