164 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[February i, 1904. 



should be some rule governing this. We formerly got from 10 

 to 15 per cent, more than we do to day, but in some cases the 

 old dating method is in use." 



BY OUR NEW YORK REPORTER. 



Expressions by many of jobbers gathered at St. Louis indi- 

 cated that the demand for rubber boots and shoes during the 

 season has been larger than ever before, and it was also the 

 general opinion that the stocks now in retailers' hands are 

 small. Throughout the northwest, especially, the demand 

 seems to be steadily increasing, and opinions differ as to 

 whether this is principally on account of the increase in popu- 

 lation, or whether there is a more general use of rubber shoes. 



In speaking of this growth of demand, Mr. Eben H. Paine, of 

 the United States Rubber Co., said : " Our business for 1903 

 was not only the largest since the organization of the company, 

 but was about 30 per cent, greater than for any other year. The 

 demand for rubber footwear has been steadily on the increase. 

 This is true in regard to both boots and shoes, although in New 

 York and its vicinity the demand for boots seems to outrun in 

 growth the demand for shoes. This is probably because of the 

 increased efficiency of the street cleaning department, and the 

 amount of public work going on which requires extra protec- 

 tion. Although crude rubber was high at certain periods last 

 year, the profits on the goods sold averaged fully as large as 

 usual. I do not know anything definite about the stocks in 

 hand in the country, but from the reports received we are 

 rather inclined to believe that they are light. Inquiries since 

 the first of the year have been good and this indicates that 

 stocks are low, because January and February are our dullest 

 months as a rule, since the dealer who is not entirely out of 

 stock prefers to wait until later before buying." 



Mr. William Morse, president of the Merchants Rubber Co. 

 (New York), said in regard to the rubber footwear trade : " Our 

 business for last year was by large odds the most satisfactory 

 we have ever known, not only in rubber boots and shoes but 

 also in rubber clothing. This is especially true with regard to 

 overcoats. Since the first of the year our orders have been at 

 least 20 per cent, larger than last season. This certainly seems 

 like a good beginning for the coming year. There is no doubt 

 that rubber clothing is growing in popularity and there seems 

 to be a steady but unending growth in the demand for foot- 

 wear. The price of rubber doesn't make any difference to us. 

 That's the manufacturer's lookout." 



RUBBERED WHEELS FOR TRUCKS. 



RICHARD BUTLER SCHOLARSHIP. 



THE trustees of Columbia University, New York, have estab- 

 lished the Richard Butler scholarship, open to competition 

 to men students born in the state of Ohio. The holder of the 

 scholarship may at his option enter Columbia College, or may 

 study under any one of the graduate schools of philosophy, 

 political science, and pure science, or one of the professional 

 schools of law, medicine, applied science, and architecture. His 

 appointment shall be for one year only, but may be renewed for 

 reasons of weight for two additional years. The scholarship 

 was endowed in memory of Richard Butler, by his widow. He 

 was born in Birmingham, Ohio, in 1831 ; he came to New York 

 as a boy and became successful as a merchant, and later in the 

 manufacture of hard rubber. He was president of the Butler 

 Hard Rubber Co. until its merger with the American Hard 

 Rubber Co., and afterwards a director in the latter. Mr. But- 

 ler was one of the founders, and for many years a trustee, of the 

 Metropolitan Museum of Art. He was a member of the New 

 York Chamber of Commerce, and a chevalier of the Legion of 

 Honor, 



THE use of rubber on the wheels of trucks must be very 

 considerable, judging from the great number and vari- 

 ety of these articles employed in the handling of merchandise 

 wherever modern business conditions obtain. In stores and 

 warehouses of whatever type, trucks are employed in the re- 

 moval of goods — trucks of two, or three, or four wheels, and 

 often made, as to size, shape, and strength, so to adapt them 

 particularly to the kind of goods to be handled. There are 

 trucks for heavy or light dry goods, for groceries, paper, books, 

 seeds, metals, raw cotton, and so on through the list of mer- 

 chantable wares. There are specially made trucks for the 



transfer of books from 

 one portion of a library 

 to another. There are 

 special trucks for post- 

 office use, for hotel bag- 

 gage, for banks — dozens 

 and scores and hundreds 

 of trucks ; of plain or 

 handsome finish ; all at 

 prices to correspond. 

 There is nothing new 

 about the use of trucks, 

 but there has been a 

 steady increase in the 

 demand for rubber tired 

 wheels for these devices 

 (1) to protect floors, (2) 

 to render the use of the 

 trucks easier, or (3) for 

 the avoidance of noise. 

 Rubber bands are not 

 adapted to the wheels of all trucks, of course ; there are " hot 

 metal trucks," for instance, used in tinplate mills and in other 

 situations where a wooden truck would not serve. But in a 

 great variety of situations the rubber band is desirable and has 

 come into use. It is interesting to notice in the catalogue of a 

 single manufacturer of trucks, no fewer than 230 priced items 

 of " rubbered " wheels, the choice being offered to the purchas- 

 er of wheels with or without rubber. There are single wheels 

 listed as large as 16 inches in diameter and 4 inches face, and in 

 price as high as $1 2.75 — subject, of course, to discount. 



Unlike most applications of rubber, the rubbered truck wheel 

 does not seem to have profited any inventor or patentee. In 

 The India Rubber World of May 1, 1902 (page 250) appear- 

 ed a contribution from Mr. Henry W. Kellogg, reporting the 

 first use of rubber bands on truck wheels, to his knowledge. In 

 1865, while he was laying the marble floor of the New York 

 Stock Exchange — the building that was replaced last year — it 

 occurred to him that some means could be found to prevent the 

 damage done to the floor by iron truck wheels running over it. 

 He made a sketch, therefore, of a wheel with a rubber band, 

 which he submitted to the merchant prince, Alexander T. 

 Stewart, who was interested in the building of the Exchange, 

 and the idea was at once adopted. The only idea then was to 

 bridge over a single difficulty, and it occurred to no one to ap- 

 ply for a patent. 



Reports have reached Akron that Mr. H. C. Corson, formerly 

 of The B. F. Goodrich Co., and who is in Paris, under treat- 

 ment for snow blindness, is improving. He recently sent check 

 for $100 to the poor department of Akron — an annual donation 

 which he always made while living here. 



LIBRARY TRUCK. 



With Vulcanized Rubbered Wheels, sxi'i inches 



[Made by The Fairbanks Co., New York.] 



