June i, 1902.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



291 



THE KEMPSHALL MANUFACTURING CO.'S GOLF BALL PATENTS. 



'' I "HE company named above is chiefly notable at the pres- 



I ent time for the great number of patents it is taking 



out for golf balls, and processes of manufacturing 



them. The company was incorporated under the laws 



of New Jersey, October 9, 1901, with an authorized capital 



stock of $200,000, and the principal office of the company being 



in Arlington, New Jersey. The par value of the stock is $100 



celluloid, the mass of Gutta-percha being theoretically larger 

 before the cover is put on than after. The same principle is 

 applied to a rubber center. Another patent calls for the soft- 

 ening of a Gutta-percha shell upon a filling wholly or partly of 

 soft rubber, thus compressing the rubber until the shell hardens 

 and holds it in place. Another calls for a shell of vulcanized 

 soft rubber, which is expanded by Gutta-percha, injected there- 



Compressed Center of Gutta-percha or 

 India rubber. Celluloid Cover. [Patent No. 

 6951813 — E. Kempshall.] 



Gutta-percha Center, 

 Core, Celluloid Outside. 

 351 — F. H. Richards.] 



Expanded Rubber 

 [Patent No. 696,- 



Gutta-percha Center, E.\panded India- 

 rubber Interior Cover, Gutta-percha Outside 

 Cover. [Patent No. 696,369 — E. Kemp- 

 shall.] 



per share, and the following persons have 

 each subscribed for three shares ; Eleazer 

 Kempshall, Boston, Mass. ; Charles W. 

 Royce, Newton, Mass. ; Henry S. Chap- 

 man, Glen Ridge, N. J. ; Edward N. Crane, 

 Newark, N. [. Among the other objects 

 of the corporation, is the purchase of the 

 inventions of Eleazer Kempshall in golf 

 balls and kindred articles, and the grant- 

 ing of licenses for their manufacture. 



These patents, most of which were is- 

 sued in March, April, and May, of this 

 year, and assigned to the Kempshall Man- 

 ufacturing Co., are probably the most pre- 

 tentious series of India rubber or Gutta- 

 percha patents that have appeared in many 

 years. There are no fewer than fifty-five 

 patents, embracing 656 claims, issued to 

 Mr. Kempshall, together with five patents, 

 embracing 104 claims, issued to Francis 

 H. Richards, of Hartford, Connecticut, 

 and assigned to the Kempshall company, 

 making a total of sixty patents, with 760 

 claims. 



These patents embrace both the process 

 of manufacture and the finished article, 

 and on analysis develop the following sali- 

 ent features : 



The compression of India-rubber or Gutta-percha as a spheri- 

 cal center of a golf ball, or the expansion of a hollow sphere of 

 rubber or gutta by forcing plastic material within it. These 

 two principles appear in nearly all of both the Kempshall and 

 the Richards patents, with of course an infinite number of 

 variations. One patent, for example, shows a mass of Gutta- 

 percha compressed between two lap joined shell segments of 



Elastic Fabric Center, Celluloid or Gutta- 

 percha Core. [Patent No. 696,888— E. 

 Kempshall.] 



Mold and Syringe-like Injector for Ex- 

 panding and Filling Hollow Rubber Balls 

 with Liquid Gutta-percha. [Patent No. 

 696,351— F. H. Richards.] 



in in liquid form, 

 and allowed to 

 harden. This same 

 type of ball is also 

 covered with a cel- 

 luloid shell. Still 

 another has a 



Elastic Fabric Center. Wound Under 

 Tension, with Inside of India-rubber Thread 

 Wound Under Tension. [Patent No. 696,- 

 888— E. Kempshall.] 



