The American Tool Works, Chicago, Illinois, began producing spring-air B.B. guns as early as 1891 with the introduction of the Sterling, a nickle plated break-open single shot. In 1911 they brought out a big lever-action also named the Sterling. What other products, if any, the company produced is not known. It is likely that American Tool, like many metal working shops of the day, produced goods for other firms under contract. If that is the case, the manufacture of B.B. guns would have been a sideline to occupy presses and other machinery during slact times. This information came from The American B.B Gun book by Arni T. Dunathan 1971.