October 1. 1913.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



17 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN BOSTON. 



By 11 RcsidciU Correspoiidenl. 



FALL busini-ss is unevenly distributed. While some lines in 

 the rubber trade are lively, others lag to such an extent 

 that complaints are numerous. Fire hose contracts are scarce, 

 presumably because of the increased demands upon public treas- 

 uries. Manufacturers of belting note the tendency of large in- 

 dustrial concerns to allow manufacturtrs or dealers to carry 

 stock rather than have reserve stocks in their store rooms. Rub- 

 ber footwear trade is still quiet, but the clothing niainifactur- 

 ers report sales above the average, with the outlook bright for 

 a steady and continued demand, .\utomobilc tire makers are 

 the busiest of all rubber goods manufacturers, the strike in 

 Akron having led to a shortage, which has resulted in advantage 

 to many tire manufacturers hereabouts. South Braintree seems 

 to be a growing rubber manufacturing center, there being live 

 concerns in that town now interested in one way or another in 

 the industry. Besides the scrap rubber warehouse of the J. H. 

 Stedman Co.. mentioned elsewhere in this number, there are 

 the Monatiqunt Rubber Works Co., manufacturers of naturizcd 

 rubber; the Mayflower Rubber Co.. manufacturing rubber heels, 

 soles and arch supports ; the Boston Rubber Cement Co., and 

 the Commercial Fibre Co. 



* * * 



I under>land tliat William Killion & Sons Co.. manulaclurers 

 of rubber shoe pads, are to have a new, perfectly appointed, 

 up-to-date factory at Harrison Square, one of the conveniently 

 situated outlying sections of Boston. 



* * * 



Some very \aluable ruliber was stolen last month, it reports 

 in the daily jiapers are correct. They say that a man named 

 Callahan, a freight clerk in the employ of the N. Y., N. H. & 

 H. R. R., offered for sale at 30 cents a pound a quantity of crude 

 rubber which he claimed to be worth $2.25 a pound. Pretty nice 

 rubber, that. It's a good many months since Boston dealers 

 have seen any crude rubber worth $2.25 a pound. But perhaps 

 Callahan is an expert and knew good rubber when he saw it. 

 The result of his entrance into the crude rubber industry was 

 that not only was he arrested, but freight checkers named Mal- 

 ony and Noonan with him, on a charge of larceny of 274 pounds 

 of crude rubber, valued at $600, a portion of which was later 



recovered. 



* * * 



James H. Stedman, treasurer of tlie Monatiquot Rubber Works 

 Co., was the host recently to about five hundred guests who gath- 

 ered to celebrate with hi-m the completion of the new barn on 

 his country estate at New Sharon, Maine. The guests came 

 from the neighboring farms and towns, and were entertained by 

 a ball game, a flag raising and a dinner, which was featured by 

 the presence of six huge pots of beans baked in the ground and 

 done to an epicurean turn. 



* * * 



The Patterson Rul.ibcr Co., of Lowell, is turning out an average 

 of sixty tires per day, with a demand which absorbs the total 

 output. There is a steadily increasing call for the specialty of 

 this concern, which speaks most favorably for the success of 

 this comparatively new enterprise. 



mentioning the name of the makers of these English style coats. 



* ♦ * 



Things go humming right along at tlie factory of the Converse 

 Rubber Shoe Co., at Edgeworth, Maiden, Massachusetts. A full 

 complement of hands is at work, and there are rubber shoe or- 

 ders enough ahead to keep them busy until the arrival of the 

 fall demand. The company's specialties in tennis lines have 

 proven most popular, and orders are already coming in for early 

 spring delivery. This company makes two special types of rub- 

 ber heels, which have a good sale. In addition, the manufacture 

 of tires — all carefully hand made — has been carried on in a con- 

 servative way ; and these tires have been found so satisfactory 

 and durable that this department is likely to be greatly enlarged 

 the coming season. At the factory are shown tires which have 

 stood severe tests, some of them having run over 4,500 miles. 

 President Converse is giving his personal attention to the details 

 of the business and is at the factory every day since the resump- 

 tion of work after the shut-down of two weeks in mid-summer. 

 ^ * * 



Years ago, welt shoes, whether hand sewed or made on Good- 

 year machines, contained, between the outer and the inner soles, 

 a tiller, sometimes of leather, oftener of felt or tarred paper. 

 This was necessary simply because there was space to fill ; no 

 wear came on it, and none was expected of it. When the 

 welting machine was new and just beyond the experimental 

 stage, a Brockton shoe manufacturer secured one, to try it out. 

 In the factory were a large number of hand workmen, who 

 foresaw, in the success of the machine, a loss of their jobs. 

 While the machine was on trial, the manufacturer, wishing to 

 keep his workmen, set them to bottom-filling the shoes soled 

 on the welt-machine. 



Meanwhile the foreman of the room was experimenting on 

 a plastic bottom-tiller, and had mixed up a lot of rubber cement 

 with powdered cork, to be used in place of the leather or felt. 

 This was to be placed in a "gob" in the space to be filled, and 

 spread evenly over the insole, from welt to welt. Shoe makers 

 truly believe that "there's nothing like leather," and they saw, 

 in the event of success of the new filler, a further possibility 

 of losing their jobs. But how to circumvent the foreman was 

 a problem. The next day an advertisement appeared in the 

 local paper, "Wanted, three plasterers, apply at — ," the factory 

 where the cement was being used ; and sure enough, a plasterer, 

 in white overalls, his kit of tools wrapped in a big cloth, applied 

 for a job. The manufacturer was non-plussed, and started an 

 investigation. It was not until he inquired at the bottoming 

 room that he got any information. Answering his inquiry if any- 

 one knew of the advertisement, a workman said : "Perhaps they 

 want a plasterer to spread that new filler." The manufacturer 

 peered into the barrel indicated, and inquired what it was. 

 The foreman explained, and was ordered to "Chuck that stuff out 

 of the window," the employer remarking that he wanted no 

 cork stufT in his shoes — nothing but leather. The workmen 

 gained their point, but the ingenious foreman persisted in his 

 experiments (tho perhaps elsewhere) and as a result a com- 

 pound of rubber cement and cork is now almost universally 

 used as a filler in welt shoes, having been found noiseless 

 (preventing the squeak) and waterproof, besides being sufficiently 

 ductile to allow the inner sole to conform somewhat to the shape 

 of the sole of the foot on which it is worn. 



E. H. Hicks, of the Stoughton Rubber Co., returned the middle 

 of last month from a successful trip which covered the large 

 cities of the Middle West. He reports a generally optimistic 

 feeling regarding the coming season's business, based on the con- 

 dition of the crops and the prosperity of the farmers. E. F. 

 McGowan and Fred C. Prince have recently returned from a 

 vacation tour in Europe. They report that the best Englisli 

 styles in overcoats and raincoats which they have seen ?re those 

 made in the United States. Of course, modesty prevents thvir 



In carrying out the plans of the Chamber of Commerce Com- 

 mittee to investigate the extent of the manufacturing resources 

 of Boston, thus becoming familiar with the various industrial 

 plants in the metropolitan district, etc., a delegation of seventy 

 members, in charge of Bernard J. Rothwell, made an initial visit, 

 on September 1?, to the plant of the Hood Rubber Co.. at Water- 

 town, where they were shown all its departments and workings. 

 The committee expressed itself as well pleased with the visit 

 arH '^^c-edingly interested in all the details. 



