| In 1944, while
supervising World War II prisoners as they cut pulpwood in East Texas,
Claude C. Poulan devised a way to overcome the shortcomings of the
conventional chain saw. Power chain saws of that day required
three men to buck a log - one on each end of the heavy saw and a third
using a pry-pole to keep the chain from pinching.
Working by night in his garage,
the Monroe, Louisiana native took an old truck fender and shaped it
into an attachment he called a "bow guide". This
ingenious device made it possible to eliminate the
"pry-pole" operator. This not only revolutionized the
forestry industry just in time for the booming post war demands for
more wood and wood products, it was the beginning of an industrial giant
itself.
Mr. Poulan, whose Poulan chain
saw has become a household word in the power-tool industry, built and
sold his first chain saw in Marshall, Texas, then moved to Shreveport,
Louisiana in 1946 where he went into partnership with brothers
Harry and Fletcher.
Mr. Poulan sold his business 16
years later to Charles Beaird, and it became the Beaird-Poulan Saw
Company. St. Louis based Emerson Electric Company bought the
business in the late 70's and merged it with another company that had
an interesting beginning...Weed Eater, Inc. |
About Poulan
