BY SHERI TRUSTY

This 1924 BIRO meat cutting saw helped put the Ottawa County Museum on the statewide Ohio Innovation Trail. (Photo by Sheri Trusty)

PORT CLINTON – One of Marblehead’s oldest and most successful businesses is still going strong and is now highlighted at the Ottawa County Museum. The BIRO Manufacturing Company was founded in 1921, and this winter, the museum acquired a 1924 BIRO meat cutting saw from the business on temporary loan. The saw is one of two inventions that helped put the Ottawa County Museum on this year’s statewide Ohio Innovation Trail, which is part of Ohio’s celebration of America’s 250th anniversary.

The BIRO Manufacturing Company was founded by Carl Biro, Sr., who immigrated to the U.S. with his family in 1902, when he was 14. The museum possesses an oral history report recorded in 2001 from Helen Danchisen, who began working as a secretary at the business in 1939. According to Danchisen, Biro originally worked as a blacksmith for Kelleys Island Lime and Transport Company and eventually opened a butcher shop on Perry St.

According to information from the museum, Biro soon realized that cutting meat by hand was “time consuming and wasteful.” His innovative mind wouldn’t rest, and he spent his evenings and weekends working on a design. After much trial and error,

Biro created a self-contained meat cutter and set out to market it.

“He would make one and go out and sell it – make another and sell it,” Danchisen said.

In 1921, Biro sold the butcher shop and focused solely on developing the BIRO Power Meat, Fish and Bone Cutter. According to information from the museum, Biro “converted into cash every saleable thing he possessed, including his home and his life insurance, to finance his efforts to put his power cutter into distribution.”

His passion paid off. Today, BIRO Manufacturing Company markets 38 different products through over 150 distributors in the U.S. and over 35 countries. The business is located in Marblehead in the building that Biro constructed in 1935.

Danchisen described the Biro family as kind and benevolent people.

Carl Biro, Sr., took an idea for an innovative meat cutter and built an internationally respected company. (Submitted photo)

“Mr. Biro, Sr. was a very gentle man, a gentle person. I don’t think I ever saw him raise his voice or talk stern to anybody in all the years I worked here,” she said.

Danchisen said the Biro family donated land for a football stadium, which was named Biro Field, for Lakeside High School, now Danbury High School, and they sold land at a reduced price to St. Mary Byzantine Catholic Church.

The 1924 meat cutter can be viewed at the Ottawa County Museum anytime the museum is open. Museum Curator Peggy Debien, a retired Navy officer, said the BIRO meat cutters have a long history with the U.S. Navy.

“When I was first in the Navy in the early 1970s, I visited a Navy ship and saw a BIRO meat cutter in the galley. My jaw dropped because I knew BIRO,” she said. “During World War II, most Navy ships had BIRO meat cutters in their galleys. I think they still use them today.”

The BIRO meat cutter, along with the Erie Dearie fishing lure, are important Ohio inventions that made the Ottawa County Museum the only Ottawa County site on the Ohio Innovation Trail, a self-guided trail that takes history buffs across the state in search of some of Ohio’s most unique and impactful inventions. The trail is part of Ohio’s celebration of America’s 250th anniversary.

For more information on the trail, visit https://america250-ohio.org/ohio-innovation-trail/. For more information on BIRO Manufacturing Company, visit www.birosaw.com.

The Ottawa County Museum is located at 126 W. 3rd St. in Port Clinton. For more information, visit The Ottawa County Museum Facebook page.