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THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[July 1, 1913. 



THE TVER RUBBER CO.'S NEW FACTORY. 



THE new tire factory of the Tyer Rubber Co., Andover, 

 Massachusetts, completed early this year, is in full operation, 

 turning out an average of seven hundred tires per week, which 

 practically equals the steady demand. This new establishment is 

 so modern and up-to-date that a recent visit by the repre- 

 sentative of The Indi.x Rubber World is well worth recording. 



The new factory is entirely separate and distinct from the old 

 established factory of this company, which is still used and still 

 fully occupied in the manufacture of its druggists' specialties, 

 which enjoy so enviable a reputation. 



The new establishment is at some distance from the other, on 

 the line of the Boston .-ind Maine Railroad. It consists of two 



Tver Rubber Co.'s Plant. 



distinct buildings, each 310 feet long, and parallel with each 

 other, one being 50 feet and the other 60 feet wide. They are 

 solidly built of brick, with most liberal window space. Each is 

 three stories high, while two ornamental and two plainer towers 

 and a tall and graceful chimney cut into the sky-line. The in- 

 terior is of "factory construction," solid and substantial, as is 

 needed for a building containing rubber working machinery ; and 

 every appointment shows thoughtful planning both for present 

 and for future requirements. 



The engine room and boiler house are models of modern in- 

 dustrial power plants. The building, of very liberal height, 

 assures space for comfort and convenience and allows for growth 

 by additional engines and boilers. The engines are Rice & 

 Sargent's, of 1,000 horse-power, with direct rope drive. Besides 

 these there are smaller engines for running the 500 kilowatt gen- 

 erators for electric light and power. The boiler room contains 

 four RoI)b Engineering Co.'s boilers, each 19J4 feet long and 72 

 inches in diameter. There is room for eight more boilers of simi- 

 lar size, when needed. Contiguous to the boiler-house is an im- 

 mense coal pocket of solid concrete, where coal can be dumped 

 direct from a spur track of the railroad. The pump-room has 

 a fire pump capable of throwing 5,000 gallons of water a minute, 

 the water coming from a private reservoir. Here also are the ac- 

 cumulators for running the' hydraulic presses. The Bowser oiling 

 system is used on all the engines. 



Inspection commenced with the rear building. First comes 

 the mill and calender room, with ten mills, a drying machine, 

 two 72-inch calenders, and plenty of extra room for further 

 machinery, when the demand requires. Each of these machines. 

 a.s, in fact, most others throughout the factory, is run by an in- 

 dividual electric motor, thus bringing about a substantial sa\-ing 

 of power. In the next room arc three wasliers and all the 

 appurtenances to an up-to-date washing room. The compounding 

 room is large, light and roomy, and is especially convenient in 

 its arrangement. 



On the second floor is the machine shop, very thorough and 

 complete ; and here are made most of the molds used by the 

 company. This shop is fully equipped for making all the repairs 

 needed in the two factories. The remainder of this floor is used 

 as a drying room. .MI the rubber used bv this concern is air 



dried. A complete box factory occupies the entire third story, 

 310 .\ 50 feet, and here are made all the thousands of plain and 

 fancy boxes in which the many specialties of the company are 

 marketed. 



lietween this and the similar building fronting on the street 

 i.< a receiving and shipping department, with large store rooms 

 (in the first floor and basement. A fine macadamized drive-way 

 is now building to reach this department. 



In the front building, the first room we enter is the press room, 

 where 21 presses are in constant use for the druggist goods and 

 sundries made by this company. Most of the remainder of this 

 bi.g building is devoted to the manufacture of the "Tyrian .-\nti- 

 Skid" automobile tires. Nearly two entire floors are needed for 

 this purpose, while the upper floor is used for stock room, pack- 

 ing and shipping. 



The second floor is so arranged that the stock and the work 

 go steadily forward, from the time of entering until leaving, with 

 no lost motion and no backward step. There arc in use three of 

 the latest improved tire making machines, made by the J. J. 

 Thropp's Sons Co., and more are to be added. These partly made 

 tires then go to the ground floor, where a 12-foot press is mold- 

 ing a tread bearing the anti-skid device for surrounding the rim 

 with the letters "T. T.," for Tyrian Tires. This press gives 

 the threads a pressure .of 3,000 pounds to the square inch. 

 In this room are numerous other presses for various purposes, 

 including 4 four-foot presses. Here also is an automatic wrap- 

 ping machine, and three pit vulcanizers for curing. The tires, 

 which are of white rubber, on coming out of the vulcanizers are 

 thoroughly inspected, after which they are sent to the stockroom 

 in the upper story. 



This is in brief a description of the factory pictured herewith, 

 a thoroughly modern establishment, now making nearly 120 tires 

 per day, and with room for a large increase over and above this 

 ticket. The factory is in charge of Superintendent C. M. Riddeck. 

 ably assisted by Mr. F. W. Hodges. 



RANDALL AND STICKNEY THICKNESS GAUGE. 



Most rubber manufacturers have felt the need of an accurate 

 method for determining the thickness of rubber. Such an object 

 has been attained in the Randall and Stickney thickness gauge, 

 illustrated by the accom- 

 panying cut. 



In the use of the gauge, 

 the plunger is first raised 

 by pressing down the lever 

 on the left, and the article 

 to be tested is placed on the 

 table under the plunger. 

 The lever is then gently re- 

 leased, when the hands on 

 the dial register the thick- 

 ness. The long hand reg- 

 isters the thousandths of 

 an inch, and the small hand 

 the tenths. By means of 

 an adjusting screw under 

 the table, the long hand 

 can be brought to the 

 proper position, when it is 

 not on the starting point. 



The most important rub- 

 ber goods manufacturers 

 have taken up this thick- 

 ness gauge on account of 

 its known accuracy. An- 

 other proof of its merit consists in its adoption by the Bureau 

 of Standards, Washington, which has expressed approval of its 

 being exceedingly convenient and very easily read. It is manu- 

 factured by Frank E. Randall, 248 Ash street, Waltham, Mass. 



