February i, 1904.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



157 



RUBBER NOTES FROM EUROPE. 



AN ACTION FOR INFRINGEMENT FAILS. 



IN an action by the Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co., Lim- 

 ited, against David Moseley & Sons, Limited, for al- 

 leged infringement of patents, judgment was rendered in behalf 

 of the defendants. The plaintiffs claimed an injunction to 

 restrain the Messrs. Moseley from making and selling an outer 

 detachable cover with a lining suitable for the insertion of wires, 

 or with beaded edges, so that it was adapted for use in the man- 

 ner described in the tire patent specfiications of Welch and of 

 Bartlctt, both of which are owned by the Dunlop company. The 

 Messrs. Moseley have been making such tire covers for a num- 

 ber of years. In the decision of the court it was pointed out 

 that a large proportion of the trade of Moseley was export trade, 

 and that the selling of tire covers for export was not an infringe- 

 ment. They also sold large quantities of tire covers to firms and 

 companies who are licensees of the Dunlop company, and this 

 was not infringement of the plaintiffs' patents. With regard to 

 covers sold, not for export or to licensees, but to the general pub- 

 lic, it was held that the sale of a cover alone was not an infringe- 

 ment of a patent which related to a combination of such cover 

 with other articles. It appeared that rims suitable for both of 

 the tires in question had been openly made and sold — that inner 

 tubes and wires suitable for Welch tires were sold as ordi- 

 nary articles of commerce. As a matter of law, the court was 

 of opinion that the defendants were not infringing either of 

 the two patents by merely making and selling the outer covers. 

 Selling them for export was lawful ; selling to licensees from 

 the Dunlop company was lawful ; and it would be placing too 

 great a burden upon the defendant company to require them to 

 ascertain the ultimate purpose to which any purchaser might 

 put the cover, especially as such covers could not be claimed to 

 be necessarily adapted for use solely in connection with tires 

 under the Welch and Bartlett patents. 



DUNLOP TIRE PROSPECTS. 

 At the last annual meeting of The Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre, 

 Limited, Mr. Harvey du Cros, the chairman of the company, 

 after reviewing the history of their connection with the motor 

 tire trade, and their preparations for the future, said to the 

 shareholders: "You have in the last year of our patent the 

 largest contracts the company ever enjoyed — very much the 

 largest — though prices, of course, were not so favorable. I 

 think when I tell you we have arranged at our Para Mill [in 

 Birmingham] for the production of 1,250,000 tires for 1903-04 

 you will realize that a great deal has been accomplished in 

 holding the trade." Reference was made to the erection, dur- 

 ing the year, of an entirely new manufacturing department, in 

 the tire plant at Birmingham, for motor tires alone. 



THE AUSTRALIAN DUNLOP COMPANY. 

 The Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co. of Australia, Limited, 

 (Melbourne), have now completed four fiscal years. The bi- 

 cycle tire trade is not now what it was, but the manufacture 

 of solid carriage tires and some other articles has been added, 

 so that the total production is now larger than at any time in 

 the past. It has not been found possible, however, to main- 

 tain the liberal'rate of dividends at first adopted. The capital 

 consists of ^80,000 in 7 percent, cumulative preference shares, 

 ^20,000 in non cumulative preference shares, and ^70,000 in 

 ordinary shares— a total of ,£150,000 [=$729,975]. A large pro- 

 portion of this represents goodwill, patents, etc., and the pay- 

 ment of dividends on the ordinary shares has been suspended, as 

 placing too great a strain upon the business. In 1902-03 the 

 gross revenue was ,£47,481, and the net profit ^17,304. Divi- 



dends on the preferred shares amounted to .£7100. Wages and 

 salaries amounted to ,£30,377. It would appear, therefore, that 

 the business is important — and it has been intimated that the 

 preference shareholders might supply sufficient capital to place 

 the company upon an easier working basis. 



THE UNITED STATES RUBBER CO. IN EUROPE. 

 The annual dinner of the employes of the European depot of 

 the United States Rubber Co., which occurred this year on Jan- 

 uary 2 at the Holborn restaurant, London, was as usual a thor- 

 oughly successful affair, enjoyed by all who participated. Beside s 

 the staff of the company, there were present representatives of 

 several of the larger customers. The chairman was Mr. H. H. 

 Holland, the manager, who referred feelingly to the loss which 

 had been sustained during the year of their former manager 

 Major John W. Knott. It was mentioned, by the way, that a 

 son of the latter is now in the office. The business of the past 

 year was referred to as not only having been satisfactory, but 

 as showing an increase over the past, but their success had not 

 spoiled the business of any British manufacturer. "They had 

 greatly increased the trade for all concerned in the rubber shoe? . 

 They had come over here with their new lines, light weights, etc., 

 and these goods had sold, and their competitors, rightly enough, 

 had taken note of the improvements, and now nearly all of 

 them had more than they could do. Except for the manufac- 

 turing expenses, their business in Europe was conducted by 

 Englishmen and wages paid to Englishmen. Whether the 

 country was free or protected, it was enterprise that made busi- 

 ness go." 



GREAT BRITAIN. 



At a special meeting of The Goodyear Tyre and Rubber 

 Co., Limited, in London, on December 21, it was resolved to go 

 into voluntary liquidation, and Albert Charles Hills, the mana- 

 ger, was appointed to carry the resolution into effect. 



=The Limpley Stoke India Rubber Co. have been organized 

 to reopen the premises occupied lately by Wallington, Weston 

 & Co. (now of Frome), at Limpley Stoke, Bath, England, and 

 are now manufacturing solid rubber tires. 



= The India-Rubber Journal reports the death, at Edinburgh, 

 in his eighty-sixth year, of Mr. Hay Downie, who in 1869 pat- 

 ented a rubber horse shoe, which was bne of the first placed on 

 the market, and which was the basis of the success of The 

 Patent Horse Shoe Co. 



= George Angus & Co., Limited ( Newcastle-on-Tyne), pay 

 10 per cent, on last year's trading, and carry forward ,£41,730. 



GERMANY. 



At the general meeting of the Bremer Gummiwerke Roland, 

 Actieng^sellschaft, at Bremen, on December 1, it was voted to 

 convert the ordinary shares into preference shares of 1000 

 marks by the payment of 500 marks on each. The company 

 began business in 1901, with a capital of 800,000 marks, 

 increased later to 1,000,000 marks [=$238,000], but have not yet 

 paid a dividend. They are engaged in the manufacture of me- 

 chanical rubber goods. 



= The Actiengesellschaft fiir Gummilosung vormals Otto 

 Kurth, of Offenbach — the Rubber Solution Co.— reports profits 

 of 50632 marks [=$12,050] for the last business year, and will 

 pay 8 per cent, on a capital of 500,000 marks. 



FRANCE. 



Messrs. Gustave Job & Cie. (Paris), importers of India- 

 rubber, Gutta-percha, and colonial products, advise The India 

 Rubber World of their removal to 7 and 9, Passage Violet. 

 Monsieur Job has been engaged in the rubber trade for over 

 fifteen years, of which ten were spent in Brazil. 



