38 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[November i, IQ07. 



Works of Pirelli & Co., at Milan, Italy. 



Italy's Great Rubber Factory. 



THE foundation of the great rubber manufacturing firm of 

 Pirelli & Co., at Milan, in 1872, was made possible by 

 the wave of patriotism which led to and resulted from 

 the formation of the present Italian nation about that time. 



Cable Works of Pirelli & Co.. at Spezta. Italy. 



[The Company's Cable Ship Citta lii Miiano is shown at the right. 1 



Italy was then still rather backward in business matters, though 

 Milan has been the great industrial center of Italy for thirteen 

 centuries. It was here that the house of G. B. Pirelli & Co. began 

 making rubber goods on a very small scale in 1872, with a few- 

 imported workmen. _ 



The infant industry won its first 

 recognition in 1875, at the Florence 

 fair. The next year the Lorabardy 

 Scientific and Literary Society 

 gave it an endorsement that at- 

 tracted the attention of the govern- 

 ment, thus assuring the success of 

 the enterprise. A partner was 

 taken in, and G. B. Pirelli, F. Ca- 

 sazza & Co. greatly enlarged their 

 plant, and added several new lines 

 of rubber goods — surgical, sporting, 

 and waterproof. In 1878 they began 

 making hard rubber goods, learned 

 insulation, and in 1880 took up 

 gutta-percha work and made some 

 successful underground electrical 

 cables. In 1882 they began the 

 manufacture of rubber thread, being Branch Factory of Pirelli & Co 



the first European house to compete with England in this im- 

 portant branch. Their success in this line was their greatest 

 triumph, until they came to making sea cables. 



In 1883 the partnership was incorporated under the name 

 Pirelli & Co., since when the style 

 of the business has not been 

 changed. At this time the making 

 and laying of sea cables was mo- 

 nopolized by England. Pirelli & 

 Co., encouraged by the Italian gov- 

 ernment, entered into a successful 

 competition with England, with 

 .-uch results that they now rank 

 among the great cable makers of 

 the world. They were the first firm 

 on the continent to make submarine 

 cables. For this purpose they built 

 the San Bartolomeo plant at Spezia, 

 on the Riviera, in 1886, which re- 

 mained the only sea cable factory 

 on the continent, until 1890. 



The Italian colonial system was well developed by this time, 

 and demanded independent cable connections. The government 

 contracted with Pirelli & Co. to lay all of these cables. The 



AT Villanl'eva y Geltru, Spain. 



