Björn Kjellström

Björn Kjellström (9 September 1910 – 26 August 1995), originally from Sweden, was a ski orienteering champion in Sweden and co-founder of the compass manufacturing company Silva Sweden ABLitsky, Frank, ''Bjorn Kjellstrom, 84, Orienteer and Inventor of Modern Compass'', The New York Times (Obituaries), 1 September 1995 which produced the Silva compass. More than 25 million Silva compasses have been sold since the founding of the company.

Early life

Kjellström competed in his first orienteering race in Sweden in May 1928 at the age of 17, where he finished last in the beginners' class.Kjellström, Björn, ''19th Hole: The Readers Take Over: Orienteering'', Sports Illustrated, 3 March 1969 However, by fall of the same year he won a district orienteering championship race outside Stockholm. During the years that followed Kjellström and his brothers won many orienteering races, both individually and as a three-man team.

Silva Company

In 1932, working with his two brothers and a machinist, Gunnar Tillander, Kjellström helped perfect a new type of compass for terrestrial navigation, featuring a liquid-damped magnetized needle housing compass and a protractor built into a transparent baseplate.

In 1946, he moved to the United States, where he founded the U.S. operations of the Silva Company (later Silva, Inc.) in La Porte, Indiana. Two years later, he organized Silva Ltd. in Toronto, Canada for sales in Canada. Kjellström also organized Silva Orienteering Services of La Porte Indiana to provide training and company sponsorship for the sport of orienteering in North America.

In 1955, Kjellström published a hugely popular book on outdoor land navigation and the sport of orienteering, ''Be Expert With Map and Compass''. To date, ''Be Expert With Map and Compass'' has sold more than 500,000 copies in English and has been translated into several languages, and has remained continuously in print since its first publication.

Kjellström co-founded the United States Orienteering Federation in 1971 and served as vice president of the International Ski Federation from 1951 to 1979. Johnson Worldwide Associates (JWA), later Johnson Outdoors, Inc. bought Silva Inc. in 1973, and production shifted back to Sweden in 1981. As of 1995, the Silva compass was made in more than 50 models.

Later years

In later years, Kjellström moved to Pound Ridge, N.Y., where he helped develop trails in a county park and forest reserve called Ward Pound Ridge Reservation and to produce a detailed orienteering map of the area. He continued to be active until his death in promoting the Silva compass brand in the USA and the sport of orienteering, as well as conducting promotional book tours for revised versions of ''Be Expert With Map and Compass''.

Kjellström died 26 August 1995 in a hospital in Stockholm, Sweden due to complications of Parkinson's disease.

Postscript

After Kjellström's death, the Swedish parent company, Silva of Sweden AB, decided to end its North American distribution agreement with Silva Inc./Silva Ltd. and Johnson Worldwide Associates (JWA). JWA claimed the right to the Silva brand in North America, along with several names used for Silva compass modela ('Ranger', Explorer, etc.).Hodgson, Michael, ''JWA, Silva Settle Dispute'', Outdoor Retailer, 1 October 1998Spivak, Cary, ''Compass Makers Embroiled in Suits'', The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, 3 January 1997 After two years of litigation, Silva of Sweden AB and JWA aka Johnson Outdoors agreed to confirm JWA's exclusive right to distribute compasses under the Silva name in the USA and Canada. From 1998, Johnson Outdoors distributed Silva compasses in North America made to its specifications by third-party manufacturers, while Silva of Sweden AB distributed compasses assembled at its Haninge, Sweden facility to markets outside North America, and later from production factilites in China.
SILVA slutar med egen tillverkning och väljer HANZA som ny tillverkningspartner
' myNEWSdesk, 15 March 2018, retrieved 31 May 2019Svensk Verstad Industri,
HANZA vald tilltillverkningspartner av marknadsledande Silva
', 15 March 2018, retrieved 31 May 2019

In 2018, Silva of Sweden AB reacquired North American distribution rights to the Silva brand from Johnson Outdoors, and once again distributes all Silva brand compasses to Canada and the USA.

References

Sources

Information derived from NYTimes obituar

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kjellstrom, Bjorn
1995 deaths
Orienteering innovators
Swedish orienteers
Orienteering in Sweden
1910 births
People from Pound Ridge, New York