THE “ OMC “ company…. A quick travel in time:
The Evinrude Motor Company was created in 1910.( Ole Evinrude)……
Friction between the partners forced Evinrude to sell his share to his backer in 1914and depart, after signing a guarantee restricting him from the outboard motor industry for five years.
By 1921 Evinrude was back in business, in a venture he called the ELTO Outboard Motor Company.
The company continued without him, becoming a subsidiary of the gasoline-engine manufacturer Briggs & Stratton Corporation in 1926.
A new engine in 1928 restored the ELTO Company, whose annual net profit rose to $300,000. Evinrude merged ELTO with Briggs & Stratton the following year, becoming president of the brand-new Outboard Motors Corporation.
Ralph Evinrude , succeeded to the company presidency after his father's death in 1934.
In 1935, the Outboard Motors Corporation bought the Johnson Motor Company.
In the early 1940s, Outboard's facilities were all converted to the production of war materials.
In 1956, the company changed its name to Outboard Marine Corporation (OMC).
In 1956, Outboard Marine Corporation (OMC) the same year, OMC purchased Industrial Engineering, Canada's largest chain-saw manufacturer, for C$2.55 million plus 40,000 shares. OMC moved this new subsidiary to Peterborough, Ontario, and changed its name to Pioneer Chain Saws Ltd.
In 1977, OMC ceased producing chain saws and closed the Pioneer division.
In 1978 former employees of IEL took over and re-started the Pioneer company.
In 1982 running out of funds and good management Pioneer was sold in 1983 to Electrolux/Emab.
In 1983 Electrolux/Emab and their Partner division merged to rename the company Partner/Pioneer.
In 1988 the Peterborough, Ontario plant closed, taken over by Poulan and was moved To Shevreport Louisiana, USA.
Where are the unacounted saws....they could simply have dissapeared on a trip to the dump and are lost forever....fortunately this one was saved and survived.
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MANUFACTURED BY:PIONEER SAWS LTD. PETERBOROUGH, ONTARIO, CANADA
NEVER INTRODUCED: TEST RUN 1977
HANDLEBAR SYSTEM: Anti-vibration
BRAKE: Mechanical
CLUTCH: Centrifugal
DRIVE TYPE: Direct
CONSTRUCTION: Die cast magnesium
The rumor: When they built a new runway at the Peterborough airport they buried all but six saws when they canceled the project the Peterborough plant shut down when Electrolux bought Pioneer and they moved the plants contents to the Poulan weedeater plant in huron park Ontario.
COMMENTS: New vertical cylinder design undergoing testing when Pioneer closed down and were taken over by Electrolux
Technical study in progres.
History of the saw:
A former Pioneer employee in Peterborough gave the saw to a painting contractor who used it a couple of years and having no further need for the saw, it was given to her sister (Mrs Darlene......)from Chelsea,Quebec,Canada that lived in the country and cut her own stove wood with it. At one time (1988)the saw broke and was send for repair. Since 1988 it stayed in the shop unable to be serviced because of the non existing parts to fix it. The P35 sat on a shelf for 20 years in the dust to be unrevealed and acquired by myself as a unique piece of history of the former Pioneer company.
To this day(June2009)only 5 saws have been accounted for...one rest in Mike Acres collection and the second one in my museum.....saved to be preserved.....The other 4 saws have probably disappeared in a burial site and are gone forever...The very last Pioneers saw ever made in 1977.