Alvah Curtis Roebuck

Alvah Curtis Roebuck ( born June 9, 1864 in Lafayette, Indiana, † June 18, 1948 in Chicago, Illinois) was a mechanic and co-founder of Sears Roebuck & ( 1887-1895 ) American entrepreneur. From 1897 to 1909 he was president of Enterprise Optical Equipment Manufacturing Company, and from 1909 to 1924 president of the Woodstock Typewriter Company.

Richard Sears and Alvah Roebuck

Roebuck worked as a watchmaker in a jewelery shop in Hammond, Indiana. On April 1, 1887 an ad from Chicago found his attention, in which a watchmaker was sought. Roebuck had always dreamed to move west, but with the display of the North was just as well. This display had given Richard Warren Sears. Roebuck brought the entire knowledge of the repair of watches and love with the mechanics. Sears had opened on 1 March 1887 business in the Dearborn Street in Chicago with three employees; One accountant and two stenographers for correspondence, under the name RW Sears Watch Company changed its name.

In 1888 the company released the first of his famous mail order catalogs. It consisted of 80 pages and recruited mainly for watches and jewelry. As a printing company that was able to print a catalog, Roebuck found the company WB Conkey in Hammond, Indiana. At various times between 1888 to 1891 Sears was bored with the business and sold his share Roebuck. With 25 years, Sears retired from the company and sold his company half of Roebuck, who then founded the company AC Roebuck. But Sears was soon bored and came back. After a year as a silent partner, they took the name of Sears Roebuck and.

Within two years, the catalog grew to 322 pages, filled with clothing, jewelry, and durable goods such as sewing machines, bicycles, and even musical instruments. Sears was a clever and aggressive seller - a colleague once said of him: "He could probably sell a breath of air " - Sears undercut its competition by buying discontinued lines and returns of manufacturers gave discounts on to customers. In 1894, the Sears catalog announced that Sears the "cheapest supply house in the world " is.

With the growth of the business and Roebuck's fears grew for the obligations towards their suppliers. He asked Sears to payment of his share. Once this new partner had been found in Aron Nusbaum and Julius Rosenwald, he paid Roebuck in 1895 a settlement of $ 25,000.

Sears Roebuck did not just pull, but entrusted him with the oversight of various subsidiaries, the different products manufactured as subcontractors.

Enterprise Optical Company

The company, founded in Chicago by Alvah C. Roebuck 1896 Enterprise Optical Company began after a predecessor magic lantern its work in 1898 with the sale of the first constructed by Roebuck projector Opti graph, which was sold through the catalog of Sears Roebuck and Company. It is thus forerunner of the modern slide projection and film projection. He was considered one of the most robust and reliable in practice projectors models at all and was the forerunner of the Motiograph Model No. 1, 1908, introduced ( registered as a trademark in 1909 ) the company. The Maltese cross was interchangeable and could be removed for repairs from the apparatus, without that you had to disassemble the projector.

Its successor from 1913 made ​​with double flywheels for better tracking and with a three -blade shutter for a significant reduction of the flicker. The Model E was followed in 1916; it contained a motor and a new lens mount, which allowed the presenter to change the look without touching the lenses. More models - among others for widescreen movie formats, for later sound film - followed. The reliability of the Motiographen was legend. In 1936 the company in Motiograph, Inc. has been renamed.

The Emerson ( later Woodstock ) typewriter

According to the records of Roebuck, he became in 1909 managing director of Emerson Typewriter Company and he learned in the next few years a lot about how they work. In 1912, he tried it with a model of Harris. He seemed to know what was not right on the machine. In 1914 she was re-opened as Woodstock Typewriter Company, and was immediately successful. 1922 showed that an experienced typist could write on a Woodstock 120 words per minute; the Weltrekorf was 125 words / minute on a Underwood model.

As Roebuck with 65 years enjoying his retirement in Florida, the stock market crashed on October 29, 1929 together suddenly. Roebuck financial losses were so severe that he went to Sears, Roebuck & Co. again and Julius Rosenwald asked for employment. Rosenwald asked him to deal with the company's history. In September 1934, was one of the department store tenant must appear in person. That was such a huge success that Roebuck until the early 1940s to visit the offices serving the Americas and had to talk about the beginnings of the company.