In 1888 Lewis C Hough was president of the Plymouth Iron Windmill Company of Michigan. At this point in time windmills were in a declining market & the company was struggling. This same year an invented named Clarence J Hamilton brought a prototype airgun to Hough to examine. Hough looked it over, shot it & proclaimed "Boy, that's a Dasy".
He called a meeting of the bord & convinced them for the company to begin making the gun as a promotional giveaway for a windmill sale. Others saw the guns & began clamoring to buy them, but had no interest in the windmills. The decision was made to concentrate on making the airguns & dispose of the windmills & there name changed to the Daisy Manufacturing Company. The switch had been a gamble but proved to be an extremely wise one.
The first three models were all metal with spring-driven plungers & nickel plated with a wireframe stock. All subsequent Daisy rifles had either wood or plastic stocks. The first model had a cocking lever situated atop the barrel which was lifted to a vertical position for cocking. The third model (1891) was a mid-break action. Moel 2 is not listed. All fired a lead BB size pellet (.180") When the soft steel pellets were introduced the size was dropped to .177" which is technically air rifle shot & not true BB, but the name stuck & is still with us today.
In 1913 Fred Lefever was hired as an inventor & designer. During this first year with the company, he designed an all-metal water pistol & the model 25 pump BB gun. Fred would stay with the company for about 40 years while the model 25 would stay in continuous production for 65 years. This was the longest production of any Daisy & also the most powerful of all their spring-piston guns.
The Double was first introduced n 1939 as the model 104. It was dropped in 1941 due to WWII & made in only limited numbers. The double was reintroduced in 1968 as the model 21 with a plastic stock & forearm. It was also short-lived & both models were commercial Failures. Both currently though have very high collector value.
