The History of Coleman
Nearly 100 years ago, a young man with an entrepreneurial spirit and a bright idea began manufacturing lanterns in Wichita, Kansas. His name was W.C. Coleman, and the company he founded would change life in America. A fascinating saga, if we do say so ourselves. One filled with historical significance, amazing innovations and delightfully fun things to know. If you have a few minutes, the story is here, most of it, anyhow. Settle back and discover how Coleman® products came to be a part of life around the world, and why they still are.
A Man with Poor Eyesight but Remarkable Vision.
The Saturday Evening Post said, "Except for Thomas A. Edison, Mr. Coleman may be responsible for the creation of more bright light than any other man." Here's the scoop.
It started as simply as this: In 1900, a young man bent on replenishing his educational funds so he could complete his last year of law school set out to sell lamps in what is now Kingfisher, Oklahoma. He had first encountered the lamp that would change the course of his life in a drugstore window in Alabama. Plagued with such poor vision he sometimes had to ask classmates to read aloud to him, the brilliant light from that window stopped W.C. Coleman in his tracks. He went in to inquire about it and discovered he was able to read even the small print on a medicine bottle by this light.
The lamps had mantles, not wicks, and were fueled by gasoline under pressure instead of coal oil. Their light was clean and white. When Coleman heard the company was looking for salesmen, he used the funds he'd accumulated to buy inventory. He could sell these lamps in a flash to merchants who wanted to keep their shops open in the evening. As it turned out, he couldn't sell even one. Merchants in Kingfisher had just been stung by a lighting salesman with a less-than-stellar product. Shopkeepers would not be swayed. So, using the ingenuity and resourcefulness that would later build his company, W.C. decided to sell a lighting service instead of the lamps themselves. He drew up contracts with a "no light, no pay" clause and, with the risk removed, customers signed up.
Soon Kingfisher was a beacon on the prairie. The service eventually expanded to cities as far west as San Diego and Las Vegas. In 1902, Coleman relocated to Wichita, Kansas, reasoning it would be about the center of his potential territory. As it turned out, his territory would one day come to encompass the world.
The Sunshine of the Night.
Life on the farm - for anyone who worked outside - would never be the same. Coleman was able to purchase the inventory and patents for the Efficient Lamp in 1901. After years of servicing the lamps, he knew he could design a better product. And he knew there would be a voracious market. Electric service was not dependable in urban areas and unavailable in rural areas - it would be for many years to come. In 1909, Coleman introduced a portable table lamp that became a staple in rural homes. And in 1914, the young company introduced the lantern that made it famous. At 300 candlepower, it could light the far corners of a barn and provided good light in every direction for 100 yards.
The Coleman® lantern extended the time farmers and ranchers could work, significantly increasing productivity. It changed life in rural America. During WWI, the government declared it an essential item. Nearly 70,000 were distributed.
It had an organized sales force, a research and development department, and factory output had increased from 120 lamps in 1909 to 50,000 by the year 1920.
Coleman Hits the Road.
With the advent of the automobile, America gets travel fever and Coleman goes along for the ride. After the war, people had money and were ready to have fun. Cars were affordable for many families, and with mobility came the urge to travel and explore. The vacation business was booming and Coleman took advantage of it. Motor camping became the rage. Travelers lashed their belongings to the roof of their car and took off. Roadways were improving, but they weren't dotted with accommodations. Vacationers made camp roadside.
The fold-up camp stove Coleman developed in 1923 quickly found favor with the auto camping crowd. To retailers, the two-burner was billed as a "keen cooker and a quick seller." It found its way onto front porches and into hunting lodges, vacation cabins and camping trailers. Along with the lantern, which had suddenly found a new market, the camp stove made an ideal travelling companion. During the next decade, Coleman would overtake its competitors and dominate the market.
A Little Industrial Complex on the Prairie.
By the 1930s, Coleman had the largest number of working lathes west of the Mississippi - and they were humming.
W.C. Coleman surrounded himself with talented people, including son Sheldon who had a degree in mechanical engineering and firsthand production experience working in the company's Canadian plant. As markets evaporated due to widespread rural electrification, the younger Coleman lobbied for further product diversification. The company began turning out the gas floor furnaces and oil space heaters that would enable it to survive the Depression. Its manufacturing capabilities were now considerable.
The Heat of Battle.
Deemed one of the most important noncombat pieces of equipment to come out of WWII, here's the story of a real hero: the Coleman® GI Pocket Stove. Coleman's biggest customer became the U.S. military. During WWII, its Wichita plants cranked out projectiles for the Navy and parts for B-17 and B-29 bombers. But their most valuable contribution to the war effort was the development of the Coleman® GI Pocket Stove. The specifications seemed impossible.
The stove had to be lightweight, no larger than a quart thermos, burn any kind of fuel, and operate in weather from -60º to 125º F. Fewer than 60 days after work commenced, Coleman demonstrated a working prototype, and in November 1942, 5,000 of Coleman's little stoves went into battle when U.S. forces invaded North Africa. Credit for ramping up production so they shipped out with the troops goes to another Coleman son, Clarence. The stoves burned for two hours on a cup of fuel from a jeep or plane. They were carried across every battlefield in Europe and the Pacific. They showed up in tents, foxholes and bombers. An article in the Los Angeles Times stated, "Many a huddle of soldiers got the warmth to survive and fight another day from a Coleman® Stove." In all, over a million were produced.
Tapping into America's Outside Interests.
Blowing soap bubbles inspired Coleman engineers to develop a family staple: the plastic cooler. The ability to sense trends and adapt to change, which had always characterized the company, would now propel it into the second half of the century. All signs said America was moving outdoors, and Coleman moved with it. The lantern and the camp stove, both category leaders, became anchors for an expanded line of leisure products, beginning with a galvanized steel cooler introduced in 1954. Three years later, Coleman revolutionised the industry by developing a process to make a plastic liner for coolers and jugs.
With a clear focus on developing and marketing products to help people enjoy the outdoors, the company made several strategic acquisitions that allowed it to quickly add tents and sleeping bags to its growing recreation line. By the time the '60s drew to a close, the company that began as a one-man light utility had become the biggest name in the camping business.
Climbing Mountains and Fording Streams.
A 1982 article in Southern Outdoors described Sheldon Coleman, Sr. as a "blend of superlative sportsman and masterful businessman." By his own calculation, he had paddled some 5,000 lifetime miles. He knew as much about traversing various kinds of waterways as anyone and won the hearts of canoeists and fishermen alike with a line of Coleman-branded marine products. Made of a revolutionary petrochemical formulation, Coleman's canoe was nearly indestructible. And unlike a boat with an aluminium hull, the Coleman® craft scarcely made a sound if it clipped a rock or grazed a sand bar.
A small stove, descended from the GI Pocket Stove, was the first product in a line of lightweight, high-performance backpacking gear. The Peak 1® line grew to include sleeping bags, lanterns, tents, cookware and a pack with a revolutionary plastic frame as opposed to the traditional welded tubular aluminium. Other products would join the line up, and another Coleman would join the company.
In 1981, Sheldon Coleman, Jr. became the third generation to be part of the business, which was turning out 15 million products a year by the end of the decade for in-love-with-the-outdoors Americans.
Coleman Rises Up 'Down Under.'
While Coleman was growing stronger in the United States, it was also making its mark in Australia in the 1980's, predominantly producing and selling coolers. Moving from a small office in Dee Why, Sydney to a much larger office and warehousing facility in Wetherill Park, Sydney, Coleman went from strength to strength ranging a popular line of coolers, and introducing a small range of camping equipment. But that wasn't all - in the early 1980's Coleman was also a distributor for a variety of products that included knives, guns, canoes, sailboards, waterskis, motorhome air-conditioners, archery equipment, camouflage clothing, smoke alarms and much more.
In 1985, Coleman had it's first 'million dollar month' - a major milestone for a growing business in Australia. It was at that time Coleman employed 60 people and ran a 24 hour production facility in order to keep up with demand for its coolers, supplying to many major Australian retail chains. In the early 1990's, Coleman introduced Dual Fuel™ technology into its lanterns and stoves. Riding on that success, LPG lanterns and stoves were also introduced into the range. Over the years since then, Coleman has continued to showcase a range of outdoor products that proudly display the red Coleman® lantern that is so well known around the world.
Another office move finds Coleman now firmly established in Sydney Olympic Park - home of the 2000 Olympics, and a place where we continue to lead the market with our innovative product range, our powerful brand and our dedicated team.