
Stevens scopes also required no focus adjustment, as didthe products of competing firms. This concept marked amajor advance in optical sights, as previous designs employed aseparate eyepiece that was fastened to the scope tube with severalscrews. Stevens scopesincluded integral eyepieces and crosshairs that were sealed insolid dust- and moisture-proof brass tubes. After relocatingthis new acquisition to Chicopee Falls, Stevens began to produceits own line of telescopic rifle and pistol sights. Purchased the CataractTool & Optical Company of Buffalo, New York. Manufacturing facilities and payroll grewsignificantly, with factory space doubling between 18,and the number of employees increased to 150 during the sameperiod.Shortly after the dawn of the new century, the firm, which nowemployed over 900 workers in a 270,000 square-feet manufacturingplant, claimed to be the largest producer of sporting arms in theworld.

Under Page'sleadership, the Stevens Arms and Tool Company underwent a period ofrapid expansion. Page boughtout the shares of both Joshua Stevens and James Taylor, thusbecoming the firm's president and majority owner. Stevens Arms & ToolCo.The original partners continued to hold principle ownership inthe company, even though they had dissolved their partnershipagreement. Underwent an expansion in 1880, andin 1886, the firm changed its name to J. The company's early years were lean ones, with productioncarried out in a former Chicopee Falls grist mill by fewer than 60employees. Stevens and Company's primary source ofincome was derived through the manufacture and sale of machinetools.


Fay andJames Taylor, founded the company that bore his name. While employed asproduction superintendent for the Chicopee Falls-basedMassachusetts Arms Co., he filed a successful patent claim forimprovements to percussion pistols produced by this firm.Stevens received a patent for a tip-up pistol design during thesame year in which he, along with financial backers W. J Stevens Arms Company Serial NumbersĪllen, EliWhitney, Samuel Colt, and Edwin Wesson. Founder Joshua Stevens was aNew England toolmaker who had gained experience in firearmsmanufacture while employed at various times by C. SN S 60Stevens Arms Company, well known for its Tip-up Pistols, Boy'sRifles, and Ideal Target and Sporting Rifles, got its start atChicopee Falls, Massachusetts in 1864.
