846 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



ArciTST 1, 1921 



MISCELLANEOUS HID- WESTERN NOTES 



The Liiik-Bclt Co., Chicago, Illinois, has acquired all of the 

 capital stock of the H. W. Caldwell & Son Co., and Frank 

 C. Caldwell has been elected a director of the former company. 

 Two experienced and successful companies in the conveyor world 

 have thus joined forces, with the result that the Link-Belt Co. 

 has added two new lines, helicoid conveyors and power trans- 

 mission machinery, to its line of manufactures. 



While there will be no changes in the product of the Cald- 

 well plant, and no modifications in the policy of the company, it 

 was believed that a consolidation of these two well-known firms 

 would result in advantages to both. The management of the 

 Caldwell plant is practically the same as formerly. 



The Burdick Tire & Rubber Co., Chicago, Illinois, has placed 

 with the Fcrt Dearborn Trust & Savings Bank, trustee, and 

 James S. McClellan, co-trustee, a mortgage of $250,000 on its 

 factory to cover an issue of first mortgage 8 per cent gold 

 bonds to raise additional funds for increasing capacity and for 

 operating expenses. H. G. Steinbrenner is president and F. E. 

 Teachout is vice-president and general manager. 



In order to avoid confusion with other companies having a 

 similar name, the Independent Tire Co. has changed its name 

 to The Better Tires Co. and is located at 2023 South Michigan 

 avenue, Chicago, Illinois. The company acts as a jobber to dis- 

 tribute high-grade tires, tubes and accessories to small dealers 

 in towns of less than 5,000 population where it is difficult and 

 unprofitable for the average manufacturer to send a traveling 

 salesman. The concern deals in "firsts"' only and has built up 

 a clientele of 4,500 small-town and rural dealers. 



The Wildman Rubber Co., Bay City, Michigan, has contracted 

 for the first unit of its new plant and will rush the building to 

 completion at the earliest possible date. 



The Altenburg Tire Equipment Co., Davenport, Iowa, has 

 reorganized with V. D. Sears as president and sales manager; 

 R. P. Hayes as vice-president and general manager. The new 

 plant on Rockingham Road at the west end of the city has good 

 railroad facilities and room for expansion. It is one of the most 

 modern in the country, being well-lighted, and of steel frame, 

 brick wall construction. The machine shop has two floors, the 

 lower being used for large production machinery and the second 

 for light assemblies, pattern shop and general office. The foundry 

 is a complete unit with cupola and core ovens. All the build- 

 ings have concrete tile roofing and are fireproof. The principal 

 product of the plant will continue to be tire-building and tire- 

 repair equipment. 



The Non-Breakable Button Corporation, 200-210 Pleasant street, 

 Milwaukee, Wisconsin, recently incorporated, manufactures high- 

 grade rubber buttons and novelties. The buttons are non-break- 

 able and are not affected, it is claimed, by the laundry wringer, 

 mangle, electric iron, hot water and acids, soaps and soap 

 powders. The thread cannot cut the button-hole, nor will the 

 button-hole cut the thread. The buttons will be made at first 

 in white and khaki in four sizes. The equipment installed will 

 produce 360,000,000 buttons annually. Details concerning in- 

 corporation are given elsewhere in this issue. 



The George G. Bryant Co., manufacturer of top coats, 

 gabardines and rain coats, has removed to 134 Second street, 

 Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This firm is the western agent for the 

 "Bestyette" products of the New York Mackinto.sh Co., New 

 York, N. Y. 



Rubber Co., will preside, while there will also be speakers 

 of national importance from the automotive industry and from 

 industrial, banking and governmental circles. Details regarding 

 the program of the coming convention will appear later. 



I'ollowing the organization of the Sheet Metal Manufacturers 

 as its first unit, a new group plan of the .\ssociation is now 

 under consideration. Under this arrangement the four hundred 

 companies now affiliated witli the Association will he divided into 

 a number of groups, each comprising manufacturers of the same 

 products, and each having officers and meetings of its own, but 

 for general purposes affiliated with the parent organization. 



It is believed that the establishment and centralization of these 

 groups, based on the classification of the products they manu- 

 facture, will make for a greater unity of purpose in the direction 

 of economies of production and distribution, thus eliminating 

 duplication of effort and expense. 



ACTIVITIES OF THE MOTOR AND ACCESSORY MANUFACTURERS' 

 ASSOCIATION 



This year's credit convention of The Motor and Accessory 

 Manufacturers' .\ssociation will be held in Detroit, Michigan, at 

 Hotel Statler, September 14-16, inclusive. E. H. Broad well, 

 president of the Association and vice-president of The Fisk 



THE RUBBER TRADE ON THE PACIFIC COAST 

 By Our Regular Correspondent 



WARMER weather along the Pacific Coast recently has had 

 but little effect on the demand for various kinds of me- 

 chanical rubber goods, orders being well sustained. This is due 

 largely to the continued activity of building operations, most of the 

 large cities making a much better per capita showing than the east- 

 ern cities. A lull in labor troubles, and the prompt settlement in 

 the Northwest of several incipient strikes over wage reductions 

 having a salutary effect on trade in general, a good inquiry is 

 reported for rubber and balata beltings, sheet packing, asbestos- 

 rubber brake and clutch blocks, steam, air, garden, and oil hose, 

 rubber footwear, soles, heels, surgeons" and druggists' hard and 

 soft rubber goods, acid and cement workers' gloves, automobile 

 top fabrics, and miscellaneous hard rubber articles. Sales of 

 tires and tubes continue to mount in number, and the lively de- 

 mand and well-sustained prices impel the makers to predict a 

 good trade in both automobile staples until well toward the end 

 of the year. 



LOS ANGELES AND VICINITY 



A fair index of the trend in the tire trade is afforded by the 

 operations of the largest factory on the Coast, the Goodyear Tire 

 & Rubber Co. of California, at Los Angeles. The factory's July 

 schedule was set for 3,500 tires and 3.700 tubes a day, or an in- 

 crease of 375 per cent since last March. In March the rubber 

 and textile mills employed only 465 people and the tire output 

 fell to 735 daily, but in the month just ended 1.250 were at work 

 in the mills. Although June, 1920. had been considered one of 

 the peak months for the California company, with a total of 

 32,654 casings sold to dealers in the western territory, June, 1921, 

 showed sales of 42,266 casings, or an increase of 13,612. 



Another comparison may be made with the total sales for the 

 fiscal year ended July 1, 1920, of 291.666 automobile tires as con- 

 trasted with total sales for the year ended July 1, 1921, of 348.992 

 tires. The gross sales for June, 1921, of automobile and truck 

 tires, mechanical goods, accessories, and repair materials, reached 

 over $1,300,000. 



The Goodyear Textile Mills, operated in conjunction with the 

 rubber plant, had a production schedule for July of 200,000 pounds 

 of fabric, for August 250,000 pounds, and for September 270,000 

 pounds. From August 1, 1920, to June 30, 1921, the mills pro- 

 duced 1,252,489 pounds of fabric and used 3,108 bales of long- 

 staple cotton, valued at $966,000, all the cotton coming from the 

 Salt River Valley, .Arizona, and the Imperial ^'alIey, California. 



Vice-president and general manager A. F. Osterloh, sales mana- 

 ger J. R. Rcilly, treasurer W. A. M. Vaughan, and factory super- 

 intendent C. Slusser, of the California Goodyear plant, have been 

 attending a conference at Akron, Ohio, called by E. G. Wilmer, 

 president of the parent company, to consider increasing produc- 

 tion. Mr. Reilly estimates the value of sales for the three months 

 ending September 30, next, at $4,250,000. 



