Samuel Bristow was the first person in America to mass produce a boomerang and to make boomerang throwing a popular activity. Samuel obtained his patent on 4 February 1902 and his factory in Topeka, Kansas manufactured about a million cross sticks in 15+ different models until the beginning of World War I. All of the Brist boomerangs had advanced airfoiling features such as a bevel on the underside of the leading edge to enhance turning torque and camber on the underside of the narrow blade section to increase lift and reduce both drag and inertia. Many years later, all of these design features were eventually used on advanced Fast Catch boomerangs and many top boomerang designers claimed that they were the first to use these advanced design features. They were unaware that this had been done 75+ years earlier by Samuel Bristow. Some of the Brist boomerangs were also weighted on the tips. Again, many manufacturers of longer range boomerangs in the 1970s claimed that they were the first to add weights to increase distance. Again, this technique had been invented much earlier by Samuel Bristow and incorporated into many different Brist boomerang models. At one time, Brist boomerang throwing was more popular than croquet. The Brist game was very similar to the present day Australian Round event. The throwers had a target with concentric circles on the ground and points were awarded for how close you were to the center when the boomerang was caught. Catching was done with a large net, called the "Rakah". A world boomerang championship was even held in the city of St. Louis during the mid 1900s. Samuel Bristow sold the factory around 1910 to a man named Bailey and the new owner's daughter painted most of the boomerangs that were made after that date. The daughter became a famous model many years later and when magazines displayed her picture, she always had a Brist boomerang in one of her hands and this was long after the company had ceased manufacturing the product. Sadly, the beginning of World War I started a decline in America's preoccupation with games and the Brist boomerang slowly disappeared from store shelves.

This Brist boomerang cross stick is an unweighted model ( number 5 ) with a rivet holding the two sticks together. The blades all have camber and beveling as expected. There is a single band of red on each blade and the tips are painted blue. This boomerang is in used, but very good condition. The paint is chipped in several places, but the amount of paint loss is minimal. This one has more paint remaining than almost all other Brist boomerangs in used condition. There is pitting and wear on the edges, especially near the tips from use. The owner of this boomerang lived in Topeka, Kansas a decade ago and went to the local museums to research the history of the Brist boomerang. He was able to locate the second owner's daughter living in a nursing home and was able to interview her. She said that she had lost all of her Brist memorabilia in a tornado several years prior and had nothing left other than warm memories of the years that she painted and test threw thousands of these boomerangs as a child.