DSCEMBER 1, 19i0.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



95 



THE U. F. GOODKRII CU.S .NEW TIRE DEPOT MANAGERS. 



THE RUBBER TRADE AT AKRON. 



nv A RESIDENT CORRESPONDENT. 



THE Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. have under construction 

 what will be the largest single factory building in Akron. 

 One or perhaps two other rubber companies are building addi- 

 tions which together will exceed the new Goodyear building in 

 size, but this will be the largest single building here. The new 

 building, to be devoted to the manufacture of automobile tires, 

 will be 400 x 146 feet, and six stories high, of reinforced con- 

 crete. Superintendent P. W. Litchfield says that from 1600 to 

 1800 men men will be employed in the building. 



The Goodyear company are now operating their large power 

 plant in the open air. Recently they completed the erection of a 

 brick smokestack 250 feet high, and which is said to be the largest 

 in the state. Now the Sterling Boiler Co. are installing for them 

 six boilers of 700 hp. each. It was necessary to set up the boil- 

 ers before enlarging the power house ; so the roof was torn off 

 the old power house and for the time being the boilers are out 

 of doors. 



* * * 



An important new departure of The B. F. Goodrich Co. is the 

 establishment of a chain of rubber tire depots throughout the 

 country, in cities in which they do not already maintain branches. 

 These depots will each be in charge of experts trained by the 

 company, and will serve as convenient centers for the repair of 

 tires and for the adjustment of claims under guarantees. Liberal 

 stocks will be carried, thus eliminating the necessity of local 

 dealers carrying large stocks. The carrying out of this plan has 

 been a matter of study for almost a year, and the managers of 

 the twenty-seven depots left Akron during the past month for 

 their new positions. The new depots will not sell tires to con- 

 sumers, but are being established solely to benefit the dealers in 

 their respective localities. The opening of the depots has been 

 slated for Decetnber 1. An estimate which reaches The India 

 Rubber World is that over $550,000 worth of stock has been dis- 

 tributed among the depots. 



The location of the depots is in the following cities : Brooklyn, 

 Albany, Syracuse, and Rochester, New York ; Newark, New Jer- 

 sey; Portland, Maine; Providence, Rhode Island; Springfield, 

 Massachusetts ; Baltimore, Maryland ; Washington, D. C. ; Rich- 

 mond, Virginia ; Toledo, Columbus, and Dayton, Ohio ; Saginaw 

 and Grand Rapids, Michigan ; Milwaukee, Wisconsin ; Memphis, 

 Tennessee; New Orleans, Louisiana; Jacksonville, Florida; Louis- 

 ville, Kentucky; Des Moines, Iowa; Houston and San Antonio, 

 Texas; Omaha, Nebraska; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Oklahoma 

 City, Oklahoma. 



The following young men have been placed in charge of the 

 depots : C. S. Bower, C. A. Fassnacht, D. E. Wilcox, E. Straehle, 

 T. C. Norris, B. A. Thurin, W. B. Aldefer, C A. Breyler, K. K. 



Kantzer, D. B. Jarvis, E. E. Rhoads, W. A. Gardner, C. E. Lind- 

 quist, G. H. Wood, W. H. Garner, O. A. Evans, E. H. Schwan, 

 F. A. Schumacher, B. F. Morris, W. S. Rutherford, L. Wood- 

 ward, J. D. Hotchkiss, N. J. Murray. F. Little, R. Ilassler, G. P. 

 Colnian, and J. M. Dempsey. 



The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. of Canada, Limited, 

 formed to manufacture automobile tires in Canada, to avoid the 

 payment of the import duties of 35 per cent, ad valorem imposed 

 under the Canadian tariff act of 1907, have acquired control of 

 the factory at Bowmanville, Ontario, established originally by 

 the Bowmanville Rubber Co., which was reorganized in 1898 as 

 the Durham Rubber Co., Limited. The Durham company have 

 been engaged in the manufacture of mechanical rubber goods and 

 tires. The plant is being revised for continuing the manufacture 

 of the same lines. Offices of the concern have been opened in 

 Toronto. 



In spite of the tariff there has been a considerable sale of 

 American-made tires in Canada. Under the preferential trade 

 relations with Great Britain, tires from the latter country are 

 dutiable in Canada at only 22;'2 per cent. But during the last 

 fiscal year Canada imported $158,023 worth of American tires, 

 and only $32,517 worth from Great Britain. 



* * * 



The Firestone Tire and Rubber Co. have put into effect a 10 

 per cent, reduction of the price on solid automobile tires. A 

 statement given out at the office of the company declares the cut 

 is made in line with a general solid motor truck tire reduction 

 planned by Akron manufacturers. 



The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. has also reduced the price 

 of its solid rubber tires 10 per cent., and F. A. Seiberling, presi- 

 dent of the company, declares prices of pneumatic automobile 

 tires will be cut from 15 to 20 per cent, by January 1. "The 

 drop in the crude rubber market," reads the Firestone company's 

 statement, "which is bringing about a general readjustment of 

 tire prices, is due to the refusal of American rubber manufactur- 

 ers to buy at the recent inflated prices demanded by London 

 speculators." 



* * « 



At the motor commercial car show to be held in Madison 

 Square Garden, New York, the first of the year the Firestone 

 Tire and Rubber Co. will exhibit something entirely new in solid 

 truck tires, a demountable rim tire. The Diamond Rubber Co. 

 will have a new spliceless solid tire on exhibition. 



* * * 



Shareholders of the Royal Rubber Co. have voted to adopt 

 the recommendation of the directors and increase the capital 

 stock of the company from $50,000 to $200,000. They made pro- 



