June i, 1905.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



303 



THE HEAD OF THE HOUSE OF MICHELIN. 



CANADA'S WATERPROOF CLOTHING TRADE. 



ANDRE MICHELIN, head of the great house of Michelin 

 et Cie., with factories at Clermont Kerrand, France, has 

 long been promising to make a visit to the United States, but 

 every time it comes to the test he balks at the long sea voy- 

 age. Indeed, the enterprising American representative of the 

 house long ago told the Editor of The India Ruhher World 

 that he would soon have the honor of presenting M. Michelin 

 to him. In lieu of this, however, he has presented a very 

 striking likeness of the man who has done so much to make 

 automobiling possible — through the development of the pneu- 

 matic tire — together with a few facts regarding the great rub- 

 ber business o( the Michelins. 



The factory, founded in 1832, now gives employment to 3500 

 workers, and turns out 1000 tires a day. Eleven chemists are 

 employed in the testing of the materials that go into the 

 Michelin tires, and only the best of everything is used. It is 

 said that three months are required to complete one automobile 

 tire under the Michelin method, but whether a part of that 

 time is consumed by the drying of the rubber is not stated. 



The member of the firm whose por- 

 trait is here shown (Andre) is the head 

 of the house, and is the business man. 

 His brother Edouard is a lawyer, a 

 chemist, and an artist of high repute. 

 In the firm he occupies the position of 

 manufacturing agent. 



To show what a hold the Michelin 

 tires have in their own country it is 

 only necessary to state that 95 per cent 

 of the tires used in the city of Paris are 

 of this make. As for the trade abroad, 

 it is enough to say that there is prob 

 ably no automobilist in the world who 

 does not know favorably the Michelin 

 tire. It is rumored that in response to 

 the demand in the United States for 

 these tires, a large factory will soon be 

 erected here to make them under the 

 Michelin process. 



Although the rubber trade will not 

 have the pleasure of meeting Mr. Mich- andre m 



elin, on this side of the water at least, most of its members are 

 likely to come in touch with his American representative, Mr. 

 E. D. VVinans. This is particularly true from the fact that Mr. 

 Winans has in charge the financing of the American company 

 which will manufacture Michelin tires. Mr. Winans, although 

 still a young man, has had rather unusual business experience, 

 having been connected with the Rogers Locomotive Works 

 under the direct tutorage of the late Mr. Jacob S. Rogers, and 

 later with the Armour company, of Chicago. His interest in 

 automobiles and their accessories dates from the time when 

 Charles B. Cook imported the first automobile to the United 

 States. When he decided to make his connection with the 

 Michelin people he went to France and studied the whole 

 question of tire manufacture and returned with their agency, 

 and up to the present time he is understood to have sold more 

 Michelin tires in the United States than anybody else. 



T^REVIOUS to the spring of 1889 not one waterproof coat 

 *■ had been made in Canada, says C!ol liter and Ilaherdashi-r 

 (Toronto). In that year some one from Manchester, England, 

 started the business in Montreal of making waterproof gar- 

 ments of imported cloth, and for a time two men and one sewing 

 machine were sufficient to supply the whole demand. This was 

 the starting, by the way, of the Montreal Waterproof Clothing 

 Co., which is still in existence and doing a large business. Us 

 owner and chief head being Harris Wener, who formed one of 

 the original partnership. The waterproof clothing trade has 

 grown in Canada until it now embraces the product of a dozen 

 factories in Montreal, employing nearly 1000 operators, in ad- 

 dition to travelers, salesmen, and oflice clerks. 



In the early nineties the Canadian Rubber Co. of Montreal 

 began to experiment in proofing cloth, with the result that 

 the Canadian rubberized fabrics are now declared to be su- 

 perior to the imported goods, on account of being better suited 

 to the rigorous Canadian climate. Prior to 1889 no Canadian 

 cloth had been used in the manufacture of waterproof cloth- 

 ing. To day it is estimated that $250,000 

 worth of cloth made in Canadian mills 

 is used in making such goods. Con- 

 siderable cloth is imported from Great 

 Britain, but only a small part of it is 

 proofed in the old country. 



The Montreal Waterproof Clothing 

 Co. were the sole manufacturers in 

 their line in Canada for about 7 years. 

 Subsequently a number of Canadian 

 concerns came into existence, besides 

 which some English manufacturers 

 have opened branch factories at Mon- 

 treal, First was J. Mandleburg & Co., 

 who still have a strong connection 

 with the Dominion trade. Next came 

 B. Cohen, and lastly Isadore Franken- 

 burg & Sons. The latter firm, how- 

 ever, is reported to be closing its Cana- 

 dian branch. 



Values of imports of clothing and 

 cloth made waterproof with India-rub- 

 ber—by fiscal years ending June 30: 



1893 285,929 1897 184,631 1901 $170,000 



1894 247,979 1898 146,502 1902 234,187 



1895 171-941 :899 151.842 1903 465.454 



'896 116,848 igoo 152. 7QI 1904- 334.713 



RUBBER TIRED MOTORS IN THE DESERT. 



A CONCERN in New York offering to supply lists of business 

 addresses issues a catalogue of what it has to sell, from which 

 it appears that it takes into account 66 rubber manufacturers 

 and 787 rubber goods manufacturers. Are the 66 " rubber 

 manufacturers " makers of Colorado rubber ? 



' I ' HE motor car has found its way to Egypt, and the sirdar 

 •*■ has made good use of it. Sir Reginald Wingate, who is 

 making his official tour of inspection in state of Suakim and 

 the surrounding cities over which he has control, may be ac- 

 credited with having introduced the motor car to the desert 

 Sir Reginald, who spends some three months every year at 

 Dunbar, in Haddingtonshire, took up the automobile question 

 in real earnest last summer. A series of experiments were car- 

 ried out on the Belhaven sands, with a view to solving the 

 question of traversing the desert. A solid tire, with an excep- 

 tionally broad tread, was successfully tried, and the sirdar had 

 these fitted to a car which he took back with him to Egypt in 

 the autumn. The broad tread prevents the wheels from sink- 

 ing in the sand, and is a much quicker mode of progression 

 than the time honored camel. — Home and Colonial Mail. 



