Samuel Bristow was the first person in America to mass produce a boomerang and to make boomerang throwing a popular sporting 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. Manufacturing ended at 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 world fair in 1906. 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 cross stick boomerang is an unweighted model ( number 5 ). There is a rivet holding the two sticks together. The blades all have camber and beveling as expected. There are two bands of blue on each blade and the tips are painted red. This boomerang is in used condition. The paint is chipped in several places, especially at the tips and there is a 1 cm X 1 cm section missing from one leading edge where the boomerang hit an obstacle (maybe a fence? ). You can probably repair it using plastic wood and white enamel paint. This cross stick is still in great flying condition. I test threw it several times. The range is short, maybe 10-12 metres, and it does make the circle quickly, sort of like a fast catch boomerang. A good collectable with advanced technology and it is more than 100 years old!