Franz Clouth

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Franz Clouth (* as Franz Julius Albertus Clouth ; December 18, 1838 in Cologne ; † September 7, 1910 there ) was a pioneer in rubber processing as a German entrepreneur .

Franz Clouth was born as the son of the book printer owner Wilhelm Clouth (1807–1871) and his wife Anna Maria Katharina, née. Knight, born. He completed a commercial apprenticeship and spent years apprenticeship in Great Britain and Belgium . Initially, he worked as a rubber goods representative in Cologne's Sternengasse. His company logo corresponded to the house brand of the building there, a star with five points.

From 1868 he produced his own company, Clouth Gummiwerke AG , in Cologne-Nippes rubber goods. There he was one of the first manufacturers to process the raw material gutta-percha . Franz Clouth lived at Sternengasse 3 until 1879 , from where he rode to Nippes on horseback every day. It was not until 1879 that he lived in Nippes, initially on Florastraße (later the registry office) before moving into a villa right next to the factory on Niehler Straße in 1883. He married Josefine Baum (1847–1920), the marriage resulted in daughter Rose Clouth (* 1876).

The company cooperated with the cable manufacturer Felten & Guilleaume , so that Clouth was involved in the establishment of several companies for the manufacture of submarine cables . Also, the company delivered in 1899 the covering material for the airship LZ 1 of Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin . The aviation company owner enthusiastic Clouth left in a specially built balloon house free balloons build around 1909 finally construct its own airship. From 1901 the company traded as Rheinische Gummiwarenfabrik Franz Clouth .

Grave site of the Franz Clouth family in the Melaten cemetery (MA between HWG and Lit. G)

Franz Clouth also conducted research into rubber processing and storage. He was politically committed to German colonial policy , but was also active as a community politician in Cologne-Longerich and Cologne-Nippes.

He died unexpectedly on September 7, 1910 in his villa near the factory and was buried in the Melaten cemetery (Millions Avenue) . The Clouth family grave complex was designed by Rudolf Bosselt in 1904 . His wife Josefine Clouth took over the management of the company in 1910, the year he died. Franz-Clouth-Strasse in Cologne-Nippes, named after him in 1915, is a reminder of the entrepreneur. The company Clouth Gummiwerke was merged with its parent company Continental AG in January 1997 due to losses, whereby the world-famous company ended.

Origin of name

Even if the name Clouth seems French or Huguenot , like the family it comes from the Westerwald . Johannes Clouth, an ancestor of Franz Clouth, was already living in Cologne in 1670. On the Lower Rhine, the word “Clouth” or “Clut” means something like ball, which is still used today in the word “Klütten” as a name for lignite briquettes.

literature

  • Manfred Backhausen: The Franz Clouth Rheinische Gummiwarenfabrik AG and the Land- und Seekabelwerke AG In: Pulheimer contributions to the history , 27 (2003), S. 142-170
  • Wolfgang Beier: Made in Kölle - Clouth and airship travel. Cologne aviation and industrial history of the Rheinische Gummiwarenfabrik Franz Clouth ; Cologne, 2009
  • Franz Brill :  Clouth, Franz Julius Hubert. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 3, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1957, ISBN 3-428-00184-2 , p. 295 ( digitized version ).
  • Franz Clouth: Gum, gutta-percha and balata : their origin and occurrence, their extraction, processing and utilization ; Leipzig, 1899
  • Franz Clouth Rheinische Gummiwarenfabrik (ed.): Commemorative publication for the 75th anniversary of the Franz Clouth Rheinische Gummiwarenfabrik AG Cologne-Nippes: 1862–1937 ; Cologne, 1937
  • Franz Clouth Rheinische Gummiwarenfabrik (Ed.): 90 years of Franz Clouth Rheinische Gummiwarenfabrik Aktiengesellschaft Köln-Nippes: 1862–1952 ; Cologne, 1952
  • Franz Clouth Rheinische Gummiwarenfabrik (Hrsg.): 100 years "risk work success" 1862–1962; Cologne 1962
  • Horst A. Wessel: Franz Clouth (1838 to 1910). In: Cologne entrepreneurs in the 19th and 20th centuries. (Rheinisch-Westfälische Wirtschaftsbiographien, Volume 13.) Aschendorff, Münster 1986, pp. 113–130.
  • Fritz Zilcken: Franz Clouth, Rheinische Gummiwaarenfabrik mbH, Cöln-Nippes. Memorandum for the 50th anniversary of the company. 1862-1912 ; Cologne, 1912

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Ulrich S. Soénius, Jürgen Wilhelm (Ed.): Kölner Personenlexikon . Greven Verlag, Cologne 2008, ISBN 978-3-7743-0400-0 .
  2. ^ According to another source February 18, 1910, e.g. B. in Franz Irsfeld (Hrsg.): Nippes yesterday and today , book shop Neusser Strasse, Cologne, 1st edition 1983; Page 167
  3. ↑ Franz Irsfeld (ed.): Nippes yesterday and today , bookstore Neußer street, Cologne, 1st edition, 1983; Page 166–167
  4. ^ Josef Abt / Johann Ralf Beines / Celia Körber-Leupold: Melaten - Cologne graves and history . Greven, Cologne 1997, ISBN 3-7743-0305-3 , p. 169
  5. ^ Günter Leitner: Cemeteries in Cologne - in the middle of life . 1st edition. Jürgen Fritsch Verlag, Neumarkt 2003, ISBN 3-936333-01-7 , p. 84 .
  6. ^ Julius Ritter: The Clouth family in Waldbreitbach , industrial monument Clouth eV
  7. ^ Hermann Friedrich Macco: On the family history of Clouth in the Rhineland , Berlin 1916, place of discovery: [1]

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Clouth, Franz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German entrepreneur and pioneer in rubber processing
DATE OF BIRTH December 18, 1838
PLACE OF BIRTH Cologne
DATE OF DEATH September 7, 1910
Place of death Cologne