Saturday, September 26, 2015

Vanished Tool Makers: Bluejet Corporation, Hopedale, Massachusetts







Bluejet was best known for making chainsaw chains. At the time this product was offered, the company was a subsidiary of the Draper Corporation, once the largest maker of power looms for the textile industry in the United States.  It started as a family business in the early 19th century, and moved to Hopedale in 1841.  It was incorporated in 1917 and, at its height, employed over 3000 people.  It's factory was immense:  click here for a photo c. 1930.    It's fortunes declined in the 1960's until Rockwell International gobbled it up in 1967. Under their leadership, layoffs began in 1975 until the factory was shuttered in 1980.  The plant has since been demolished.

Titan Chainsaws, out of Seattle, Washington, produced a "Bluestreak" model.  That company was bought by Draper in 1957 solely for its bar and chain division.  So, I have to wonder if "Bluejet" wasn't a product of this manufacturer.  FMC (Food Machinery Corporation) ended up producing both the Fleetwood (formerly made by Baystate) and Bolens chainsaw lines, before acquiring the Titan chainsaw line from Draper Industries.  FMC exited the chainsaw market in the early 1960's.

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