I I, 1903.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



313 



IHH RUBBHR TRADE IN AKRON. 



BY A RESIDENT CORRESPONDENT. 



TO 1 mi Editor of The India Rubber World : There is a 

 specimen of the £~ettUS homo frequently mel with in Akron 

 rubber circles, who.undoubtedly, is a ne3r relative of the gentle- 

 man described in The India Rubber World] for April—" The 

 Man With a Rubber Secret." The specimen in question might 

 be called " The Man With an Invention." His class is a nu- 

 merous one and the marvelous idea he wishes to exploit may or 

 may not be patented. In general, he and his manner of approach 

 bear close resemblance to the individual possessed of a rubber 

 substitute discovery. He is shy of clerks and salesmen, and 

 even after he is closeted with him, who, he is at last convinced, 

 is the head of the institution, he is apt to carry an air of mys- 

 tery and to be reluctant to divulge any considerable part of his 

 idea at one time. Instead, he threads his way in and out with 

 many inquiries, some of them calculated to throw his listener 

 off the track as to the nature of the true inwardness of his 

 scheme until he feels that he may reveal himself without being 

 sandbagged and robbed of his idea then and there. And often 

 — most unhappily frequently, does it thereupon develop that 

 the discovery freighting the mind of the caller is new — only to 

 himself. If this is made known to him, it is somewhat more 

 than probable that he will go away believing that he has been 

 deceived and that the motive of the deception is little short of 

 robbery. If this is not the case, the chances are that his " in- 

 vention " belongs in that class of things which might be made 

 of rubber were they not made of other material more cheaply 

 and better. To convince him of this, however, is more easily 

 said than done, as a rule. As a third instance his idea may pos- 

 sess strikingly original features, but present at once to the expe- 

 rienced manufacturer, busy with lines which he knows are paying 

 the query " Is the game worth the candle ? Is the experiment 

 worth undertaking?" The answer is likely to be : "Yes, at 

 the expense of the inventor. If he will advance the funds for 

 experimenting, the experiments will be made and we can deter- 

 mine what the thing is worth. The question of royalties or 

 purchase of patents outright can be considered later." This 

 answer is likely to please the inventive genius not at all, and 

 not until he has met pretty much the same reception in several 

 establishments is he persuaded that he is not being imposed 

 upon and his scheme rejscted on grounds of jealousy, a fail- 

 ure to comprehend its true value or because the man to whom 

 he has confided his project wishes secretly to avail him- 

 self of it. 



All this is quite seriously true. Inquiries among manufac- 

 turers demonstrate that but a small percentage of the " brand 

 new things" presented to their more or less willing ears are 

 of value sufficient to make them worth more than a passing 

 thought. And it is likewise true that manufacturers in gen- 

 eral do not like to exploit any but absolutely "sure things" 

 at their own expense, agreeing to pay a royalty, — which is 

 always expected, if success attends their efforts. What they 

 are willing to do and prefer to do even in the most promising 

 projects, is to manufacture the goods for the inventor. Shiw 

 them the invention and talk contracts for the manufacture of 

 the article and they become interested. 



Often it is true that the man with an idea wants only to be 

 allowed to do his own experimenting. This, usually, can be 

 arranged and the results are varying — being sometimes a win- 

 ning thing and sometimes being visible only by the sudden and 

 continuous absence of the experimenter. Men come from afar 

 to conduct experiments in the Akron rubber factories, but a 

 large number of the inventors are indigenous to this soil. A 



great many bright young men connected with the local rubber 

 trade are making experiments, the most of them doing this 

 work at home in spare hours. Some not at all identified with 

 the rubber business but desirous of being, are at work also. 

 For the most part these know valuable from valueless ideas and 

 as time goes on their efforts are being made a matter of record 

 a the patent office. Some very excellent inventions are to be 

 placed to the credit of Akron men in and out of the business 



which has made the city famous. 



* » * 



In his annual report to the Board of Public Safety, F. F. 

 Loomis, mechanical engineer of the city of Akron, in charge of 

 lire apparatus, etc., urgently recommends the purchase of an 

 additional wheel to be equipped with rubber tires for all trucks 

 and engines of the fire department for use when streets are 

 icy. He says it would be advisable to have rubber tires on all 

 wheels and especially so if all streets were paved. The rubber 

 tired wheel for use in winter, Mr. Loomis states, will prevent 

 trucks from sliding in going around corners, saving not only 

 the trucks themselves but tending strongly to the prevention 

 of accidents. Inquiry among rubber tire manufacturers brings 

 the information that very many of the fiie engines and trucks 

 now manufactured are equipped with rubber tires and that in a 

 number of cities the change from steel to rubber tires is being 

 made on apparatus now in use. The cost of doing this, how- 

 ever, is preventing the making of the change by many who 

 concede the desirability of so doing. It is a branch of the tire 

 business which is not pushed to any great extent by the lire 

 trade, however, as none except the very large cities would have 

 extensive orders to place. The additional cost is scarcely an ob- 

 stacle in the salesman's path and the offering of rubber tires is 

 a distinct advantage in the soliciting of business. 



* # * 



The present season is a record breaker in the hose depart- 

 ments and the demand for garden hose was never greater. The 

 drouth which has prevailed throughout nearly all the states 

 east of the Mississippi and north of Mason and Dixon's line 

 during the greater part of May is in part responsible for it. It 

 is not a case of the hard pushing of goods and great sales be- 

 cause prices are made especially attractive, but one in which 

 hose at any price, almost, within reason, is the demand. The 

 rush promises to keep up during a great part of the summer. 

 " We are a quarter of a million feet behind orders now and are 

 not beginning to catch up as yet," said one prominent manu- 

 facturer. The same doubtless is true of other factories. 



* * • 



The tire output in Akron for the manufacturers' year now 

 closing is by far greater than it ever was before. How much 

 greater it will be, remains to be seen. It is certain that the 

 busy season will continue later than usual. In general there 

 has been a slight slackening of the pressure which has been so 

 steady since the early part of the winter, but all the factories 

 continue to be extremely busy still. Jobbers are now able to 

 accumulate stocks and the demand from that and similar 

 q larters becomes less insistent. There is every reason to be- 

 lieve that tire contracts for another year will be made at 

 higher figures than for the passing season. The contracts 

 are made for twelve months as a rule, and the advance in 

 the price of raw material has reduced profits on the current 

 year's business. So far as tires are concerned, the increase 

 in crude gum values is for by far the greater part at the ex- 

 pense of the manufacturer. There is some salvation, how- 

 ever, in the steadily increasing knowledge of how to make 

 tires cheaper without reducing, if not, indeed, improving their 

 quality. 



