February 1, 1912.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



225 



per cent., declared a 20 per cent, extra dividend payable in pre- 

 ferred stock, and the extra goes to common stockholders of record 

 as of January 6. This preferred will be dated January 17, from 

 which time it will begin to accumulate dividends. Since a large 

 amount of work is required in getting ready $2,000,000 of stock, 

 it may be two or three weeks before this preferred is ready for 

 the stockholders. Parties holding broken lots of Goodrich com- 

 mon so that their dividend will not amount to a full share will 

 receive a scrip certificate covering the fraction to which they 

 are entitled. This scrip will only receive dividends when com- 

 bined with others to make a full share. The company is not 

 selling any of its preferred at present. The 20 per cent, dividend 

 declared is all that is being issued at this time. Stock brokers 

 figure that Goodrich common will hold at 250, first, because the 

 price had advanced very little, as people did not believe the extra 

 dividend would be declared ; second, directors intimated that 

 similar stock dividends may be declared out of the surplus earn- 

 ings from time to time; third, 1911 was the most prosperous year 

 in the company's history and 1912 prospects are as good if not 

 better than those of 1911. 



The B. F. Goodrich Company are actively pushing their work 

 in the new plant at Colombes, France. Bertram G. Work, presi- 

 dent of the company, has just returned from a trip to France in 

 connection with the future of the Colombes plant. Irvin Renner, 

 one of the department foremen of this company, together with 

 several experts in rubber tires, are at present at Colombes pla- 

 cing matters in shape so that the Goodrich Company may be able 

 to use their Colombes plant at an early date. 



The Electric Reclaiming Co., capitalized at $200,000. has pur- 

 chased the buildings of the Carrara Paint Co. at Barberton and 

 expects to reclaim rubber. 



* * * 



The Miller Rubber Co.. has increased its capital stock from 

 $500,000 to $1,000,000. The company expects to make changes 

 this year so that it can greatly increase its tire output. The offi- 

 cers are as follows: President, Jacob Pfeiffer; vice-president, 

 C. T. Grant ; secretary and general manager, Wm. PfeifTer ; 

 treasurer, F. B. Theiss. 



This company's stock has advanced, selling at 141 this last 

 week. This stock is figured on a 10 per cent, basis. Of the in- 

 creased amount of Miller Rubber Co. stock, $200,000 is offered 

 to the stockholders at par, which is rapidly being taken up by 

 the stockholders. 



* * * 



The O'Neil Tire Protector Co. has decided to open a branch 

 office in Chicago. This company produces a bullet-proof 

 protector. 



The Diamond Rubber Co. reports the season of 1911 the best 

 in its history with the largest output and the prospects of 1912 

 are even better. The company is in a better position to supply 

 its trade and new service stations have been opened at Scranton, 

 Pennsylvania ; Worcester, Massachusetts ; New Haven, Connecti- 

 cut; and St. Paul, Minnesota. 



O. J. Woodard, an old employe of this company, who has had 

 charge of the solid tire department, has resigned to become 

 general sales manager of the Woods Motor Car Co., of Chicago. 

 On January 19, his associates at the Diamond Co. gave him an 

 informal lunch and a diamond stickpin. 



The inclement weather for the last six weeks has made the 

 boot and shoe department very active. 



* * * 



Mr. Harry Quine, editor of the Akron "Times-Democrat," has 

 resigned his position on that paper to become publicity agent of 

 the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. Mr. Quine is a man 

 of experience in newspaper, magazine and publicity work, and 



the Goodyear Company can compliment itself on securing the 

 services of this capable man. 



* * * 



Glenn H. Curtiss, who is at Los Angeles, California, is making 

 experiments with a hydroplane with which, when improved, he 

 expects to cross the Atlantic. He is using Akron Fabric and it 

 is stated that he places his motor in the pontoons connected with 

 his aeroplane. 



* * * 



Harry N. Atwood, the celebrated aviator who made the 

 initial long distance flight, from St. Louis to the Atlantic coast, 

 has been in Akron looking up material for a new aeroplane. It 

 is reported that he has an improved machine about to be patented. 

 It is claimed that Mr. Atwood is preparing an aeroplane with 

 which to cross the Atlantic and that the Goodyear Tire and 

 Rubber Co. has agreed to make special pontoons which Atwood 

 expects to test out on his exhibition flights along the coast, so 

 that they can be used in trans-Atlantic flights. Mr. Atwood says, 

 'T positively do not intend to quit flying. I am going to keep on 

 flying as long as I live. I like the sport and can make more 

 money at it than at anything else. I have contracts that will 

 keep me busy until summer and I expect to make the trans- 

 .•\tlantic trip." Mr. Atwood says that each pontoon will be of 

 rubber and have 30 cubic feet capacity. Two pontoons will 

 support 3,600 pounds on the water and his machine weighs only 

 1,100 pounds. 



Mr. Atwood gave a lecture to the Technical Club of the Good- 

 year Tire and Rubber Co. in which he gave many incidents from 

 his own experience in the air. 



* * * 



He also stated that the fact that aeronauts were able to make 

 their machines remain perfectly still in the air was brought about 

 as follows : No aeroplane can keep in the air unless it is moving 

 at the rate of 30 miles an hour at least, or when driven by a 

 wind at the rate of 30 miles an hour or over. When an aeroplane 

 is along a hillside and air currents are coming up the hillside at 

 30 miles an hour or more, the aeroplane will keep the same 

 relative position and consequently appears to be perfectly still. 



Mr. Atwood uses a Wright machine and Goodyear fabric. 



* :f: * 



Professor Lawrence Rotch, of Harvard, Director of the Blue 

 Hill Meteorological Observatory, is quoted as saying that he 

 believes it feasible to cross the Atlantic in a dirigible balloon. 

 He doubts if the aeroplane is sufficiently perfected to make the 

 trip. He says, "The Atlantic Ocean can be crossed in a dirigible 

 balloon in one to two days less than by the fastest steamboat. 

 This balloon must be capable of maintaining a speed of 25 miles 

 an hour at an altitude of one-half mile. The trip can be made 

 in either direction, either from Boston to London or from the 

 latter city to the Hub. I have compiled maps showing that this 

 is correct." 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN RHODE ISLAND. 



(By a Resident Correspondent.) 

 'T~'HE months of December and January were a period of 

 ■*• uncertainty for the rubber business in this section of the 

 country, several mills curtailing, one going into the hands of a 

 receiver and another closing down for a week for an early stock 

 taking, because of the dullness of trade. The stormy weather in 

 the early part of January, however, with other causes, brought 

 a return of business, and for a time plants ran briskly. 



During the first week in January the National India Rubber 

 Company's plant at Bristol closed for stock ' taking, thereby 

 throwing the force, numbering about 1,400 persons, temporarily 

 out of work. On Monday, January 8, several hundred went back 

 to work in the calender, cutting and other departments, and 

 more departments were opened the next day. The entire force 



