94 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[December i, 1905. 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN AKRON. 



BV A RESIDENT CORRESPONDENT. 



TO THE Editor OF The India Ruhuer World: The Dia- 

 mond Rubber Co. filed articles of incorporation under 

 the laws of Ohio, on November 7, with an authorized capital of 

 $1000. On November 9 a certificate was filed, increasing the 

 capital stock to $3,500,000. The first act mentioned was a legal 

 formality in connection with making the Diamond a domestic, 

 instead of a " foreign " corporation. The company hitherto has 

 been a corporation under the laws of West Virginia. The Dia- 

 mond company began its existence in 1895, when it was incor- 

 porated in Ohio with $50,000 capital. In 1898, when Messrs. 

 Hardy, Miller, and Marks became interested in it, the company 

 was reorganized under a West Virginia charter. In 1900 the 

 capital stock was increased to $100,000, and this has been added 

 to gradually until in 1902 it became $1,750,000. The recent 

 doubling of the capital has been rendered necessary by the 

 constant growth of business of the company and the necessity 

 of enlarging the capacity of the plant. It is understood that 

 the new stock will not go to any outside interests, but will be 

 taken by those already identified with the company. The 

 growth of the capacity and business of the company were re- 

 ferred to recently in The India Rubber World in the review 

 of a brochure entitled " Seven Years — The History of a Sue- 

 cess." 



The hard rubber ball for bowling is now being manufactured 

 to a considerable extent in this city, the demand having in- 

 creased materially within a year. The cost of such balls in 

 comparison with those of lignum vita interferes with their in- 

 troduction, but for all that many bowlers give them the prefer- 

 ence. The weight of the standard ball has lately been decreased 

 from 16^ to 16 pounds, which lessens the cost of production 

 slightly. Hard rubber balls for bowling, made at College Point, 

 New York, were shown at the Centennial Exhibition at Phila- 

 delphia in 1876, but on account of theirextreme cost they soon 

 dropped out of sight, until Joseph Dangel, superintendent of 

 the Akron works of the American Hard Rubber Co., who is a 

 champion bowler, brought them again into notice a year or two 

 ago. It is stated that a new ball made only in part of hard rub- 

 ber is being manufactured somewhere in this country. 



[The Brooklyn Eagle, in an article on the increased interest 

 in the game of tenpins and the growing popularity of hard 

 rubber balls, mentions that the New York Bowling Association 

 has altered its by laws to permit the use of the rubber sphere in 

 tournaments. It mentions that Joseph Witzel, of College Point, 

 New York, has in his possession one of the first rubber balls 

 made, which has been in use on his alley for nearly 20 years, 

 and is still being rolled every day.] 



The girls employed from out of town for the new rubber shoe 

 department of The B. F. Goodrich Co. are not left to take care 

 of themselves when arriving here. The company has been ad- 

 vertising in the local papers for good homes for girls, and on 

 their arrival at Akron they are met at the train and conducted 

 to desirable lodgings. The company has purchased a large 

 residence on one of the best streets to serve as a working girls' 

 home, and its management is under the auspices of the Young 

 Women's Christian Association. Though this was done but a 

 short time ago, the home is already well filled. 



The suit of Peter Kiefer against the Diamond Rubber Co., 

 which has been mentioned at length in The India Rubber 

 World, has been dismissed at the cost of the defendant. 

 Kiefer filed suit in February, 1903, asking for $1995 damages, 

 charging that he had been discharged from the company's em- 

 ploy and his name placed upon a "black list", on account of 



which he was unable thereafter to secure employment in any 

 rubber factory in the city. The case was tried more than once, 

 and attracted considerable attention at times, but in the end he 

 recovered no damages. 



The Diamond Rubber Co. are building a one story addition 

 60X90 feet to their South Akron branch, where the crude rub- 

 ber they use is washed and ground. The need of more room 

 has also made necessary a small addition to the main plant, in 

 the extension of the receiving department. This will include 

 a new office for the purchasing agent, H. W. Lantz. 



The Buckeye Rubber Co., who are manufacturers of rubber 

 tires in large quantities, have just completed a new building, 

 42 X 70 feet, designed to increase the capacity of their vulcan- 

 izing department. The new addition is already in partial use 

 and will be running in full by the end of the year. 



The Firestone Tire and Rubber Co. have been moving into 

 the new addition to their factory, mentioned in the October 

 India Rubber World, though the additional power plant in- 

 volved will not be installed for some weeks yet. 



Mr. James A. Swinehart, of the Swinehart Clincher Tire and 

 Rubber Co., who has returned lately from a visit to the West, 

 extending as far as the Pacific coast, has been led to believe 

 that a great increase in the use of automobiles is imminent 

 in the states visited by him. 



The factory of the Summit Rubber Co., at Barberton, was 

 entered on several succeeding Sundays lately by three small 

 boys who created considerable havoc. They began by blowing 

 up rubber surgeons' gloves and bursting them, after which they 

 began to carry away goods, and finally disabled the gas engines 

 and cut the belting. Their identity was discovered and they 

 were held for action by the grand jury, but later this order was 

 modified and a light punishment was inflicted in view of their 

 age, none of them being over 12 years. 



RUBBER HOSE MANUFACTURE IN JAPAN. 



THE capital stock of Nippon Gomu Kabu- 

 shiki Kaisha (Japan Rubber Co., Limited), 

 of Tokio, Japan, founded in 1900, has been in- 

 creased gradually until it amounts now to 180,000 

 yen [ = $89,712]. The location of the office and 

 factory is Hashiba Asakusa, Tokio, and the man- 

 agement is headed by Mr. Washicka Yamazuki, 

 president of the company. The products of the 

 factory embrace hose — suction, steam, garden, and 

 air brake — belting, packing, valves, buffers, rubber 

 seats, and so on. The company are devoted espe- 

 cially to the manufacture of hose, and particularly 

 to suction hose, the manufacture of which hitherto 

 has not been accomplished satisfactorily in Japan. /^ 

 Such hose is made by them of any diameter de- Z*^ 

 sired, and in lengths up to 60 feet. The company's ^ 

 mechanical equipment has been derived from Ger- -ij 

 many and England. 



IJNAPPRECIATIVE RUBBER WORKERS. 



THE India-Rubber Journal \ea.rr\%\.Y\Al recently a meeting 

 was held at Aston (Birmingham) to organize the rubber 

 workers into a union, but as one speaker stated " he was sur- 

 prised that the rubber workers were not there that morning to 

 give some small support to those who were fighting their battle 

 against their employers." Our contemporary concludes, there- 

 fore, that there does not seem to be much prospect of anything 

 being done. 



