278 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[M w i, 1903. 



machines and processes of the different companies may be in 

 most cases practically identical, still nearly every factory does 

 have its carefully guarded secrets. Machines have been built 

 and are in use in Akron which, the owners implicitly believe, 

 are not duplicated in the works of any competitor. In connec- 

 tion with the guarding of factory secrets, and as evidence that 

 the secretiveness is not confined to the rubber industry, the 

 statement is made that the method of making carbon paper and 

 typewriter ribbons is known to not more than a score of per- 

 sons. While it may be true that not one among hundreds of 

 vistors to a rubber factory would learn anything the manufac- 

 turer would not be entirely willing he should know, it is also 

 true that, except for the policy of exclusion, Akron manufac- 

 turers would be overwhelmed by requests to be shown through 

 their establishments. As a rubber manufacturing center this 

 city is known far and wide, and every day strangers here ex- 

 press their curiosity to see " how rubber is made." In general, 

 to admit one is to admit all, and when it is considered that 

 nearly half a day could be spent in going from department to 

 department in the larger factories, allowing time for only a very 

 hasty inspection, it will be seen that the admission of visitors 

 would keep several guides busy. Very likely it was in Akron 

 that " D. L. R.'saw the sign which read : " Owing to our many 

 secret processes and special machines, we admit no guests to 

 our factory." He might have seen this notice in not more than 

 one place, but in effect it is posted in nearly, if not quite, all 

 the Akron rubber factories. 



* » * 



The plant of the People's Hard Rubber Co., sold on March 

 16, by James W. Hoffert, assignee, to James F. Giles, is being 

 dismantled by degrees and the machinery sold piecemeal here 

 and there. It is generally understood in Akron that the fac- 

 tory and premises are for sale and it has been rumored that 

 promoters of a prospective general rubber company had in 

 view the purchase of the property. Nothing, however, has 

 come of the matter. Goods and material on hand have all been 

 shipped away. 



Contracts have been let for the completion of the Akron and 

 B irberton belt line railroad, which will connect with five im- 

 portant trunk lines. The road will pass the entire length of 

 the five acre tract at Beaver and Carroll streets, purchased by 

 The B. F. Goodrich Co. a year ago, and will make of that lo- 

 cality a desirable site for almost any line of manufacturing. 



Plans are being prepared by The B. F. Goodrich Co. for the 

 erection of an addition to their machine shop. The new struc- 

 ture will be of brick, 50 x 75 feet and two stories in height. 



The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. have begun the manu- 

 facture of the Saunders compressed air golf ball, and have 

 enough orders already on hand to insure a considerable output 

 for this, their first season. Repeated tests on the mechanical 

 drive the company constructed have all been favorable. 



The Summit Rubber Co. are having plans prepared for an 

 addition which will more than double their present capacity. 

 A two story brick structure 60X125 feet is contemplated. The 

 company expect to add a line of mechanical goods to their 

 present output of molded and dipped goods. 



The Lilly Rubber Manufacturing Co., incorporated on Feb- 

 ruary 13, and now operating in a small plant in Barberton, have 

 begun the erection of a two story brick building 60X80 feet, 

 which will be the main structure of their establishment. 



Ex-Congressman George W. Crouse, who many years ago 

 aided in giving the rubber business its start in Akron by reason 

 of his faith in the Goodrich enterprise, has met with financial 

 reverses in the receivership of The Aultman- Miller & Co., har- 

 vester manufacturers, and the subsequent bankruptcy proceed- 



ings against that company and himself. Mr. Crouse as presi- 

 dent of The Aultman-Miller & Co. was an endorser upon their 

 paper to the extent of $1,500,000. He has been interested in 

 many other Akron institutions and, though not at all actively 

 identified with the rubber trade, has long held an honorary 

 position as second vice president of The B. F. Goodrich Co. 



Rubber sociables, though no new thing the country over, have 

 lately become popular among the young people of Akron 

 churches. In the aggregate the quantity of old rubber gathered 

 up by them is surprisingly large. 



Alexander Adamson, proprietor of the Adamson machine 

 shops, who reluctantly accepted the Prohibition nomination 

 for mayor, received the largest vote in the election on April 6 

 ever given a candidate of that party in Akron. His vote would 

 no doubt have been still larger, but that it became known be- 

 fore the election that in the event of his being elected he could 

 not leave his business to accept the position. Ex-State Rep- 

 resentative, Charles W. Kempel, Democrat, who was elected to 

 the mayoralty, is a member of the Painter's union, but his cam- 

 paign was not made as the candidate of the labor unions and 

 Mr. Kempel is prejudiced neither against the employers of 

 labor nor biased in favor of the unions. Superintendent Joseph 

 Dangel, of the local factory of the American Hard Rubber Co., 

 was elected councilman at large, and George S. Whitney, a 

 foreman of the Whitman & Barnes Manufacturing Co., was 

 elected to the council. 



John F. Druckemiller, lately manager of the Central Union 

 Telephone Co.'s Akron office, has been chosen secretary of the 

 Akron Manufacturers' Association, reference to the organiza- 

 tion of which was made in The India Rubber World for 

 April, and has opened offices in the Hamilton building. 



Colonel George T. Perkins, president of The B. F.Goodrich 

 Co., is expected at home by May 1 from a two months' sojourn 

 in California. 



Messrs. R. P. Marvin and E. C. Shaw, of The B. F. Goodrich 

 Co., returned on April 27 after an absence of seven weeks in 

 Europe. 



Manager T. W. Miller, of the Faultless Rubber Co., returned 

 on April 15 from the Pacific coast. He reports general activity 

 in the rubber trade beyond the Rockies. 



Advices received by the Colonial Tire and Rubber Co. indi- 

 cate much activity in the rubber trade, especially in France. 

 It is also stated that there has been a considerable decline in 

 the quantity of American rubber products shipped into France 

 and Germany. On the other hand, the American trade has 

 been making rapid inroads in South America and Central 

 America, where the trade of Germany and France has always 

 been large. 



A. H. Marks, superintendent of The Diamond Rubber Co., is 

 president, and C. B. Raymond, local manager of the American 

 Hard Rubber Co., is vice president, of the Young Men's auxil- 

 iary of the Akron City Hospital Association recently organized. 

 The object is to help provide for and maintain the enlarged 

 City Hospital, a charitable institution at the head of which the 

 older business have long stood ; and the latter now invite the 

 cooperation of the younger men. 



The Haskell Golf Ball Co. continue to be very busy. For 

 weeks their average output has exceeded 1000 dozen finished 

 balls daily. The litigation between the Haskell company and 

 other manufacturers for alleged infringements of patents re- 

 mains to be disposed of and will probably not come up in the 

 courts until the fall sessions. 



The Camp Rubber Co. (Ashland, Ohio), really an Akron 

 enterprise, have engaged in the manufacture of rubber sponges, 

 which they will push actively in the trade this spring. 



