Wrapped in Cellophane

For more than a year, giant E. I. du Pont de Nemours has been trying to drum up more competition for itself in the Cellophane business--and for a very good reason. The Justice Department had indicted Du Pont (which makes about 75% of U.S. Cellophane) on charges of monopolizing the business; Du Pont wanted more evidence to prove that this was not so. Although Du Pont offered to share its patents and know-how without charge, it could find no takers--and also for a very good reason. A new Cellophane plant would require an initial investment of around $20 million.

Last week, Du Pont finally found its long-sought competitors in Olin Industries, Inc., one of the biggest U.S. makers of cartridges, military small arms, and sporting rifles. Du Pont will sell Olin licenses on all Cellophane patents. Du Pont will also design and build a plant with a capacity of 33 million pounds of Cellophane a year on a fixed fee basis, and then help train Olin's personnel to get the operation started.-

Ordinarily, such news would have set Wall Street's eager speculators grabbing for Olin's stock. But Olin's 56-year-old President John M. Olin, and Vice President Spencer T. Olin, 48, his brother, have prudently kept most of the 2,000,000 shares of unlisted common stock to themselves, their gross and profit a secret.

Power Hitter. The tight-lipped brothers are masters of a tightly run empire with an estimated net worth in excess of $65 million. Its citadel is the sprawling Western Cartridge Co. at East Alton, Ill., on the Mississippi bluffs just north of St. Louis. This huge plant grew out of a blasting-powder business which their father, Franklin, founded in 1892.

Franklin had worked his way through Cornell by repairing farm machinery and playing professional baseball (for Toledo, where his batting average of .402 made him the American Association's best hitter in 1885). Settling in East Alton, Franklin began making and selling black powder to Illinois coal mines. World War I boomed his tidy company into big business, and that was when John started his training.

A Cornell-trained ('13) chemical engineer, John got his first good job at 25, running a brass mill to make shell-casings during World War I. In 1931, when New Haven's Winchester Repeating Arms Co. went into receivership, John spotted a chance to supplement the Olin cartridge line by buying one of the world's biggest sporting-firearm plants for $8,000.000. Since he likes to hunt, John has since neatly combined business with pleasure. He holds some 20 basic cartridge patents (e.g., Western Cartridge's "Super X" long-range load for small arms).

Small Fire. In World War II, John helped push the company to a peak employment of 61,685 (today's: 10,000). Their Winchester plant in New Haven developed the famed U.S. Mi carbine in 13 days, turned out nearly 500,000 Mis, along with more than 500,000 Garands. The Olins ran the St. Louis Ordnance plant, turned out a total of over six billion loaded rounds of ammunition. At war's end Franklin Olin stepped down as president (at 89, he is still a director), and John, long the big wheel in fact, took over.

With peace, the Olins branched out into such products as rollerskates, flashlights and skeet traps. The newest product: a tiny battery not much bigger than a penny, for. miniature radios and hearing aids. Brother John figures that the new Cellophane plant will add some $15 million a year to Olin Industries' gross. Said he, with feeling: "We look forward with real enthusiasm to Cellophane."

-Since 1908, Du Pont and Olin have each owned 49% of the Equitable Powder Manufacturing Co., which in turn controls three small subsidiaries which make blasting powder and dynamite.

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