May I, 1906.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



259 



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THE NEW MORGAN & WRIGHT FACTORY. 



' I ^III''; illustration on this page gives a general view of the 

 -*- plant of the Morgan & Wright Co. of Michigan, now 

 being erected at Detroit, and based upon the architect's draw- 

 ing. Important progress has been made in the construction 

 of the plant, the principal buildings having been completed, 

 and it is planned to begin manufacturing on or about July i 

 next. The decision to remove the Morgan & Wright rubber 

 factory from Chicago, where it was so long successful!}' 

 operated, has been fully reported in these pages. One reason 

 for the change was that leased premises were occupied in 

 Chicago, and in looking for a new location, the citj* of De- 

 troit appeared to possess exceptional advantages. 



A new corporation was formed, therefore, with a much 

 larger capitalization than had been employed in the past, 

 and buildings and equipment were planned to adapt the 

 plant to an increased scale of manufacture and a wider range 

 of products. Morgan & Wright were identified originallj- 

 with bicycle tires, of which they became the largest pro- 

 ducers. With the advent of the automobile they took up 

 the auto tire extensively, and the}- are now planning to add 

 plumbers' supplies, druggists' sundries, and mechanical 

 rubber goods. 



The Detroit plant will comprise three main buildings, 

 each 350 feet long bj' 60 feet wide, and having a height of 

 five stories. These, with the smaller buildings such as the 

 offices, boiler house, engine house, etc., will give the com- 

 pany about 500,000 square feet of floor space. Only part of 

 the equipment of the Chicago plant will be removed, and 

 most of the machinery at Detroit will be entirelj- new. The 

 motive power will be furnished by twelve 250 HP. boilers, 

 and two engines of 2000 hp. each. Architecturally the 

 plant will be attractive through the use of white pressed 

 brick with stone trimmings. 



The officers of the new company are Charles II. Dale, 



president: Charles J. Rutler, vice president ; Herbert Bo wen, 

 secretary and treasurer; Krnest Hopkin.son, assistant secre- 

 tarj- and treasurer. These with Charles A. Hunter, consti- 

 tute the board of directors. The factory will be under the 

 management of Vice President Butler, who will be assisted 

 by (i. A. Burnham as general superintendent. 



The new factory will he particularly favored in the matter 

 of shipping facilities. It faces on the Detroit river, which is 

 of sufficient depth to admit the largest vessels to the com- 

 pany's own docks. Besides, theieis a belt line railroad run- 

 ning through the j'ards and connecting with the Michigan 

 Central and all other railroad lines touching Detroit. The 

 plant covers S',4 acres of land. The new company is further 

 referred to in the annual report of the Rubber Goods Manu- 

 facturing Co., printed on another page of The India Ri'bber 

 World. 



ANOTHER OLD TIME RUBBER MAN. 



A MONO the congratulatory letters received by Mr. Thco- 

 -^"^ dore E. Studley on his seventy-fifth birthdaj' — re- 

 ported in the last India Rubber World — was one from Mr. 

 Francis H. Holton, of Akron, Ohio, a rubber man with more 

 than 74 years to his credit. ^Ir. Holton wrote, among 

 other things : 



"I thought I was the oldest one left in the rubber line. 

 I qonimenced handling crude rubber shoes in 1846. I see 

 you go back to 1842. We both know how we had to trim 

 and make salable the old shoes that were made in Brazil in 

 those days. My uncle was agent for the Colchester Rubber 

 Co. [then the Hayward Rubber Co.] and I had to take out 

 of the case the shoes and wash the bloom off and repack. I 

 had about a dozen girls to do the washing and I had to see 

 that they were put back properly into cases." [A fuller 

 reference to Mr. Holton 's first connection with rubber ap- 

 peared in The India Rubber World, July i, 1901 — page 

 309] 



