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THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[November 1, 1911. 



The Rubber Trade at Akron. 



{By a Resident Correspondent.) 



FROM one man, Dr. B. F. Goodrich, can be traced the develop- 

 ment of Akron's immense rubber industries. 



In 1869 he was a real estate dealer in Brooklyn. His counsel 

 was John P. Morris. They transferred realty holdings for an in- 

 terest in a rubber company at Hastings-on-the-Hudson. The com- 

 pany was new, the rents were heavy, competition was keen, and 

 their initial undertaking proved a failure. But this schooling was 

 practical and substantial, the field was promising, and they be- 

 lieved that the West offered better opportunities and more co- 

 operation than the East. In quest of a location for a future plant. 

 Dr. Goodrich first went to Jamestown, New York, and then to 

 Akron. Akron had an informal board of trade. Col. George T. 

 Perkins being president of the organization. The Board of Trade 

 requested Col. Perkins to make an investigation. He reported 

 favorably on the proposition, and the machinery of the factory 

 was shipped to Akron. The site chosen was the center of the pres- 

 ent plant, and contained less than an acre of ground. The initial 

 cost was $1,800. Upon this site was placed a small brick build- 

 ing, which was part of the mill room until 1910. 



The moulded and 



manufactured prod- 

 ucts began in 1871. 

 Belting, hose and 

 moulded goods were 

 the chief sources of 

 revenue. The White 

 Anchor fire hose was 

 one of its leading 

 products, as it is now. 



The partnership 

 form of organization 

 was changed into a 

 company in 1880. The 

 initial capitalization 

 was $100,000. The in- 

 corporators were Dr. Birdseye View of the B. F. 

 B. F. Goodrich, 



George T. Perkins, George W. Crouse, Alanson Work and Rich- 

 ard P. Marvin, Jr. These men were the first board of electors, 

 and elected the following officers: President, Dr. B. F. Good- 

 rich; vice-president and superintendent, Alanson Work; secre- 

 tary and treasurer, George T. Perkins. The office force consisted 

 of a bookkeeper and three clerks, one as correspondent and the 

 other as time clerk. 



The first addition to the original plant was a small brick build- 

 ing of three stories and a basement, measuring 40x100 feet, made 

 in the summer of 1881 at a cost of $9,000. About the same 

 time another building was planned for the steam and power 

 supply. 



In July, 1884, the old hand presses for vulcanizing were re- 

 placed by hydraulic presses. In 1888 the first electric lighting 

 plant was installed, with a capacity of ISO to 200 lights. From 

 this time on active building operation was continued and re- 

 modeling of old structures and adding of new ones and buying 

 of more real estate took place. One of the first large buildings 

 was the specialty building constructed in 1895. In 1902 the hose 

 building was added. In 1905 this group was extended by erecting 

 a rubber shoe building. 



The chief building period commenced with 1907, in which time 

 a large building for pneumatic tires was erected ; in 1908 the new 

 calendar building was put up, and later the machine shop and the 

 truck tire building. The machine shop is five stories high, built 

 around a hollow square. The length of this structure is 185% 



» J» -t"^ »■'. !,^ 



feet, and it is 160 feet deep. On the first floor are the repair or 

 maintenance department and the company's garage for tire test- 

 ing automobiles, for its freight trucks and privately owned ma- 

 chines. The truck tire building is 100 feet wide, 500 feet long, 

 and has six stories and a basement. 



The B. F. Goodrich Co.'s force in 1880 numbered 55 men; at 

 present it is more than 6,000. 



In 1900 there were eight branches; at present there are 24. 

 These cover the United States, Canada, Mexico and Europe. 

 In addition to the branches, there are 27 stock depots, auxiliaries 

 grouped about these branches. These are established to aid the 

 dealer, enabling him to serve his trade more promptly. 



This company directs its European and Asiatic trade from its 

 London branch ; goods for its Continental trade will be shipped 

 largely from its Paris factory. The motorists throughout Europe 

 are supplied through 110 stockists, carrying all lines of Goodrich 

 tires. To meet the European and Asiatic trade, the company 

 has incorporated the Societe Franqaise, B. F. Goodrich, which 

 factory is located at Colombes, near Paris. Special machinery 



designed in the Unit- 

 ed States has been 

 shipped to this plant. 

 The size, growth 

 and organization of 

 The B. F. Goodrich 

 Co. make it a repre- 

 sentative of American 

 ingenuity, industry 

 and enterprise. 



Goodrich Co., .'Xkron, Ohio. 



The balloon "Ak- 

 ron," now ready for a 

 trial trip at Atlantic 

 City, is under the roof 

 of a big hangar, its 

 nose pointing ocean- 

 ward. It contains 

 40,000 cubic feet of hydrogen gas. The crew has gone into 

 training. Mr. Vaniman requires the men to sleep aboard the 29- 

 foot lifeboat which hangs underneath the 1,500-gallon gasolene 

 supply tank, so that they will become accustomed to the throb of 

 the engines, which are set pulsating every night. This prelim- 

 inary training was not given to the men in Mr. Wellman's bal- 

 loon, and consequently the sickness that comes from this new 

 kind of navigation had its effect on the men, which Mr. Vani- 

 man is trying to avoid. Just over the heads of the occupants is 

 the apparatus used as an equilibrator. It has the appearance of 

 the keel of a ship, with a number of small projections covering 

 the smooth surface. This is filled with water, and when the 

 lower temperature at night causes the gas bag to contract and to 

 descend, the opening of several valves will release a sufficient 

 quantity of water to bring the ship to the desired height. 

 When the heat of the day expands the balloon, the hose 

 is thrown overboard and water pumped into the container as 

 needed. 



Mr. Vaniman declares it is possible to cross the Atlantic inside 

 of sixty hours, and that he hopes to be able to cross in that time. 

 Frank Seiberling, the Akron financier of the expedition, is opti- 

 mistic, and believes that Mr. Vaniman will have a successful 

 flight. 



The accepted authority on South American rubber. — "The 

 Rubber Country of the Amazon," by Henry C. Pearson. 



