Remington chainsaw history: dated facts from five United States patents and a Norwegian museum catalogue record

It sets patent records and a museum catalogue record side by side, and nothing here ranks one maker against another. The Norwegian text is in Norwegian: the wording here is our own summary of it.

Dated facts

Remington chainsaw facts in date order, with the page that dates each one
Date	What the source says
February 14, 1955 to July 21, 1959	The United States patent office printed patent 2,895,466, "Chain saw starter mechanism", filed February 14, 1955, serial number 487,942. It names Arthur W. Mall of Flossmoor, Charles A. Mattson and Walter Ziegler of Crete, Illinois, as inventors and says they assigned it, by mesne assignments, to Remington Arms Company, Inc., of Bridgeport, Connecticut. The text says the invention relates to a transmission for a power chain saw, specifically a belt drive type with a nested driven pulley and a centrifugal clutch, driven by a two-cycle gasoline engine. It has 6 claims. Source: US patent 2,895,466.
October 15, 1956 to April 21, 1959	Patent 2,883,000, "Automatic chain oiler for chain saw", names Charles A. Mattson of Chicago as inventor and the same company as assignee, and has 13 claims. It was filed on October 15, 1956 as a continuation of an application filed February 17, 1953, which was itself a continuation of one filed February 23, 1952. Its stated objects include an automatically operated oiling device inside the transmission housing that puts oil directly on the base of the chain, can be adjusted without taking parts apart, and is simple and inexpensive. Source: US patent 2,883,000.
1961	A Norwegian forestry museum catalogues a Remington Bantam made by the Remington Arms Company in Park Forest, Illinois, in 1961. The record says a Norwegian book on chainsaws from 2010 shows a 1961 advertisement for the Bantam and gives these figures from it. The cylinder lies lengthwise, which the advertisement presents as better vibration damping. A diaphragm carburettor lets the saw be moved into different positions without the engine stopping. The chain ran at 14 metres a second and was oiled by a push button. The working weight was 9.7 kg and the petrol tank held 0.96 litres. The advertisement stressed a roller bearing in the bar nose sprocket. The museum's own saw has some rust on the bar and a cork in place of a lost fuel cap. Source: DigitaltMuseum record SJF.13852.
May 26, 1961 to July 28, 1964	Patent 3,142,196, "Transmission for a chain saw", names Philip R. Haskell of Flossmoor and Robert K. Shaffer of Hazel Crest, Illinois, with Remington Arms Company as assignee. It has 3 claims. The text describes a reduction gear drive of low, compact profile whose case matches the look of the saw in design patent 190,156, issued April 18, 1961 to Gordon W. Florian. Its stated aims are a gear train with a minimum of mass in the rotating parts and a choice of several gear ratios with few parts. Source: US patent 3,142,196.
November 8, 1963 to April 26, 1966	Patent 3,247,873, "Chain saw tensioning means", names William H. Aitken of Park Forest and Vernon L. Krabbe of Crete, Illinois, and has 6 claims. Its primary object is to stop the chain from coming off the groove on a plunge bow guide bar when the bar is adjusted forward to take up slack. The fix it describes is a curved cam slot that raises the rear of the bow as it is adjusted forward, so that the bow stays in line with the sprocket. It also names reducing chain hammering and chatter as a goal. Source: US patent 3,247,873.
April 17, 1968 to December 8, 1970	Patent 3,545,505, "Laminated guide bar for chain saw", names two inventors, of Park Forest and Lansing, Illinois, and gives Remington Arms Company, Inc., of Bridgeport as assignee. It has 8 claims. The abstract describes a guide bar built from two hardened metal inserts set in a mold, with plastic injected around them. The inserts have a network of openings that the plastic fills, which the abstract says reduces weight. The text says chain saw makers had made guide bars from solid steel blanks. Source: US patent 3,545,505.

What the records have in common and where they differ

The five patents cover a starter and belt transmission, an automatic chain oiler, a gear transmission, a chain tensioner and a bar made of plastic and metal. The 1955 patent names Arthur W. Mall, who is also the first named inventor on a patent assigned to the Mall Tool Company, described on the page about Mall chainsaw history. The patents do not say which saw model, if any, carried each design, and the one museum record covers one saw. The record gives 1961 as the year and no production period.

The Bantam record lists no chain brake. How regulators describe such brakes is on the page about chainsaw kickback and chain brakes, and the chainsaw history timeline sets the makers in date order.

To correct or remove an entry, write to the address at the foot of this page.

Remington chainsaw history: dated facts from five United States patents and a Norwegian museum catalogue record

Dated facts

What the records have in common and where they differ

Sources