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,…