516 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[July 1, 1913. 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN AKRON. 



By a Resident Correspondent. 



THE City of Akron, which was the first city in the United 

 States to use an automobile fire patrol, has just let contracts 

 which will more adequately protect its various industries, 

 among which are those manufacturing rubber goods. These 

 contracts provide for the installation of motor apparatus and 

 will do away entirely with all that now drawn by horses. 

 The city has installed in its water plant heavier pumping 

 engines, so that the present pressure is much stronger. 



Contracts for the new reservoir which will dam the waters 

 of the Big Cuyahoga River for almost two miles, with a maxi- 

 mum depth of 33 feet, have been let, and the water mains 

 connecting the large reservoir with the power reservoir are 

 rapidly being placed in position; so that within two years' 

 time Akron will have a supply of pure water sufficient for 

 a population several times the present one, including the needs 

 of the rubber plants, several of the larger of which use as 

 much water as many of the smaller cities of this country, 

 ranging in size from 20,000 to 50,000 people. The new supply 

 taken from the Cuyahoga River, together with that from the 

 Tuscarawas River and the Portage Lakes, will give the City 

 of Akron and vicinity enough water to adequately take care 

 of the anticipated growth in its industries and population for 



many years to come. 



* * * 



Saturday afternoon, June 7, a fire broke out in the general 

 offices of The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. among the of- 

 fice supplies which filled the basement. The fire before dis- 

 covered afTected the gas pipes, so that gas began to escape. 

 There being no e.xit for the smoke, it became very dense, 

 and on account of this and the gas the fire was very hard to 

 locate. Six lines of hose were laid and it took three hours to 

 subdue the blaze. When finally conquered the water lay sev- 

 eral feet deep upon the basement floor, and although the total 

 damage caused by the fire was not great, much damage was 

 done by smoke and water. 



The volunteer fire department of the company aided the 

 city department. Mr. Shiller, from the master mechanic's 

 oflice, one of the volunteers, stuck with the best of the 

 veterans and finally had to be carried out, with several of the 

 city force, overcome by smoke and gas. Both city and 

 volunteer departments gave excellent service. 



W. B. Miller, former secretary and sales manager of the 

 Diamond Rubber Co., leaves in a week for his new home at 

 Beverly Farm, Massachusetts. Miller's West Hill home was 

 sold to Henry Manton, vice-president of the First-Second 

 National Bank. 



"No, I am not going into business again," said Miller. 



"I'm just .going to loaf." 



* * * 



The Swinehart Tire and Rubber Co. is rapidly completing 

 its large new addition, which w^ill give space to almost double 



its present tire output. 



* * * 



.-\s a tribute to Mr. Mason of The B. F. Goodrich Co., who 

 has done so much for his home city, the school board has 

 named the new school building which is being erected in East 



.^kron the Mason School. 



* * * 



Many employes of the various rubber factories have, dur- 

 ing the last few years, built homes on the west side, so that 

 Akron is compelled to erect a new high school building, not 

 far from the Perkins homestead. 



* * * 



The chemical section of the Goodyear Technical Society 

 has the promise of the noted industrial chemist, Dr. John A. 

 Shaeffer, chief chemist of The Picher Lead Co., Joplin, Mis- 



souri, to give them a lecture on "The Smelting and Casting 

 of Lead and the Preparation of Lead Compound." He has 

 many lantern slides illustrating the lead mines in Missouri, 

 and will give the main facts concerning the manufacture of 

 litharge and sublimed white lead, largely used in the com- 

 pounding of rubber. 



* * * 



The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., through its vice- 

 president, C. W. Seiberling, made the following statement: 



"Sales of The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. over the last 

 six months show the following gains, as compared with the 

 previous year: .'\pril, 1913, 8 per cent.; March, 1913, 2 per 

 cent.; February, 1913, 24 per cent.; January, 1913, 45 per cent.; 

 December, 1912, 52 per cent.; November, 1912, 31 per cent. 

 .-Mthough figures for May are not yet in, officials expect the 

 gain in that month to be about 15 per cent. 



"When we started this year everything indicated tliat we 

 would do a $40,000,000 gross business. Now, however, indica- 

 tions are for figures considerably below that amount and we 

 shall be satisfied with a 25 per cent, increase in sales as com- 

 pared with a year ago, which would bring our gross business 

 in 1913 up to about $32,000,000 or $33,000,000. There appears 

 to be a general slowing up in business all around and the 

 rubber goods trade has suffered as well as the rest. 



"We have now about 6,100 employes, but could use at least 

 1,500 more. We are manufacturing about 5,500 automobile 

 tires per day, as compared with 6,500 before the strike. In 

 addition to the automobile tires, we are also putting out about 

 1,000 each of bicycle and motorcycle tires daily. 



"So far as the reduction in tariff on rubber goods is con- 

 cerned, I do not think that the proposed schedule will hurt 

 us. We are well prepared to meet any foreign competition 

 that may be offered. 



"The Goodyear company is now going into the manuijie- 

 ture of mechanical rubber goods on a far greater scale than 

 has ever before been attempted. Within two or three years 

 we expect to be able to manufacture from $2,000,000 to $3,- 

 000,000 of mechanical rubber goods a year. We are not doing 

 over $500,000 in this department at the present time. 



"It has never been, with but one exception, the policy of 

 the Goodyear management to sell any new stock that it might 

 be deemed advisable to put out. This stock has always been 

 distributed in the form of stock dividends. The Goodyear 

 company has a little over $10,000,000 stock outstanding of an 

 authorized issue of $15,0fl0.(XX). The company is now paying 12 

 per cent, in dividends annually on its common stock. This divi- 

 dend is paid in a single disbursement at the close of the fiscal 

 year. It is the present intention of the management to make a 

 distribution at the close of 1913 at least as large as that of a 

 year ago." 



The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. recently shipped to 

 the Far East a large consignment of specially built rubber 

 tires for use on jinrikishas. 



C. A. Swinehart, for several years sales manager of the 

 Swinehart Tire and Rubber Co., of Akron, Ohio, has become 

 general manager of the Vulcan Rubber Co.. of Erie, Penn- 

 sylvania. This company has been manufacturing mechanical 

 rubber goods and iimer tubes and now, under the manage- 

 ment of Mr. Sw-inehart, will take up the manufacture of com- 

 mercial truck tires. The company, in which Mr. Swinehart 

 and Mr. H. F. Burger, formerly with the Swinehart company, 

 have acquired an interest, is incorporated for $200,000. Mr. 

 Swinehart has designed a solid tire for which he claims 

 special merit and which this company will place upon the 



market. 



* * * 



Emil Gammeter, sales manager of the Universal Stock 

 Calender Shells Co.. Cadiz. Ohio, and also of ".-Muniinuni 



