I I I, 1903.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



413 



THE OBITUARY RECORD. 



LEWIS LEGRAND HYATT, who quietly passed from 

 life at his residence in London, on August 1, probably 

 had been interested in the India rubber industry longer 

 than any one now living. He was born at Wilton, 

 Connecticut, on February 20, 1820. At the age of 25, being al- 

 ready married, he became connected with Ford & Co., at New 

 Brunswick, New Jersey, then just established for making rub- 

 ber shoes under the Goodyear vulcanization patent of 1844. 

 This firm was composed of John Ross Ford and James Bishop, 

 with Christopher Meyer superintendent. In 1852 Mr. Hyatt 



and Mr. Meyer 

 patented a ma- 

 chine for making 

 in one piece the 

 heel and sole of 

 a rubber shoe, 

 which proved to 

 be an important 

 invention, and is 

 still in use. 



In 1855 the first 

 rubber shoe facto- 

 ry in Europe was 

 established near 

 Paris, by the 

 American firm of 

 Hutchinson, Hen- 

 derson & Co., who 

 in France adopted 

 the name Com- 

 pagnie Nationale 

 du Caoutchouc, and Mr. Hyatt went with them as superintend- 

 ent. At the same time the firm of Norris & Co., also Ameri- 

 cans, were starting at Edinburgh what became, in 1857, the 

 North British Rubber Co., Limited, and in 1S59 Mr. Hyatt be- 

 came superintendent of their rubber shoe department, filling 

 the place for ten years, during which time he also superin- 

 tended the organization of a waterproof clothing branch. 

 Here Mr. Hyatt was interested with his earliest business asso- 

 ciates, for Messrs. Meyer, Ford, and Bishop were among the 

 founders of the North British 

 company. On leaving Edin- 

 burgh Mr. Hyatt received the 

 following letter : 



Mr. L. 1.. HYATT, Edinburgh— 

 Dear Sir: On the eve of your de- 

 parture from Edinburgh, and the 

 severance of your relations with 

 this Company, it affords me great 

 pleasure to hand you the following 

 resolution which was unanimously 

 passed today at a full meeting of 

 the board of directors : 



Extract from minutes of Directors 

 oftheNoith British Rubber Co., Lim- 

 ited, held in the Company's registered 

 office on the 6th day of October, 1869. 



" Mr. Norris reported that Mr. 

 Hyatt was about to leave the Com- 

 pany's service, to return home. 

 The Directors unanimously re- 

 solved to record their high appre- 

 ciation of Mr. Hyatt's services 



LEWIS L. HV \TT. 



during the ten years he has been engaged with the Company, he having 

 during the whole period acted with the greatest zeal and energy to fo 

 ward its interests. The Directors further requested Mr. Norris to com- 

 municate this resolution to Mr. Hyatt and express their brst wishes for 

 his future happiness and prosperity. " Yours truly. 



I'll BRITISH RUBBER COMPANY, LIMITED. 



iager. 

 Edinburgh ' < sfi 9- 



Mr. Hyatt had purchased an interest in the company on 

 going to Edinburgh, and on leaving sold his shares at 350. 

 Returning the same year to the United States, Mr. Hyatt 

 joined in forming the Hyatt Rubber Co., at New Brunswick, 

 in which the shares were held equally by himself and Messrs. 

 Ford and Meyer. Mr. Hyatt was president, Mr. Meyer treas- 

 urer, and James Bishop Ford (son of John R. Ford) secretary. 

 This became later the New Jersey Rubber Shoe Co., which 

 was merged with the United States Rubber Co. in 1892. The 

 premises occupied were those originally used by Horace H. 

 Day in his rubber work at New Brunswick; it was here that 

 Christopher Meyer took his first lessons in rubber. In the 

 view given on this page, the street in front is Richmond ; on 

 the left is Nelson, on the right Dennis, and in the rear (beyond 

 some buildings not shown in the picture) Hiram street. The 

 corner portion adjoining the chimney to the right was the 



t 





*x 



"-irtl 



Jfc'lftit-tiiil 



DAI S NEW BRUNSWICK. FACTORY. 



Afterwards used by Hyatt Rubber Co. and New J 

 Rubber Co. 



MR. HVA II S RES] Dl '■ 

 He lived in the house to the rigl 



original build- 

 ing used by 



Day, the r e- 



mainderhaving 



been added by 



successive rub- 

 ber concerns 



before the Hy-: 



att Rubber Co, 



came in. The 



cylindrical 



structure in the 



yard enclosed 



thevulcanizers. 



The plant was burned in August, 1876, and the New Jersey 



Rubber Shoe Co. (as it then was) rebuilt on another site, in 



Little Burnett street, which building is still in use. 



Soon after the fire Mr. Hyatt 

 retired from business and 

 spent some years in travel in 

 Europe. He next became in- 

 terested in the celluloid man- 

 ufacture, in Paris, which in 

 1886 he transferred to the 

 British Xylonite Co., Limited, 

 of London, an important en- 

 terprise, with which he re- 

 mained connected until his 

 death. In some reminiscences 

 contributed by Mr. Hyatt to 

 The India Rubber World 

 (January i,,i9or — page 103) he 

 wrote: " In 1894 I celebrated 

 my golden wedding — my mar- 

 ried life having been almost 

 coincident with my business 

 career, and my wife having 

 proved an excellent partner in 



1 A 1 Ml 1.1. I ( IWN, N. J. 

 standing) before first going to Europe. 



