June 1, 1921 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



689 



American \ s. European Practice in the Rubber Tire Industry 



By Albert H. Myers' 



HAVING returned recently from a visit ahruad in the interests 

 of a certain branch of the rubber iiulnstry, the writer 

 believes that probably his observations would be of interest 

 to others who are connected with the industry in this country. 

 The territory covered comprised the greater part of England 

 and France, and the following applies principally to the pneu- 

 matic tire-making industry of those countries. The reader 

 should remember that immense tire manufacturing plants are 

 not to be found in Europe. However, there are several plants 

 in England and France which are of a fair size and capable of 

 producing about 5,0U0 tires a day. compared to our larger plants 

 in this country 

 which can pro- 

 duce from 20,000 

 to 35,000 tires in 

 a day of 24 hours. 



FABRIC VS. CORD 

 TIRE 



T h e regular 

 fabric tire is 

 mostly produced 

 in Europe at the 

 present titne. but 

 manufacturers on 

 the other side 

 are increasing the 

 production of the 

 cord tire, which 

 is still in its in- 

 fancy over there. 

 There are also 

 other manufac- 

 turers who have 

 not yet produced 

 cord tires for the 

 trade, but who 

 are making experiments along those lines. One of the prominent 

 cord tires in Europe today is made by laying individual cords, 

 approximately J^-inch in diameter, in two or iriore layers on an 

 iron core by an automatic machine. This was the method first 

 used in America for making cord tires, but is now discarded, and 

 in its place a cord fabric composed of small individual cords is 

 used. These cords are approximately 3/64-inch in diameter and 

 are laid about 23 to the inch. The size and the number of cords 

 per inch vary with dififerent manufacturers. 



In the built-up single cord method, the cords are passed 

 through a semi-liquid rubber compound and cabled to size, while 

 in the cord fabric method the fabric is first passed through a 

 rubber-spreading machine, after which it is frictioned and 

 skim-coated on a calender. 



REASONS FOR FABRIC TIRES 



As the fabric tire is most popular in Europe, comparatively 

 heavy investments have been made in machinery for its produc- 

 tion, and consequently many fabric tires will be made for 

 some time to come. Among the special machinery installed for 

 fabric tire production in Europe is the 90-inch calender of which 

 there is a number. These machines weigh as much as 100 

 tons. Contrary to the statements made in this country that 

 calenders of such large dimensions are not successful, the writer 

 did not hear of any complaints while abroad, the users being 

 more or less enthusiastic about them. One reason why such 

 large machines have been adopted is that due to the greater 



Representative Euroi'ean Tires, Showing Tread Designs in Uri. 



'The WclImanSeaverMorgan Co., Akron, Ohio. 



width of fabric which can be liandled, a lesser luimljer of joints 

 are required when building a tire carcass. 



A great inany smaller tires are now being made, due to the 

 increasing number of light pleasure cars coming into use. The 

 typical car for the average person, especially in England, is 

 smaller than the Ford car produced in this country. The high 

 rate of taxation abroad has made necessary the development of a 

 a small car for the man with average means. It is not uncom- 

 mon for this class of car to average 30 to 40 miles to a gallon 

 of gasoline. The roads are generally excellent, which tends to 

 higher mileage for the fabric tire than that realized in this country. 



The pneumatic 

 tire for bus 

 service in cities is 

 apparently not 

 making much 

 headway. One of 

 the prominent 

 omnibus compan- 

 ies has experi- 

 mented for about 

 a year to find out 

 if the pneumatic 

 tire was superior 

 for their service. 

 It claims that, all 

 things considered, 

 such as up-keep, 

 etc., the solid rub- 

 ber tire is superi- 

 or. Although for 

 touring service, 

 such as the heavy 

 char-a-bancs, the 

 pneumatic tire is 

 generally used. 



TYPICAL TREADS— THE STRAIGHT-SIDE TIRE CONTROVERSY 

 A number of representative European tires are shown to give 

 an idea of some of the dififerent tread designs in use. The steel- 

 studded tread is still commonly seen, and the principal reason 

 for its existence today is the fact that tliere are city ordinances 

 still in force which make it compulsory to have at least one of 

 these tires on all taxicabs and like vehicles. 



The controversy relative to the advantages of the American 

 straight-side tire versus the clincher tire, is unsettled and prob- 

 ably will remain so and take its place beside other customs 

 which are peculiar to the countries involved. The writer did 

 not observe any straight-side tires that were made abroad. Those 

 being shipped over from .\merica are for use on .^inerican cars 

 sold in Europe. 



EUROPEAN RUBBER MACHINERY 

 Relative to machinery used in the rubber industries of Europe, 

 it must be remembered that the pioneer plants are as old as 

 ours, but European manufacturers have not been so quick to 

 throw out ♦he old and install the new as we have in the United 

 States ; consequently, they do not get the great amount of produc- 

 tion for floor space involved that we do. The older mills and 

 calenders run about half the speed of present-day American 

 machinery ; the hydraulic vulcanizing presses are generally of 

 the bolted type; in fact, manual labor is used to a much greater 

 extent than in this country. The size of rubber mills generally 

 does not run over 60 inches in roll length, with the exception of 

 where an 84-inch size may have been purchased for use as a 



