Flexible Flyer Sled, S L Allen and Company, Inc.
Flexible Flyer Sleds were made by S.L. Allen and Company, Inc., out of Philadelphia, PA. The sled empire was built by Samuel Leeds Allen, who originally started out by making farming equipment in 1861. For years, Allen would work on his pet project, designing sleds. In 1889, Allen received his first patent number for the Flexible Flyer. It took a long time for the sled to become a household name. However, by 1915 the company was selling an estimated 120,000 sleds each winter season. Eventually, the farm equipment side of the business would shrink, ultimately closing its doors in 1968. While S.L. Allen and Company is no longer in business, the Flexible Flyer sled patent was sold several times, eventually landing in the hands of Paris Manufacturing Co. in 2005, which once produced the Flexible Flyer’s competition, the “Speedway” sled.
Object #77.518