Charles R. Flint

Charles Ranlett Flint (January 24, 1850 – February 26, 1934) was the founder of the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company which later became IBM. For his financial dealings, he earned the moniker "Father of Trusts". He was an avid sportsman and member of the syndicate that built the yacht ''Vigilant'', that was the U.S. defender of the eighth America's Cup and was the owner of the yacht ''Gracie''.

Early life and family

Flint was born on January 24, 1850 in Thomaston, Maine. 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 City where his father ran the family's mercantile firm Chapman & Flint, which had been founded in 1837.Stinson, John
The Charles Ranlett Flint Papers, 1872–1930
, New York Public Library, November 1991. Flint married the composer Kate Simmons in 1883.

Business career

In 1868, Charles Flint graduated from Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute (now New York University - Tandon School of Engineering) 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.

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 consolidated several companies to form U.S. Rubber. In 1893, he fitted out a fleet of naval ships for Brazilian Republic. He purchased the from the Chilean Navy and delivered it via Ecuador to Japan during the First Sino-Japanese War. In 1899, he repeated the success he had in forming U.S. Rubber by consolidating Adams Chewing Gum, Chiclets, Dentyne, and Beemans to form American Chicle. He was also responsible for the formation of The American Woolen Company that year. Some newspapers began to refer to him as "the Rubber King".

In 1911, he formed the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company through the amalgamation (via stock acquisition) of four companies: The Tabulating Machine Company, International Time Recording Company, Computing Scale Company of America, and the Bundy Manufacturing Company."Tabulating Concerns Unite: Flint & Co. Bring Four Together with $19,000,000 capital"
''The New York Times''. June 10, 1911. ''Amalgamation'' was unusual at the time - Flint described it as an ''"allied" consolidation''. In 1924, CTR was re-christened as International Business Machines. Flint served on the board of directors of IBM until he retired in 1930.

He died on February 26, 1934, in Washington, D.C.

Legacy

Charles Flint was an avid sportsman and loved swimming, hunting, fishing, sailing, and aviation. He was one of seven founders of the Automobile Club of America. He held the world water speed record.

His ''Time'' magazine obituary stated he negotiated the Wright brothers' first sales of airplanes overseas.
But it was the Wrights themselves, in sometimes contentious negotiations with Charles R. Flint & Co., who determined contract terms.

Bibliography

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References

External links

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Charles Ranlett Flint
at the IBM Archives

{{DEFAULTSORT:Flint, Charles Ranlett
1850 births
1934 deaths
American manufacturing businesspeople
American technology company founders
American Woolen Company
Businesspeople from Maine
IBM people
Polytechnic Institute of New York University alumni
People from Thomaston, Maine