302 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[March 1, 1914. 



turning out a yearly product of $50,000,000. Statisticians of 

 the company figure that tires to the value of $125,000,000 

 should be sold in the I'nited States this year, to equij) the 

 1,125,000 automobiles now in operation, and this third shift 

 of workmen has been added so that the orders falling to the 

 company's share may be properly cared for, the factory being 

 in constant operation night and day. 



The Goodyear company believes in newspaper advertising. 

 and in order to induce Goodyear dealers to advertise in their 

 home town papers a special department has been established 

 in the Akron general oftices for the purpose of calling atten- 

 tion to the advantages of this form of publicity, as well as to 

 write advertisements, prepare copy, supply cuts, and in any 

 way possible assist the dealers in their individual advertising 

 campaigns. 



The "Safety First" campaign inaugurated by this company 

 in November last is said to have been the means of decreas- 

 ing the number of accidents in its plant by more than one-half. 

 * * * 



On account of the similarity of its name to that of another 

 local concern, the Rubber Cloods Supply & Manufacturing Co. of 

 this city has changed its name to the Excell Rubber Co. 



The name of the Buckeye Rubber Co. has been changed to 

 the Kelly-Springfield Tire Co. 



The Industrial Workers of the World have expelled from 

 membership in their organization, and the Socialists from 

 their party, four men employed in local rubber shops, accus- 

 ing them of being spies in the employ of the Corporations' 

 .Auxiliary Co., of Cleveland. Three of the men so accused 

 are said to have at once left the city, the remaining worker 

 appearing at the trial held by the Socialist party and denying 

 the charge. 



.An ordinance recommending that the sale of rubber con- 

 nections for gas stoves and flueless heating gas stoves be 

 prevented is recommended by building inspectors of this city. 

 While an ordinance is in force to prevent their use. inspectors 

 believe that it will not be prevented while sales of this article 

 are permitted to be made. 



A large number of the cars entered for the Vanderbilt Cup 

 Races started on Saturdav, February 21. at Santa Monica, Cali- 

 fornia, were equipped with tires of .Akron manufacture, which 

 stood the stress and strain excellently. The Grand Prize was 

 awarded F'ebruary 23. 



The Lyons Rubber Co. has overhauled its plant and installed 

 new machinery for the manufacture of a complete line of rubber 

 sundries. 



The Independent Rubber Co., a sales organization composed 

 of .Akron men, is handling a large part of the output of the 

 Lyons company. 



FOED COMPANY NOT TO BUILl; A TIRE PLANT AT AKRON. 



.A widely circulated and recently published rcpcirt tn the 

 effect that the Ford Motor Co. of Detroit had bought 40 acres of 

 land just outside of .Akron and intended to erect thereon a large 

 plant for the manufacture of tires was the cause of considerable 

 excitement in .Akron rubber circles, the report appearing quite 

 credible in view of the quantity of tires required to equip the 

 annual output of this company and the general understanding 

 that the Ford company has been planning for years to manu- 

 facture its own tires. In a letter to The Indi.\ Rubber Wori.d 

 under date of February 21, however, the Ford Motor Co. makes 

 this statement : "There is absolutely no foundation to the 

 rumor that this company is about to erect a tire plant in .Akron." 



Should be on every rubber man's desk — Crude Rubber and 

 Compounding Ingredients ; Rubber Country of the .Amazon ; 

 Rubber Trade Directory of the World. 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN CHICAGO. 



By a Regular Corresf'Oiuh-itl. 



'YY/ITll the final arrival of cold weather, combined with 

 ' ' plenty of rain, slush and snow, local dealers in rubber 

 overshoes and raincoats have taken courage. Business in 

 these departments of the rubber trade has shown a marked 

 improvement since the beginning of the favorable weather. 

 While the manufacturers and jobbers have noticed but little 

 increase in business, dealers state that the people are buying 

 well for the first time this year, and most all lines in the rub- 

 ber business report larger sales for February than during the 

 same month of last year. Goods are moving well and will 

 probably continue to do so for some time, principally in size 

 up and filling in lot- to coni])lete stocks in the hands of re- 

 lailers. 



* * * 



W. E. Carver, manager of the Rubber Manufacturing & 

 Distributing Co., 207 West Monroe street, said: "The humid 

 weather has arrived just in time to save some of us fellows 

 from getting disgusted with the rubber business. Never in 

 the history of the trade in this section have we had more un- 

 favorable weather than this year. The dealers are for the 

 most part overstocked at the present time, but if this weather 

 continues orders will be arriving in a satisfactory manner 

 within a few weeks at the longest. However, none of the 

 larger houses have been seriously alarmed, for we have come 

 to know that in Chicago we always have a certain amount of 

 weather each year during which the sale of our goods is 

 assured. The people know, also, that they must have rain- 

 coats and rubber overshoes in a climate like this, and for 

 that reason are seldom found without these articles in their 

 wardrobe. The trouble is that they will not buy when the 

 weather is cloudless, but show that they are human by wait- 

 ing until the storm season comes, when they buy in droves. 

 For that reason we have periods here when we are over our 

 ears in the work of handling orders and then other seasons 

 when we have nothing to do until tomorrow." 



* * * 



One of the features of the .Automobile Show m Chicago, 

 which recently passed into history, was the growing popu- 

 larity and increasing variety of rough treads, as manifested 

 in the tire displays. Many new patterns of anti-skid shoes 

 have been put upon tlie market and accepted with favor by 

 the public, %vhich is plainly becoming more cautious in guard- 

 ing against skiddmg, both by choosing rough tread tires and 

 by the use of tire chains. One of the most interesting inno- 

 vations which was seen at the Chicago show was the detach- 

 able or separate tread, which is so arranged that when it is 

 put on the body of the tire and the tube inflated it practically 

 forms one piece with the body. It is claimed for this device 

 that it cuts the tire cost about in half, because the separate 

 tread can be removed at any time, and as the tread is the 

 part which receives most of the wear and tear, the body of 

 the tire does not have to be renewed. In the ordinary tire, 

 of course, when the tread is worn out or badly injured the 

 entire shoe must be thrown away. One other novelty which 

 attracted the crowds at the show was a combination pneu- 

 matic and cushion tire, in which the tread is much thicker 

 than that ordinarily used and is cut and patterned ,so that 

 it presents a sharp edge in any direction. It is said that this 

 form combines the riding qualities of the pneumatic with tlie 

 many advantages of the cusliion tire. 



* * * 



The Kni.ght Tire & Rubber Co.. of Canton, Ohio, has 

 opened a distributing branch here, at 2112 South Michigan 

 avenue, to take care of its trade in the Middle West. This 

 branch will 1h- managed bv E. C. ^[erkle. who was formerly 



