June i, 1910.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



325 



indirectly in supplying any municipality with which he may be 

 connected with materials or supplies, and while no question has 

 arisen with regard to the company named, its management con- 

 sidered such a resolution as is referred to here to be proper. 



The John E. Thropp's Sons Co. have about a dozen of their 

 new tire wrapping machines on the market, five having been 

 sold during the last month. 



Mr. John S. Broughton, of the United and Globe Rubber 

 Manufacturing Cos., has moved to his new home on West State 

 street. 



Mr. Welling S. Katzenbach, who for the past two years has 

 acted as manufacturers' agent and broker in chemicals (particu- 

 larly materials required by the rubber manufacturers) announces 

 the formation, in conjunction with Mr. E. L. Bullock, of New 

 York, of the Katzenbach & Bullock Co., to import and deal in 

 chemicals and allied materials. The new company will maintain 

 offices in the Broad Street Bank building, Trenton, and at No. 

 100 William street, New York. 



The Stamford Rubber Supply Co. (Stamford, Connecticut) are 

 advising their patrons that this is their decennial year, the in- 

 ference being that their rubber substitutes have been "time 

 proven." 



THE RUBBER TRADE AT AKRON 



BY A RESIDENT CORRESPONDENT. 



IN the chemical laboratory at Buchtel College some features 

 * are being developed likely to be of interest to the rubber trade. 

 As already mentioned in The India Rubber World, courses in 

 rubber chemistry have been arranged to be taken only by the 

 seniors in the college, as two years' study of general chemistry 

 is necessary to prepare them for the rubber courses. A miniature 

 rubber plant is being erected. A mixer is already in place, later 

 a calender will be installed, and a vulcanizer will be put in posi- 

 tion during the summer. It is stated that special attention is to 

 be devoted to the study of reclaimed rubber and reclaiming 

 methods. The new work is in charge of Dr. Charles Knight, of 

 the college faculty, who happens, by the way, to be a member of 

 the rubber section of the American Chemical Society. [See The 

 India Rubber World, February 1, 1910 — page 178.] As such he is 

 chairman of the committee to organize standard methods of rub- 

 ber analysis, the committee including representatives of two 

 Akron rubber factories. It is understood that work on the 

 standardization is now in progress. 



* * * 



The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. have almost completed 

 a good sized factory at Bowmanville, Canada, which is partly 

 in operation and when completed will employ 100 men. The 

 Goodyear company, who have an extensive trade over the border, 

 have been induced to take this step as a means of offsetting the 

 import duties charged in Canada. The new plant for the present 

 will be devoted to the manufacture of tire. The business of the 

 Canadian branch will be conducted under a Dominion charter, 

 with $250,000 capital stated, the incorporators being D. B. 

 Simpson, W. F. Stearns, Norris Wilson, D. C. Betts, J. S. Moor- 

 craft, A. W. McMillan, and J. H. McMurtry, the address of all 

 of whom is given as Bowmanville. 



* * * 



Control of the Motz Clincher Tire and Rubber Co. has been 

 transferred through the purchase by the Goodyear Tire and 

 Rubber Co. of the stock held by Charles A. Motz. The Motz 

 company was incorporated April 15, 1905, with $50,000 capital to 

 market a solid tire invented by Mr. Motz, a lawyer of Akron. 

 These tires have been made under contract and an important 

 business has been done in them. 



* * * 



The rubber industry was discussed at the annual banquet of 

 "Group Nine," of the Ohio Bankers' Association, at the Akron 

 Country Club, on May 11. Mr. F. A. Seiberling. president of 



The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., in presenting figures of the 

 rubber industry here, told the bankers that the par value of capi- 

 tal invested in Akron was $30,000,000, while the market value is 

 $75,000,000, against $100,000 invested in 1870. The volume of 

 business of the local rubber factories, which employ 15,000 men, 

 is $70,000,000 a year, and the annual payroll amounts to 

 $10,000,000. 



* * * 



Mr. O. S. Hart, who recently retired from the position of 

 cashier of the Diamond Rubber Co., though retaining a director- 

 ship in the company, will begin his rest by going to the Pacific 

 coast. Mr. Hart has been connected actively with business life 

 in Akron for many years. An old newspaperman, he entered the 

 Diamond company at its organization, and grew steadily with 



the company. 



* * * 



An innovation in the way of road signs has been established 

 by The B. F. Goodrich Co. During the past month an automo- 

 bile equipped with facilities to fix the road signs, which indicate 

 distances, dangerous hills and curves, gasoline stations for auto- 

 mobiles, and the like, has been touring in the East. The com- 

 pany will cover the more important roads throughout the coun- 

 try from the Atlantic to the Pacific. 



* * * 



Another large building, indicating the growth of the industries 

 of Akron, is being erected by the Pioneer Cereal Co. The city of 

 Cleveland is recognizing how much money is being poured into 

 the city, and the power of the Akron rubber industry. Several 

 Cleveland contracting firms recently have secured large con- 

 tracts for the erection of additions to the rubber plants. 



* * * 



The report of Professor E. W. Bemis, of New York, engaged 

 by the city to investigate the water plant and supply of Akron, 

 values the present plant, owned by a private corporation, at 

 $1,000,000, and gives $1,200,000 as the cost to erect an entirely 

 new plant from the ground up. The city council have the mat- 

 ter in hand, and public sentiment seems to be in favor of building 

 the new plant. 



THE LATEST ARTIFICIAL RUBBER. 



THE specification for an "artificial rubber," for which a 

 British patent (No. 28,450 — 1908) has been granted to 

 J. Blum, of Belgium, is abridged as follows : 



A substance believed to have the composition represented 

 by (GH S )« is made by acting upon a material such as peat, 

 containing leaf wax, with a ferment and a reducing agent, 

 and this substance is treated with a red granular substance 

 obtained from rubber, and salts, to produce a material simi- 

 lar to rubber. The ferment is obtained by placing a piece 

 of imperfectly formed caoutchouc of about the size of a 

 walnut in a quart of sugar solution, and exposing to sunlight. 

 A ferment used for producing higher alcohols of the defines 

 is also suitable. To a ton of peat is added a ton of water, 

 six fluid ounces of ferment, and 5 gallons of warm water 

 containing 1 pound of sugar, and the action proceeds at a 

 temperature of from I40°-i6o° F. for three weeks, air and 

 light being excluded. Simultaneously or subsequently any 

 alcohol formed is reduced by a reducing agent. The fer- 

 mented mass is placed in a steam jacketed cylinder, with 2 

 pounds of a brownish red granular substance obtained by 

 granulating "Haut Congo rouge" rubber, and 17 ounces of 

 sodium carbonate, and the calcium chloride produced from 

 2154 ounces of chalk, is run in. The cylinder is filled with 

 water, and heated for four hours. The material thus formed 

 floats on the surface of the water, and is transferred to a 

 cylinder containing methylated spirit, which purifies it. The 

 mass is removed and placed in earthenware pots under petrol 

 or the like. Keeping for six months improves the quality. 



