William Bickford invented his “Miner’s Safety Fuse” in 1831 in Tuckingmill, Cornwall, England where he worked as a leather merchant. Mr. Bickford’s invention was not made for any material gain, but in the spirit of saving lives. The Ensign-Bickford Company pioneered the introduction of the safety fuse for mining and military explosives. The company’s founder, Joseph Toy, laid the foundations of the business that would dominate the fuse industry. The company has always been privately owned and in fact, for its first 100 years, the company had been essentially an informal partnership of family members. Fast forward to 1936, when The Ensign-Bickford Company celebrated its 100th anniversary and introduced its promising new detonating cord, which eventually accounted for two-thirds of the company’s income. Without the foresight of the founders of this great company, it might have been content to coast along with its old standby safety fuse. By standing still, the company might have perished like other family owned businesses struggling through the great depression. Even more remarkable and rare than its longevity are its successful transitions from family management to professional management and from a single product base to a strongly diversified and highly technical business.

Mr. Bickford’s humanitarian basis for the invention of his safety fuse has, over the years, influenced the company’s long-range objectives in searching for new products having a useful purpose in society. Today, Ensign-Bickford Industries, Inc., is the parent company of such diverse subsidiaries as Ensign-Bickford Aerospace & Defense Company headquartered in Simbury Connecticut and providing innovative ordnance initiation systems for the aerospace and defense industries; AFB International, a science and technology-based leader in pet food palatability based in St. Charles, Missouri; EnviroLogix, an industry leader in the development and manufacture of immunoassays for the detection of genetically modified organisms located in Portland Maine; DanChem Technologies, Inc., a specialty chemicals company located in Danville, Virginia; Biomass Energy, LLC, an emerging leader in biomass thermal energy and Ensign-Bickford Realty Corporation, a developer of business and office parks located in Simsbury, Connecticut.