158 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[February i, 1908. 



Factory of The Tver Rubber Co. — Portion of Hard Rubber Department. 



The Remodelled Tyer Rubber Factory. 



THE Tyer Rubber Co., havi:ig recently rebuilt and enlarged 

 their plant at Andover, Massachusetts, claim to have one 

 of the most complete and up-to-date factories of any of 

 its line in the world, and while comparisons are apt to be pro- 

 ductive of feeling, their claim is strengthened whenever a visitor 

 is taken over the works. 



Beginning at the construction end, the buildings are of brick 

 of mill construction, e.xcellently lighted, four stories high, with 

 a street frontage of 232 feet, extending back 256 feet, giving 

 all told 160,000 square feet of floor space. 



For equipment, there are two compound condensing engines 

 of the Corliss type, which are 300 hp. and 400 hp. respectively, 

 and these are considerably aided for producing more power by a 

 large condensing pump which maintains 25" vacuum, together 

 with a 4S foot cooling tower. In addition to the engines there 

 are also electric motors for driving some subsidiary machinery 

 and the lighting of the factory is furnished by three dynamos. 



For boiler power, 600 hp, is furnished by three Kendall boilers. 

 A reinforced concrete coal pocket, with conveyor, stores the 

 coal close to the fire room. Two cisterns, one with a capacity 

 of .30,000 gallons, the other 90,000 gallons, insure abundant water. 

 For fire, beside the sprinkler system, and the pleasant knowledge 

 that they are protected from loss by The Rubber Manufacturers' 

 Mutual Insurance Co., are two pumps with a capacity of 2,000 

 gallons per minute, and these, with their own factory brigade 

 that drills every week, together with the regular town fire de- 

 partment, makes it possible to throw 18 streams at once. 



From the engines the power goes to the machinery via a fine 

 rope drive. The heavy machinery consists of 4 washers, 12 mix- 

 ing mills, 3 calenders, 8 tubing machines, 35 dry tumbling barrels, 

 and 3 wet tumbling barrels. Then there is the press room, com- 

 prising 17 large knuckle joint presses, by means of which count- 

 less molded and mechanical goods are manufactured. 



Above the mill room is the cutting room, with its large assort- 

 ment of dies used for cutting out various patterns to be made 

 up into water bottles, fountain syringes, tobacco pouches, and the 

 like. From the cutting room the visitor is led to the making-up 



department, where are tables for 300 girls, occupying the whole 

 second floor of one wing. For lighter power driven machinery, 

 there are 27 hard rubber lathes and a score of buffing machines, 

 two band cutters, dust presses, and many little special casting 

 and finishing departments. To keep all these in repair requires 

 a machine shop, and the visitor finds an excellently equipped 

 one, not only for repair v^ork but for making molds and similar 

 work. In connection with the machine shop, there is a metal 

 room for manufacturing metal pipes and fittings, demanded in 

 the cheaper grade of druggists' sundries. Moreover in this 

 same room are facilities for making up the hard rubber molds, 

 lining bulb shells, and so on, The importance of this metal room 

 is evidenced by the large room given up to it. 



Among the most important considerations in a rubber factory 

 are the vulcanizing facilities, and here The Tyer Rubber Co., 

 with their new heaters, are amply provided. The equipment is 

 made up of three bag and water bottle heaters, of 12, 14, and 

 25 feet, respectively ; two hard rubber heaters, 12 and 21 feet, 

 and capable of vulcanizing 18,000 pieces at a time; one bulb 

 heater, 25 feet, with a capacity of 2,000 bulbs ; and lastly an 18 

 foot tube heater. Also of importance are the hard rubber depart- 

 ments and cement dipped goods departments, the latter two oc- 

 cupying buildings detached from the main plant, which they 

 might otherwise menace in case of fire. 



The finishing or so called fitting room for assembling and 

 boxing the finished products occupies a large space on the third 

 floor and 75 girls or more are employed. This room has very 

 adequate connection with the two shipping rooms below, by power 

 elevators. Not the least interesting part of the factory is the 

 well equipped laboratory which is under the direct charge of 

 Mr. Henry G. Tyer, who took a chemical course at Harvard 

 University expressly to carry on this work in the Tyer factory. 



Of equal importance to this splendid equipment the factory 

 has an efficient force of superintendents and foremen, making it 

 possible to manufacture a line of goods that is known the world 

 over — the "Tyrian" — and which are recognized by the trade as 

 the highest quality of druggists' rubber goods. 



