E. Remington and Sons (1816–1896) was a manufacturer offirearms andtypewriters. Founded in 1816 byEliphalet Remington inIlion, New York, on March 1, 1873, it became known for manufacturing the first commercial typewriter.

E. Remington and Sons

Remington factory circa 1840
Company type	Corporation (previously private, thenpartnership)
Industry	Firearms, mechanical consumer products (typewriters)
Founded	Ilion, NY, United States (1816 (1816))
Founder	Eliphalet Remington
Fate	Purchased
Successor	Remington Arms Co. Standard Typewriter Manufacturing Company laterRemington Typewriter Company andRemington Rand
Area served	Worldwide
Products	Firearms-pistols,rifles,shotguns typewriters

There are two versions of the origin story of the first Remington rifle barrel. One holds that the younger Remington wanted to purchase a rifle and lacked the money to buy one, so he made his own. The other states that he forged a barrel from wrought iron to see if he could build a better rifle than he could buy.^[1] Both versions have him taking the barrel to a gunsmith to have itrifled.^[2]

Eliphalet II forged his firstriflebarrel as a young blacksmith in 1816 and finished second place in a local shooting match with it. Despite not winning the match, he proceeded to make barrels to meet the growing demand forflintlock rifles in theMohawk Valley. With the completion of theErie Canal, connectingBuffalo withAlbany, commerce in the Mohawk Valley expanded remarkably, as did the demand for rifle barrels.^[3]

To meet the increased demand for rifle barrels, in 1828 the Remingtons moved theirforge andfoundry from its rural setting to 100acres (0.40 km²) of land they had purchased astride the canal and abutting the Mohawk River near a town then called Morgan's Landing (laterIlion),New York.^[4] The move coincided with the elder Eliphalet's death, and Eliphalet II assumed control of the business.^[5]

In 1839 Eliphalet was joined by his oldest son,Philo Remington (to make the business "E. Remington & Son"); in 1845, his second son, Samuel, also joined the company, afterward called "E. Remington & Sons".^[4] Remington's third son, Eliphalet III, would later join the company as well. During this period, the Remingtons specialized almost exclusively in manufacturing rifle barrels. These barrels, marked with the distinctive "REMINGTON" stamp near theirbreeches, were recognized for their quality and reasonable price. Many, if not most, of the independentgunsmiths in the Mohawk Valley purchased completed (but not rifled) barrels from Remington and assembled them intofirearms custom ordered by their customers. As demand increased, the Remingtons added other parts to their inventory, firstpercussion locks made inBirmingham,England but marked with their stamp "REMINGTON", and later sets ofbrass gun furniture, includingtrigger guards, butt plates, and patch boxes. After 1846, martial longarm and thenrevolver production dominated the company's workforce.^[5][6]

In 1848, the company purchased gun-making machinery from theAmes Manufacturing Company ofChicopee, Massachusetts and took over a contract for Jenks breechloading percussion carbines for theU.S. Navy. Remington supplied the U.S. Navy with its firstbreech-loading rifle. Remington supplied theU.S. Army with rifles in theMexican–American War (1846 to 1848). Shortly after, Remington took over a defaulted contract (by John Griffith ofCincinnati) for 5,000 U.S.Model 1841 Percussion Mississippi rifles. Based on the success of filling these orders, subsequent contracts followed in the 1850s.^[4][5]

In 1856 the company expanded to manufacturing agricultural implements. Upon Eliphalet's death in 1861, his son, Philo, took over the firm during theCivil War and diversified the product line to includesewing machines (manufactured from 1870 to 1894) andtypewriters (1873), both of which were exhibited at theCentennial Exposition inPhiladelphia in 1876.^{[citation needed]}

On June 23, 1868, a patent was granted toChristopher Sholes,Carlos Glidden, andSamuel W. Soule for a "Type-Writer" which was eventually developed into theSholes and Glidden typewriter, the first device that allowed an operator to type substantially faster than a person could write by hand. The patent (U.S. 79,265) was sold for $12,000 to Densmore and Yost, who agreed with E. Remington and Sons (then famous as a manufacturer ofsewing machines) to commercialize what was known as the Sholes and Glidden Type-Writer. Remington started production of their first typewriter on March 1, 1873, inIlion, New York.The Type-Writer introduced theQWERTY, designed by Sholes, and the success of the follow-up Remington No. 2 of 1878 – the first typewriter to include both upper and lower case letters via ashift key – led to the popularity of the QWERTY layout.^[7]

E. Remington & Sons supplied a large proportion of thesmall arms used by the United States government in the Civil War (1861 to 1865). On March 7, 1888, ownership of E. Remington & Sons left possession of the Remington family and was sold to new ownersHartley and Graham ofNew York, New York, and theWinchester Repeating Arms Company ofNew Haven, Connecticut, at which time the name was formally changed to theRemington Arms Company.^[8]

Remington, in addition, was one of the most successful gun manufacturers in the worldarms trade between 1867 and 1900, specifically through the export of theRemington Rolling Block action rifle. This single-shot, large-caliber black-powder cartridge rifle was exported in the millions all over the world, including shipments to France,Egypt, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Belgium,Argentina, Mexico, and thePapal States. It was a critical gun supplier of small arms used by the United States government inWorld War I (U.S. involvement 1917 to 1918) andWorld War II (U.S. involvement 1941 to 1945)

In 1886, E. Remington and Sons sold its typewriter business to the Standard Typewriter Manufacturing Company, Inc. Included were the rights to use the Remington name. The buyers wereWilliam O. Wyckoff,Harry H. Benedict, andClarence Seamans, all of whom worked for Remington.

Standard Typewriter changed its name in 1902 to Remington Typewriter Company.^[9] This company merged in 1927 withRand Kardex Bureau to formRemington Rand,^[10] which continued to manufacture office equipment and later became a major computer company, as well as manufacturingelectric razors.