Julius Fromm
| Julius Fromm | |
|---|---|
| Born |
17 August 1883 Konin, Poland |
| Died | 12 May 1945 (aged 62) London, United Kingdom |
| Occupation | Chemist and businessman |
Julius Fromm (4 March 1883 – 12 May 1945) was a German entrepreneur of Polish-Jewish descent, a chemist and inventor of a process for making condoms from liquefied rubber.
Fromm was born in Konin, Poland, which was part of the Russian Empire at the time. When he was ten years old his family left for Berlin in search of a better life there. There, the family made a living by rolling cigarettes as many Eastern European Jews of Berlin did at the time. Julius's parents died young, so he was forced to take care of himself and his six siblings from the age of fifteen. As mechanization gradually replaced manual production, Fromm started attending evening classes in chemistry.
With World War I, Germany experienced a rapid liberalization of sexual values and sexually transmitted diseases spread rapidly. During this time, the majority of condoms were still made of "skin": chemically treated intestine or bladder. Rubber condoms were also available; they were made by wrapping raw rubber sheets around molds, then dipping them in a solution to vulcanize the rubber. In 1912, Fromm invented the cement dipping method, which made a thinner, seamless condom. Instead of working with rubber as a solid material, it was mixed with gasoline or benzene. This made it a liquid in which molds could be dipped. Fromm patented his invention in 1916. Mass production started in 1922 and was a great success—Fromms Act, as they were called, becoming the first brand-name condoms—which allowed the entrepreneur soon to open up branches in Denmark, the United Kingdom, Poland, and the Netherlands. Fromms became a synonym for condom in Germany. In 1920 Fromm was naturalized a German citizen. In 1928, the first condom vending machines were installed by Fromm's company, but the interior ministry only allowed it to advertise the hygienic advantages of condoms, not the condom's use as a contraceptive, because it feared a further decrease of the birth rate.
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