December 1, 1912.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



165 



THE PENNSTTLVANIA RUBBER CO. OPENS k PARK. 



The ilay.s have gone l>y when iiiaiuifacturer.s lnoUeil upon their 

 employes as simply so many machines from which the maximum 

 amount of work was to he extracted. Employers now realize 

 that sound bodies and contented minds are desirable for their 

 employes, not only from the standpoint of humanitarianism. 

 but from the standpoint of efficiency; and manufacturers of the 

 more advanced sort are taking steps for the physical and moral 

 welfare of those depending upon them. .-Xs an illustration of 

 this tendency, the Pennsylvania Rubber Co., of Jeannette. Penn- 

 sylvania, may he cited, which lias recently opened a tine park 

 in that city for the benefit of its employes. It is called Paruco 

 Park. The significance of the word ' Paruco" will be fairly 

 ol)vious to the analytical mind, being a composite of the name 

 i'ennsylvania Rubber Co. 



Paruco Park is a sixty-acre tract of wood and meadow land 

 on a large knoll back of the conipany'.s works, and is admirably 

 adapted for a rec- 

 reation ground. 

 The park was 

 opened with ap- 

 propriate e X e r- 

 cises which were 

 attended by a 

 thousand of the 

 company's e m- 

 ployes and their 

 friends. Refresh- 

 ments in bounti- 

 f u 1 quantities 

 were furnished 

 for all who at- 

 tended, and 500 

 children were 

 given park mem- 

 bership badges. 

 which entitled 

 them to admis- 

 sion to the park 

 any time during 

 the next year. 

 The enclosure 

 contains an am- 

 ple baseball field, 

 besides equip- 

 ment for various 

 other sports. The 

 entire expense of 

 fitting out and maintaining this magnificent playground is borne 

 by the coinpany. 



NO CAUSE FOR ALARM. 



A Xl'mber of magazine writers have done excellent work dur- 

 ing the last two or three years, in calling attention to "occupa- 

 tional diseases," that is. the troubles that workmen are especially 

 liable to in various branches of manufacture. In a recent con- 

 tribution of this sort there was a short paragraph devoted to 

 rubber factories which reads as follow-s : 



"Workers in the india ruliber industry suffer frequently from 

 the fumes of carbon disulphide. It brings on a dull headache, 

 confused sight, vertigo, unrestrained inclination to talk, which 

 in turn is followed by moodiness, irritability, insomnia and in- 

 sensibility to pain in many parts of the body." 



There is no great cause for alarm, however, in this particular 

 charge against the rubber industry, because carbon disulphide is 

 used in a very small department of rubber manufacture, being 

 employed only in the making of a few specialties. The number 

 of rubber workers, therefore, who suffer from carbon disulphide 

 fumes is a small percentage, and where these fumes do exist 

 special care is taken with the ventilation. 



The P.\rk Opened nv the Penn.svlvania Rubber Co., .\t Je.wxette. V.\. 



A NEW RUBBER HOUSE IN SYRACUSE, 



There is a new rublier jobbing house dealing in druggists' 

 sundries and rubber goods in Syracuse, New York. It is called 

 The Wm. G. Yeckel Co.. and is composed of William G. Yeckel 

 and William H. Kemp. Mr. Yeckel was connected for fifteen 

 years with the Syracuse Rubber Co., during the last five years 

 of that time acting as the company's buyer of druggists' sun- 

 dries. Mr. Kemp was for many years connected with the Good- 

 year Rubber Co.'s office in Buffalo, and was later a member of 

 the firms of Hall & Kemp, and the Kemp Rubber Co. Both 

 men are widely know-n through central N'ew York. 



AMERICAN TIBES ABROAD. 



Tn.\T -American-made tires are pushing ahead in foreign 

 countries in competition with the European product is indicated 

 in a contract made by Backdahl & Co., of Stockholm, for 750 

 sets of the United States Co. tires far taxicab service in Norway, 



Sweden, Den- 

 mark and Fin- 

 land. As the 

 price asked for 

 .American tires in 

 Europe is con- 

 siderably in ad- 

 vance of that 

 charged for the 

 native product, 

 (.•omiH'tition must 

 be founded on 

 a basis of qual- 

 ity and mileage 

 service. 



Commenting on 

 the general trend 

 of the tire in- 

 dustry in foreign 

 countries, John 

 B. Tower, export 

 manager of the 

 United States 

 Tire Co.. re- 

 marks that in 

 this country tires 

 must necessarily 

 be constructed to 

 meet a wide va- 

 riety of road con- 

 ditions, many of 

 them extremely bad. which explains why our tires show- 

 up so well in comparison when they are tested out on Euro- 

 pean highways, which, generally, are far superior to Amer- 

 ican roads. The United States Tire Co. now has agents in 

 Japan, the Philippines, Australia, Chile, Uruguay. Brazil. Ven- 

 ezuela. Panama. Costa Rica, Cuba, Porto Rico, Mexico, Fin- 

 land, Norway, Denmark and Sweden, and, of course, in Can- 

 ada, and it sells a great many tires in Germany. France. Egypt 

 and South Africa. 



FIRE IN A RAINCOAT FACTORY. 



The building occupied as a factory by the Standard Raincoat 

 Co. of Milford. Massachusetts, was destroyed by fire on October 

 30 last. It was a 45^ story wooden structure, and the fire was 

 too far advanced before the arrival of the firemen to be checked. 

 The entire loss on the building and stock was placed at $40,000. 



A JERSEY RUBBER PLANT BURNS DOWN. 



The plant of the Harmer Rubber Works in East Millstone, 

 New Jersey, was destroyed by fire, October 29, entailing a loss 

 of $100,000. A locomotive, rushed from New Brunswick, aided 

 in extinguishing the flames by pumping water from the Raritan 

 canal. 



