September 1, 1511. J 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



495 



THE RUBBER TRADE AT AKRON. 



BY A REGULAR CORRESrONRENT. 



Tl I V. B. F. Goodrich Company is publishing the campaign to 

 educate tire users to a more perfect understanding of the 

 causes of tire trouble. It conmiences with a scries of folders il- 

 h-.strating the more common mistakes in the treatment of tires. 

 A careful study of these folders will save many repairs bills, and 

 nerit the heartiest thanks of the tire user. 



Folder \o. 1 illustrates cuts on the tire tread evidently made 

 by a chain which was fastened to the spokes of the wheel. This 

 was tluis held tightly in one place as the cutting appears at reg- 

 ular intervals, illustrating the point that the least injury re- 

 sults from chains being loosely applied so that play is allowed to 

 work themselves around the tire, distributing the strain to all 

 points alike. 



Folder No. 2 shows a tire forced out of sliape, caused by the 

 wheels being out of alignment. This usually occurs on the 

 front wheels, and generally affects both tires alike. Improper 

 adjustments of the steering apparatus or a l)ent a.xle or knuckle 

 are responsible. 



Folder No. 3 represents a flat, out-of-sliape appearance, caused 

 by not properly inflating the tire. This produces loosening of 

 the tread from the fabric ; also rim cutting. 



Folder No. 4 represents a tire blistered by llic neglect of small 

 cuts extending to the fabric. 



Folder No. 5 represents a large break in the fabric, caused by 

 the wheel passing over stones, but leaving not the slightest 

 mark on the outside of the case. 



Folder No. 6 represents a tire that is "rut-worn." This does 

 not necessarily imply that this condition is due only to ruts, 

 but it is frequently caused by running in deep wheel tracks. The 

 same condition results if the tire is tun on muddy roads on a 

 frozen crust insufficiently strong to support tlie car; also running 

 against curbstones. 



Folder No. 7 represents a small cut in the tread. An inside 

 patch was applied by the owner to place the tire in good run- 

 ning order, but instead, the patch acts as a wedge, causing the 



fabric to part, thus causing a break from bead to bead. 



* * * 



The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company is preparing a storage 

 lake in East Akron as a source of water supply for their factory. 

 It is fed by the Little Cuyahoga River, which drains Spring- 

 field and Fritch's Lakes, and a watershed of 100 square miles. 

 The lake will cover more than eighteen acres. This provision on 

 the part of this company will take care of the future growth 

 of the plant which is being greatly enlarged. 



Work will shortly be commenced on a new building for the 

 Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., Akron, Ohio. It will be 300 feet 

 in length, an addition to the tire manufacturing department. That 

 this considerable addition to the company's facilities is urgently 

 needed is proved by the fact that although working 24 hours a 

 day and turning out daily 2,200 tires, or enough to equip 550 

 automobiles, the company is weeks behind with its orders. Last 

 year the sales of Goodyear tires suddenly mounted to $<S,500,000, 

 having trebled in a single year ; this year they are expected to 

 rgach $12,000,000. 



* * * 



Each of the big rubber companies in .-\kron is a consumer of 

 a large amount of water, using almost as much as many cities of 

 20,000 or 30,000 population. The Akron Water Works Company 

 recently had a break in its pipes, which made it necessary to 

 shut down the whole plant for repairs. The question arose. 

 What would the city do for a supply? and this created a great 

 deal of apprehension among the citizens of Akron, Mr. H. S. 

 Firestone, president of The Firestone Tire & Rubber Company, 

 immediately upon securing this knowledge, placed at the disposal 

 of the citizens the private pipe line of his company, through 



which water is brought from a lake some distance away lor the 

 purpose of operating the large turbine engines lately installed in 

 the new Firestone plant in South Akron. Thus, in addition to 

 carrying the load necessary for The Firestone Tire & Rubber 

 Company, the emergency pumps of this plant, night and day, 

 supplied Akron with fire protection and drinking water. This 

 was done unsolicited and at the expense of The Firestone Tire & 

 Rubber Company, and more, Mr. Firestone says that they (the 

 City of Akron) can use it as long as they need it. 

 * * * 



James A. Braden, advertising manager of The Diamond Rub- 

 ber Company, and a careful student of economics as well as a 

 keen analytic and constructive advertiser, says on the subject 

 01 scientific management, especially as it aflfects The Diamond 

 Rubber Company: "There are two ways of looking at scien- 

 tific management, one, by which the factory derives results, and 

 tliat by which the employes benefit. Why is it that some fac- 

 tories are able to turn out much belter goods than their competi- 

 tors? Take, for instance, the rubber shops. All can buy rub- 

 ber for the san:e [irice and cotton, for the fabric, costs one as 

 much as the other. What makes the difference in the finished 

 product? Scientific management. Manufacturers all over the 

 country have been paying special attention to this for the past 

 few years. As far as my limited experience has shown, brains 

 count for much in the Diamond. Nearly all the men who are 

 now holding high positions in this company rose from the ranks, 

 beginning as ofl!ice boy or w-orking at minor positions in the fac- 

 tory proper. This shows that an eye is kept on the work 

 of the men in the factory, and they are advanced as rapidly 

 us is permitted. Ten years ago, no one would have thought of 

 making alterations in the building to provide for the health or 

 comfort of the employes. It is one of the greatest points, from 

 an architect's view today, to make provision for plenty of 

 light, and good ventilation. All of the Diamond buildings are 

 built from a sanitary standpoint, the company having discovered 

 that with pler.ty of light and pure air, a man can work better 

 than when he is shut off from the light and compelled tc inhale 

 close and heavy air all day long. 



'■.'\nother feature which has been added under the scientific 

 management system is the hospital. When I came to the fac- 

 tory it was the custom, if an employe got a hand or leg cut off 

 to send for the ambulance and, after a half-hour's wait, to take 

 him to the hospital. Now, every time a finger is smashed or an 

 employe feels in the least bit sick, he is taken to the hospital 

 and put under a doctor's care. There is one trained nurse at 

 the hospital all the time, two part nf the time, and two doctors 

 always within reach. 



"It may be that officials of The Diamond Company are too 

 lax with their employes, as they are allowed to talk wdiile work- 

 ing, and are given much more freedom than men in most other 

 factories : but we find that by giving them a little freedom they 

 work a little harder when they do work and get out as much 

 as if ihcy were compelled to stay on the job all the time. 



"I don't know whether it would be called scientific management 

 or not, but by watching for the comforts and needs of all our 

 employes and trying to work with them as individuals instead 

 of a body of 5,000 laborers, we are making the Diamond grow 

 every day, and by treating our employes in a broad way, over- 

 looking their petty faults, as are benefiting themselves and us. 



"More technical ideas of 'scientific management' are being 

 applied at the Diamond, too, such as arranging seats at work 

 benches so not a move of the worker is lost. In one room the 

 saving to the company last year was $10,000. Employes who 

 come up to the standard set get a bonus in wages." 

 * * * 



Francis E. Holton, cheerful, energetic, active, eighty, the 

 youngest old man in the rubber sundry and specialty Inisiness, 

 the possessor of the one-millionth patent says: "There is no 



