In 1853 he founded a rubber company in France[1] that was the predecessor of Hutchinson SA, a multinational industrial conglomerate.
Having acquired patent rights to the vulcanisation of rubber from Charles Goodyear[2] in 1853, Hutchinson went to France to set up a mill in Châlette-sur-Loing, Loiret.
He came up with the idea of producing rubber boots after he noticed that French farmers wore wooden clogs that kept them coming home with their feet wet and muddy.
[6] Hiram spent roughly a year in France, enough time to initiate manufacturing and turning over management of the factory to his son, Alcander.
The facility was established on the site of a former royal paper mill and employed foreign laborers after World War I.