The Zenith Rubber Company Pty Ltd was registered on June 1, 1912 with an authorised capital of £10,000, in shares of £1 each (1).The mill was located on the Yarra River, South Yarra, next to the Church Street Bridge.
The Company manufactured tyres for the ever increasing number of motor vehicles on the roads - in 1911 there were about 3,000 motor cars registered and by 1916 this had increased to 18,000 (2).
In January 1919, The Herald reported in an advertorial that Zenith Rubber had been taken over by Economic Rubber Works (3). The Victoria Government Gazette published on December 6 1919, that Zenith Rubber Company P/L was dissolved and struck off the Companies Register (4). Despite this, there were references to Zenith Rubber Mills in articles and 'situations vacant' advertisements, well into 1921. For example, in April 1921 the Rubber Works Mill in South Yarra, was broken into by three men. The Company was named in various newspaper reports as either the Zenith Rubber Works or the Economic Rubber Works. There was extensive reporting on this robbery as the men were all found guilty initially but one of them, Charles Everitt had his conviction overturned on appeal; he had two more trails where the jury could not reach a verdict and then a fourth trial held in July 1921, where he was found guilty (5).
In September 1926 the Company was at the Royal Melbourne Show, as that year an even larger section than formerly, is devoted to the display of motor cars and accessories (7). As The Age reported -
A matter of great economic interest to motorists is that of reducing the running costs of the car. One big factor in cost is that of tyres. Knowing the necessity of reducing running costs and the big part tyres play in the upkeep of cars, the Economic Rubber Works decided to try and reduce the tyre bill. How far they have succeeded for the benefit of motorists the undermentioned figures will show. Having an extensive and up to date plant to use for experiments, they concentrated on the retreading department first, with gratifying results. Tyre casings as now constructed, viz., "cords," will stand retreading, and by the extra mileage the Economic Rubber Works can give for a nominal sum the tyre bill of a car is easily reduced by 50 per cent. This result has only been obtained by careful organising and the employment of expert workmen. The staff can handle up to 500 tyres a day. To enable Mr. Engelhardt, the head of this firm, to obtain this result, only the best of materials, of which large stocks are on hand, can be used. Rubber is bought in the overseas markets, and treated at the mills, in Duke-street, Richmond. The machinery for the most part was made in the engineering works on the premises (8).
Though not the first of this type, the Lagruta tubeless car tyre is a remarkable local invention, with novel claims for special attention from motorists. Exhibited at stand 51A at the show, under its trade name - the "Cush'ee" - the tyre consists of a specially designed cover, having sturdy walls and tread construction, integral with which is a central rubber core having alternate rectangular air spaces and blocks of solid rubber. The action of these blocks and air spaces gives the tyre its specially good qualities of resiliency and lag lite. A demonstration of the riding abilities and safety of the tyre will be given at the Economic Rubber Works, Duke street, Richmond, at 10.30 a.m. tomorrow, and intending visitors will be driven to the works in demonstration cars which will leave the company's city depot at the corner of Exhibition and Lonsdale streets at 10.15 a.m (9).
Who was involved with the Company? A director listed in an article in 1913 was Herbert Oates Capes (10) but from around 1920 the name associated with the Zenith Rubber Mills / Economic Rubber Works was Charles Harold Engelhardt. He was clearly an entrepreneurial and innovative man in the tyre industry and had the business acumen and/or confidence to establish the largest self-contained treading plant in the Southern Hemisphere (11). We also know something of him because in the 1920s Engelhardt had a number of Court appearances. In March 1921 it was reported that Charles Harold Engelhardt, trading as the Zenith Rubber Works, of Chapel street, South Yarra, was charged with a breach of the War Precautions (Coal) Regulations, in having on February 14 used electric current for industrial purposes. He was fined £3 with £4/19/6 costs (12).
In December 1925, he was sentenced to two weeks in gaol for driving under the influence of liquor and offering the arresting policeman a bribe of £20 to 'square it.' (13). In January 1927, he was charged again with being drunk while in charge of a motor car, as well as using offensive language. The charge of being drunk was dismissed but he was fined £5 for offensive language (14). In February 1928, at the age of 40, he was found guilty of offensive behaviour for throwing fire crackers in the street at a prayer meeting. It was reported at the time by the arresting police officer, that Engelhardt had been drinking. The conviction was quashed on appeal (15).
In October 1929, The Herald reported on the formation of a new company - Retreads Pty. Ltd., manufacturers of and dealers in rubber tyres and rubber goods, etc. Registered office,268 Exhibition Street, Melbourne. Capital, £2000 in £1 shares. Directors: Charles Harold Engelhardt and Francis William Henry Mann (16). A month later in November 1929, The Herald reported on another new company - Economic Rubber Works Pty. Ltd. - Regd. office, cr. Lonsdale and Exhibition Streets, Melbourne.- Capital. £10,000 in £1 shares. Directors: Charles Harold Engelhardt and Francis William Henry Mann (17). This is interesting as supposedly Economic Rubber Works was already in existence at the same location and had taken over Zenith Rubber Company in 1919; in fact the first mention I can find of the company is June 1917 (18). It appears thus that the original Economic Rubber Works was split into two new companies in 1929.
Charles Engelhardt was back in the news and in Court again in 1931 where he disputed the legitimacy of his mother's will. Catherine Engelhardt had died July 5, 1931 and left an estate of £17,500. The judge found that indeed her will was illegitimate and the signatures of the two witnesses were forged, in fact were not only forged, but that the witnesses did not exist at all. The judge found that Mrs Engelhardt herself had signed as witnesses under fictitious names to keep secret the fact that she had made another will (19).
This wasn't the last we heard of Mrs Engelhardt and her legacy of litigation, as The Herald called it (20). Around March 1932, Economic Rubber Works went into liquidation and there was a dispute between the receivers of the Company and the Trustees of Mrs Engelhardt's will as before she died, she sold certain land, buildings and machinery in Lord Street, Richmond, to the Economic Rubber Works Pty. Ltd. for £4000. It was agreed that £1000 should represent the value of the land, and £3000 the value of the buildings and machinery. The Judge ruled that the liquidator could not remove any fixtures from the property until the whole of the purchase price had been paid (21).
On May 4, 1933 Mrs Englehardt's executors auctioned the Economic Rubber Works premises at 45-47 Duke Street, Richmond as well as the plant and equipment. The advertisement is below.
Trove list - I have created a list of items connected to the Zenith Rubber Company Economic Rubber Works and Charles Engelhardt, access it here.
Footnotes(1) The Herald, June 15 1912, see here and Victoria Government Gazette December 10, 1919, see here.
(2) Registration figures - Punch, June 29, 1911 see here; The Age March 8, 1916, see here.
(3) The Herald, January 6, 1919, see here.
(4) Victoria Government Gazette December 10, 1919, see here.
(7) The Age, September 20, 1926, see here.
(8) The Age, September 20, 1926, see here.
(9) The Herald, May 16, 1927, see here.
(10) The Herald, March 5, 1913, see here. Herbert Oates Capes, an Accountant, died December 17, 1953 aged 95 in Kew
(11) The Age June 21, 1926, see here.
(12) The Argus, March 26, 1921, see here.
(13) The Argus, December 22, 1925, see here.
(14) The Argus, January 20, 1927, see here.
(15) The Argus, February 13, 1928, see here; The Age April 24, 1928, see here.
(16) The Herald, October 24, 1929, see here.
(17) The Herald, November 25, 1929, see here. Francis William Henry Mann was the director of various companies including the Medical Electro Therapeutic Institute P/L registered in 1926; Gates Rubber Co P/L registered in 1931 and Amalgamated Rubber (Aust) P/L registered in 1938.
(18) The Age, June 5, 1917, see here.
(22) Family information - Personal notices in the newspapers; Electoral Rolls and the Indexes to the Victorian and NSW Birth, Deaths and Marriages.
