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Stamped into the base of every Hotchkiss fastener is the name, E.H. Hotchkiss Company. That was for the owner Eliphalet Hubbell Hotchkiss who also went by Eli. (Pictured to the right are George and Eli Hotchkiss)
Eli was born in 1858 to George and Ester Hotchkiss. He had two brothers, Willie and Frank. He also had a sister named Ester Susan.
Like many loyal sons, Eli stayed by his father�s side and helped to run the family business. The monarch of the family, George, was a self made man and to tell the Hotchkiss story would be incomplete without including him.
George Hotchkiss was raised on a small farm in Connecticut, where he and his father raised beef.
They would slaughter the cows at the house and sell the meat in town. A few years after George completed high school, he took over the butcher business.
It is said he also undertook other business ventures as well. In 1905 George provided the money to George Bowes of famed Pitney-Bowes, for his fledgling postage business.
His involvement with the fastener business appears to be strictly financial. After all, this was to be Eli�s opportunity.
The Jones Manufacturing Company, established in 1875, was in the business of providing office supplies which included typewriter ribbons for the new Remington Typewriter. By 1895 the company was having financial difficulties.
Eli was given the opportunity to buy into the company for the sum of $5,000.00. Because of the loyalty he had shown his father though the years, George fronted the money to Eli. Between them, they owned 200 shares or half of the company. Eli owned 190 shares and George had 10 shares.
By November 12, 1897 the name of the company was changed to E.H. Hotchkiss Company. George is reported to have provided the capital to start manufacturing the fasteners under the Hotchkiss name.
Eli was 35 years old when he bought into the Jones Manufacturing Company and by the time he was 37 he owned the company.
Eli H. Hotchkiss saw another opportunity in marketing his fastener.
He did it internationally. During the early part of the 20th century a boat load of fasteners were shipped to Japan, a country up to that point didn't have the little office machine.
Not having a fastener of their own or a word to describe the office tool, the Hotchkiss or "Hotchikisu" as it is called, became the word used to identify fasteners.Hotchkiss also became the word used to describe the fastener in Korea
It would seem that when the Japanese occupied Korea during the first part of the century, they introduced the fastener to the Koreans who adopted the name as the Japanese did.
This photo show a fastener produced in Osaka, Japan by the Y.H. Company That is nearly exact to the Hotchkiss. It is believed that an agreement was made between Eli H. Hotchkiss and Y.H. Company allowing the production.
