Our History

1900

Waldo Calvin Bryant forms Bryant Electric in 1886, and designs and patents the first enclosed electrical switch. He sells his company to Westinghouse in 1901, but stays on as an engineer and inventor.

In early 1910, Calvin Bryant develops the first electric light pull (still found in many closets and basements today). Beaded chain was determined to be the best material for the pull chain, but poor quality chain from Austria forced Mr. Bryant to manufacture his own chain. A close friend, Gordon Goodridge, designed and built the first chain making machine in America, Together, along with Calvin’s son, Gerald, they form the Bead Chain Manufacturing Company, incorporated in March, 1914. Waldo Gerald “Gerry” Bryant, a recent graduate from Yale University, becomes Bead’s first President.

The first two stories of what was to be a four story factory building were completed in 1916 on the corner of State and Mountain Grove in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

1920

Achieving success with the manufacture of Bead Chain®, the company sought new products utilizing its cold-forming process known as swaging. In the early 1920’s, they began developmental work on radio contact pins, and by mid-1920 went to market with their version of the pin. Bead’s tubular pin was sold for half the price of a screw machine part and could be manufactured in quantity with a high degree of accuracy.

The third floor of the Bead building was completed.

1930

The Navy specified Bead Chain® aboard ships and on shore.

The fourth floor of the Bead building was completed

1940

During WWII Bead produced more than 22 million Bead Chain® "dog tag" necklace chains for US and Canadian armed forces without a single reject. The company earned the Army-Navy Double EE flag and was given a special commendation by the US Ordinance Department.

Large quantities of Bead Chain® were used on fighter planes, submarines and battleships.

1950

The Bead Chain Manufacturing company employed up to 300 workers on three shifts.

Bead acquires the Bridgeport Silverware Manufacturing Company in 1956. This purchase provided Bead with additional plating capacity for its chain and electronics products. This facility would later house the Bead Tackle division which developed and produced its popular "Diamond Jig" fishing lure.

1960

Bead was at the forefront of the development of the fluorescent light. The company manufactured millions of contact pins found on both ends of fluorescent tubes, supplying parts to GE, Phillips, Sylvania, etc.

1970

Bead acquires McGuire Manufacturing Company in 1972 and begins marketing high quality, commercial plumbing fixture trim.

Bead forms a joint venture with Sturge & Co in the UK. Sturge manufactures brass beaded chain for the window treatment and plumbing markets in Europe.

1980

Bead changes its name to Bead Industries in 1987 to better reflect its many diverse businesses.

1990

Bead purchases 50% of the stock of the Intricate Metal Forming Company (IMF) of Roanoke, VA in 1994. Both IMF and Bead were producing electronic pins on carrier strips called bandoleers. Bead sold its interest in 1997.

Bead Industries develops Tandem Pins® for the printed circuit board industry.

Bead winds up operations at Bridgeport Silverware, and sells Bead Tackle.

2000

Bead consolidates all chain manufacturing at Sturge in the UK. It ceases in-house plating and slitting of raw materials, instead outsourcing those operations to several quality vendors in Connecticut.

Bead moves into a single story, modern facility in Milford, CT incorporating Lean Manufacturing techniques.

The joint venture with Sturge is dissolved and Bead sells its interest. A partnership with Samwon Petra in South Korea is established to better serve international Bead Chain® markets.

2010

Invested in toolroom technology by upgrading to a GF Vertical Milling Center, expanding our capabilities and reducing lead time for our production tooling by half.

2020

Achieved our IATF certification to support our automotive customer needs with world class systems.

Invested in factory automation.

Developed a prototype of our Next Generation Swaging machines to improve efficiencies, build capacity, and modernize our factory to keep up with Industry 4.0.