Mav 1. 1912.J 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



383 



tires, the other branches of the business are rushed with orders. 

 Daily shipments are being made to distant points in the United 

 States and Canada, and even to South America and AustraUa. 

 The Western business of the company has greatly increased dur- 

 ing the past year. Aside from the manufacture of auto tires and 

 brake linings, a general line of rubber goods is manufactured. 

 * * * 



George E. Knowles. of this city, who for the past year was 

 superintendent of a rubber manufacturing establishment in Jer- 

 sey City, has accepted the superintendency of the plant of the 

 Thermoid Rubber Company, this city. 

 ^ -i: * 



John E. Broughton, a dominant factor in the affairs of the 

 United and Globe Rubber Manufacturing Cos., is being urged to 

 accept the Republican nomination for member of the lower House 

 of the New Jersey Legislature from this section. 



One of the many victims of the Titanic disaster was Washing- 

 ton A. Roebling. 2nd, son of Charles G. Roebling, director-general 

 of the immense Roebling plants in this city. Washington Roeb- 

 ling was an officer of the Mercer Auto Co. and Mercer Auto Tire 

 concern. }ie was returning to this country after a tour of in- 

 spection of auto tire and automobile factories in France, Eng- 

 land and other parts of Europe. 



* * * 



General C. Edward Murray, treasurer of the Empire Rubber 

 Co. and Crescent Belting and Packing Co., and acknowledged 

 leader of the Republican party in this section of New Jersey, is 

 a candidate for delegate to the National Republican convention 

 from the Fourth Congressional District of New Jersey. General 

 Murray favors the nomination of President Taft because of the 

 President's advocacy of protective tariff measures. .The general 

 is inmiensely popular with the rank and file of the party, and for 

 years past has aided many a Trentonian to better his position 

 in life. 



RUBBER BOOTS WITH LEATHER SOLES. 



r'OR many purposes and in many places there is nothing so 

 ■^ good as a rubber boot. Those whose work compels them 

 to walk through, or stand in water, appreciate the waterproof 

 qualities of such footwear, and are free users of these goods. 

 And this is, perhaps, the leading demand for rubber boots, an 

 all-the-year-round demand, which totals far more than the spas- 

 modic call that is caused by the 

 snow storms of an average 

 winter. 



But leather boots have at least 



some advantages. The soles wear 



longer ; they do not tear as easily, 



and they give the wearer a less 



slippery foothold. Therefore if 



a boot could be made which 



would combine the waterproof 



qualities of rubber with the advantages of the durability and 



service of leather, it would certainly be found of value in many 



industries, and should meet with a large sale. 



This was the problem, and it was solved in the simplest and 

 most direct way by Fred F. Shafer, of the Goodyear India 

 Rubber Glove Manufacturing Co., Naugatuck, who invented and 

 patented the method, or process, under which the boots and shoes 

 are made, which are known by the name of Rubberhide. The 

 invention, briefly stated, is a rubber boot (or shoe) made as are 

 regular goods, excep: that the sole is made much thinner and 

 lighter, and extends beyond the body of the boot, thus practically 

 forming a welt, to which the leather sole or soles are sewed, in 

 precisely the same manner as a Goodyear welt shoe is made. It 

 will be seen at once that such a boot will be as waterproof as 



any rubber boot, for neither the sole nor the upper is punctured 

 in attachmg the sole, and the sole will give the same wear as it 

 would on a leather boot. 



It is interesting to learn 

 that, having accomplished the 

 object desired, a difiiculty at 

 once presented itself in sell- 

 ing the goods. A boot made 

 in this manner, and of the 

 best materials, must natu- 

 rally be high-priced, yet their 

 principal market must be 

 sought among wage-earners 

 whose -pay was small, such as 

 the workers in mines, on con- 

 crete work, in digging and 

 trenching. In fact, the boots 

 could not be retailed at less 

 than half a week's pay of the 

 men who most needed them. 

 The jobbers and retailers of footwear fought shy of such a 

 proposition and President H. W. Child of the company found it 

 necessary to institute a campaign of personal solicitation to 

 interest the ultimate consumers, or those next to them, the store- 

 keepers who sold exclusively to miners or laborers. In fact, the 

 principal customers of the manufacturers are the keepers of 

 "company stores" at the mines, contractors of engineering work, 

 and municipal and national boards of public works. 



And it is surprising (until one comes to think about it) that 

 th^ miner, who works for two dollars a day, or less, will pay 

 six dollars or more, for a pair of these boots. But this man 

 has found that a pair of rubber boots are useless, and fit only 

 for the junk heap, when the soles are worn through, while 

 these soles give much longer wear, in the first place, and can 

 then be re-soled and will then give a second, and often a third 

 term of usefulness, and are thus more economical in the end. 

 These are made in various styles, hip, storm-king and short 

 boots, in all-duck, duck-vamp and dull gum, and in 714 and 

 10-inch pacs in all-duck. A light boot with a heavy single sole 

 is made especially for fishing and sporting purposes, which has 

 proven quite popuplar. 



One style of boots made has an edge of malleable iron 

 around the heel and the forepart t^ give extra wear and pro- 

 tection, these rims being so constructed that they cannot be 

 torn out or broken. These give extra wear and protection to 

 the sole and heel. 



That President Childs has been successful in securing a mar- 

 ket for this combination of rubber and leather is shown by the 

 wide extent of territory over which these boots are distributed. 

 They are worn in the coal mines in Pennsylvania and the iron 

 and copper mines of :ilichigan. They are called fop by those 

 working in the irrigation fields of the West. Many are worn 

 in the work of the Panama Canal. Orders come from Mexico, 

 Porto Rico, Peru, South .Africa. Australia. New Zealand, and 

 even from Rangoon and other Asiatic points. 



