May i, 1910.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



287 



rangements for his care and transmission to his home in Brook- 

 lyn. While awaiting in his office the arrival of a conveyance 

 to take him there, Mr. Fields, in the midst of his suffering, his 

 foot completely mangled and partly gone, called for the check 

 book and signed checks in order that am interruptions in the 

 business might be avoided. 



As an evidence of his grit and wonderful control of his facul- 

 ties, it is related that finally, after his arrival at his home, some 

 argument, arose between the surgeons summoned as to which 

 one was called first and which should perform the operation. 

 The patience became aware of the circumstance, and raising him- 

 self, shook his fist, exclaiming, "Gentlemen, I am a plain, practical, 

 common-sense man, in a serious condition; and you men stand 

 on your professional etiquette, while my life is becoming more 

 endangered every minute." The amputation was thus delayed 

 until five hours after the accident. It was claimed at that time 

 most unusual for a patient of Mr. Field's years to survive an 

 operation such as he was forced to undergo. But his wonderful 

 constitution and remarkable will power carried him through. 

 Prior to this he had never been confined to his bed a week in 

 his life. 



A few years later he was driving a spirited horse attached to 

 a light exercising wagon, when the animal took fright at a pass- 

 ing wheelbarrow, and threw him out, causing a dislocated hip. 

 As he then said, having only one foot, he could not jump, so 

 was obliged to simply roll out as best he could. Nearly twenty 

 years after his first mishap, he also sustained a fracture of his 

 good leg in another accident in which he was thrown from his 

 carriage, through the sudden fright of bis team. Although he- 

 was then over 80, the bones knit perfectly in a short time. 



Mr. Fields was always an ardent horseman, and for many years 

 was a familiar figure on the boulevards of Brooklyn. Back in 

 the days of the old "Coney Island road," before the opening of the 

 present Ocean parkway, he could be seen daily behind his lively 

 steppers on his way to the track of the old Prospect Park Fair 

 Grounds Association, of which he was one of the original fif- 

 teen members. He was also an active member of the Coney 

 Island Jockey Club, as well as of the Lincoln and Union League 

 clubs of Brooklyn. 



In the summer months it was his habit to spend much of his 

 time on long driving trips through the scenic sections of New 

 Jersey and southern New York, but during the latter years of his 

 life Mr. Fields derived his chief pleasure from the management 

 of his extensive farm at Schooley's Mountains, where he spent 

 the greater part of his time. 



In 1902 Mr. Fields was succeeded in the presidency of the 

 New Jersey Car Spring and Rubber Co. by his son, John J. Fields, 

 Jr., the present active head of the concern. 



THOMAS BUCKLAND JEFFERY. 



Ax important contribution to the development of rubber vehicle 

 tires was that of Thomas B. Jeffery, whose death occurred sud- 

 denly at Pompeii, Iitaly, on the night of April 2. Mr. Jeffery 

 was in good health when he left New York accompanied by his 

 wife in January. 



Thomas Buckland Jeffery was born February 5, 1845, at Stoke, 

 Devonshire, England, and in his eighteenth year came to America, 

 settling at Chicago. Prior to the beginnings of the development 

 of the bicycle, Mr. Jeffery's occupation has been described as that 

 of a struggling inventor, occupied with a railroad velocipede 

 and similar appliances. Visiting England, he became interested 

 in bicycles, and arranged for the importation of parts to be 

 assembled in the United States. In the early eighties Mr. Jeffery 

 formed a partnership with R. Philip Gormully, who had been 

 a schoolmate of his in England. They organized the firm of 

 Gormully & Jeffery, later becoming the Gormully & Jeffery 

 Manufacturing Co., makers of bicycles. From the beginning of 

 their career the company encountered litigation, notably with 

 the interest headed by Colonel Albert A. Pope. The latter in- 



terest had attempted to monopolize certain patents relating to 

 bicycle construction, but Gormully & Jeffery succeeded finally 

 in opening to the world the use of the inventions in question. 

 The Gormully & Jeffery firm, as makers of the "Rambler" wheel, 

 became immensely successful, and in 1899 the company was ab- 

 sorbed by the American Bicycle Co. Mr. Gormully died soon 

 after, and Mr. Jeffery, at Kenosha, Wisconsin, engaged in the 

 business of making automobiles, in which he was likewise suc- 

 cessful. This business will be continued by his two sons. 



Mr. Jeffery was essentially an inventor. The interest of his 

 work to the rubber industry is based upon the fact that he not 

 only promoted largely the use of rubber tires by broadening the 

 bicycle and automobile trades, but he was recognized in the 

 courts of the United States as the inventor of the type of tire 

 now known as the "clincher." This tire was introduced by the 

 manufacturers of the Rambler bicycle at a time when each 

 leading make of bicycle offered a particular form of tire. 



The fact that this type of tire was identified with a single 

 bicycle factory probably interfered for a while with its sale, but 

 in time it began to be marketed as the "G & J" tire, and to be 

 pushed in the general trade. The American makers carried it to 

 England and began its manufacture there, which was stopped as 

 the result of an action for infringement brought by the owners 

 of the Bartlett patent. Similarly the North British Rubber Co., 

 Limited, sought to market their clincher tires in America, when 

 they were successfully proceeded against by the G & J people, 

 although American patents had been granted to Mr. Bartlett. 

 The present G & J Tire Co. was formed to control the patents 

 of Mr. Jeffery on rubber tires, and whatever tires of the clincher 

 type are made in America have been called upon to pay a royalty 

 under these patents. 



Mr. Jeffery married in 1874 Miss K. E. Wray, of Chicago, who 

 survives with two married daughters and two sons. The body of 

 Mr. Jeffery was brought to the United States for burial. 



CHARLES W. DUNHAM 



Charles W. Dunham died on April 5, 1910, at his home in 

 Brattleboro, Vermont, in his fifty-seventh year. After a business 

 experience in other New England towns, on July 1, 1885, he 

 joined his younger brother, George L. Dunham, in the purchase 

 of a retail shoe store in Brattleboro, out of which grew an ex- 

 tensive jobbing trade which embraced rubbers as well as leather 

 goods. In January, 1909, the Dunham firm became incorporated 

 under the name of Dunham Brothers Co., after which the volume 

 of their business continued to increase, Charles W. Dunham 

 being not only the senior member of the house but the director of 

 its financial policy. For a number of years the Dunham house 

 has represented in New England the sale of the products of the 

 Mishawaka Woolen Manufacturing Co. (Mishawaka, Indiana). 



INDIA RUBBER GOODS IN COMMERCE. 



EXPORTS FROM THE UNITED STATES. 



OFFICIAL statement of values of exports of manufac- 

 turers of india-rubber and gutta-percha for the month of 

 February, -.910, and of the first eight months of the five fiscal 

 years, beginning July 1 : 



Belting, Boots All 



Months. Packing and Other Total. 



and Hose. Shoes. Rubbers. 



February, 1910 .... $137,451 $66,053 $313,800 $517,304 



July- January $1,096,459 $1,371,199 $2,739,953 $5,207,611 



Total, 1909-10. . 

 Total, 1908-09.. 

 Total, 1907-08 . 

 Total. 1906-07 . 

 Total, 1905-06 . 



$1,233,910 $1,437,252 $3,053,753 $5.7-'4,9i5 



896,362 1,013,544 2,454,707 4,364,613 



924,585 1,305,352 2,485,307 4.715,244 



801,238 918,569 2,321,211 4,041,018 



834,554 1.303,164 1.836.312 3.974,03C» 



A Book for rubber planters— Mr. Pearson's -What I Saw in 

 the Tropics." 



