Ensign-Bickford Company
The Ensign-Bickford Aerospace & Defense Company (formerly The Ensign-Bickford Company) is a manufacturer of hardware and energetic systems for use in spacecraft, military, and industrial applications. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ensign-Bickford Industries. History. The Ensign-Bickford Company (EBCo) was started in 1836 in Simsbury, Connecticut as a manufacturer of William Bickford's safety fuse for use in mining. Safety fuse was a great advance in mining technology over the practice of filling holes with black powder. The next step in mining technology was detonating cord. Ensign-Bickford and other companies developed different  versions of detonating cord. In 1937, Ensign-Bickford trademarked "Primacord", which became the functional generic name for detonating cord in North America. In May 2003, Ensign-Bickford sold the trademarks and processes to Dyno Nobel Inc of Australia (formerly of Norway). In 1956, EBCo began providing research and development work for Frankford Arsenal and Sandia National Laboratories to develop linear shaped charge, a product critical to the early strategic missile and launch vehicle programs. In 1965, the Space Ordnance Division was formed, making contributions to early NASA programs such as Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo. In 1987, the Space Ordnance Division  became Ensign-Bickford Aerospace Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of EBCo, later becoming The Ensign-Bickford Aerospace & Defense Company. Locations. In addition to its headquarters and manufacturing operations in Simsbury, Connecticut, EBAD has facilities in Graham, Kentucky, Moorpark and San Rafael, California.