André Jules Michelin (16 January 1853 – 4 April 1931) was a French
industrialist
A business magnate, also known as an industrialist or tycoon, is a person who is a powerful entrepreneur and investor who controls, through personal enterprise ownership or a dominant shareholding position, a firm or industry whose goods or ser ...
who, with his brother
Édouard (1859–1940), founded the
Michelin Tyre Company (''Compagnie Générale des Établissements Michelin'') in 1888 in the French city of
Clermont-Ferrand
Clermont-Ferrand (, , ; or simply ; ) is a city and Communes of France, commune of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regions of France, region, with a population of 147,284 (2020). Its metropolitan area () had 504,157 inhabitants at the 2018 ...
.
In 1900, André Michelin published the first
Michelin Guide
The ''Michelin Guides'' ( ; ) are a series of guide books that have been published by the French tyre company Michelin since 1900. The ''Guide'' awards up to three Michelin star (classification), stars for excellence to a select few restaurants ...
, the purpose of which was to promote tourism by
car
A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people rather than cargo. There are around one billio ...
, thereby supporting his
tyre manufacturing operation.
In 1886, 33-year-old André Michelin abandoned his career as a successful Parisian engineer to take over his grandfather's failing agricultural goods and farm equipment business. Established in 1832, "Michelin et Cie" suffered from neglect and was on the verge of
insolvency
In accounting, insolvency is the state of being unable to pay the debts, by a person or company ( debtor), at maturity; those in a state of insolvency are said to be ''insolvent''. There are two forms: cash-flow insolvency and balance-sheet i ...
following the founder's death. Michelin's grandfather had started the company that sold farm equipment and an odd assortment of
vulcanized rubber products, such as belts,
valve
A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or Slurry, slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically Pip ...
s and
pipes. As soon as André took the helm of the company, he recruited his younger brother Édouard to join him at the company. Édouard was named the company's managing director. While duly committed to the success of the business, neither brother had any prior experience selling goods or had the slightest idea where to even begin.
In 1889, a cyclist familiar with the Michelin Company approached Édouard with his flat tyre seeking assistance. Getting a flat tyre frequently meant cyclists were left stranded for hours. In the late 1880s, cycling was becoming a popular form of transportation and hobby due in large part to
John Dunlop's 1888 patent for the inflatable
bicycle tyre. Before Dunlop's invention, bicycle tyres were made out of solid rubber. The solid rubber tyres tended to provide little traction and made for a difficult and uncomfortable ride.
After the hapless cyclist approached the Michelin Company for assistance, Édouard took great interests in the new pneumatic tyres. The Michelins recognized that there would be a great demand for pneumatic tyres if only there was a way to more quickly make repairs. They reasoned that first the wheel must become detachable. Édouard conducted a series of experiments and developed a number of prototypes. In 1891, he was granted a patent for a detachable tire.
André and his brother Édouard were inducted into the
Automotive Hall of Fame in
Dearborn, Michigan
Dearborn is a city in Wayne County, Michigan, Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring Metro Detroit, suburb of Detroit, Dearborn borders Detroit to the south and west, roughly west of downtown Detroit. In the 2020 United States ...
in 2002.
[''Ward's Auto World''. May 2002, Vol. 38 Issue 5, p21. 1/6p.]
References
External links
*André Michelin at th
Automotive Hall of Fameofficial website.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Michelin, Andre
1853 births
1931 deaths
Businesspeople from Paris
French industrialists
French automotive pioneers
Lycée Louis-le-Grand alumni
École Centrale Paris alumni
Michelin people
French company founders