Robert Hermann Foerderer (May 16, 1860July 26, 1903) was an American businessman and politician who served as a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Pennsylvania's at-large congressional district from 1901 to 1903 and Pennsylvania's 4th congressional district in 1903. He owned Robert H. Foerderer, Inc. which produced leather goods and invented a chrome tanning technique to create a leather product he trademarked Vici Kid. He died in office in 1903, possibly due to chromate poisoning from his years handling chromium to perfect his chrome tanning technique. Early life Robert H. Foerderer was born in Bad Frankenhausen, in the German Confederation principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. His parents were U.S. citizens and were visiting the place of their birth. His father Edward was a manufacturer of Morocco leather. Robert attended public and private schools in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania but did not attend college In 1881, he married Caroline Fischer and together they had two children. Business career He worked for a brief time as a bank clerk and entered the leather industry as an apprentice at his father's morocco leather business. In 1885, he established Robert H. Foerderer, Inc., which also manufactured leather goods. Foerderer invented a chrome tanning technique for treating animal skin with chromium sulfate that resulted in a soft and supple leather for the production of handbags, shoes and gloves. His technique reduced the tanning time from four months to two to three weeks. He named his leather product Vici Kid — "Vici" being Latin for "I conquered" and "kid" referring to the goat skin used to make the leather. Foerderer also partnered with the Rohm & Haas chemical company to implement the use of Oropon as a replacement for dog dung in the leather softening process. His company began as a one-room factory in the Frankford section of Philadelphia and eventually grew to cover 17 acres. The factory employed over 4,000 people and processed 50,000 skins per day. His company also used the by-products of leather production to produce hide glue and goat hair for various uses. The glue plant was located in Philadelphia's Bridesburg neighborhood, and the goat-hair factory was near the leather plant. His Vici Kid leather product won the grand prize and gold medal in a competition at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, which introduced the product to a large audience and created demand. He served as president and director of the Keystone Telephone