Hiram Hutchinson

Hiram Hutchinson (c. 1808–1869) was an American industrialist of British origin. In 1853 he founded a rubber company in France^[1] that was the predecessor of Hutchinson SA, a multinational industrial conglomerate. The company was sold by his family in 1898, 29 years after Hutchinson's death.

Biography

Having acquired patent rights to the vulcanisation of rubber from Charles Goodyear^[2] in 1853, Hutchinson went to France to set up a mill in Châlette-sur-Loing, Loiret. He came up with the idea of producing rubber boots after he noticed that French farmers wore wooden clogs that kept them coming home with their feet wet and muddy.^[3]^[4] He then copied the design of the Duke of Wellington's Hessian boots to manufacture a variation that was both cheap and waterproof.^[4] This is the reason why rubber boots were also called "welly".^[5] It was also used extensively in the trenches during World War I.^[6]

Hiram spent roughly a year in France, enough time to initiate manufacturing and turning over management of the factory to his son, Alcander. The facility was established on the site of a former royal paper mill and employed foreign laborers after World War I.^[7] The Chinese Communist leader Deng Xiaoping, along with 214 Chinese, was one of these laborers.^[7] He lived in a shack behind the factory since 1922.^[7]

Later, Hutchinson returned to the United States, where he conducted research on other applications of rubber, which he (correctly) predicted would be useful for a variety of products, including tires, boots, and sealant, all of which are now manufactured by Hutchinson SA.

Despite undergoing corporate restructuring on more than one occasion, Hutchinson's company still operates the original plant at Châlette-sur-Loing.

Hutchinson married a woman from the Tlingit tribe called Mary.^[8] The couple had a son, Millard, who was born around 1867.^[8]

References

^ Ross, Stewart (2020). Who Invented Underpants?: The Weird Trivia of Human Invention, from Fire to Fast Food (and Everything In Between). Berkeley, CA: Ulysses Press. p. 34. ISBN 978-1-64604-097-1.
^ Oliver, Harry (2010-01-05). Bubble Gum and Hula Hoops: The Origins of Objects in Our Everyday Lives. Penguin. ISBN 978-1-101-17124-0.
^ Brandreth, Gyles (2022). A History of Britain in Just a Minute. Random House. ISBN 978-1-4735-3311-0.
^ ^a ^b Tait, Aaron; Faulkner, Dave (2016). Edupreneur: Unleashing Teacher Led Innovation in Schools. Melbourne: John Wiley & Sons. p. 41. ISBN 978-0-7303-2922-0.
^ Challoner, Jack (2022). 1001 Inventions That Changed the World. San Diego, CA: Thunder Bay Press. p. 347. ISBN 978-1-64517-820-0.
^ Buttery, David (2023). Napoleonic Britain: A Guide to Fortresses, Statues and Memorials of the French Wars 1792-1815. Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Pen and Sword Military. p. 51. ISBN 978-1-3990-8437-6.
^ ^a ^b ^c Dillon, Michael (2015). Deng Xiaoping: The Man who Made Modern China. New York, NY: I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd. p. 17. ISBN 978-1-78076-895-3.
^ ^a ^b Ferguson, Susan Lehne (2010). Lopez Island. Chicago: Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4396-4007-4.