124 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[January i, 1906. 



The new reclaiming plant of the Continental company is now 

 completed. It is situated some 10 miles out of Hannover, on the 

 river Leine, where there isample water for all purposes, and also 

 plenty of room on the shore for building expansion. The factory 

 is up-to-date in every respect, the process of reclaiming being 

 the Marks, for which the Continental have a license. A 

 special process that is run in the building that is not a part of 

 the reclaiming plant is the extraction of rubber from cloth 

 scraps covered with unvulcanized gum. This is wholly auto- 

 mttic in its operation, and recovers not only the rubber but the 

 fabric as well. 



DUNLOP PNEUMATIC TYRE CO., LIMITED. 



At the ninth annual meeting of shareholders (London, De- 

 cember 12), the chairman, Mr. Harvey Du Cros, presented what 

 the directors regarded as a favorable report, for the business 

 year ending September 30. It was the first year that the com- 

 pany had been without patent protection ; it was now a manu- 

 facturing and trading company, and not, as originally, a mon- 

 oply controlling an important patent. During the year they had 

 been compelled to sell their bicycle tires at 5 shillings less per 

 pair; the average cost of rubber had been io}i pence per 

 pound more than the preceding year ; but by reason of im- 

 proved processes and methods the strictly manufacturing prof- 

 its had been /i44.,ooo against /i 57,000 from the same source 

 the year before. (There are 

 now no longer any royalties 

 in respect of patents.) And 

 he thought that " rock bot- 

 tom " had been reached, so 

 that coming years would show 

 an improvement. The com- 

 pany were turning out a good 

 motor tire, and were unable 

 to keep up with their orders, 

 but an additional factory was 

 well under way. Mention was 

 made of the good showing of 

 their tires at the Vanderbilt 

 Cup races, near New York, in 

 October. They expected a large business in connection with 

 the introduction of motor 'buses, in London and elsewhere. 

 It was stated that arrangements had been made for buying 

 their crude rubber for the next 10 years, on particularly 

 favorable terms. The position of the company had been im- 

 proved by the purchase and retirement of _£62o,ooo in deben- 

 tures, at a profit to the company of ;£i 5.950. Plans were still 

 under discussion for reorganizing the company, with a view to 

 eliminating from capital account the sum of ^3.894,000 for 

 " good will," which had been figured in the assets from the be- 

 ginning. There had been delay, however, in finding a plan 

 upon which all classes of shareholders could agree as being 

 equitable. The dividends for the year had amounted to ^^89 749 

 4s, 5d, and the interest on debentures ;£i4,566 os, iid. [See 

 The India Rubber World, October i, 1905. page 24] 



THE DUXLOP COMPANY IN LIBERIAN RUBBER. 



Alfred Du Cros, of the Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co., Lim- 

 ited, is a member of the board of The Liberian Rubber Corpor 

 at ion. Limited, with a capital of ^270,000 [ = §1,313,955], floated 

 in London early in December, to acquire from the Monrovian 

 Rubber Co., Limited,, a concession from the Liberian govern- 

 ment, granting a monopoly in the export of rubber from that 

 republic for 26 years. The Monrovian company already have 

 rubber trading stations at work, and will also turn over a coffee 

 plantation and other assets. Sir Harry H. Johnston, G. C. 



M. G,, K. c. B., one of the highest authorities on African condi- 

 tions, and Mr. Alexander Whyte, long employed by the British 

 government as a botanical expert in Africa, unite in describing 

 the rubber resources of Liberia as of great value — excelling, 

 perhaps, those of Lagos. The Lagos rubber tree {Funtumia 

 elasiica) is found there, together with valuable species of Lan- 

 dolphia, and Sir Harry Johnston is of the opinion that 500 tons 

 of rubber may be obtained yearly. The Dunlop company are 

 stated in the prospectus of the Liberian company to be under 

 contract, for 10 years, to purchase the entire rubber output of 

 the latter, at market prices. Mr. Alfred Du Cros, above men- 

 tioned, was the holder (in behalf of the Dunlop company) of 

 5000 shares of the Monrovian Rubber Co., Limited, and its 

 managing director. These details will explain the reference, 

 at the Dunlop meeting in December, to the arrangements made 

 for buying rubber. The Monrovian company, by the way, 

 was a subsidiary company of another corporation, mentioned 

 in The India Rubber World, April i, 1904 (page 233). 



RUBBER workers' STRIKE AT MUNICH. 

 During a recent visit of the Editor of The India Rubber 

 World to Munich, Bavaria, he found a strike in progress at 

 the important rubber works of Aktiengesellschaft Metzeler & 

 Co., which trouble, according to later reports, has come to an 

 end. It appears that on November 9 four workmen in the sur- 

 gical goods department were 

 dismissed on a charge of hav- 

 ing caused trouble, whereupon 

 they appealed to the labor 

 federation, which demanded 

 that the men be reinstated. 

 The company refusing, a gen- 

 eral strike in the factory was 

 ordered on November 17, by 

 the Fabrik-, Land- und Hilfs- 

 arbiter. No basis for the set- 

 tlement of the trouble could 

 be arrived at between the 

 company and the labor or- 

 ganization, and Judge Press- 



FACTORIES OF.THE BERLIN-FRANKFORTjCOMPANY 



ner was invited by both sides to arbitrate. His decision was 

 in favor of the strikers, the award involving a general increase 

 in wages. 



AN OLD GERMAN RUBBER FACTORY. 



The Berlin works of the Berlin- Frankfort India-Rubber Co. 

 (Vereinigte Berlin-Frankfurter Gummiwaaren-Fabriken) situ- 

 ated on the river Spree, are among the oldest in Germany, hav- 

 ing been established in 1849 by an Englishman named Elliott. 

 This name is still kept in existence through certain specialties 

 which they make; for example, the " Elliott" tire. The factory 

 buildings are substantial, old fashioned in the extreme, and as 

 Director Spannagel admits, not up to date, but nevertheless the 

 business is well conducted and very profitable. One of their 

 specialties is cut sheet, of which they make great quantities, 

 particularly for the great variety of colored tubing which goes 

 to Spain and Latin American countries, the Latin blood show- 

 ing in its desire for bright colors wherever obtainable. They 

 also make baby carriage tires by the ton, and a great variety of 

 surgical articles. The company, of course, have other plants, 

 that, for example, at Gelnhausen being modern and up to date 

 in every respect, and turning out a fine grade of automobile 

 tires and much special work in mechanical rubber lines. Of 

 this factory Dr. Carl Poppe is the managing director. The 

 company's third factory at Grottau, in Bohemia (near the 

 Saxon frontier), dates from 1892. 



