498 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[September 1, 1911. 



THE RUBBER INDUSTRY IN RHODE ISLAND. 



{Special Correspondence.) 

 rvl'RIXG the month of August the rubber industry in Rhode 

 ^-^ Uland has improved somewhat over that of July, some of 

 the larger plants which closed in the middle of July having 

 opened again, either wholly or in some departments, while some 

 of the independent manufacturers have sufficient orders on hand 

 to warrant them in running on full time schedules. Dullness in 

 the trade was felt chiefly at the Woonsocket and Bristol plants 

 of the United States Rubber Company, but these have now re- 

 opened and that no further curtailment is contemplated. 

 * * * 



The United States Tire Company, which has just completed 

 large additions, doubling the size of its plant on Valley street and 

 the banks of the Woonasquatucket river, is one of Providence's 

 fastest growing manufacturing concerns. The company, a 

 branch of the United States Rubber Company, came here about a 



The two factories of the Woonsocket Rubber Company at 

 Woonsocket, the Alice and Millville Mills, are now running cA 

 full time again, following a shutdown of one month, begun on 

 July 15. Altogether 2,300 people are employed, 1,500 at the first 

 named mill and 800 at the second. 



* * * 



President Charles D. Davol, of the Davol Rubber Company, of 

 Providence, stated recently that business conditions with the firtti 

 are excellent at the present time, the 750 hands being employed 

 on a full time schedule days. An addition to the plant is in 

 process of erection, being two stories in height and designed to 

 further increase the vulcanizing department. W'hen completed 

 four new vulcanizers are to be installed, two for hard and two 

 for soft rubber. 



The general appearance of the plant of the Davol Rubber 

 Company has been changed somewhat recently owing to the 

 widening of Eddy street by the city. A long row of tenement 

 houses, Ix'twceii Point and South streets have been torn down. 



New Machine .\nd Carpenter Shop of United St.\tes Tire Co. 

 Providence, R. I. 



year ago, and purchasing the old plant of the Joseph P.nnigan 

 Rubber Company, has added new structures until now it has 12 

 buildings altogether, and furthermore has plenty of land nearby 

 upon which it can expand as the business grows. 



Among the more notable changes just finished at the local 

 plant are a four-story brick storehouse, 260 x 60 feet, used to 

 store finished product and raw material, and a two-story machine 

 and carpentry shop, 125 x 60 feet, with an ell of one story. Be- 

 sides these a three-story addition has been erected to one of the 

 mills and a new power house, a press room, a moulding room 

 and a one-story addition to the main mill have been built in 

 the past few months, being now complete and in use. All the 

 new buildings, like the old, are of heavy brick construction. 



The principal product of the concern is automobile tires, and 

 while at present 500 of these are being turned out every day, 

 it is planned to largely increase the output shortly. 600 hands 

 are employed and the factory is being operated day and night. 



The company requires a higher class of skilled help than is 

 necessary in some other branches of rubber manufacture, and 

 has experienced some difficulty in obtaining the kind of help it 

 seeks. But those now employed by the company seem to be 

 satisfactory workmen, having been secured from this section, 

 and more hands are being put to work every day, as rapidly as 

 they can be found. It is the company's plan to divide the help 

 into two shifts each of which will contain both experienced and 

 less experienced workmen. One of these divisions works 

 nights and the other days, and each will be filled in as rapidly 

 as possible in order that the entire capacity of the plant may be 

 utilized. 



New Storehouse for United St.\tes Tire Cli 



R. I. 



.\T Provide.nce, 



and this not only gives a clear view of the large factories from 

 the street, but aflfords room for the company to erect an addition 

 to its property. This addition, Mr. Davol states, is contemplated, 

 but probably will not be made this year. 



* * * 



Former Governor Augustus O. Bourn, of the Bourn Rubber 

 Company, this city, states that business is booming with this 

 concern and that all departments are running on full time, giving 

 employment to between 400 and 500 people. It is not the 

 practice of this company to shut down at all during the year for 

 vacations or repairs, such repairs as have to be made being done 

 while the plant is in operation or over night. Governor Bourn, 

 after many years in public and private life, is still in good health 

 and in his office daily. 



* * » 



A. T. Baldwin, of the Walpole Rubber Company, of Walpole, 

 Massachusetts, said recently that the plans of this company for 

 building a branch in Providence have not yet been completed and 

 that it has not been decided what sort of goods the company will 

 manufacture here, if it builds upon land recently acquired on 



Harris avenue. 



* * * 



Harry H. Shepard, formerly representative of the National 

 India Rubber Company, has invented and is just placing on the 

 market the Shepard Air Cushion Typewriter Key Cap, which, 

 as he says, "Means less muscle fag for the operator." The cap 

 is a very simple affair, made of fine quality rubber, moulded in 

 one piece, containing no metal parts, equipped with a pneumatic 

 cushion and .in inlaid letter. 



