Founded by William Coffin Coleman selling gasoline pressure lamps in 1900 in Kingfisher, OK, today;s Coleman Company, Inc. specializes in outdoor recreation products, especially camping gear. Now part of Newell Brands. in January 2005, Jarden acquired American Household, Inc. The corporation owned the Coleman Company, and Sunbeam Products, Inc. Brands acquired as part of this acquisition included Coleman, First Alert, Sunbeam, Mr. Coffee, and Oster. In March 1998, Sunbeam Corporation acquired The Coleman Company, Inc. and Coleman Powermate. In December 2002, Sunbeam Corporation filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy and canceled its common stock. When it emerged from bankruptcy, Sunbeam changed its name to American Household, Inc., a privately held company.(www.jarden.com). The Coleman Company's headquarters are in Wichita, and it also has facilities in Texas. Throughout its history, Coleman has produced a wide variety of equipment primarily aimed at the camping and recreational markets. Perhaps their most famous product is the Coleman Lantern, a series of lamps that were originally made to burn gasoline. Current models use Coleman fuel (white gas) or propane and use one or two mantles to produce an intense white light. In the past, the company also produced a range of cooking stoves and domestic irons. Today, Coleman also manufactures camp stoves (Coleman produced the original "G.I. Pocket Stove"), sleeping bags, coolers, hot tubs, generators, watches, sandals, tents, dog toys, and backpacks among other things. They also make a line of small boats, including canoes, pontoon boats, johnboats and the unique scanoe. In the past they also sold pop-up travel trailers, Skiroule snowmobiles and the Hobie Cat brand of sailboats. The company has recently started producing a backyard barbecue grill, which is sold at Canadian Tire. A separate company, Coleman Heating and Air Conditioning, sells home heating and air conditioning units. Coleman Heating and Air Conditioning is owned by Johnson Controls, and uses the Coleman name and logo under license.[3]
