May 1. 19U.J 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



429 



6 inches high, is capable of grinding a roll 24 inches in diameter 

 and 144 inches long, and is driven by an attached electric motor. 

 It is said that the accuracy of this machine is invaluable to 

 owners of rubber mills, as it will grind out a roll that will not 

 vary more than one-fifth of a thousandth part of an incli. This 



company employs 165 men and is working overtime. 



* * * 



The l.uzerne Rubber Co., the productive capacity of whose 

 plant here has for some time past been considerably over-taxed, 

 is soon to erect a factory addition. This new building will be 

 80 X 40 feet, two stories high, and will be used as an addition 

 to the mill and store rooms, increasing the capacity of the former 

 to double its present output. 



* * * 



The up-keep contest started about a year ago by the Ajax- 

 Grieb Rubber Co., of this city, has just been closed and prizes 

 awarded to the successful competitors — 208 in number — among 

 whom $5,000 has been divided, in amounts ranging from $500 

 downward. Blanks provided by the company at the time the 

 offer was made were used for reporting the size of the tire, the 

 make of car on which it was to be used, the date of purchase, the 

 speedometer reading and where the tire was purchased — this 

 card being signed by the employer of the chauffeur and the in- 

 formation copied on cards at the place where the tire was bought. 

 It was also required that notification be made when the tire had 

 ceased its usefulness, the date when it was removed from the car. 

 the speedometer reading and the number of miles covered by 

 the car — this card also to be signed by the owner and returned 

 within five days after the tire was taken out of service. Some 

 remarkable tire mileages were obtained in this competition, the 

 largest — 16.782 miles — having been secured by C. E. Rock, 

 driver for J. F. Gibney. Marlboro. Massachusetts, operating a 

 Locomobile. This is the first time that such a contest has been 

 tried by any tire concern, and the competition as viewed by the 

 makers of .^jax tires shows that while service and long wear 

 are built into every casing, it is care and attention to the tires 

 that bring out the mileage, and abuse and neglect that spoil the 

 chances of realizing the maximum. Another contest of a similar 

 nature is soon to be opened. 



* * ♦ 



The Olden Rubber Manufacturing Co,, of 680 Olden ave- 

 nue, this city, is erecting a new plant on the site of the one 

 destroyed by fire on January 26. This company manufac- 

 tures molded rubber goods, matting, automobile accessories, 

 plumbers' supplies, etc.. an increased production of which will 

 be made possible by the present building operations. The 

 factory will be of brick, steel construction, on a plot 160 x 

 102 feet, the main mill room covering an area of 125 x 102 

 feet and having but seven pillars in this entire space. .A 

 large quantity of new machinery has been purchased, and 

 the prospects are that this will be in full operation by June 1. 

 D. M. Lovett, manager, states that sufficient business i.s in 

 prospect to keep the plant running full time, and that there 

 is every indication of satisfactory and successful operation 

 the same as before the fire. 



* * * 



The Semplc Rulilier Co., recently formed in this city, with a 

 capital stock of $125,000, has taken the plant on Murray street 

 formerly occupied by the American Porcelain Works, which it 

 is equipping for the production of inner tubes for automobile 

 tires, to the extent of 600 tubes daily, the expectation being to 

 extend the line of manufacture a little later to include outer 

 cases and other lines of a kindred nature. This plant is on the 

 Belvidere division of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and will soon 

 be ready for occupation. Charles H. Seniple. at one time presi- 

 dent of the G. & J. Tire Co., of Indianapolis, and who about two 

 years ago retired from the presidency of the Empire Tire Co., 

 of this city, is president of the new concern ; F. A. Drake is 

 treasurer, and R. H. Laporte is secretary. 



THE RUBBER TRADE ON THE PACIFIC COAST. 



.ffy Cur Regular Correspondent. 

 ""PUli Employers' Liability law recently enacted in California, 

 ■*• if enforced in accordance with tlie original intention, will 

 probaljly add slightly to the co.st of production in this state. The 

 general recourse of employers in their efforts to evade this law 

 has thus far been to deduct the cost of the insurance from the 

 wages of their employes — a practice declared by the State Indus- 

 trial Commission to be entirely contrary to the spirit of the Com- 

 pensation .\ct, if not to the letter of the law, which especially 

 ^Ijecifies that any agreement between employers and employes 

 for the payment of sick, accident or death benefits must be "in 

 addition to the compensation provided for l)y this act." The 

 crimmission also points out that by carrying the amount of the 

 premium into the cost of production the burden is borne by the 

 consumers, who are chiefly employes, and that if they are also 

 assessed directly, in reduction of wages, they are doubly taxed. 

 The theory of compensation is to transfer the burden from the 

 injured to the industry, which cannot be accomplished if em- 

 ployers are permitted to assess the employed, some particularly 

 unscrupulous ones even going to the extent of assessing their 

 workers beyond the total amount of insurance. 

 ^f * * 



The Diamond Rub'uer Co. has appointed W. J. Voit. former 

 manager of its Los Angeles branch, to the position of Pacific 

 Coast manager recently vacated by C. E. Mathewson. Mr. Voit, 

 whose headquarters will be at San Francisco, has been in charge 

 'if various l)ranches for this company and has traveled up and 

 down the coast for years, so that he needs no introduction to 

 :he lire trade cf the West. 



« * * 



It is announced that the Taxicab Co. of California, the largest 

 concern of this kind in San Francisco, has adopted "Nobby 

 ircad" tires for use on all its cars and hereafter will use no 

 otiicr make. A similar decision was some time ago reached by 

 the principal taxicab company in Stockholm, Sweden, whose pur- 

 chases of these tires for 1913 reached a total of $34,000. 

 > * * 



Plans arc under way for the construction of a highway be- 

 tween San I'rancisco and Los Angeles, which will cost $2,000,000, 

 and which is to l)e completed and ready for use in time for the 

 Exposition next year. Meetings have been held by the San Fran- 

 cisco Chamber of Commerce, representatives of Los Angeles and 

 comities through which the road will pass, the Exposition com- 

 pany, the State Automobile Association, etc. ; and a plan has 

 been prepared by which $2,000,000 is to be set aside in State 

 Highway bonds, to be taken by the interested communities. Los 

 Angeles to take $1,300,000, and a lionus of $75,000. required for 

 tlie sale of the issue, to be raised in equal parts by the counties 

 interested. 



* * * 



Tlie Batavia Rubber Co.. of Batavia. New York, is now being 

 represented in southern California by the Pasadena Rubber Sup- 

 ply Co., at Pasadena, and the Long Beach Motor Supply Co.. at 

 lon,g Beach ; while L. A. Irish has been employed to cover the 

 sections north and southeast of Los An.geles. as far as San Fran- 

 cisco and into Arizona, with his headquarters at 332 West Pico 

 street, Los .Angeles. 



* * * 



It seems scarcely credible, at first glance, that a few innocent 

 toy balloons should tie up street traffic, cause men and boys 

 to climb telegraph poles, and collect a more or less riotous mob 

 of from 10,000 to 20.000 persons; but this is just what happened 

 recently in Los .Angeles, when George T. Cline. a sporting .goods 

 dealer, opened a store in that city and made use of toy lialloons 

 as a means for distributing a particular form of advertising 

 matter. Mr. Cline had released from the second story window 

 of his new store at Sixth and Spring streets 1.000 balloons. 



