THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[July 1. 1920. 



Electric Drl\ e in a Tire and Tube Plant. 



By H. F. Barton' 



ADniXG A NEW INDVSTRY to an already diversified group in the 

 city from which it derives its name, the Syracuse Rubber 

 Company affords an excellent example of a young, vigor- 

 ous and rapidly growing organization. The product consists 

 of cord tires and automobile tubes bearing the trade name of 

 Syra-Cord. Organized in July, 1919, incorporated under the laws 

 of the state of New York with a capitalization of $3,000,000. the 

 company is the only manufacturer of rubber tires and tubes in 

 central \ew York. 



The plant is situated at East Syracuse, a suburb, on the man 

 line of the Xew 

 York Central 

 Railroad and the 

 electric lines of 

 the Xew Y'ork 

 State Railways. 

 Here the com- 

 pany owns thir- 

 ty-eight acres of 

 desirable land 

 that will permit 

 the expansion 

 which the pres- 

 ent business of 

 the company in- 

 dicates will be 

 necessary. 



Approximately 

 three hundred 

 people are em- 

 ployed at the 

 present time on 

 an eight - hour 

 shift, though it is 

 anticipated that 

 eventually three 

 eight-hour shifts 

 will be employed. 

 The ultimate ca- 

 pacity of the 

 present plant 

 will be approxi- 

 mately twelve hundred casings and three thousand tubes a day 

 based on three eight-hour shifts. 



The present plant, kflown as Unit Xo. 1, is a three-story struc- 

 ture of brick; steel and concrete, with an effective working space 

 of twelve thousand square feet on each floor, which is exclusive 

 of hallways, elevator shafts, etc. The design and construction 

 of the building is such as to insure the most efficient handling 

 of all material and any duplication of operations is eliminated. 

 The raw material is unloaded from the cars to the platform 

 thence to the warehouse on the first floor. From here it goes 

 through the washing process, the various mixers, mills and 

 calenders and then to the second floor where the tires are 

 built up. 



In line v.-ith other progressive and up-to-date methods which 

 this company follows, it adopted electricity as the motive power 

 for driving all of the machines in the plant. Also, appreciating 

 the advantages of purchasing power, electric current is bought 

 from a local company which distributes electric energy trans- 

 mitted from Xiagara Falls, a distance of one hundred and fifty 

 miles. 



.■\ltcrnaling current is delivered by the lighting company at 

 twenty-five cycles, three-phase, 11.000 volts to its own outdoor 

 substation. Here the voltage is stepped down by means of three 

 250-kva. Westinghouse oil-insulated self-cooled transformers to 

 2,300 volts, the potential required by the larger alternating-cur- 

 rent motors used in the mill. The smaller alternating-current 

 motors are supplied through a bank of three 37i/i-kva. trans- 

 formers thai step down from 2,300 to 440 volts, the voltage for 

 which the motors are wound. 



-As the calenders have a wide range of speed, direct-current 

 motors are a 

 much more sat- 

 isfactory form of 

 drive, and this 

 kind of current 

 - obtained from 

 ? Westinghouse 

 motor-generator, 

 consisting of a 

 _'.300-volt syn- 

 chronous - motor 

 direct connected 

 to a 200-kw., 

 11 5/ 230- volt di- 

 rect - current 

 :hree-\vire gen- 

 erator. This 

 ilonhle voltage 

 permits the ob- 

 raining of the 

 desired speed 

 range on the 

 motor - driven 

 calender, the 

 lower speeds be- 

 ing obtained on 

 115 volts and the 

 higher speeds on 

 - 230 volts. 



-\ 66-inch cal- 

 ender is connect- 

 ed through a 

 herringbone reduction gear to a 100-h-p. variable-speed direct- 

 current motor that is controlled by an automatic double voltage 

 calender controller providing dynamic braking and operated by 

 a drum type master controller. Safety rods are placed on either 

 side of the calender. 



The warming mill, mixing mill and washing mill are each 

 driven by individual Westinghouse alternating-current motors 

 equipped with controllers and solenoid-operated brakes. 



The Xew H.\ven Sherardizing Co.. Xew Haven Connecticut, 

 has increased its capital stock from $50,000 to $100,000. It has 

 also removed its factory to 868 Windsor street, Hartford, Con- 

 necticut, in order to have increased space and room for up-to- 

 date equipment to permit doubling its capacity and make other 

 expansion necessary in connection with contemplated new busi- 

 ness with the rubber trade. Orders and correspondence should 

 still be sent to Xew Haven, as the office of the company will 

 remain there for the present. 



nghouse Electric & Manufacturing Co., East Pitts- 



