November i, 1905.] 



THE INDIA RUBL.ER ^VORLD 



56 



RUBBER INTERESTS IN EUROPE. 



A RUBBER FACTORY IN SWITZERLAND. 



THE first establishment in Switzerland for the manufacture 

 ol technical (mechanical) goods of India-rubber, Gutta- 

 percha, and Asbestos was established in 1895 as a department 

 of the wire and cable works of the firm R. & E. Huber, at Plaf- 

 likon, in the canton of Zurich, which date from 1880. The rub- 

 ber department has grown in importance until it now gives em- 

 ployment to about 100 people, and motive power equal to 500 

 HI', derived from Betzau, 17 kilometers distant. Pliitfikon, by 

 the way, contains about 4000 people and is situated 10 miles 

 from Zurich. The illustration on this page shows the entire 

 works of the Messrs. Huber. Their production of rubber goods 

 consists largely of hose in great variety as regards size, color, 

 and purposes for which it is employed. There are also made 

 belting, packings, mats and malting, rubber rollers for numer- 

 ous purposes, and insulating material in hard and soft rubber- 

 including pure gum strip. The company have made treads for 

 automobile tires and purpose taking on the production of com- 

 plete tires. Some druggists' goods have been made. The as- 

 bestos used is chiefly in connection with rubber for special 

 packings. 

 GUTTA GENTSCH IN GREAT 



BRITAIN. 

 At the third annual meet- 

 ing of shareholders of The 

 New Gutta-Percha Co. (Lon- 

 don. September 29) the gross 

 profit of the year's trading 

 was reported to be ;^266 gs. 

 SJ. It was explained that 

 time is required for tests satis- 

 factory to possible buyers of a 

 new insulatmg material. Their 

 customers, however, already 

 included the admiralty, sev- 

 eral railway companies, and 

 other concerns of importance, 

 and letters were read from 



engineers of these companies expressing the most favorable 

 opinions of " Gentsch." In certain quarters their goods had 

 been objected to on the ground of not being " all British,'' 

 whereupon manufacturing arrangements had been completed 

 with Johnson it Phillips, Limited, of Old Charlton, Kent, and the 

 opposition of " the India-rubber and Gutta-percha ring " would 

 be circumvented by selling arrangements made with Verity's, 

 Limited, who had branches throughout the kingdom and wide 

 export connections. In connection with the arrangement with 

 Johnson & Phillips, a new company will be formed to be called 

 the Parnax Cable Manufacturing Co., Limited. Pernax is the 

 name adopted for the quality of their material to be specially 

 used for the insulation of land cables, as opposed to Gutta- 

 Gentsch, which will be retained for submarine insulation. Ne 

 gotiations were under way for the sale ol the French patents to 

 a syndicate on what was believed to be favorable terms. [Gut- 

 ta Gentsch is described in Thk India Rubiskr World Septem- 

 ber I, 1902 (page 385); October i, 1902 (page 9) ; January i, 

 1905 (page 131).] 



RUBBER GOODS HIGHER IN AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. 



Manufacturers of rubber goods on both sides of the 

 Leitha river have advanced the prices of their products, by 

 reason of the enormously high prices of the crude material. 

 The advance amounts to 15 per cent, for goods the price of 



which is less than 10 kronen, and to 20 per cent, for goods sold 

 at more than 10 kronen. It has been in force since September 

 15. [10 kronen=S2.03.] 



GERMANY. 



Vereinictf. Gummiwaaren-Fabriken Harburg-VVien, who 

 had already a factory at Hannover, have purchased the ex- 

 port business there of Gerlach & Cie. (Bodeckerstrasse 22), 

 which will be continued for the sale of druggists' and surgical 

 rubber goods. 



= The German manufactureof dressshields(5c/;tf««M;//^r«). 

 instead of being in the hands of a few large firms as in America, 

 is distributed among a number of relatively small concerns. A 

 recent list credits Berlin with 7 producers of such goods; 

 Bielefeld 2; Dresden, Frankfurt a/M., Leipzig, and Mannheim 

 I each — a total of 13. Two of these firms make other goods, 

 including the important Deutsche Kabelwerke Actiengesell- 

 schaft, with Af 2,<xx),ooo capital. 



= The Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co., G. m. b. H. (a branch of 

 the British Dunlop company), who began manufacturing inde- 

 pendently at Hanau, in October, 1904, are reported about to 

 build a second factory, to provide for the growth of their 

 business. 



GREAT BRITAIN. 



Mr. IsiDOR Frankenburg, 

 founder and head of the im- 

 portant firm of I. Frankenburg 

 & Sons, Limited, electric cable 

 and rubber manufacturers, of 

 Greengate, Salford (adjoining 

 Manchester), has accepted the 

 office of mayor for the ensuing 

 year. Mr. Frankenburg, whose 

 firm was formed origmally in 

 1866, has long taken an active 

 interest in municipal afTairs, 

 becoming a member of the 

 Salford council in 1887, alder- 

 man in i9oi,and more recent- 

 ly justice of the peace. 

 RUBBER WORKS OF R. i E. HUBER. ^A. W. Leslie & Co., Lim- 



ited, waste rubber merchants in London, announce that owing 

 to the great increase in their business they have removed their 

 warehouses and offices from Essex road to 119, Stoke Newing- 

 ton road, N., where they should be addressed in future. 



= The Warwick Tyre Co., Limited (Birmingham), announce 

 that The Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co., Limited, have been ap- 

 pointed, as from October i, 1905, the exclusive selling agents 

 for their tires — " Warwick " and " Cambridge ". Purchases of 

 the tires thus designated will, therefore, be billed to customers 

 by the Duulop company hereafter, and not by the Warwick 

 company. 



FIRE IN A GERMAN FACTORY. 



The yearly report of the Actiengesellschaft Vereinigte Gum- 

 miwaaren-Fabriken HarburgWien, prepared for presentation 

 at the shareholders' meeting on October 28, comes to hand too 

 late for review in these pages. Space must be found, however, 

 for the reference which the report contains to the recent fire in 

 the works at Harburg a/d Elbe, which involved the destruction 

 of the original building, erected in 1856. The report says : 



"Since the completion of our annual report, a severe fire 

 devastated our Harburg works during the night of October 

 6 7, totally destroying the buildings used for the manufacture 

 of shoes and tires. While operations in our remaining lines of 

 manufacture, including the plant of the Galalith Gesellschaft, 



