276 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



January 1, 1921 



AMERICAN DUNLOP FACTORY NEARLY COMPLETED 



One of the finest modern tire factories in the country is the 

 new plant of the Dunlop Tire & Rubber Corporation of America, 

 at Buflfalo, New York, the completed buildings now covering over 

 35 acres of the 214-acre site purchased by the company, one 

 mile north of the city. According to the London Financial 

 Times, a letter from P. D. Saylor, vice-president and general 

 manager of the Dunlop Tire & Rubber Corporation of America, 

 in reference to the company's position, has recently been issued 

 by the Dunlop America Trust Co. The latter is the pool which 

 controls the disposition of the American company's shares, and 

 the Dunlop Rubber Company's 25 per cent ordinary interest is 

 vested in that concern. The letter gives a full account of the 

 scope of the American company's activities and is quoted in part 

 below : 



"The contract for the erection of the factories was placed with 

 the Foundation Company of America on January 24, 1920. 

 The buildings contain a floor space of 1,250,000 square feet — 

 28 acres — and such pro- 

 gress has been made that 

 the buildings will be com- 

 pleted before the winter 

 sets in. 



"The buildings under 

 construction will afford 

 facilities for manufactur- 

 ing the following weekly 

 output : 30,000 automobile 

 pneumatic tires of the 

 straight-side type ; 6.500 

 automobile pneumatic tires 

 of the clincher type ; 5,000 

 automobile pneumatic truck 

 tires; 2,500 solid rubber 

 tires; 40,000 tubes. 



"Starting at zero. Janu- 

 ary 1, 1920, production will 

 gradually be increased 



until by the end of 1921 approximately full production will be 

 reached. The value of this year's output is estimated at $25,- 

 000,000. As the factory is expected to be in full production by 

 the end of 1922, it is estimated that the value of the output for 

 the year will approximate $96,000,000. 



"There is a steadily increasing demand for tires of cord con- 

 struction all over America, and no great difficulty is anticipated 

 in disposing of the entire output of our plant, as the company's 

 will be the only large factory in America devoted exclusively 

 to the manufacture of this type of tire. 



"We feel justified in saying that never in the history of the 

 tire industry has any company started with greater prospects 

 than the Dunlop Tire & Rubber Corporation of America," 



sures aid to prevent heat generation. At the finish of the run the 

 35 by 5-inch ribbed front tires showed cross wear at an angle 

 with the tread caused by turning corners in the same direction ; 

 the 38 by 7-inch nonskid rear tires showed no trace whatever of 

 wear. 



THE LEE TIRE & RUBBER CO. 



IN ORDER to estabhsh a successful business the founder must be 

 possessed of three things — faith, hope and capital, and most 

 business men will assert that the greatest of these is capital. J. 

 EUwood Lee possessed all three requisites when he was twenty- 

 three years of age, so he severed his connection with the estab- 

 lishment of William Snowden & Co., Philadelphia, and setting to 

 work in an attic at Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, he began the 

 manufacture of surgical rubber goods. His faith and hope were 

 limitless; his capital, $28.35. 



Five years later, Mr. Lee secured articles of incorporation for 



FIRESTONE TRUCK TIRES EQUAL TO SEVERE TEST 



The contention of tire builders that insertion of gum between 

 the plies in pneumatic truck tire treads reduces friction resulting 

 from hard usage was admirably supported in a recent truck 

 test run made on the Indianapolis motor speedway by a Duplex 

 stock truck equipped with Firestone cord tires, according to ex- 

 perts from the Firestone company who witnessed the test. A 

 machine weighing 4,300 pounds and carrying a 3,300-pound load 

 was driven around the speedway, for a continuous 24-hour period 

 at an average rate of 39 miles per hour. Including 150 miles in 

 preliminary tests, the truck traveled 1,085 miles and on the con- 

 cluding lap reached a speed of 44.5 miles per hour. The average 

 weight borne on each tire was 1,570 pounds front and 2,562 

 pounds rear, and each tire was inflated to 100 pounds' pressure. 

 The slight temperature increase indicated the value of gum be- 

 tween the tread plies and showed that higher than ordinary pres- 



Plant of the Lee Tire & Rubber Co., Near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 



a permanent organization with a capital of $75,000, which by 1894 

 was increased to half a million. By the end of the next decade 

 the J. Ellwood Lee Co. had reached a high place in the trade, 

 second only to the firm of Johnson & Johnson, New Brunswick, 

 New Jersey, with which company it later merged, although each 

 company retained its own identity. 



When the automobile industry began Mr. Lee was quick to see 

 a promising future for tires, and in 1909 he installed complete 

 tire-making machinery in the factory. The next year his great 

 success and increasing business warranted the organization of a 

 new company under the name of the Lee Tire & Rubber Co. A 

 plot of 27 acres was obtained in Spring Mill, Pennsylvania. 

 Modern buildings were erected, including a four-story concrete 

 building, 80 by 400 feet, for offices, assembling, receiving and 

 shipping purposes, and. a two-story brick building of the same 

 dimensions for manufacturing and power plant. Here 900 people 

 are now employed and 2,500 tires daily can be produced when the 

 plant is running to capacity. 



The death of Mr. Lee, which occurred .\pril 8, 1914, was a 

 great loss to the company, of which he was then president, as 

 his inventive genius and organizing and executive ability had done 

 much to further the success of the firm. 



Anyone who has visited Atlantic City will probably recall the 

 huge illuminated signboard, 75 feet in length, set at the head of 

 the boardwalk, on which is reproduced in miniature the beautiful 

 I.ee factory in its picturesque setting in the valley of the Schuyl- 

 kill, fourteen miles from Philadelphia. ' 



The Lee Tire & Rubber Co. specializes in its puncture-proof 

 tire (that "smiles at miles"), in addition to manufacturing all 

 regular styles of automobile and truck tires. 



