Poulan Chainsaw 3400 Manual

Beaird-Poulan, a tradition since 1946

In 1944, with World War II at its height,

a young Louisiana lumberman, Claude

Poulan made a discovery which would

eventually lead to the founding of a major

American company, and the expansion

and growth of a worldwide industry. As

Poulan supervised German prisoners of

war cutting down pulpwood trees in the

lush forests of East Texas, he noted that an

extra man was required to operate two-

man chain saws,. The third man used a

pry pole to keep the chain from pinching

or binding as it cut through the trees.

Realizing the need for a device to elimi-

nate the extra man, Poulan took an old

truck fender, hammered out a piece of it

into a curved attachment which he called a

bow guide. This simple innovation was

the first step toward the founding of the

company which still bears his name today:

Beaird-Poulan.

Mall, Disston and others. In 1946, Poulan

moved his business to Marshall, Texas.

After several months of operating in Mar-

shall, Poulan took $4,000 and, using rent-

ed equipment, moved to a tiny 20 by 20

foot shed in Shreveport, Louisiana, where

he formally established the Poulan Chain

Saw Company. Using engines purchased

from Homelite, he began producing the

first Poulan Chain Saw, the Model 2400.

Although Homelite was not in the saw

business, they quickly became aware of

this new industry’s potential and entered

the market Poulan, however, was able to

negotiate for the tool rights and began

producing his own engine components for

the Model 2400 two-man chain saw.

James M. Conly, Jr. joined Poulan in

1948 as chief accountant and office man-

ager of the budding new company.

Beaird-Poulan has established a

solid reputation by building the

highest quality products available.

Pictured at left is (a) Model 2400,

Poulan’s first saw. It was Claude

Poulan’s invention, the bow guide,

and required two men to operate it:

(b) the Model A was Poulan’s first

one-man saw; (c) the B100 was

Poulan’s first chain saw; (d) the

F100 featured Reduction Drive;

(e) the K100 was powerful enough

for the professional but was the first

practical saw for the casual user;

(f) the Poulan Micro XXV chain saw

sold for well under $100 and contin-

ued revolutionizing the industry, and

(g) the Model 3400, Poulan’s new

Throughout the company’s history, Mr.

Conly has played a key role in its devel-

opment. Also joining the Poulan firm in

1948 was Ernest Garrett, whose

When the war ended, Poulan moved to

the small town of Alto, Texas, where he

mid-priced chain saw has many fea- continued to produce bow attachments for

major chain saw manufacturers including

tures of the professional saws.

Claude Poulan and James Conly, Jr.

were driving forces behind the

development of Poulan chain saws.

ignition parts purchased from an outside

supplier.

Also in 1951, Poulan introduced its first

chain saw manufactured completely with-

in the company, the Model 5200. This

clearly established the company as a

major force in the chain saw industry.

knowledge of assembly procedures and

chain saw design, helped set up Poulan’s

first plant producing complete chain saws.

Poulan then brought his two brothers, Har-

ry and Fletcher into the company in key

positions. Harry took over sales and devel-

oped the forerunner of the distributor-deal-

er system still in use today. Fletcher

became vice-president of production.

Together, these men produced eight Poulan

chain saw models, and gave the company a

solid foundation on which to build the

future.

Today, that company has grown to be

one of the largest manufacturers of chain

saws in the world.

In 1951, the company purchased a 12-

acre site in Shreveport and constructed a

new building which would eventually

grow o 55,000 square feet of manufactur-

ing space. At the same time, the firm intro-

duced its second two-man saw which used

components built in the company’s

foundry and plant, and carburetion and

Claude and his brothers inspect one of

their early saws. Shown (left to right) are

Harry Poulan, Chief Engineer Ernest

Garrett, Claude and Fletcher Poulan.

The first Poulan manufacturing

plant, constructed in 1951, is still

used today for warehousing and

equipment maintenance.

A time of development

In addition to establishing Poulan’s

reputation for quality, the B100 led to

dramatic growth in the company's two-step

distributor/dealer sales system.

Poulan again influenced the market with

the introduction of the F100 Reduction

Drive chain saw. It was a highly efficient

and very popular unit with professional

loggers.

Poulan moved quickly in the develop-

ment of a direct drive unit and in August

1957, the H100 was introduced. It was fol-

lowed a year by the streamlined Model

F200, a more powerful version of the

F100. The F200 pushed Poulan sales in the

professional market to record levels. Its

innovative design and dependability made

it very popular with the professional, so

popular in fact, that demands for the unit

continued for four years after the F200 was

discontinued.

Through the mid-1950’s Poulan contin-

ued to be an innovator in the chain saw

field. It was during this period that Poulan

recognized the evolution of “one-man”

operation and introduced the Model A

reduction drive saw. This model was

untested and troublesome and Conly

remembers the valuable lesson learned

from it: “The salesmen would go out and

put a modified part on the saw at the deal-

er’s place of business. Two weeks later

another salesman might follow up and take

off that modification and install a new one.

It was

a time of testing and learning for the

company.

While the Model A unit was setting new

sales records, an even more progressive

model, the B100 Gear Drive unit was com-

ing on line. The B100 was faster and more

versatile than the Model A and put Poulan

into the thick of the business.

The Model A (top) was Poulan’s

first one-man bow saw offering

Reduction Drive. The Model

B100 (bottom) featured Gear

Drive and let to dramatic

growth of the company.

A time of development

1958 was also a year in which Poulan

recognized the need for lighter weight

saws. Poulan met this challenge with its

Model K100, which was powerful enough

for professional use and was the first prac-

tical chain saw for the casual user. In April,

1959, Poulan brought the KD100, a direct

drive companion to the K100, onto the

market.

Thus, through its first 12 years of exis-

tence, the Poulan company had grown and

prospered, and found itself capable of

meeting the challenges of the marketplace

and not only able to compete with other

manufacturers but to outdo them.

With the need for a lightweight chain

saw becoming apparent, Poulan intro-

duced the Model K100 which was not

only powerful enough for the profes-

sional but was the first practical saw

for the farmer and causal user.

The F100 Reduction Drive

chain saw was a highly efficient

and very popular unit with pro-

fessional loggers.

Charles Beaird

The company gains a new leader

In 1959, Louisiana industrialist, Charles

T. Beaird, who had been an executive with

a Shreveport steel fabricating company,

sought new investment opportunities in the

Red River city. He found the Poulan Saw

Company a solid investment, and pur-

chased the firm from the Poulan family.

Beaird assumed presidency of the compa-

ny and renamed it Beaird-Poulan Compa-

ny.

He began an extensive program of

expansion, increasing the Shreveport plant

by 18,000 square feet and introducing sev-

eral new models. Also, Beaird branched

out into the manufacturing of go-cart

engines and other related products.

Streamlining saw models, Beaird felt

would move the Beaird-Poulan Company

even further into the rapidly growing chain

saw market. And he was right. They

revised the basic product and streamlined

the old open carburetion and crude-look-

ing housings. this led to the introduction

Both were extremely sophisticated for the

time and well-received in the marketplace.

Beard, in realizing the need for a more

versatile and complete line of chain saws,

expanded the Poulan line to six models,

ranging in cost from $200 to $500. The

company instituted new sales promotion

techniques including advertising and

descriptive literature which appealed to a

broader market. Beaird-Poulan’s customer

was no longer just the rough woodcutter

of the United States forest lands, but the

general public as well.

To appeal to the new consumer market,

Beaird-Poulan also completely changed

the appearance of their saws with new

paint selections, making them more color-

ful.

Through superior design and aggressive

marketing, Beaird-Poulan set the pace for

the industry, and new models increased

penetration into the farm segment, casual

user segment and lightweight professional

segment. In 1965, Poulan passed another

milestone with the construction of a series

In 1971, Charles Beaird (see inset)

set Poulan on a new era of growth

with the move to new manufacturing

facilities. The new plant had

117,000 square feet compared to the of the FD100 direct drive and its compan-

ion, the F3100 reduction drive in 1960.

old plant’s 54,000 square feet.

of lightweight magnesium chain saws.

Models 360, 400 and 450 were introduced

in the summer of 1965, and signaled a

turning point in Poulan’s history with a

trend toward the manufacture of light-

weight but durable chain saws.

In 10 years, Charles Beaird had brought

the company through 51 models of saw

development and opened the market of

most of the world to the Louisiana built

chain saw. The company still manufactur-

ers its original saw attachment, the bow

guide, but the sizes and weighs of the

In 1966, Beaird-Poulan acquired the

Wright Saw Division of Thomas Industries, saws had radically changed, as well as

Inc. which expanded their market even fur- streamlined and lightened to fit virtually

ther. A year later, the expansion of the

Shreveport plant, which added another

9,000 square feet of manufacturing space,

allowed the transfer of the Wright Saws

production lines to the main plant.

Beaird-Poulan technological advance-

ments continued to lead the industry. By

1968, Beaird-Poulan was represented by 57 $129.95, was billed as “the world’s great-

distributors in the United States and 94 dis- est chain saw bargain.” The Super 33 was

tributors in Europe, Africa, the Pacific, the

Far East and Latin America. Poulan and

Wright saws were available from more

than 4,000 dealers .

any demand. Among the innovations

which Poulan introduced during this era

were the “push-button” sharpening chain

saw, and the Super 68, designed to boost

production for the professional pulpwood

and saw logger. Also new on the model

list was the Poulan Super 33, which at

Beaird-Poulan has become a multi-

national company because of the

quality of its products. Poulan uses

only the finest materials and many

of the parts are made or tooled at

Poulan facilities

perfect for farmers, sportsmen, homeown-

ers or anyone who had limited use for

chain saws.

In 1969, Thomas Lindley joined Beaird-

Poulan as its first consumer marketing

director. Lindley recognized the casual

chain saw user as a virtually untapped

market. His organizational skills and

knowledge of the consumer set Beaird-

Poulan on a new era of growth.

In 1971, Beaird-Poulan began this new

period of growth with the move from the

manufacturing facilities at Greenwood

road with 54,000 square feet, to a 117,000

square foot building on Flournoy Lucas.

This helped relieve the cramped condi-

tions of the old plant as well as increase

production.

In 1971, the company’s 25th Anniver-

sary was observed with the introduction of

the Model XXV, a lightweight saw

designed for the casual user. Because of

the saw’s state-of-the-art design, and

Poulan’s consumer marketing know-how,

the Model XXV took the industry by

storm.

grew for Poulan. Poulan products found

their way into hundreds of chain saw deal-

ers’ showcases, and were sold through

hardware stores, engine shops, lawn and

garden stores, farm equipment suppliers

and rental outlets. The lightweight saw

combined excellent power to weight ratio,

good balance and an easy starting reed-

valve engine design which made the

Model XXV the most efficient as well as

the most economical chain saw on the

market

After more than a decade, the Beaird-

Poulan firm had introduced 59 different

models of saws, and acquired the reputa-

tion of being an innovative and aggressive

manufacturer not willing to sacrifice the

quality of their products.

The people (top) at Beaird-Poulan

are also a big factor in the success

of the company. The Beaird-Poulan

manufacturing facilities are the

most modern in the world.

The Model XXV, designed by Lloyd

Tuggle who had joined Beaird-Poulan in

1969 as chief design engineer, gained

wide acceptance as the consumer market

Beaird-Poulan becomes a

division of Emerson Electric

In February, 1973, James M. Conly, Jr.,

who had joined the Poulan brothers back

in 1948, became president of the company

succeeding Charles T. Beaird. A month lat-

er; Beaird, who was now chairman of the

firm, announced the acquisition of Beaird-

Poulan by Emerson Electric Co., St. Louis,

Missouri. Emerson, then a $764 million

manufacturing giant, traded stock for

Beaird-Poulan, and the company entered a

new and exciting phase in its develop-

ment.

“The new owner is one of the nation’s

largest and most dynamic business organi-

zations,” Beaird told the news media after

the acquisition was announced. “As a divi-

sion of Emerson Electric, we will receive

financial backing necessary to insure our

plans for growth, yet retain our individual

identity, management and employee

policies.”

market with a tremendous appeal to the

casual user. “This little jewel is to our

industry what the transistor was to the

electronics world,” commented Lindley,

now vice president of sales.

The Model XX also surprised the indus-

try by breaking the $100 price barrier, and

became the industry standard for light-

weight saws. But, Beaird-Poulan, innova-

tive throughout its history, refused to stop

here.

The following year, Beaird-Poulan pro-

duced the Super XXV Counter-Vibe Auto-

matic; a lightweight saw which reduced

vibration by 78 percent. Chief engineer

Tuggle explained the new XXV reduced

engine vibration through a counter-bal-

anced crankshaft and for vibration isola-

tors. The 12-pound saw was an instant hit

in the market, and could rip through an

eight-inch log in four seconds.

The Poulan Super XXV Counter-

Vibe made the company an

innovator in the casual user

market

Ownership of the company had just

changed hands, when the Poulan Model

XX was introduced. The new saw, which

astonished industry experts, came on the

That same year the Shreveport plant

expanded to 250,000 square feet, and the

number of employees rose to almost 600

to meet the rising demand for Poulan’s

new line of consumer saws.

Poulan Micro XXV, an nine-pound chain

saw selling for only $79.95. the 10-inch

saw was the result of three years of

While the XXV and XX models reached

the casual user market, Poulan had not for-

gotten the professionals. The Poulan Mod-

els 4200, 5200 and 6000, all with the farm

and logging industry. Of particular impor-

tance was the Model 5200, which was

designed for the professional logger who

used the saw daily for long hours.

In 1975, Poulan entered a new phase

when the company added a line of light-

weight, self-priming centrifugal water

pumps with the capacity to pump water in

5,000, 8,000 and 10,000 gallons per hour

quantities.

In 1976, D. Seals moved from another

Emerson Division to become President of

Beaird-Poulan. Conly became chairman of

the board and Beaird assumed an execu-

tive consultant position.

1977 brought further developments and

changes for Beaird-Poulan. The first

development was the introduction of the

research and millions of dollars in

advanced manufacturing procedures. Said

Tuggle, “Poulan is able to offer more qual-

ity for less cost than any other chain saw

manufacturer in the world.”

A broad statement, but true nevertheless.

The Micro XXV had features which made

the saw easier to use. Among the innova-

tions was a larger handle spread for better

leverage and control, a guard link chain to

minimize the effect of kickback and a kill

switch, located close to the trigger finger to

make operation shutdown easier, even with

two hands on the saw.

The Poulan Micro XXV (top) is the

standard of the casual user market

today and is one of the main rea-

sons for Poulan’s phenomenal

growth in the 1970’s. Poulan is con-

tinuing its innovative tradition in

the 1980’s with the introduction of

the Model 3400 (bottom) which

offers many of the features of a pro-

fessional saw at a greatly reduced

cost. Over 96,000 man hours and

millions were invested in the devel-

opment of this saw

A sister model, the Deluxe Micro XXV,

offered the same features, with a 12-inch

sprocket nose bar rather than the 10-inch

bar. The other major development in 1977

was the opening of Beaird-Poulan’s

100,000 square foot plant in Nashville, AR,

where the new Micro XXV models are

now made. The Plant was the company’s

first operation outside of Shreveport’s. It

has now been expanded to over 200,000

square feet.

In 1978, Poulan introduced a new line

of grass and weed trimmers, further

expanding its product line. The market for

such gardening equipment had mush-

roomed in a very short time, and as with

all of Poulan’s history, the company is

moving to a leadership position in the field

as well.

In 1978, the company opened its first

plant in Canada. Located in Markham,

Ontario, this plant made it possible for

Poulan to meet the growing demand in

Canada. Poulan’s expansion has extended

worldwide with the opening of Poulan’s

first European sales office and warehouse

in Bussels, Belgium. Poulan chain saws

and accessories are now sold in every

major market in the world.

Because of Poulan’s innovative engi-

neering and aggressive marketing, it is one

of the largest chain saw manufacturers in

the world and has experienced the greatest

growth of any chain saw manufacturer

over the past 10 years.

The Future

Beaird-Poulan has enjoyed tremendous

success since its humble beginnings in

1946. In a short period of time, Beaird-

Poulan has emerged as one of the most

respected and trusted manufacturers of

chain saws and other fine products. It is the

goal of the company to continue its pro-

gram of developing innovative and reliable

products for the future while at th same

time maintain its historic trend of solid

growth. Beaird Poulan is definitely a com-

pany of the future.