_'Xi ■ 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[M \y i, 1910. 



The Obituary Record. 



JOHN J. FIELDS. 



ANOTHER 01 the veterans of the mechanical rubher trade 

 has passed away. In the death of John J. Fields, former 

 president of the New Jersey Car Spring and Rubber Co.. 

 which occurred on March 27 at his country home at Schooley's 

 Mountains, New Jersey, the industry has lost one who had 

 enjoyed the distinction of being its oldest living pioneer. 



Mr. Fields-, was born in Paterson, New Jersey, November 15, 

 1821. Always a man of sturdy health and unusually rugged 

 constitution, he retained, up to eight years ago, an active interest 

 in the company, which was established by him in 1858. 



In that year he founded a business in New York city, under 

 the title of the Elastic Cone Spring Co., for the manufacture 

 of rubber car springs, this material being then universally used 

 for that purpose. The spring produced was not the ordinary 

 straight cylinder, but was, as the name of the company implied. 

 a cone shaped affair, made on the graduated plan, the purpi so 

 being to adapt the spring to the load. 



Subsequently the business was transferred to Richmond, Vir- 



The Late John J. Fields. 



ginia, where it was incorporated as the Virginia Cone Spring 

 Co., and was 1 operated until the beginning of the civil war, when 

 the mill was abandoned. The stock on hand was used by the Con- 

 federate authorities in making rubber blankets for the army. 



After the war. Mr. Fields returned to Richmond and claimed 

 the property. When asked how he could identify himself, he 

 stepped to an old fashioned safe, inserted the key in the lock 

 and opened the safe, which was regarded as conclusive evidence. 

 This safe is still doing service at the present company's offices 

 as a depository for documents relating to the early days of the 

 business. 



The machinery was removed to Jersey City about 1866 and set 

 up in a temporary building in Morgan street, while new works 

 at the corner of Wayne and Brunswick streets were being erected, 

 and a little later the company was reincorporated under the name 

 of the New Jersey Car Spring and Rubber Co. 



Up to this period the concern made only rubber car springs, 

 but a spiral coiled steel spring had been invented, and this type 

 soon began to make inroads on the rubber spring industry, be- 

 cause the steel spring was cheaper and more durable. A num- 



ber of the companies that made onlj rubber springs stuck to 

 this industry until it became practically obsolete, but Mr. Fields, 

 being more far sighted, introduced other lines, beginning with 

 sheet packings, valves, and other molded articles. Then a hose 

 department was added, which was soon followed by the manu- 

 facture of belting, and finally by the general line. He was one 

 of the pioneers of the mechanical rubber goods trade, and such 

 contemporary men as Meade, Dunlap, McBurney, Cheever, and 

 Twombley have long since passed away. 



Personally Mr. Fields was a man of striking characteristics. 

 Distinctively original in his manners and speech, he was never- 

 theless conservative in his policies. His determination, force, 

 and firmness were marked. His judgment was sound, and his 

 perception and foresight wonderfully clear. 



One of the great factors contributing to Mr. Field's success 

 was the fact that he was an engineer and machinist by profession, 

 and his mechanical training proved very useful in a business 

 so closely identified with his previous technical work. In fact, 

 when a very young man, he opened a foundry at Woodhaven, 



late Thomas B. Jefferv. 



Long Island, which he ran successfully for some years, and in 

 1852 he moved to Jersey City, establishing there a machine shop 

 and foundry. In this enterprise he was originally associated 

 with his brother, Peter Fields, but later they separated, and 

 John J. became sole proprietor. A large volume of heavy work- 

 was handled in this Jersey City shop. 



In the early sixties, during the period that the rubber mill in 

 Virginia was inoperative, he acted as engineer in planning and 

 putting into operation the first railroad to Coney Island, being 

 associated in the contract for this work with C. Godfrey Gunther, 

 who was then mayor of the city of New York. The motive power 

 on the road was dummy engines, and that road was the beginning 

 of the marvelous development of Coney Island. 



Twenty-six years ago, then a man sixty-two years of age, 

 he was the victim of an accident which cost him the loss of a 

 foot. In examining one of the mills in his plant, his foot became 

 engaged in the gearing, and by sheer presence of mind and 

 physical strength, he succeeded in tearing himself loose, thus 

 saving his life. 



In his injured condition he then directed personally the ar- 



