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THE INDIA RUBBER \VORLD 



[August i, 1902. 



NEWS OF THE AMERICAN RUBBER TRADE. 



A GOLF BALL PATENT INFRINGEMENT SUIT. 



THE Haskell Golf Rail Co., the owner of the Haskell and 

 Work golf ball patent, and The B. F. Goodrich Co., 

 the sole licensee for the United States under the 

 patent, have entered suit against The Kempshall 

 Manufacturing Co. for alleged infringement of the patent — 

 No. 622,834, dated April 11, 1S99. The suit is brought in the 

 United States circuit court for the southern district of New 

 York. The bill of complaint was filed on July 2 1902, by 

 Charles Neave, of Richardson, Herrick & Neave (New York), 

 attorneys. The defendant must enter appearance on the first 

 Monday in August. It is understood that John R. Bennett, 

 of New York, is counsel for the defendant. The Haskell 

 Golf Ball Co. was organized early in 1901 under the laws of 

 the state of Ohio, with Coburn Haskell as president ; Bertram 

 G. Work, vice president; and Silas Hitchcock, treasurer. The 

 Haskell golf ball was the joint invention of Messrs. Haskell 

 and Work, at a time when the solid Gutta-percha ball was ac- 

 cepted as the best type of golf ball. The invention was not 

 only a radical departure from the old methods of manufacture, 

 but was in other ways a distinct advance, and was the result 

 of many experiments and tests on the part of the inventors. 

 The fact that vulcanized rubber under tension took on the pe- 

 culiar deadened resiliency of Gutta-percha, modified by the 

 quickened springiness of rubber, was a fact of which the world 

 was ignorant. It became in fact a new material, and its use- 

 fulness in golf balls and in various other articles was fully 

 recognized by the inventors. The Haskell company and the 

 B. F. Goodrich Co., being fully aware of the value of the in- 

 vention, have no idea of allowing any one to infringe their 

 rights. 



SUIT AGAINST AN ALLEGED SHOE-LAST MONOPOLY. 



The Hood Rubber Co. has filed suit in the United States 

 circuit court at Boston against the United States Rubber Co., 

 E. D. Stone, of Framingham, Massachusetts; the Apsley Last 

 Co.. the Middlese.x Last Co., the George B. Cox Last Co., and 

 the estate of William H. Corey, former owner of the Brockton 

 Last Co. The bill of complaint alleges that the United States 

 Rubber Co. entered into an agreement with the various last 

 companies co-defendants in the suit, to secure the exclusive 

 use of the various rubber shoe lasts manufactured by them 

 for the benefit of the United States company and its sub- 

 sidiary companies, such agreement being alleged to be con- 

 trary to law and tendmg to restrict trade. The alleged combi- 

 nation in restraint of trade isclaimed to have existed from April 

 to January of the year in which the Hood Rubber Co. was in 

 process of organization, and the suit is in the nature of a 

 claim for damages. From the standpoint of the United States 

 Rubber Co. the suit seems to be viewed in the light of an 

 offset to several pending cases against the Hood company by 

 the United States company, one being for an alleged infringe- 

 ment of patent and another against Mr. Hood personally for 

 alleged breach of contract in leaving the United States com- 

 pany and starting a competing factory. 



COLONEL COLT TO THE "CAPTAINS OF INDUSTRY." 



Just before starting for a vacation in Europe, Colonel 

 Samuel P. Colt, president of the United States Rubber Co., 

 tendered an elaborate luncheon to a number of gentlemen in- 

 terested in the rubber shoe industry, at the Squantum Club, 

 near Providence, Rhode Island, on the afternoon of July i. 



There were present the entire board of the United States Rub- 

 ber Co., several gentlemen connected with the general offices 

 of the company, and some of the directors of the constituent 

 companies. But a feature which was emphasized especially 

 was the presence of the superintendents of all the factories 

 operated by the United States company. It was to the latter 

 that Colonel Colt, the principal speaker on this occasion, ad- 

 dressed his post prandia/ remarks. He said in substance that 

 the executive officers of the company might plan and counsel, 

 but after all the success or failure of their undertaking depended 

 on the superintendents of their mills. It was to them that the 

 company looked for the manufacture of the goods they sold. 

 " There are two things we can call on them to do," said Colonel 

 Colt. " How are we to meet competition, not to crush it, but 

 to do as well as, and a little better than, our competitors ? Who 

 can do the most in that line ? It is the superintendents of our 

 mills. We want them to produce the best article at the lowest 

 price. We want them to save in every way but one, and that 

 is at the expense of the quality of the product." Colonel Colt 

 expressed himself as a believer in industrial consolidation, 

 which, he said, had come to stay. Successful business in every 

 line would have to be done on a large scale. The ambition of 

 the company should be to supply every man, woman, and child 

 in the United States — and some in Europe — with rubber foot- 

 wear, and he believed that with the cooperation of the superin- 

 tendents of their factories — "the captains of our industry" 

 Colonel Colt called them — the company would be able to come 

 so near the result they wanted that everybody concerned would 

 be surprised. One other thing Colonel Colt said was that the 

 United States Rubber Co. to day had the best men in the rub- 

 ber business in the United States; they had no superior, and 

 he believed they had no equal. 



Further remarks were made by Superintendents A. L. Com- 

 stock, of the American Rubber Co.; Frank L. Locke, of the 

 Boston Rubber Shoe Co. ; and James Deshler of the factory at 

 New Brunswick, New Jersey; Harry H. Shepard, manager of 

 the National India Rubber Co., and several gentlemen con- 

 nected with the office management of the United States com- 

 pany. 



Colonel Colt sailed for Europe from New York on July 5. 

 On the evening of July 4. a little celebration in honor of his 

 departure was given at his residence in Bristol, the program 

 including a band concert, a display of fireworks, and a dinner 

 at the house. 



A NEW RUBBER FACTORY FOR TRENTON. 

 The retirement of George R. Cook as treasurer and general 

 manager of The Empire Rubber Manufacturing Co. (Trenton, 

 New Jersey), the details of which were reported in the last 

 India Rubber World, has been followed by the organization 

 of a new company in that city of which Mr. Cook will be the 

 head. The Eureka Rubber Manufacturing Co. was incorporated 

 July 15, under the laws of New Jersey, with an authorized cap- 

 ital stock of $500,000. The company will begin business with 

 a paid in capital of $200,000, subscribed for by the incorpora- 

 tors in the following amounts: George R. Cook, $92,500; 

 Barker Gummere, Jr., $40,000; Edmund D. Cook, $32,500; 

 William S. Hancock, $20,000; Elmer Ewing Green, $15,000. 

 The officers elected are George R. Cook, president ; William S. 

 Hancock, vice president ; John A, Lambert, secretary ; Edmund 

 D. Cook, treasurer. The site selected for the new factory is on 



