24 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[October i, 1910. 



Wyckoff, of the Motor Racing Association. On leaving the Fisk 

 branch Mr. Broadwcll received a harnlsonic present from the 

 sales staff. 



On arriving at Detroit, Mich., to take the post of second Yice- 

 president and sales manager of the Hudson Motor Car Co., Mr. 

 Broadwell was welcomed with a dinner presided over by the 

 president of the company, Mr. R. D. Chapin, and attended by tkt 

 heads of the various departments. 



Mr. J. B. Cothran, who is well known in the tire trade, has 

 been appointed manager of the New York branch of the Fisk 

 Rubber Co. 



NOT so MANT BICYCLE JOBBERS NOW. 



The new list of the National .•\ssociation of Bicycle Jobbers 

 contains the names and addresses of 131 concerns dealing with 

 bicycle supplies which are considered to be entitled to the de- 

 signation "jobber." A number of names formerly on the list have 

 been omitted. The firms mentioned are scattered among 63 

 cities, in 29 states. Five of the houses are rubber goods jobbing 

 firms. Seven of the total number are located in New York City, 

 seven in Philadelphia, six each in Boston and Syracuse, and five 

 each in Chicago and Los Angeles. 



CANADIAN IMPORTS OF CYCLES AND MOTORS. 



The following statistics, for the three months April-June, for 

 three years, are supplied by the Canadian department of trads 

 and commerce : 



BICYCLES. 



1908. 1909. I9IO. 



From Great Britain $ 3.885 $10,325 $38,927 



From United States 11.464 12,921 19,480 



From Other Countries 43 



Total $I5..S49 $23,246 $58,450 



-AUTOMOBILES. 



1908. 1909. I9IO. 



From Great Britain ? 22,558 $ 35,372 $ 65,406 



From United States 122.472 412,317 1,273.05" 



From France 6,875 35495 35.473 



From Other Countries 1,029 5.45' 



Total $151,905 $484,213 $1,379,387 



TIRE GUARANTEES IN GERMANY. 



[from the "GUMMI-ZEITUNG," BERLIN, AUGUST I9.] 



THE increasing popularity of rubber tires for horse drawn 

 vehicles, as well as the use of heavy passenger and freight 

 automobiles, naturally opened up a more extensive outlet for 

 solid tires and made them an article of greater importance. It 

 consequently became necessary to meet the many different and 

 frequently utterly unfounded demands of the buyers in regard to 

 the requirements which such tires should answer, by uniting on 

 the terms of the guarantee to be given. In view of this neces- 

 sity, the German manufacturers have agreed to do all their 

 future business in solid tires e.xclusively on the basis of the 

 terms jointly decided on. In future, vulcanized-on solid tires 

 will be sold under a guarantee for only one year from the date 

 of delivery at the works and up to a covered driving distance of 

 15,000 kilometers [1=9,321 miles], providing the following pro- 

 visions are complied with : 



1. The tires must be used only for driving on good, 

 public, solidly constructed roads. We are not liable for 

 defects in tires, due to driving on newly graveled or ballasted 

 and unrolled roads, and our obligations contracted under 

 this guarantee shall likewise cease whenever chains or ropes 

 are used on the tires, and whenever rubber tires are used on 

 the driving wheels on one side only — i. <?., when the opposite 

 wheel is run without rubber tire, and with an iron tire, for 

 instance. 



2. The tires must not be made to carry loads heavier 



than those for which they are intended in view of their 

 cross section. 



3. The number of kilometers covered each day must be 

 accurately ascertained and entered in a book. 



4. We are to be notified at once, whenever a tire becomes 

 defective before the distance of 15,000 kilometers has been 

 covered. If the defect is so serious that it can be used no 

 longer on the vehicle, either the tire or the complete wheel 

 must be forwarded to us for inspection. 



If a tire should become unfit for use in consequence of faulty 

 manufacturing or defective material, a new tire will be supplied 

 on the basis of the price list in force at the time and of the part 

 of the guaranteed distance which the old tire has failed to cover, 

 or else a credit memo will be issued for the number of kilometers 

 which such tire failed to cover. The defective tires are to be- 

 come the property of the manufacturers, whr. shall have the right 

 to decide on indemnifying the purchases in cither of the afore- 

 said ways. Allowances for any number of kilometers less than 

 the guaranteed distance which a tire fails to cover, shall be 

 figured proportionally to the value of either the rubber tire or of 

 the steel band. 



In the case of tires for which an allowance must be made in 

 consequence of their failure to cover the guaranteed distance, 

 no settlement shall consequently be made on any basis which may 

 include the inserted steel band, as long as the same still remains 

 fit for use. If vehicles are used for hauling trailers, the guaran- 

 tee shall be reduced in proportion to the cross sections of the 

 tires used up, etc. No liability will henceforth be assumed in 

 cases where tires are used for vehicles for which they are not 

 adapted in view of their cross section. 



These new provisions concerning the manufacturers' guarantee 

 are well adapted for at least improving conditions in the solid 

 tire trade. There can be no doubt that the present abuses 

 could not in any event be allowed to continue, inasmuch as the 

 terms of the guarantee for solid tires have not been stipulated 

 by the manufacturers, but by the purchasers. 



The new departure affords, moreover, a further important 

 advantage. It will compel buyers and consumers to refrain 

 from buying and using the tires of small cross section which, 

 while used on account of their cheapness, were absolutely in- 

 capable of doing the work and of answering the requirements 

 of the consumer. When seeing carriages and freight automo- 

 biles with diminutive tires, it must have been plain to the mind 

 of even unexperienced persons that they could not possibly 

 render good services in the end. All this will be changed now, 

 and the users of the vehicles themselves will get their full share 

 of the benefit, inasmuch as the trouble and expense incident to 

 repairs will be considerably reduced, if not wholly avoided. 



In view of the further progress made by the vehicle tire man- 

 ufacturers in settling the guarantee question as aforesaid, it ap- 

 pears desirable for the automobile pneumatic tire manufacturers 

 likewise to come to an agreement in regard to the guarantee 

 for pneumatic tires for automobiles. Up to the present time, 

 this line of tire manufacturing has failed to meet adequately 

 the requirements of the trade, such as they actually are. 



The bicycle pneumatic tire manufacturers did not hesitate 

 to bow to the necessity of an uniform guarantee, and the manu- 

 facturers of solid tires have now followed in their footsteps, 

 and it has become a more than urgent necessity to likewise 

 come to an agreement in regard to the guarantee for auto- 

 mobile pneumatic tires and the maximum loads they should be 

 allowed to carry, and to thus place these matters on a suitable 

 standard basis. There appear to be good and suflicient reasons 

 to expect that this matter, which is exceedingly important for 

 all manufacturers of automobile pneumatic tires, will in the 

 more or less near future be settled in a more satisfactory 

 manner. 



