396 



THE INDIA RUBBER 'JVORLD 



[Septemi;ek I, 1902. 



lers, and is insured in the Factory Mutual Insurance compa- 

 nies. In addition to this, there is, for fire equipment, a set of 

 hydrants, a large fire pump, a tank on the main tower, and an 

 ample reservoir in the basement. 



The machinery, which was furnished by the Birmingham 

 Iron Foundry, consists of sheetmg mills i8"X42", washers 

 i5'X4o", crackers i6"X3o", and grinders 22"yiyo'', the latter 

 using 75 horse power each. There is also an outfit of devul- 

 canizers 5 X40'. lead lined cooking tubs, and 20 foot washing 

 tubs with rotary cones. 



The boiler house is separate from the rest of the plant, and 

 is made of steel with a concrete roof, the boilers being erected 

 by the Phoenix Boiler Works of Meadville, Pennsylvania. In 

 addition, the factory is fitted with acres of screen dryers through 

 which hot air is forced by fans, with belt conveyers running 

 from one floor to another, and indeed with every device that 

 e.xists in the way of economy. 



The capacity of the plant at the present time is thirty tons 

 per day, but it can be easily increased to fifty tons. In addition 

 to this the company have, it will be remembered, a plant at 

 Darby, Connecticut, which has a daily capacity of ten tons, and 

 also another factory with a daily capacity of eleven tons in Jer- 

 sey City. The work of the latter plant, however, will be later 

 transferred to Buflfalo. 



A notable exhibit at the time of the opening was the great 

 stock of old shoes that were stacked in the factory yard and 

 also in the great storehouse, there being over $500,000 worth 

 of shoes in sight, besides large stocks at the other factories. 



Among those at the opening were Theodore S. Bassett, 

 president, and R. A. Lowenthal, vice president, of the com- 

 pany; the Editor of The India Rubuer World; Colonel F. C. 

 Ward, commissioner of public works ol Buffalo ; Councilman 

 Christian Klinck ; C. M. Huntley, president of the Cataract 

 Power Co.; D. B. Sherwood, S. G. Sherwood, F. Cushing; 

 A. and W. Oppenheimer, partners in Oppenheimer & Co., and 

 representatives of the leading Buffalo newspapers. 



The party was shown over the works by Messrs. Bassett and 

 Lowenthal, assisted by Mr. Fred. Griscom, the company's en- 

 gineer. General Superintendent W. F. Askam, unfortunately, 

 was detained at home by illness. After the starting of the 

 machinery by Mr. Huntley and the subsequent trip through 

 the works, the visitors assembled in the handsomely equipped 

 office, where a caterer had prepared a bountiful lunch. The 

 officers of the company were the recipients of warm congratu- 

 lations from all present, and a leading Buffalo capitalist who 

 was present predicted that ere long other large rubber plants 

 would locate in Buffalo and be run by the same constant and 

 economical power — Niagara Falls. 



THE CUTTING OF RUBBER COATED FABRICS. 



PERHAPS the most difficult problem that mechanical en- 

 gineers have had to solve in connection with the rubber 

 manufacture is the cutting of bias strips from rolls of 

 rubber coated cloth. So important a question is this 

 that a great deal of money and ingenuity have been expended 

 in the attempt to weave fabrics on the bias, but so far without 



success. At the present time wide strips such as are used in 

 hose and tires are cut by hand, as the cost of designing a machine 

 to do this work would be considerable and the present hand cut- 

 ting is done at a low cost. One of the machines shown in ac- 

 companying illustrations is known as the Birmingham Bias cut- 

 ting machine. This is used very largely by concerns who manu- 

 facture rubber shoes and is designed for cutting up the friction 

 stock into" piping " — that is, stripsabout ^( inch wide. These 

 machines are made in two widths — 28 and 46 inches — the former 

 cutting strips at the rate of 100 a minute and the latter about 



fTii?^: TT^^^^i^"-^ 



BIRMINGHAM BIAS CUTTING MACHINE. 



SMITH'S BIAS CUTTING MACHINE. 



60 a minu:e. Another bias cutting machine, known as Smith's, 

 has already been described in The India Rubber World. This 

 was intended to cut fabrics for hose, tires, mackintosh bind- 

 ings, piping, and the like. The machine was planned in three 

 sizes, the smaller to cut 24 inch strips into widths of 6 inches 

 and less; the medium sized to cut 44 inch goods into widths of 

 6 inches and less ; while the larger machine was built to cut 66 

 inch goods into widths up to 18 inches. 

 Machines also used in almost all mechanical rubber factories 



