February i, iuioJ 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



175 



The Rubber Trade at Akron, Ohio. 



By a Resident Correspondent. 



COMPANY MEETINGS. 



AT the annual meeting of shareholders of The B. F. Goodrich 

 Co., on January 19, the report made on the business of 

 the year was satisfactory, but in accordance with the 

 policy of the company no statement was given out. The regular 

 quarterly dividend of 2J/2 per cent was announced. The directors 

 were reelected : George T. Perkins, George W. Crouse, B. G. 

 Work, F. H. Mason, H. F. Raymond, E. C. Shaw and C. C. Good- 

 rich. The board reorganized and elected officers as follows : 



President — Bertram G. Work. 

 First Vice-President — Frank H. Mason. 

 Second Vice-President — H. E. Raymond. 

 Secretary and Assistant Treasurer — Charles B. Raymond. 

 Treasurer and Assistant Secretary — William A. Means (succeeding 

 Walter A. Folger). 



General Manager of Works — E. C. Shaw. 



The shareholders of the Swinehart Tire and Rubber Co. met 

 on January 17. The directors chosen were Frank B. Theiss, 

 William Byrider, R. A. May, Joseph Dangel, J. A. Swinehart, 

 W. W. Wuchter, and Frank R. Talbot, the latter succeeding J. O. 

 Surbey. The last quarterly dividend is 2 per cent. The officers 

 •elected are : 



President and General Manager — W. W. Wuchter (formerly vice-presi- 

 dent, to succeed J. A. Swinehart, who has retired from active participation 

 in the managing <md of the business). 



Vice-President — James A. Swinehart. 



Secretary — C. O. Bauchman. 



Treasurer — R. A. May. 



The directors decided to call a meeting of the shareholders for 

 February 16, to vote on a question of increasing the capital, 

 which is now $200,000. 



The shareholders of the Colonial Tire and Rubber Co., who 



control the Firestone "Sidewire" tire patents in Europe, held 



their annual meeting on January 14, and elected as directors 



James A. Swinehart, P. D. Hall, William Byrider, John Byrider, 



and Frank E. Whittemore, of Akron, Ohio, and F. S. Lahm, of 



Paris, France. A 10 per cent, annual dividend was declared. The 



•officers elected are : 



President — Frank S. Lahm. 



Vice President — James A. Swinehart. 



Secretary and Treasurer — P. D. Hall. 



The annual meeting of the Whitman & Barnes Manufacturing 

 Co., who formerly maintained a rubber manufacturing depart- 

 ment, but do not now, held their annual meeting at the general 

 offices in Akron on January 11. The directors are: George T. 

 Perkins, C. B. Raymond, A. B. Rinehart, William H. Eager, A. 

 D. Armitage, George A. Barnes, C. E. Sheldon, and C. I. 

 Bruner, of Akron, and William H. Gifford, of Syracuse, New 

 York. Officers elected : 



President — C. E. Sheldon. 

 Vice-President — A. B. Rinehart. 

 Treasurer — William H. Eager. 

 Secretary — George A. Barnes. 

 General Manager — A. D. Armitage. 

 Sales Manager — F. C. Blanchard. 



Colonel George T. Perkins, in the board of this company, 

 is also a director of The B. F. Goodrich Co., and C. B. Raymond, 

 who succeeds William Stone, of Chicago, as a director, is sec- 

 retary of the Goodrich company. 



At the annual meeting of the Mansfield Rubber Co., at Mans- 

 field, Ohio, on January 11, the directors elected were: C. H. Wal- 

 ters, F. H. Walters, and F. M. Bushnell, of Mansfield; C. R. 

 Grant and F. A. Wilcox, of Akron ; Dr. James E. Waite, of 

 Lodi ; and Dr. R. C. Kinnaman, of Ashland, Ohio. Officers 

 elected. 



President — Frank A. Wilcox. 

 Vice-President — Charles H. Walters. 

 Treasurer — F. M. Bushnell. 

 Vice-President — Charles H. Walters. 



GOODRICH BUILDING DETAILS. 



The overflow from all their crowded departments will be 

 housed in the two factory buildings just completed by The B. F. 

 Goodrich Co. The work of installing machinery has been going 

 on all through the month. The greatest part of the space will 

 be devoted to the making of tires. The buildings are six stories 

 high, 80 feet wide and the longer one, flanking Goodrich street, 

 is 400 feet long. 



It is understood that the directors of The B. F. Goodrich Co. 

 have decided to proceed in the early spring with the construc- 

 tion of six-story factory buildings on the land acquired during the 

 last year on Falor street and along the Ohio canal, a sum ap- 

 proaching $1,000,000 having been appropriated already for this 

 purpose. 



GROWTH OF THE DIAMOND PLANT. 



Excavations have been started for the third of the large six 

 story factory buildings planned by The Diamond Rubber Co. on 

 Jackson street. The first of these was built two years ago and 

 now houses the insulated wire department. The second has just 

 been completed, and is being occupied by tire making apparatus 

 chiefly. The old tire building, completed in 1903, is being con- 

 verted into a warehouse. The third building was decided upon at 

 the meeting of directors after the annual shareholders' meeting 

 in October. It will be built in the form of an L, connecting the 

 other two buildings, with one arm along Jackson street and 

 the other arm extending north from Jackson street parallel with 

 the other two structures. It will be approximately 250 feet long 

 on Jackson street and 140 feet long in the other direction. The 

 new Diamond office building has been completed and is being 

 occupied by the various departments which have been over- 

 crowded in the present offices. Laboratories are being equipped 

 on the' lower floor. This building, located on Falor street, is 

 three stories high and provides 12,000 square feet of floor space. 

 The old offices are being lengthened by the inclusion of 3,000 

 square feet taken from the factory. 



THE GROWTH OF AKRON. 



Tentative foot frontage valuations placed on Akron property 

 by the quadrennial board of real estate appraisers, now in ses- 

 sion, show that land has increased in value from 100 to 500 per 

 cent, during the ten years since the last appraisement was made. 

 The highest valuation in the city is on the downtown property 

 and is fixed at $1,150 a foot front, exclusive of buildings. 



Contracts have been let by the- Second National Bank of 

 Akron for the construction of a six-story office building, 111 x 

 140 feet in ground dimensions. It will be built at once. Several 

 rubber manufacturers are directors and stockholders in the insti- 

 tution, Mr. F. H. Adams, treasurer of the Goodyear Tire and 

 Rubber Co., having been elected to the board on January 12. 



AIR VERSUS GAS FOR TIRES. 



Experiments were made recently at the plant of The Diamond 

 Rubber Co. to determine whether or not gas is superior to air 

 for inflating tires. Gas is often used in garages to pump into 

 tires because it is quicker. The Diamond experimenters came to 

 the conclusion that air is better. Three tires were inflated with 

 air to a pressure of 100 pounds, and three other tires filled with 

 carbonic gas at the same time and to the same pressure. Exactly 

 seven days later the air filled tires registered 92 pounds each and 

 the three gas inflated tires showed only 41, 50 and 51 poundj 

 pressure. Because gas escapes from a tire more rapidly than 

 air, tire experts of the Diamond company condemn its use as Sf" 

 inflation medium. 



