Jean Mantelet (1900–19 January 1991) was a French inventor and industrialist who founded the kitchen appliance company

Moulinex Moulinex is a Groupe SEB brand along with Rowenta, Calor, All-Clad, Lagostina, Krups, and Tefal, all household products brands. The company designed and produced the Mouli grater. The company was founded by Jean Mantelet who in 1932 invented the ...

Professional life

He studied at HEC Paris and in 1922 Jean Mantelet establishes himself as a manufacturer of hand pumps and agricultural sprayers. In 1932, Mantelet invents prize-winning the ''Moulin-Légumes'', a hand-crank

food mill A food mill (also called passatutto, purée sieve, moulinette, mouli légumes, or passe-vite) is a food preparation utensil for mashing and sieving soft foods invented in Brussels in 1928 by Victor Simon. Typically, a food mill consists of ...

for mashing and

purée A purée (or mash) is cooked food, usually vegetables, fruits or legumes, that has been ground, pressed, blended or sieved to the consistency of a creamy paste or liquid. Purées of specific foods are often known by specific names, e.g., apple ...

ing vegetables. The design is considered a forerunner to the modern

food processor A food processor is a kitchen appliance used to facilitate repetitive tasks in the preparation of food. Today, the term almost always refers to an electric-motor-driven appliance, although there are some manual devices also referred to as "food ...

. In 1978 he was listed among the 25 top most wealthy people in France. From 1951 to 1973 he was a consultant on French foreign trade. He was a municipal councillor in Alençon from 1959 to 1965. From 1971 to 1974 he was president of the Alençon Chamber of Commerce. In 1991 the route de Mamers in Alençon was renamed avenue Jean Mantelet.

Personal life

Born in east-

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

suburb of

Rosny-sous-Bois Rosny-sous-Bois () is a commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. It is the seat of the national centre of road information of the national gendarmerie. Population Heraldry Transport Rosny ...

to a family of artisans. His parents separated in 1903. His mother, working, placed him at the age of 12 in an

apprenticeship Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

at a

hosiery Hosiery, also referred to as legwear, describes garments worn directly on the feet and legs. The term originated as the collective term for products of which a maker or seller is termed a hosier; and those products are also known generically as ...

shop in the

rue de Rivoli Rue de Rivoli (; English: "Rivoli Street") is a street in central Paris, France. It is a commercial street whose shops include leading fashionable brands. It bears the name of Napoleon's early victory against the Austrian army, at the Battle of R ...

where he learned the basics of commerce and accounting. He won favour with the proprietor who saw the young man as his future successor. However the proprietor died in 1919 and Jean Mantelet was forced to join his father at his small hardware store. In 1929, he opened a small workshop at

Bagnolet Bagnolet () is a commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. History On 1 January 1860, the city of Paris was enlarged by annexing neighboring communes. On that occasion, a small part of the commune ...

where he made hand-powered kitchen equipment, the Manufacture d'Emboutissage de Bagnolet.

References

1900 births 1991 deaths 20th-century French inventors {{France-engineer-stub