In order to remain competitive,
Parker’s company merged several times, and manufactured a wide
variety of products ‚ ranging from steam engines, train wheels
and printing presses to piano stools. Charles Parker and Snow,
Hotchkiss and Company merged in 1854 to create the Meriden
Machine Company. They employed 120 men, and operated a foundry
and machine shop. At this point the company expanded because of
an infusion of capital by Mr. Brooks, and thus became Parker,
Snow‚ Brooks and Company. During the Civil War, Parker was not
only a stockholder, but the superintendent of the Parker, Snow,
Brooks and Company. This company was under Union contracts to
produce 10,000 repeating rifles and 15,000 Springfield rifles
during the war. This probably sparked Parker’s interest in the
firearms industry. By 1869, this jointly owned company was under
the sole ownership and control of Charles Parker. This company
was called the Meriden Manufacturing Company.
The shotguns produced by this firm
were marked “Made by the Meriden Man’f Co. for Charles Parker”.
It is estimated that there were only about 700 guns produced. In
an early Parker advertisement it was referred to as “The Gun of
1866”. See The Double Gun Journal, Vol. 9, Issue 2 for complete
article. It is commonly referred to as the T-latch. The name
comes from the T shaped barrel release located on the top tang
of the receiver. Pressing the lever at the bottom of the
receiver just in front of the trigger guard, released the
T-latch causing the barrels to pivot open.
In 1868, Charles and his sons,
Wilbur, Charles and Dexter started the company called Parker
Brothers. The Parker Brothers Gun Company continued as an
independent company until 1934 when it was purchased by the
Remington Arms Company. Including the guns made during the
Remington Era, just over 242,000 Parker shotguns were produced.
The first Parker Bros. design was called the Lifter action. It
used a similar barrel release lever as the T-latch. This was an
improvement on the William Miller design. A back-action type
lock was first used, but later, it was changed to the
front-action type of lock. The back action went into production
in 1868 and the front action in 1870. Around 1,000 back actions
were produced. Another improvement was made by Wilbur Parker in
the lifter action in 1874 and again in 1875. In 1875, a new
design for the main barrel/receiver hinge joint called the
pintle joint was implemented, as well as the final improvement
of the lifter mechanism. This improvement and a forend latch
design were made by Charles King, who had recently left Smith
and Wesson. By 1878 the gun’s form was such, that major changes
would not be made until the top lever design of the early
1880’s. The last major change was the hammerless design which
appeared around 1888.
During the time that all of the
opening mechanisms were being perfected, the science of barrel
production seemed to lag, especially in America. The simplest
solution was to purchase barrel tubes from England and Europe.
Although the grade of the early Parkers were not marked either
in the catalogs or on the guns, the type of barrel steel was the
main determining factor. The lowest grade used English Twist
steel, and ascended to the highest six-blade Damascus at the top
grade. Belgium Damascus is thought to be Parker’s largest
supplier, but research is underway to shed light on the
importation of barrel steel. French Damascus steel, trade name,
Bernard Steel, was used later on one specific grade. English
made Whitworth Fluid Steel was an option near the end of the
century for Parker’s two highest grades. Experiments were
conducted on different types of steel during the period
1868-1878, and some actually made it to market. These were not
successful because of both weight and strength. They were
designated as plain steel (gun iron), decarbonized steel and
laminated steel. All three were discontinued by 1878. So the
imported Damascus steel became the barrels of choice of the
American sportsman, and the controversy of their strength is
being debated even today. In the last years of the 19th Century
high quality fluid steel became available from Europe. The
American steels dominate within ten years. By the end of World
War I, Damascus was no longer available.
The trend of companies during The
Gilded Age may have been toward becoming large conglomerates;
companies ruthlessly buying-up the competition. Parker Bros.,
however, remained small. The Charles Parker Company
(representing 90% of the total sales) did diversify into many
types of goods, like before the war. Parker lamps, clocks and
coffee mills were sold throughout the world But, as far as
firearms production was concerned, it was decided to produce
shotguns only. A part of this “shotguns only” strategy was
probably due to the tremendous need for hunting firearms during
the peacetime that followed the Civil War. Charles Parker’s
experience during the war made him an expert in the mass
production of firearms with interchangeable parts. The shotguns
only decision caused his mass production worries to be
eliminated. To produce the finest shotgun required hand fitting
with no room for any built in tolerances. Each part, while cast
and milled like their massed produced counterparts, required
hand fitting. In 1866, there were only a few makers of good
quality shotguns, in the world, and none in America.
Parker Bros. grew with the changes in
technology. The availability of electricity to power machinery
and lighting cannot be forgotten, changing Parker Bros. into a
modern factory. Improvements in the rail system made shipping of
raw materials and finished goods cheaper. The advances in
communication, the telegraph and the telephone, also would speed
up production, ordering and delivery.
The advertising strategy of the
company does at times‚take a romantic approach to the world of
the outdoors. Early factory promotional literature pictures
large factory complexes with smoke rising from massive chimneys
in an industrial world. Later, as the company matured and market
strategies changed, an appeal was made to the theme of “back to
nature, man and his dog!” The appeal of a frosty morning hunting
grouse.
The product of the Parker Brothers
Company was utilitarian in nature. While other goods produced
for the consumer may have reflected some taste for opulent
decorations, the Parker shotgun did not. The highest grade had
fancy wood in the stock, and engraved scenes on the metal
surface. The use of gold inlays was very limited, unlike high
grades of other gun companies. The “new rich” may have had their
Parkers, but the guns themselves were not adorned with the
ostentatious trimmings that were evident in the other facets of
their lives. It was the basic grade that earned the name, “The
Old reliable”.
Collecting Parker shotguns today is a
challenging hobby. There are many variations, but they make up a
finite number. The best part is that most of these guns are not
only collectible, but shootable. The Parker Gun Collectors
Association is made of 770 Parker enthusiasts. Our members are
collectors and shooters. We are fortunate to have the Parker
Bros. factory records available, thanks to the Remington Arms
Company. The PGCA offers a Gun Research Service to document
individual guns. We are fortunate to have collectors who will
research and write for our twenty plus page newsletter, The
Parker Pages. The 51 issues make up a valuable resource. We are
delighted to be with the OGCA during the July meeting. Come see
our exhibits.
Further reading on Parker Shotguns:
Larry Baer The Parker Gun, An
Immortal American Classic
Peter Johnson, Parker, America’s Finest Shotgun
Michael McIntosh, The Best Guns Ever Made in America and Best
Guns
Don Zutz, The Double Shotgun
Look for the two newest books about
Parker shotguns.
Parker Guns, The Old Reliable by Ed
Muderlak
The Parker Story Parker by Bill Mullins, Charlie Price, Louis
Parker III and Roy Gunther |