December i, 1909.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



93 



vested is $18,000,000 and the working force is 4,200." 



Fifty men attended the annual sales conference of The Diamond 

 Rubber Co., which took place on November 3-5. It was held in 

 the Akron offices of the company and all of the branch man- 

 agers and leading salesmen were present. The men were taken 

 through the factory and shown the improvemL'nts that have 

 been made during the last year. Results of the past year's 

 sales and plans for the coming season were talked over. 



AFFAIRS OF THE ALUMINUM FLAKE CO. 



Since the death of Mr. Frank Reifsnider, vice president and 

 manager of the Aluminum Flake Co., that business has been in 

 charge of Mr. George E. Probert, treasurer of the company. 

 Mr. Probert says that no change will be made in the manage- 

 ment of the company until the annual meeting next June. Mr. 

 Reifsnider's funeral was held at his home October 29. It was 

 in charge of the Knights Templar and Buckley Post, G. A. R., of 

 Akron. Burial was in Glendale cemetery, Akron. 



The Late Frank Reifsnider. 



Dr. George A. Kubler, of Berlin, Germany, European repre- 

 sentative of the Aluminum Flake Co., arrived in Akron a month 

 ago to take up the matter of organizing a stock company in 

 Berlin for the management of the Flake company's European 

 business. He intends to leave for London in December. 



MORE ROOM FOR THE FIRESTONE. 



To make room for the new factory which is to be built by the 

 Firestone Tire and Rubber Co. next year, the Akron city 

 council passed ordinances on November 6 vacating parts of 

 Moses, Jasper, Cole and Falor avenues in the extreme southern 

 part of the city. Though protests were made by some property 

 owners against the action the councilmen preferred to arbitrate 

 them rather than place any obstruction in the way of the new 

 enterprise. 



AKRON MEN PREPARING TO FLY. 



Though Akron's future depends upon the continued popu- 

 larity of the automobile, it is keeping in the forefront in the 

 aviation field. Two local inventors are at work on aeroplanes, 

 Mr. Fred L. Childs, who has already made preliminary trials of 

 a bi-plane, and Mr. Michael Paridon, an expert in the employ of 

 the Diamond Match Co. The Barberton Aviation Co. has been 

 incorporated to develop the aeroplane invented by the latter. 



THE TIRE TRADE IN THE SOUTH. 



Akron manufacturers were extensively represented at the At- 

 lanta show last month. The Goodrich and Diamond products 

 were most in evidence, the representatives of the former com- 



pany counting 53^4 sets of Goodrich tires and the Diamond 

 counting 51 sets. Seventeen automobile tire manufacturers were 

 represented. One hundred and thirty-three sets of Akron tires 

 were on the floor. Considerable attention was also given to 

 the New York to Atlanta run which preceded the show. 



"Preparation of the tire trade for future years," said an 

 Akron rubber company official, "is evidenced by the keen atten- 

 tion that is being given to the south. The business is not there 

 at the present time to warrant such attention, but the automobile 

 and tire trade is camping on the trail of what the rapid develop- 

 ment of that part of the country will produce in the next few 

 years. With the recently established Diamond branch and the 

 Ajax-Grieb branch established November I, fourteen tire manu- 

 facturers are now represented in Atlanta. Yet the business in 

 the South is strictly a consumers' business. In the whole of 

 Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, 

 and Florida there are not half as many automobiles as there 

 are in the state of Ohio. The Atlanta automobile show was a 

 failure in so far as the attendance and resulting business was 

 concerned, yet manufacturers feel confident of returns from it 

 in the future." 



STILL ANOTHER TIRE COMPANY. 



As a solution of the tire problem for heavy vehicles traveling 

 on sand roads, a sectional truck tire has been devised by H. A. 

 Palmer, of Akron. Its manufacture has been started by the 

 Palmer-Hawkins Tire Co., of this city, of which Mr. Palmer is 

 president and general manager and Mr. A. W. Hawkins vice 

 president. A motor truck for use in the sandy roads of Flor- 

 ida has just been equipped by these manufacturers with a set 

 of their tires, measuring 36 x 10 inches. They claim the dis- 

 tinction of having made and applied the largest set of solid rub- 

 ber truck tires ever manufactured or applied in the United States, 

 if not in the world. 



IN THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. 



Mr. H. S. Firestone, president of the Firestone Tire and Rub- 

 ber Co. ; Mr. William A. Johnston, president of the Rubber 

 Products Co., of Barberton ; Mr. Joseph Dangel, manager of 

 the Akron plant of the American Hard Rubber Co., and Mr. 

 Will Christy, vice president of the Firestone Tire and Rubber 

 Co., were elected to the board of directors of the Akron Cham- 

 ber of Commerce at the annual meeting of that organization on 

 November 17. Mr. C. B. Raymond, secretary of The B. F. 

 Goodrich Co., retired at that time after one year's service as 

 president. 



STEEL STUDDED TIRES IN FAVOR. 



The adaptability of the automobile as a winter as well as a 

 summer vehicle is expected by local tire men to result from 

 the adoption by American tire manufacturers of the steel studded 

 tire. Though this type has been manufactured considerably in 

 Europe, it is comparatively new here. So far it is manufactured 

 in Akron only by the Diamond Rubber Co. "We look upon the 

 steel studded tire," said an official of that company, "as a happy 

 remedy for the usual winter slump in the tire trade. It is dis- 

 tinctly a tire for use in ice and snow, and its sale at the 

 present time is helping materially in the increase of our fall 

 business." 



TIRE PRICES HAVE BEEN HIGHER. 



Though there is a general impression that automobile tire 

 prices are higher than ever before, actual comparison of con- 

 sumers' net prices declared by manufacturers affiliated in the 

 tire makers' association show that prices to-day are from 10 to 

 30 per cent, lower than they were two years ago. Comparing 

 the last prices issued — those which went into effect September 

 27, 1909, at the time the second raise in prices in the present 

 year was made, with the prices declared September 16, 1907, the 

 following striking differences, pointed out by an official of an 

 Akron company, are noticeable — the prices for the regular tread 

 clincher casing being quoted: 



