238 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[April i, 1909. 



Plant of North British Rubber Co. in 1887. 



damaged part resumed. The effect of the fire was to trans- 

 fer the chief ownership of the works from American to 

 Scotch shareholders, for it was many years thereafter before 

 the property could be insured even at the very high rates of 

 premium demanded by the insurance companies, and indeed 

 not until the introduction of automatic sprinklers (the in- 

 vention of Mr. Heno' Parmelee, of New York, son of the 

 first works manager 

 of the company) 

 could the mills and 

 their contents be 

 fully covered by in- 

 surance. The great 

 risk thus incident 

 to their holdings led 

 several of the Am- 

 erican shareholders 

 to part with their 

 shares ; these were 

 readily taken over 

 by Edinburgh capi- 

 tahsts who had con- 

 fidence in the Scotch 

 directors that had 

 been chosen in 1860 

 to cooperate with 

 the manager. 



The first Scotch 

 directors were John 

 Murdock, solicitor ; 

 Hugh Rose, merch- 

 ant, and William 

 Thomson, ship- 

 owner, all of Leith. 

 All the American 

 shareholders were 

 practically directors 

 till 186s, and John 

 R. Ford, Christo- 

 pher Meyer, and 

 Benjamin F. Bree- 

 den for some years 



longer. The several 

 managers were also 

 directors pro tern. 



The American 

 works superintend- 

 ents besides Mr. 

 Parmelee were, for 

 varying periods, 

 ^lessrs. Stevey, 

 Douglas, Hyatt and 

 Harris— Mr. D o u - 

 glas alone remain- 

 ing. 



The original North 

 British Rubber Co., 

 founded in 1857, ex- 

 isted for 31 years 

 ending in 1888, when, 

 having expanded to 

 the utmost limit al- 

 lowed by its consti- 

 tution, it was wound 

 up and the present 

 company was form- 

 ed with increased 

 capital, and in- 

 creased provisions for its further expansion. Its capital is 

 ^350,000, all paid up, there being 2,000 iioo shares, 2,000 £25 

 shares, all ordinary or dividend earning shares, and 5,000 i20 

 preference shares at a fixed dividend. 



The company has been fairly successful and has originated 

 several novelties in the rubber industry in boots, shoes, cloth- 

 ing, piston packing, belting, hose, etc., and notably in 



Picture of a Turkish Rug (1900) Showing the North British Works. 



