June i, 1907. J 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



287 



THE RUBBER TRADE AT TRENTON. 



BY A RESIDENT CORRESPONDENT. 



TTilE Joseph Stokes Rubber Co. filed with the secretary of 

 * state of New Jersey on May 11, 1907, a certificate amendatory 

 of their articles of incorporation, increasing their capital stock 

 from $150,000 to $250,000. The new issue is coniposej of $150,- 

 000 in 6 per cent, cumulative preference shares, and $100,000 in 

 common stock. The increase was decided upon by the directors 

 on .\pril 26 and was ratified by the stockholders May 

 3. The company was incorporated March 17, 1897, with 

 a capital of $50,000. The growth of business made neces- 

 sary an extension of the equipment, and on October 6, 1905. the 

 authorized capital was increased to $150,000. The demands of an 

 increasing trade have made this second increase necessary. 

 .According to the certificate filed there are 937 shares of pre- 

 ferred and 500 shares of common stock outstanding. The 

 incorporators of the company were Joseph Stokes, William J. B. 

 Stokes, Joseph O. Stokes, and Charles E. Stokes. The present 

 otficers are Charles E. Stokes, president, and Joseph O. Stokes, 

 secretary. The latest increase in capital will be devoted to an 

 extension of the hard rubber business of the company. Though 

 they manufacture mechanical rubber goods, their principal work 

 is turning out a full line of hard rubber articles. The factory is 

 being operated several evenings each week. The company are 

 putting in a new 125 HP. boiler built by the Biggs Boiler Co., of 

 .Akron. They will also erect a brick fireproof vault 20x20 feet 

 in which to store their large stock of dies. 



The Eagle Rubber Cement Co. report business as prosperous. 

 During the past three years they have been gradually extending 

 their trade and they now sell cement to all sections of this 

 country, and export to Germany, France, and other countries. 

 .•\<loIph Biller is president of the company, and A. K. Leuckel 

 secretary and treasurer. The cement is the invention of Mr. 

 Biller, who formerly was with the Eclipse Cement and Blacking 

 Co., of Philadelphia. 



William P. Coldron, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, has filed two 

 suits in the United States circuit court at Trenton against the 

 Empire Rubber Manufacturing Co.. of this city, alleging infringe- 

 ment of patents. In his bill of complaint in the first case Mr. 

 Coldron alleges that in 1902 he made a trade agreement with 

 the Empire company by wliich the latter were to manufacture 

 preserving jar rings with a machine on which the complainant 

 owned the patent. This contract, he alleges, expired in May, 

 1905, but since that time the Empire company have continued 

 to use the machine and to make the rings in violation of the 

 contract. The second suit is similar. It involves a machine for 

 the manufacture of "lipped" sealing rings for fruit jars. In this 

 case the allegations are practically the same as in the other. The 

 Empire company have not yet filed an answer. 



City Treasurer W. J. B. Stokes, of the Trenton, Joseph Stokes, 

 and Home rubber companies, is on an extended trip through the 

 West, combining business with pleasure. He planned to visit 

 Utah, Nevada, California, and Oregon, returning by way of 

 Minneapolis and Chicago, and is expected to return to Trenton 

 about Tune S. 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN SAN FRANCISCO. 



BY .\ RESIDENT CORKF.SrONDENT. 



'T'lIE Sterling Rubber Co., now located in their new and more 

 •^ commodious quarters at No. 301 Market street, are begin- 

 ning to receive some shipments of goods from the East. The 

 president of the company, Mr. W. M. Gibson, at present in the 

 northern part of the state, reports that territory in a flourishing 

 condition. The demand is growing for all lines and especially in 

 sundries better prices are being had and the quality of goods 

 demanded is almost always the best to be obtained. This com- 

 pany has secured the state agency for the Balata belt, which is 



proving a good seller. Mr. A. B. Nichols, coast representative of 

 the New York Leather Belting Co., reports from the state of 

 Washington that there are 45 mills throughout the Aberdeen 

 district using balata belts. 



The Bowers Rubber Works commemorated the first anni- 

 versary of the San Francisco fire by sending out their large new 

 catalogue and another illustrated booklet showing the new works 

 which they have built at Black Diamond. Mr. Chase reports for 

 the firm that they are extremely busy in all lines. 



Mr. Rumsey, representative of the James W. Byrnes Hose 

 and Belting Co. (St. Louis), recently visited the trade in San 

 Francisco. .Mso Mr. Gibbs, representing the Manhattan Rubber 

 Manufacturing Co. (New York). 



Mr. U. R. Grant, one of the best known men in the local 

 rubber trade, and for many years manager of the Gorham Rub- 

 ber Co., has become outside representative of the new branch 

 of the Pennsylvania Rubber Co., which has been established in 

 San Francisco. Mr. L. L. Torrey, who formerly represented this 

 company on the coast as traveling salesman, will take charge of 

 the new branch as inside man. The new store is located at No. 

 512 Mission street. It will carry a full line of rubber goods and 

 will also have a tire repair plant. 



Mr. Frank S. Roberts, formerly traveling salesman for the 

 Seattle branch of the Gorham Rubber Co., has come to take the 

 position left vacant by the resignation of Mr. Grant, the former 

 manager. George W. Wright has been sent out by The B. F. 

 Goodrich Co. to locate with the Gorham Rubber Co., who handle 

 the Goodrich tires, to look out after the trade in the West. 



Mr. R. H. Pease, president of the Goodyear Rubber Co.. on 

 his return from his Eastern trip, states that he finds conditions 

 at home very good. '"Things are getting down to the normal 

 again," he said. "We had great difficulty for a while in getting 

 ducks, drills and sheeting with which to work, but these are 

 being turned out now so that we can go ahead as usual. Business 

 for April of this year has been better than ever before, and 

 prospects for the general trade in California are very favorable, 

 although, of course, at present the street car strike has made 

 business dull in San Francisco, and while that lasts we are 

 simply turning our attention to the country trade." This com- 

 pany has just got its new $7,000 press in operation and is now- 

 beginning to work on the big order for 700 concentrated belts 

 which they landed a short time ago. 



Joseph V. Selby, Pacific coast representative of the Boston 

 Woven Hose and Rubber Co., states that the business outlook 

 for the rubber houses, and in fact, all kinds of commodities, was 

 never better than at the present time. This is true not only in 

 the mechanical rubber lines, but in all lines of the business. The 

 business conditions here, he said, are away beyond normal, and 

 the outlook is that they will remain so for a long time to come. 



Mr. Chase, of the Bowers Rubber Co., reports that the work of 

 constructing their new permanent quarters on Sacramento street 

 is making progress, and that they expect to occupy it by the first 

 of June. They are working our plant day and night, such is the 

 demand for goods, making up for back orders and trying to keep 

 up with the current business. 



Max E. Licht, a well known local ., says, in relation 



to the rubber shoe trade during the recent rainy season: "People 

 wore rubber overshoes who had never worn them before. As a 

 rule the ordinary man in San Francisco, and women, too, go 

 through the winter without investing in a pair of rubber shoes, 

 but it was not that way this year, and along toward the close of 

 January when it began to look as though the rainy weather 

 never would quit, there was such a call for rubber goods that 

 every store in the city was completely out of stock. 



[Correction. — In the last issue of The Ixdi.v Rubber World 

 (page 255) Mr. H. W. Bogen, of No. 766 Golden Gate avenue, 

 who handles exclusively the Continental Caoutchouc Co.'s tires, 

 was inadvertently referred to as the Pacific coast representative 

 of another tire company.] 



