View source for Bostitch

{{short description|American fastening tools company}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Bostitch
| logo = Stanley Bostitch Logo.svg
| logo_size = 250px
| type = [[Subsidiary]] 
| parent = [[Stanley Black & Decker]]
| foundation = 1896
| founder = Thomas Briggs
| location = [[East Greenwich, Rhode Island]]
| key_people =
| num_employees =
| industry = Manufacturing
| revenue =
| products = Fastening tools
| homepage = [http://www.bostitch.com/ www.bostitch.com]
}}

'''Stanley Bostitch''', previously and more commonly known as simply '''Bostitch''', is an American company that specializes in the design and manufacture of fastening tools (such as [[stapler]]s, [[staple gun]]s, [[nail gun|nailers]], [[riveter]]s, and [[glue gun]]s) and [[fasteners]] (such as [[nail (fastener)|nails]], [[screw]]s, and [[staple (fastener)|staples]]). Its product range covers home, office, like the [[pencil sharpener]], construction and industrial uses, like the [[power tool]].<ref>{{cite web|author=Stanley Bostitch|title=About Bostitch|url=http://www.bostitch.com/default.asp?TYPE=STATICLEFT&PAGE=about.htm&LEFT=left_about.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030701164558/http://www.bostitch.com/default.asp?TYPE=STATICLEFT&PAGE=about.htm&LEFT=left_about.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=2003-07-01|access-date=2010-01-25}}</ref> 

The company developed a number of improvements to what became the modern desk stapler. It is a subsidiary of [[Stanley Black & Decker]]. In August 2013, Stanley Black & Decker began selling [[tradesmen]]’s [[power tools]] and [[mechanic]]s’ [[hand tools]] and [[pneumatic tools]] under the Bostitch brand at [[Walmart]] stores and online distributors.<ref>{{cite web|last=Deutsch|first=Stuart|work=ToolGuyd|title=Coming Soon: Bostitch Power Tools|url=http://toolguyd.com/bostitch-power-tools/|date=2013-08-22|access-date=2014-01-25}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Deutsch|first=Stuart|work=ToolGuyd|title=Coming Soon: Bostitch Mechanics & Automotive Air Tools|url=http://toolguyd.com/bostitch-mechanics-automotive-air-tools/|date=2013-08-28|access-date=2014-01-25}}</ref>

== History ==
Bostitch was founded in [[Arlington, Massachusetts]] in 1896 by Thomas Briggs as the Boston Wire Stitcher Company. Briggs had invented a machine that stitched books from a coil of wire. The company began manufacturing various other kinds of staplers for industrial use.<ref>{{cite web|author=Stanley Bostitch|title=History|url=http://www.bostitch.com/default.asp?TYPE=STATICLEFT&PAGE=history.htm&LEFT=left_history.htm|access-date=2010-01-25}}</ref>

It largely focused on commercial stitching machines. However, in 1914, the company introduced its first "portable stapling machine", the Model AO,<ref>{{cite patent|country=US|number=1119093|pubdate=1914-12-01|title=Portable stapling-machine|assign1=Boston Wire Stitcher Company|inventor1-last=Maynard|inventor1-first=Arthur H.}}</ref> considered an ancestor of the modern desk stapler.<ref>{{cite web|last=Wohleber|first=Curt|work=[[American Heritage (magazine)|American Heritage]]|title=The Stapler|url=http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/it/2002/1/2002_1_10_print.shtml|date=Summer 2002|access-date=2010-01-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170424173721/http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/it/2002/1/2002_1_10_print.shtml|archive-date=2017-04-24|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1924, the company introduced the first stapler to use modern style cohered strip staples, the Bostitch No. 1.<ref>{{cite patent|country=US|number=1506073|pubdate=1924-08-26|title=Stapling machine|assign1=Boston Wire Stitcher Company|inventor1-last=Maynard|inventor1-first=Arthur H.}}</ref><ref>[http://www.bostitch.com/en-us/about/milestones BOSTITCH® Company History]</ref> 

This was a revolutionary design because it was inexpensive and reliable.<ref>{{cite web|work=The Antique Stapler Collector's Web Site|title=Bostitch Staplers|url=http://www.oldstaplers.com/bostitch_staplers.html|access-date=2010-01-25|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100525123415/http://www.oldstaplers.com/bostitch_staplers.html|archive-date=2010-05-25}}</ref> During [[World War II]], the company joined five other firms to form the [[New England Small Arms]] Corporation for manufacture of [[M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle]]s.<ref>Canfield, Bruce N. ''[[American Rifleman]]'' (March 2008), pp. 35–36</ref> In 1948, the company officially changed its name to BOSTITCH, a [[portmanteau]] of "Boston" and "stitch". In 1957, the company moved from [[Westerly, Rhode Island]] to its current location in [[East Greenwich, Rhode Island]]. 

In 1966, [[Textron]] purchased the company, and in January 1986 [[Stanley Works]] acquired the company from Textron.<ref>{{cite web|last=Brogan|first=Jan|work=[[The Providence Journal]]|title=Textron plans to sell Bostitch, 2 other units in debt-cutting move|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/projo/access/604089491.html?dids=604089491:604089491&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Aug+30%2C+1985&author=JAN+BROGAN+Journal-Bulletin+Business+Writer&pub=The+Providence+Journal&desc=Textron+plans+to+sell+Bostitch%2C+2+other+units+in+debt-cutting+move&pqatl=google|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120712204437/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/projo/access/604089491.html?dids=604089491:604089491&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Aug+30,+1985&author=JAN+BROGAN+Journal-Bulletin+Business+Writer&pub=The+Providence+Journal&desc=Textron+plans+to+sell+Bostitch,+2+other+units+in+debt-cutting+move&pqatl=google|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 12, 2012|date=1985-08-30|access-date=2010-01-25}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|title=Textron has agreed to sell its Bostitch division.|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-01-28-fi-979-story.html|date=1986-01-28|access-date=2010-01-25}}</ref>

== Trivia ==
In the German part of [[Switzerland]], Bostitch became a commonly used [[:wk:deonym|deonym]] (pendant to [[eponym]]).<ref>{{Cite book|title=Variantenwörterbuch des Deutschen : die Standardsprache in Österreich, der Schweiz und Deutschland sowie in Liechtenstein, Luxemburg, Ostbelgien und Südtirol|date=2004|publisher=W. de Gruyter|others=Ammon, Ulrich., Kyvelos, Rhea., Nyffenegger, Regula.|isbn=3110165759|location=Berlin|oclc=57333412}}</ref> The verb "bostitchen" is a synonym for stapling and is even used in official documents.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.svazurich.ch/pdf/024.001.pdf|title=AHV-Beitragspflicht: Fragebogen für Selbständigerwerbende und Personengesellschaften|date=2018-07-29|website=SVA Zürich|publisher=SVA Zürich}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{commonscat}}
* {{Official website|http://www.bostitch.com/}}
* {{Official website|http://www.bostitchoffice.com/| BOSTITCH® Office Products}}
* [http://www.bostitch.com/en-us/about/milestones BOSTITCH® Company History]

{{Stanley Black & Decker}}
{{Tool manufacturers}}
{{Power tool manufacturers}}

[[Category:1896 establishments in Massachusetts]]
[[Category:East Greenwich, Rhode Island]]
[[Category:Fastening tool manufacturers]]
[[Category:Manufacturing companies based in Rhode Island]]
[[Category:Manufacturing companies established in 1896]]
[[Category:Office supply companies of the United States]]
[[Category:Pneumatic tool manufacturers]]
[[Category:Stanley Black & Decker brands]]
[[Category:1966 mergers and acquisitions]]
[[Category:1986 mergers and acquisitions]]
[[Category:Tool manufacturing companies of the United States]]

[[de:Bostitch]]