February i, 1908.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



145 



THE RUBBER TRADE AT AKRON. 



BV A RESIDENT CORRESPONDENT. 



PR.\CTICALLV everybody of prominence in the trade in 

 ■'• Akron seems encouraged at prospects of an early improve- 

 ment in business conditions. Orders are coming in at almost all 

 of the factories with more dispatch, and employes who have been 

 idle for the past few weeks are returning to their work. Mr. 

 B. G. Work, president of The B. F. Goodrich Co., it is true, was 

 a bit pessimistic when interviewed for The India Rubber World, 



"Of course I'm hoping that things will brighten up," he said, 

 "but I can't say that our company is experiencing any great pros- 

 perity right now. And I don't want to say that conditions will 

 be better luiless I know that I'm telling the truth." 



Mr. A. H. Marks, vice president of The Diamond Rubber Co., 

 reports a marked improvement in business since January i. "We 

 are putting men back at work every day," he said, "and it won't 

 "be long until we arc working them all full time again. I have 

 reason to be greatly encouraged at our prospects." 



James A. Bradeu, of the same company, said: "We have had a 

 good run on bicycle and automobile tires, as well as on mechani- 

 cal goods since the first of the year. Most of our salesmen w-hom 

 we called in before Christmas are now back on the road." 



Mr. F. A. Seiberling, of The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., 

 is not inclined to worry over the situation. "People are begin- 

 ning to take their stock down off the shelves," he said, "and 

 orders are coming in better every day. It looks as though that 

 long expected let-up in the financial stringency lias at last ar- 

 rived." 



Mr. B. C. Swinehart, vice president and sales manager of the 

 Swinehart Clincher Tire and Rubber Co., says business was never 

 before as good as it is now. "We never before sold as many truck 

 tires as we have disposed of this winter," he said. "I attribute 

 this condition in part to the advance in the prices of feed for 

 horses. It creates a demand for automobiles, and a demand for 

 automobiles means a demand for tires." 



The Stein Double Cushion Tire Co. are not getting as much 

 business as could be desired, yet their officers are decidedly op- 

 timistic. "The attitude of our buyers leads us to believe that con- 

 ditions will improve rapidly in the near future," says M. M. Neu- 

 man, secretary of the concern. 



* * * 



After a careful study of reports from all sections, Mr. W. B. 

 Miller, sales manager and secretary of The Diamond Rubber Co., 

 predicts a busy year for manufacturers of motor accessories. 

 His investigation indicates that the amount of renewal business 

 will be greater than ever before. 



"The number of motor cars in use last year is not to be di- 

 minished." he figures. "If some owners do not see fit to use their 

 machines the cars will pass into the hands of somebody who 

 will. New cars, while not equal in number to last year's output, 

 will reach in the aggregate a very large figure, making a lot of 

 equipment necessary,'' 



* * * 



At the annual meeting of The B. F. Goodrich Co., on January 

 15, all of the old officers and directors were reelected : B. G. 

 Work, president ; F. H. Mason, first vice president ; H. E. Ray- 

 mond, second vice president and general sales manager; C. B. 

 Raymond, secretary; W. A. Folger, treasurer; W. A. Means, 

 assistant treasurer ; E. C. Shaw, general manager of works ; H. E. 

 Joy, general superintendent. The directors are : Colonel George 

 T. Perkins, F. H. INIason, B. G. Work, E. C. Shaw, H. E. Ray- 

 mond, C. C. Goodrich and George W. Crouse. 



The Aladdin Rubber Co., whose reclaiming plant at Barberton 

 burned to the ground, a short time ago, held their annual meet- 

 ing last month. The directors elected were James Christy, Will 

 Christy, Charles Heller, John H. Conner and Sidney E. Conner. 

 Plans for the company's reorganization were discussed. The 



rebuilt plant will soon be put into operation, with a capacity 

 double that of the former plant. 



Officers of the Whitman & Barnes Manufacturing Co., chosen 

 at the annual meeting last month, are as follows : William H. 

 Gifford, chairman; C. E. Sheldon, president; William Stone, vice 

 president; William H. Eager, treasurer; Frank Hiscock, general 

 counsel; George A. Barnes, general superintendent. The directors 

 are George T. Perkins, C. E. Sheldon, C. I. Bruner, George C. 

 Kohler, George A. Barnes, William H. Gifford, Frank Hiscock, 

 William Stone and William W. Cox. The company gave up the 

 manufacture of rubber goods some years ago, but the board still 

 embraces some names identified with the rubber trade. 



* * * 



The B. F. Goodrich Co. have established a branch house at 

 2, rue Brunei, Paris, and its opening has excited no little com- 

 ment in France. For an American manufacturer to compete 

 directly with France in making automobile tires has heretofore 

 been regarded as almost foolhardy. Goodrich tires have been 

 sold in Paris before now but never had a regular branch been 

 established. Albert -Augier, who has been associated for years 

 with Henry Fournier, is in charge. 



The office force of The B. F. Goodrich Co. at Akron are now 

 occupying the spacious and beautiful new office structure. The 

 building is four stories in height and constructed of stone and 

 pressed brick. The correspondence department is in the base- 

 ment, the officers of the company are on the first floor, the 

 treasurer and his assistants on the second, the sales department 

 on the third, and the advertising department on the fourth. 



* * * 



The Mitzel Rubber Co., formerly located in Barberton but 

 lately removed to Carrollton, Ohio, has filed a petition in bank- 

 ruptcy in the United States district court at Cleveland. Assets 

 are $63,682.16 and liabilities $76,130.40. The company not long 

 ago went into the hands of receivers and by its latest action has 

 simply transferred its litigation to the United States court. The 

 plant is being kept in operation. 



.\ suit has been filed in which the courts are asked to sell the 

 property of the Superior Rubber and Manufacturing Co., at Cuya- 

 hoga Falls, Ohio, and divide the proceeds among the company's 

 creditors. Calvin W. Vaughn is the petitioner. 



* * * 



For some time The Diamond Rubber Co. has been casting about 

 for some means of offsetting the laws prohibiting tire chains. 

 The latter have been placed under the ban in Xew York, many 

 places in New Jersey and are about to be in Philadelphia. In 

 their latest product the Diamond antiskid tire, officials of the com- 

 pany think that they have solved the problem. The tire has a flat 

 tread, studded with rivets of case hardened steel. Every rivet 

 comes into contact with the road surface, and every one con- 

 tributes a force against slipping. Jointly they prevent skidding 

 absolutely. They are so built into the tread that no leverage 

 tending to pull them from their place is exerted, and the slight 

 wear is so evenly distributed that they will last as long as the 



ordinary tire. 



* * * 



The Firestone Tire and Rubber Co. have issued a "Chauffeur's 

 Moral Code." It contains ten resolutions, recommended to opera- 

 tors of commercial motor vehicles for the treatment of their cars 

 and tires, and is designed to assist car owners to lengthen the 

 life of their tires. Some of the resolutions are : not to overload, 

 to keep the brakes working evenly, to keep oil and grease from 

 accumulating on the tires, not to expose tires to extreme heat, 

 to start the vehicle in a straight line, to stop the car gradually, not 

 to run along street car rails, to choose the smoothest pathways, 

 and to attend to damaged tires promptly. 



* * * 



Mr. B. C. Swineh.\rt, of the Swinehart Qincher Tire and 

 Rubber Co., will reside in Chicago in 1908, making his headquar- 

 ters at the company's Chicago branch. 



