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Note: The Philip Kammerer in Toledo may not be the same as the Philip Kammerer in Detroit. But there are two facts that are in favor of them being the same person:
1) Based on the birthplace of his two youngest sons, he was in Ohio in 1889.
2) The Gendron I. W. Company made wheels for tricycles. This ties in with Philip in Detroit's occupation as a maker of baby carriages.
"COMPANY HISTORY:
Toledo, thanks to Peter Gendron, has become prominent throughout the world for its development of the manufacture of metal wheels and for the quantity and quality of its output of that class of products. Mr. Gendron, came to the city at the age of twenty-one and found employment as a pattern maker in the Toledo Novelty Works, then conducted by Russell & Thayer. In 1871 he went to Detroit as a pattern maker for the Detroit Safe Company. As a boy he had worked in his father's wagon shop and while in Detroit he conceived the idea of a wire wheel. In 1875 he returned to Toledo, perfected his invention, first using the wire wheel on children's carriages. In 1877, with three associates he began the manufacture of wheels, but the company lacked sufficient capital to put the product on the market and consequently failed. Mr. Gendron did not lose faith in his invention, however, and after three years of persistent effort established a market for his wheels.
The Gendron Wheel Company was incorporated in 1880 and a small factory was started at 218 Summit Street. Within three years the business increased to such proportions that larger quarters became necessary. A site at the corner of Orange and Superior streets was purchased and a four-story building 100 feet square was erected. In 1890, the capital stock was increased to $300,000 and a few years later it was increased to $500,000. This company was not only the originator of the wire wheel, but it has always been the recognized leader in the manufacture of goods of that class. It makes bicycles, tricycles, invalid chairs, go-cars, baby carriages, doll carriages, coaster wagons, toy wheelbarrows, etc."
source: http://www.tricyclefetish.com/gendron.php
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