October i, 1909.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



15 



The Late Herr Senator Dr. Traun. 



THE passing of Heinrich Traun removes from the rubber in- 

 dustry one of the most distinguished individuals in its 

 annals, and one whose name was associated in many ways 

 with the cause of progress in the land of his birth and with move- 

 ments for the benefit of human kind in general. Heinrich Traun, 

 born in Hamburg on May 8. 183S, attended the college of Dr. 

 Wichard Lange, after which he was prepared for the university 

 by private tutors. He studied physical sciences at Gottingen and 

 was graduated at the age of 21 as a doctor in philosophy, choos- 

 ing "Kautschuk" as the subject of his thesis. That thesis to-day 

 stands as a good summary of what was known regarding india- 

 rubber a half century ago ; the choice of his subject was influ- 

 enced, doubtless, by the fact that he had been born into the 

 rubber industry, so to speak. 



Going to London, young Traun was a chemist in the royal dock- 

 yards, where his opportunities to come in contact with laboring 

 men at their tasks instilled in his mind 

 ideas which later were of great ad- 

 vantage to him as an extensive em- 

 ployer of labor. He was employed 

 later in a professional way in Paris, 

 after which, in 1863, he became a part- 

 ner in the Harburger Gummi-Kamm 

 Compagnie (Harburg Rubber Comb 

 Co.), already an important concern, but 

 destined to be greatly developed under 

 his direction. Here the story of the 

 beginnings of this enterprise, with 

 which Dr. Traun's family was so 

 closely connected, may be recited 

 briefly. 



There came to America in 1842 a son 

 of Heinr. C. Meyer, Jr., the whalebone 

 and ivory manufacturer of Hamburg — 

 a business dating from 1818 — to estab- 

 lish a branch factory, which he did at 

 Jersey City. Shortly he was joined by 

 a clerk from the Hamburg house, Con- 

 rad Poppenhusen, and the firm of 

 Meyer & Poppenhusen resulted, dating 

 from August I, 1843. Heinr. Ad. 

 Meyer returned to Europe the next 

 year, and in time succeeded to his 

 father's position in the business there, 

 but Meyer & Poppenhusen in America 

 continued for a number of years. It 



was this firm that first recognized the merit of hard rubber a? 

 developed under the patent of Nelson Goodyear of 1851. I pon 

 the licenses granted to them were founded the India Rubber 

 Comb Co., at College Point (New York) in 1853. and the liar- 

 burger Gummi-Kamm Compagnie, organized as a branch of the 

 Meyer interests, in 1856. Ultimately Mr. Poppenhusen returned 

 to Hamburg, where he died ; his daughter married Fritz Achelis, 

 now president of the American Hard Rubber Co., which suc- 

 ceeded to the College Point enterprise. 



Mention may be made here of L. Otto P. Meyer, a younger 

 brother of the founder of the Meyer business, who came to 

 America as technical adviser of Meyer & Poppenhusen, and by 

 whom many important improvements in the hard rubber manu- 

 facture — the tinfoil process, for example — were patented. L. 

 Otto P. Meyer is still living in Dresden, at the age of eighty-six. 



Also it may be mentioned that the wife of the late Hon. Carl 

 Schurz, statesman, journalist, and general, was a sister of Heinr. 

 Ad. Meyer and of the mother of Dr. Traun. Altogether, the list 

 includes some notable names, beginning with the founder of the 



Heinrich Traun. ph. d. 



[In the robes of a senator of tire free 

 Hamburg.] 



family, whose work for the development of Hamburg is attested 

 by a monument erected by the people of that city. 



The subject of this sketch was the son of Friedrich Traun, 

 who married a daughter of the founder of the house of Meyer. 

 As early as 1835 he was admitted to an interest in the business, 

 from which he retired in 1870. As already stated, Heinrich 

 Traun became a partner in 1863. at which time the hard rubber 

 branch was operated under a separate firm style. He had two 

 brothers, Otto Traun, who in 1870 became a partner in the 

 rubber branch, and Max Traun, who in 1873 joined the branch 

 then still carried on as H. C. Meyer, Jr. In 1884 the two branches 

 became definitely separated, Heinrich Traun becoming sole pro- 

 prietor of the Harburger Gummi-Kamm Co. The division gave 

 him not only the works at Harburg a/d Elbe, but extensive prem- 

 ises at Hamburg, all of which have been developed constantly, in 

 keeping with the general growth of the rubber industry. Dr. 

 Traun's knowledge of chemistry was 

 of constant advantage to his firm ; he 

 was the patentee of a number of in- 

 ventions of merit ; and he gave liberal 

 encouragement to develop the crude 

 rubber resources of German Africa. 



In August, 1902, Dr. Traun admitted 

 to partnership his two sons — Heinrich 

 Otto Traun and Dr. Friedrich Adolph 

 Traun — the firm name becoming 

 changed to Dr. Heinrich Traun u. 

 Sohne, which style is still retained. 

 At the beginning of 1908 Dr. Traun 

 ceased to be an active partner in the 

 firm, leaving the conduct of business 

 to his sons. Later in that year oc- 

 curred the lamented death of Dr. F. A. 

 Traun. To-day the business is in 

 charge of Heinrich Otto Traun, whose 

 preparation for succeeding to such an 

 important position has been most thor- 

 ough, including a year spent in a busi- 

 ness position in New York and travels 

 in the Orient and the rubber country 

 of the Amazon, with a view to giving 

 him an insight to as many phases of 

 the rubber business as possible. 



In the early part of 1901 Dr. Hein- 

 rich Traun was elected to the position 

 of senator of the free city of Ham- 

 burg, the highest and most honorable office in its government. 

 He was the first representative in the senate of industrial in- 

 terests. His election gave a great satisfaction to the people, to 

 whose interest he afterwards devoted his time and talents almost 

 solely, until, when nearing his seventieth birthday, he retired 

 from office on account of advancing years. 



In no part of his multifarious life work was Dr. Traun more 

 deeply interested than in the measures for the benefit of the army 

 of employes at his rubber works, in which respect he not only 

 won the appreciation of those for whose welfare he planned, but 

 set a model for other establishments which has been widely 

 copied. In this work he was aided notably by his wife, whose 

 death occurred in November, 1901. 



For some time all reports regarding Dr. Traun's health were 

 discouraging; his death occurred on September 10. 



Dr. Traun never visited America, though in close touch with 

 the progress made in this country, and his interests here were 

 represented by the Traun Rubber Co. (New York), with a 

 factory at College Point. 



