OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums The History Forum Company Histories BOSCLIP Company - c1950s

Hello ODK history lovers
Under the Golden Rule of “not placing all your eggs in the one basket,”
some Aussie companies diversified into seemingly un-connected enterprise …

Some companies did so out of necessity. There are heaps of those;
particularly post-war companies, that had to engage in new enterprise
to survive in a changing world.

Other companies did so because they could! Remember Victa’s eclectic mix …
lawnmowers, public phones, pre-fab housing … aircraft! What was Merv
thinking? I do not think this arose out of necessity though – but from
brilliant entrepreneurial spirit. Merv had the money to foster bigger ideas.
Some worked; some didn’t.

This story is about a more humble ‘survivor' – a company that diversified
probably to survive in the modern world. I am discussing a company
that survives to this day, and started by Joseph James Boseley in
the late 1950s.

So … what company springs to mind that made this eclectic mix: food
warmers, food cookers, hair clippers, shavers, battery terminals,a lawn
edger [that has sold over one Million units over the last 5 decades!],
and a lawnmower! Did I mention ... pillows...?

Do you know who I’m discussing here?

This company deserves recognition and an ODK History Record.

TO BE CONTINUED ...

PART TWO - Bosclip Aussie Products
Ownership of the Bosclip Company(s) has certainly changed over
time. With that comes the loss of accurate records. This ODK record
represents the current state of my research...

However, an appropriate starting point must be the company that
survives to this day: Bosclip Aussie Products of 79 Percival Road,
Smithfield, NSW 2164.




https://bosclip.com.au/

TO BE CONTINUED ...

[img]http://[/img]

PART THREE – The Bosclip Hair Trimmers and Shavers
It’s not clear when Joe Boseley started business.
The earliest newspaper advertisements I have found date to early 1961.

At this time the company name was the Boseley Clipper Company
who operated from 45-47 Meeks Road at Marrickville, in Sydney’s Inner West.

I’m guessing that Joe capitalised on the post-war consumer market, and was
selling domestic hair clippers under the ‘Boseley’ brand, repairing all makes
of clippers, and selling hair dressing equipment.

In other words, the domestic hair clipper was Boseley’s first product and
it was branded as a ‘Bosclip’.



The Bosclip hair clippers would, over time, morph into a set (with ‘revolutionary’
and ‘magic’ combs). I’m not sure if the clipper was sold continuously, but it was
certainly being sold throughout the 1960s. However, I have found ads up to 1990!

At no stage do I believe this clipper was made by Boseley. Clearly of North American
design, it was probably an imported and rebranded product. The evidence bears
this out, with a company name change made in late 1961 or early 1962.

A related product was the Bosclip Combina, an electric shaver, of the mid-1960s.
That product seemed short-lived.

TO BE CONTINUED …

PART FOUR – Electric Massage Pillow
The significant change for 1962 was a company name change that
better represented the future direction that Joe Boseley would take.

The Boseley Clipper Company became Bosclip Distributors Pty Ltd.
The focus would be marketing and distribution, and not manufacturing.

I think Bosclip’s first big success would have been the Electric Massage Pillow –
a product imbued with more than a splash of snake oil – “Sleeplessness, Fatigue,
Slipped Disc, Aches and Paints, etc, Arthritis and Rheumatism.”
But maybe it did honestly bring “Relief from Tension”.

Over the years, other claims were made too … relief from ‘Muscular Spasms’
and ‘Sinus Congestion’. All somewhat fanciful Wild claims accompanied by
user testimonials – all traditional advertising techniques that presented the
pillow as a health product!



The thing to note was who was retailing this 'wonder pillow' … the big retailers,
including David Jones’, Nock & Kirby, Anthony Hordern’s, and ‘All Good Stores’
including chemists. This was a successful product!

The Electric Massage Pillow is still being sold in 2019 but as the
Bosclip Electro-Magnetic Massage Pillow. Remarkable!

Advertising over this long period also suggests that the pillow could
also promote breast enlargement … see the gallery below …

TO BE CONTINUED …

PART FIVE – Electric Trimmer & Edger
Perhaps the most well-know Bosclip is their domestic garden edger and trimmer.
This was introduced late c1963, and a period article (presented in the introduction,
above) introduced the Lawn Barber ‘n Edge Trimmer to the market.

But note the wording: “The lawn barber is the product of two years’ research
under Mr. Boseley’s direction, but only came on the market about three weeks ago.”

This is clear, and further proof that Joe used an unknown third party to engineer
this clipper. Joe was an ideas man, not an engineer, nor manufacturer. However,
there is clear evidence he was a patent applicant [see below].

Also note what this machine did: the Bosclip could rotate a steel blade to cut both
horizontally and vertically. This was a decade before ‘line trimmers' would enter
the market.



The Bosclip website in 2019 says this:
“There have been approximately 1,000,000 Bosclip electric lawn edgers sold
over the past 42 years & a greater [sic] percentage of these are still in use today.
We are still servicing the original model & parts for all models are available /
a sign of quality.”

I think the 1M sold is a bit ambitious, but folks certainly remember the little Lawn Barber.

So, how did the Bosclip edger survive the advent of the line trimmer?
These were introduced to AUS and NZ markets in the late 1970s under
various names … ‘Weed Eater’, ‘Whipper Snipper’, or whatever…

A brilliant North American invention, the line trimmer would change the
approach to garden path edging, trimming, difficult slope work, etc.,
world-wide! The line trimmer is one of the greatest garden equipment
inventions of the late 20th Century.

Bosclip met the challenge - and quickly! The Bosclip Lawn Barber had
always used a steel blade for edging or trimming; but by the late 1970s,
Bosclip also offered a line trimmer attachment. Quite remarkable!

The thing is, the only patent I have found of the Bosclip dates to January,
1979. Joe Boseley is not stated as the inventor, but he was the patent
applicant for an addition to a patent.

The addition covered the new line trimmer attachment …



For the record, I attach this patent below.

Finally, a note on the gallery images I present below.
This is a simple cross section of newsprint ads from the earliest days
to about 1990. I think they are a fair representation of the Lawn Barber
‘N Edge Trimmer at this time.

TO BE CONTINUED …

PART SIX – Kitchen Products
But wait, there’s more!

Bosclip Distributors entered the kitchen in the mid-1960s with a food warming tray.
Then there was the electric hot tray, and by the early 1970s, offered the ...
‘Porta Kooka’ … essentially an electric fry pan.



I’m sure these were good products but they could never compete with the
multi-national AUS-wide corporations peddling similar products at cheaper prices.

Nonetheless, Bosclip gave it a go as an early player in what would become
an exploding consumer market. These products did not survive to see the 1980s.

TO BE CONTINUED …

PART SEVEN – Bosclip Lightweight Electric Lawnmower
In researching this story, the most significant unknown-to-me was
that Bosclip made an electric lawnmower!

Given what I have said in previous posts about Bosclip advertising, I better
come clean about the name of the Bosclip lawnmower … it was the Playboy.

This ad set back feminism about a decade or so. Just look at the model
and read the print copy … Mercy!

This machine seems to have been introduced in late 1969 for
the 1970 season. I have not found any ads post 1969 ...



There are a few points I would like to draw your attention to …

[1] No one seems to have recorded this rare lawnmower!
[2] The use of the word ‘lightweight’ precedes Victa’s use of it by almost a decade!
[3] This was Australia’s first electric rear-catcher lawnmower!
[4] I have found only a couple of poor newsprint images!
[5] The styling seems borrowed … think … Tecnico!

TO BE CONTINUED …

PART EIGHT – Bosclip Electric Townhouse Lawnmower
Yes, Bosclip also made a side-discharge electric lawnmower…

This is another surprise. Bosclip carried on the tradition of the ‘terrace’
lawnmower, - a lightweight mower for small areas requiring a light,
portable machine.

The Townhouse was sold over a decade after the rear-catcher Playboy
machine. There is no real design similarity that I can see. They were not
sold alongside each other. The Townhouse dates to c1982.



Yes, note the now classic use of the buxom model,
a theme that runs through early Bosclip advertising …

One final point. Obviously Bosclip never made or designed
this lawnmower. It bears striking similarities to the Scott Bonnar
Electro 35 sold in the late 1970s. Any ideas?

TO BE CONTINUED …

PART NINE – Boomerang Pillow
My best guess is that the Boomerang Pillow was Bosclip’s last
big-selling product of the 20th Century. Amazingly, the Boomerang
is still being sold by Bosclip in 2019!

Boomerang was always a clever name – combining the unique
pillow shape with connotations of ‘Australia’. But I feel there was
another deliberate advantage to using this name: Bosclip
capitalised on its brand name to reflect the first ‘Australian Made’
campaign logo on many of its advertisements.


SOURCE: https://logos.fandom.com/wiki/Australian_Made

The first Bosclip ads I have found using the AUS-made logo appear in 1971 –
just prior to the release of the Boomerang pillow.

The Boomerang pillow was advertised widely and sold through large
department stores and other outlets. Typically, Bosclip advertising
included the therapeutic benefits of its use.



I guess pillows were Bosclip’s main product in the last decades of
the 20th Century. In fact, Bosclip advertised they were ‘The Pillow
People’ in 1984.

The gallery below shows a selection of Bosclip products at this time:
The Boomerang pillow, the Electric Massage pillow, and the enduring
Bosclip garden edger.

TO BE CONTINUED ...

PART TEN – Battery Switch
We can’t deny that Bosclip had an eclectic mix of products.
The Bosclip Battery Switch seems to have been sold from the
mid-1960s to the mid-1980s.

This is the final Bosclip product I have found from the 20th Century.



TO BE CONTINUED …