Charles Ranlett Flint
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| Charles Ranlett Flint | |
| Born | January 24, 1850 Thomaston Maine, United States |
|---|---|
| Died | February 26, 1934 (aged 84) |
Charles Ranlett Flint (January 24, 1850 – February 26, 1934) was an American businessman, best known as the founder of the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company which later became IBM.
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[edit] Early life and family
Flint was born on January 24, 1850 in Thomaston, Maine.[1] His father, Benjamin Chapman, had changed the family name to Flint after being adopted by an uncle on his mother's side. The family moved from Maine to New York where his father ran the family's mercantile firm Chapman & Flint, which had been founded in 1837.[2]
[edit] Business career
In 1868, Charles Flint graduated from the Polytechnic Institute in Brooklyn, and in 1871 entered the shipping business as a partner in Gilchrest, Flint & Co., and later W.R. Grace & Co. after a merger.[2]
From 1876 to 1879, he served as the Chilean consul at New York City. He also served as consul general to the United States for Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
In 1892, he merged several companies to form U. S. Rubber. In 1899 he repeated the same with Adams Chewing Gum, Chiclets, Dentyne, and Beemans to form American Chicle. He was also responsible for the formation of American Woolen in 1899.
He negotiated the Wright Brothers' first sales of airplanes overseas.[3]
His biggest achievement came in 1911 when he successfully merged four companies to form the CTR or Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company.[4] In 1924, the company was re-christened as International Business Machines and went on to dominate the computer industry in the USA for several decades. Flint served on the board of directors of IBM until 1930 when he retired.
For his financial dealings he earned the moniker "Father of Trusts".[5]
[edit] Other Information
Charles Flint was an avid sportsman and loved swimming, hunting, fishing, sailing, and aviation. He helped found the Automobile Club of America.
[edit] Bibliography
- Flint, Charles Ranlett (1923). Memories of an active life: Men, and ships, and sealing wax. G.P. Putnam's Sons.
- Flint, Charles Ranlett (1892). Industrial combinations: Address by Charles R. Flint, before The Commercial Club of Providence on the evening of April 29th, 1892.
- Flint, Charles Ranlett; James J. Hill, James H. Bridge, S. C. T. Dodd, Francis B. Thurber (1902). The Trust, Its Book: Being a presentation of the several aspects of the latest form of industrial revolution. Doubleday, Page & Co..
[edit] References
- ^ "Coal Merger?" (Monday, Feb. 16, 1925). Time V. New York: Time, Inc.. ISSN 0040-781X.
- ^ a b Stinson, John: The Charles Ranlett Flint Papers, 1872–1930, New York Public Library, November 1991.
- ^ "Obituary" (Monday, Feb. 26, 1934). Time XXIII. New York: Time, Inc.. ISSN 0040-781X.
- ^ IBM Archives: Frequently Asked Questions. Some accounts of the merger forming CTR state that three corporations were merged. This reference notes that only three of the four merged corporations are represented in the CTR name. That may be the reason for the differing accounts.
- ^ Cashman, Sean Dennis (1984), America in the Gilded Age: From the Death of Lincoln to the Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, New York: New York University Press, p. 57, ISBN 9780814713877, OCLC 9762495, <http://books.google.com/books?id=OWzQDhsWF4sC&printsec=frontcover#PPA57,M1>
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Flint, Charles Ranlett |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Flint, Charles R. |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | American businessman |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 24, 1850 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Thomaston Maine, United States |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 26, 1934 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |
