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THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



March i, 1907. 



THE ACTIVE HEAD OF THE "NATIONAL." 



T"'!!!'; Xatioiia! India Rubber Co., Bristol, Rhode Island, on 

 ■*• account of the size of the plant, the varied lines manu- 

 factured, and the arrangement of the power plant and factory 

 buildings, has always been a difi'cult proposition to handle suc- 

 cessfully and economically. That this is now being done and that 

 it is under the management of Le Baron C. Colt, a nephew of 

 the president of the United States Rubber Co., and son of Judge 

 Colt, is of more than passing interest. Mr. Colt's training for 

 his present position covers a number of years and was of the 

 most severe nature 



Back in 1899, after 

 Iiis graduation from 

 Brown University, he 

 entered the employ of 

 the National India 

 Rubber Co. as a 

 workman by the day, 

 his first experience 

 lieing in the cloth 

 loom, where he got a 

 I borough knowledge 

 "f all the varied fab- 

 rics used in rubber 

 manufacture. From 

 there he went into 

 the mill room, first as 

 liclper, then as mixer, 

 where he learned to 

 handle the grinder 

 with the most expert, 

 and in time was ad- 

 vanced to the calen- 

 der and in that posi- 

 tion finally became an 

 expert calender man. 

 Thence he went into 

 the cutting room and 

 learned both hand and machine cutting thoroughly. Next he 

 took in the making-up department, and learned with his own 

 hands to make shoes, boots and arctics, and then went into the 

 heater room and spent several months not only running dry heats, 

 but studying the whole subject. 



It was about this time that the management appointed Mr. Colt 

 assistant superintendent, which gave him considerable time to 

 devote to the laboratory and to experimental work, for which line 

 he developed unusual fitness. Next, to learn the market for the 

 goods, he went on the road for some time as traveling salesman 

 for the company. In January, 1905, he was appointed agent and 

 general superintendent and at once took hold of the problem 

 of getting order out of the heterogeneous aggregation of build- 

 ings and machinery that represented the largest rubber factory, 

 territorially, in the United States. Beginning at the power plant, 

 he consolidated the machinery, built a new calender room, did 

 away with much antiquated machinery, and arranged the whole 

 so that the handling of all goods, either in process of manufac- 

 ture or finished, was reduced to a very low cost. 



Then one by one he reorganized the various departments. He 

 began with the shoe department, for example, and increased its 

 capacity from 18,000 to 30,000 pairs a day. The insulated wire 

 department, which was off at a di.stance, was brought into one of 

 the main factory buildings and the output increased from 60,000 

 feet to 200,000 feet a day. The same intelligent work was put 

 upon the druggists' sundries department, the mechanical rubber 

 goods department, and the clothing and rubber cloth depart- 

 ments. In other words, every department, while it is run as a 

 separate factory, is close to the central power plant and is not 

 only economically operated but the output has been so increased 



wiiliout adding to the overhead charges that the business is 

 Iiandled more easily and is infinitely more profitable. 



Mr. Colt was born in Bristol in 1877, in which city he has his 

 home, his wife being the daughter of Rear Admiral Converse, of 

 the I'nited States Navv. 



Le B.aron C. Colt. 



THE RUBBER STAMP TRADE. 



PROM all accounts the rubber stamp trade in the United States 

 •^ appears to have been in an exceptionally satisfactory con- 

 dition during the past year, and it continues so at the present 

 time. There is reported an increasing demand for all kinds of 

 goods embraced under this heading, with the result that stamp 

 makers have been able to obtain better prices than at some periods 

 in the past. In keeping with other rubber products, stamp rub- 

 ber has been advancing in price, until the figure is probably higher 

 now than at any previous date. One rubber stamp manufacturer 

 informs The India Rubber World that on the goods he pur- 

 chases three distinct advances have been made during the past 

 twelve months. 



The increased demand for rubber stamps has kept pace with 

 the general prosperity, in addition to which various causes have 

 contributed to an increased sale of stamps. For instance, the 

 Pure Food law, which went into effect on January i, provided 

 that all goods in stock in the hands of large or small dealers on 

 December 31, 1906, could be marketed under the original labels 

 if a statement were annexed that the goods were actually in stock 

 on the date named. Dealers generally have found it convenient 

 to use a rubber stamp in affixing this statement, and as there 

 are tens of thousands of dealers in the United States, the demand 

 for stamps from this cause alone has been very marked. The 

 same regulation relates to drugs, proprietary medicines, liquors, 

 etc., as to food. The new law requiring an accurate statement of 

 the contents of food packages becomes fully efifective on October 

 I next, and until this time the rubber stamps referred to will be 

 in requisition. 



The same improvement tliat has been seen in the rubber stamp 

 trade applies likewise to the trade in rubber type, which of late 

 years has reached very important proportions. Rubber type is 

 used in window signs, in marking goods with prices or descrip- 

 tive labels, and in various other ways where economy is experi- 

 enced in its use instead of having cards or labels supplied by 

 regular printers. 



The export trade in rubber type has reached considerable im- 

 portance, but the demand abroad for American made rubber 

 stamps has grown less rapidly. In this respect the competition 

 of German makers has been felt in many quarters. British com- 

 petition has been less marked, and an American manufacturer 

 asserts that stamps could be exported readily to England. 



No estimate exists as to the volume of the rubber stamp trade 

 in the United States, particularly as it is carried on, as a rule, 

 with allied trades. There are a number of houses, however, 

 that are credited with using 500 to 1000 or more pounds each 

 per month of stamp rubber, which would indicate a very consid- 

 erable total consumption in a year. 



There are several firms who make a specialty of the sale of 

 rubber stamp outfits, including vulcanizers and the like, and 

 these report a very satisfactory foreign demand. There is to-day 

 practically no country or colony in which rubber stamps are not 

 used, and in most of them these stamps are made, and the United 

 States have had a good share in supplying the outfits. 



In addition to the sale of stamps direct to users, many of the 

 larger concerns sell stamps at wholesale to operators in the trade 

 who solicit orders but do not make their own stamps. Formerly 

 there have been times when these middlemen, in the keen com- 

 petition for business, have led to the cutting of prices to an un- 

 reasonably low level, but of late the active condition of the trade 

 has caused this condition to disappear, and satisfactory prices are 

 the rule throughout the country. 



