March l, 1907. 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



177 



Madero family, the officers being Salvador Madcro, president ; 

 Ernesto Madero, vice president; Francisco Madero, secretary; 

 Gustavo A. Madero, treasurer; Domingo Valdes Llano, general 

 manager, and Elliott W. Knight, superintendent. They have one 

 factory in operation at Parras, Coahuila, and two others in pro- 

 cess of construction. One of these is at Las Delicias, Coahuila, 

 which will be ruiniiiiH in June, and another at Cuatros Cienegas, 

 Coahuila, which will be in operation early in April. They claim 

 for the three factories named tons of shrub as follows : 



Parras 60,000 tons. 



Las Delicias 20,000 tons. 



Cuatros Cienegas jo.ooo tons. 



They further claim that this company and another Madero com- 

 pany have in sight and control 130,000 tons of shrub. Further 

 than this they have a concession from the state of Zacatecas for 

 erecting extracting plants on the state lands. The Maderos are 

 very large land owners, their guayulc land holdings aniouiuing to 

 300,000 odd acres. They own also the hacienda del Calabazal in 

 Zacatecas and are in partnership with the Hacienda dc Las Deli- 

 cias S. A. and the Compania Ganadera de la Merced S. A. at 

 Cuatro? Cienegas. Salvador iladero has also formed a partner- 

 ship with Francisco del Hoyo, who owns the hacienda San Tibur- 

 cio, where it is claimed there are 76,500 tons of shrub. This is 

 to be operated under the name of Salvador Madero y Cia. S. en C. 

 Early in May this company will have a factory established at 

 Vanegas, San Luis Potosi. 



The third large interest is the Compania Explotadora de 

 Caucho Mexicana, known formerly as L' Anglo-Mexicana. This 

 company at the present time has factories in operation at Saltillo. 

 where Mr. H. G. Gunther is manager, and at Jimulco, where 

 Julian Fritz is manager. A third factory is being erected at 

 Saltillo, near the present plant. Dr. Adolpho Marx, S. en C, with 

 headquarters in Mexico City, is partner and general manager of 

 the business. Foreign partners are said to be the Dresdner Bank, 

 Berlin, the great Harburg-Wien Rubber Co., and other German 

 capitalists. It is gossiped that this company also practically con- 

 trols some of the small plants which claim that they operate inde- 

 pendently. It also owns the Pranipolini. Bergner, Fritz, Marx, 



Washers in a Guavule F.vctlrv. 



and other patents. Just what their supply of shrub is they do 

 not state, but Katterfeldt gives them 50,000 tons. 



The Mexican Crude Rubber Co., formerly the Coahuila Mining 

 and Smelting Co., has two factories at Viesca. Coahuila, and are 

 erecting another at Cedral, San Luis Potosi. The company is a 

 Michigan corporation, with a capital of $1,500,000. They claim 

 to have contracts for 50.000 to 75.000 tons of shrub and to own 

 a large hacienda on which are some 20,000 tons of shrub. The 

 officers are Ralph M. Dyar. president, and \V. E. Parker, general 

 tnanager, both of Detroit, Michigan. 



There are in Torrcon, in addition to the Continental company, 

 four small factories: (l) that of Charles J. McGregor, which is 

 run as a private enterprise; (2) the International company (La 

 Internacional Mexicana Compania, Guayulera, S. A.), of which 

 A. L. Valdespino is the president; (3) the Torreon Rubber Manu- 

 facturing Co., in which Scheiss & Co., large hardware dealers, 

 are interested, and (4) the Delafond Rubber Co., owned by San 

 Francisco people, but not now in operation. At Gomez Palacio, 

 not far from Torreon, is the factory of the National Rubber Co. 

 This is ov^ned by Texas capitalists, the officers being Otto Koeh- 

 ler, president; Otto Wahrmund, vice president, and William Ma- 

 genau, general manager. There is also the factory of Oton Kat- 

 terfeldt in the same town, and a factory soon to be established 

 by Torres and Valdespino. 



At San Luis Potosi there is the factory of the Guayule Rubber 

 Co., of which W. O. Franklin is the president and general man- 

 ager, and a factory of the Mocteznnia Kuhlier Co Two other 



Drying Room in the Guayule F.actorv. 



factories are planned for this section, one for the International 

 Guayule Rubber Co., and one for parties not yet named. 



THE PATENT QITESTION. 



Under Mexican laws anyone is granted a patent for any- 

 thing without examination or protection. To enjoy its 

 benefits and shut others out the granted patent must be 

 examined and its novelty certified to by the government. If this 

 is done he is protected ; if the examiner reports no novelty the 

 public is free to make use of the machine or process claimed. 

 There is, however, the opportunity of appeal in lesser courts, and 

 up to a supreme court in case of an adverse decision. 



Most of the manufacturers of guayule rubber in Mexico claim 

 that of the many patents taken out in the republic none can be 

 protected. Two large companies, however, who have bought 

 many patents and taken out others, are equally firm in their con- 

 viction that their patents at least are good and are prepared to 

 put up all the money necessary to back up their opinion. 



OTTATTTLE IN THE BUBBEB FACTOHY. 



Rubber manufacturers were somewhat afraid of guayule 

 when it first appeared on the market because of its softness 

 and its slow vulcanizing qualities. They have, however, by 

 learning to use the rubber, overcome most of the apparent diffi- 

 culties and find it available for a great many types of goods. For 

 example, it makes an exceedingly strong hard rubber, although it 

 must be combined with a better grade of rubber. It, however, 

 gives a gloss to ebonite that makes very beautiful goods. In 

 mechanical goods, and. indeed, in all soft rubber work, it needs 

 the addition of ingredients that are of a drying nature. For this 

 reason it works exceedingly well with the dryer and harder types 

 of reclaimed rubber, and with such intractable gums as balata. 

 [Continued Next Month.] 



