180 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[March i, 1908. 



The Manhattan Factories To-day. 



THAT llie factories of the Manliattan Rubber Manufactur- 

 ing Co., at Passaic, New Jersey, have grown and grown, 

 most of us know, but how thoroughly equipped the com- 

 pany is with up-to-date buildings and machinery cannot be real- 

 ized until one spends a day in going over the various depart- 

 ments. 



The power plant, of course, is the starting point, where are 

 found a battery of 9 boilers of the Sterling- Maxim type, giving 

 some 2000 HP., the fuel coming from a huge coal trestle located 

 a short distance away. The engine rooms, of which there are 

 two, are equipped with one 450 HP. Fitchburg, and one 750 

 HP. AUis-Chalmers engine, together with feed pumps, fire pumps, 

 and dynamos, one of 100 h.p. and one of 250 h.p., used for light- 

 ing and for driving special machines and departments in dis- 

 tant parts of the factory. 



The washing room, which is close to one of the engine rooms, 

 contains 6 large washers set in a cement floor, above it being 

 a spacious room for air drying rubber, while on the same level 

 and not far away are placed two No. 5 vacuum driers when 

 quicker results are desired. Entering the mill proper from the 

 engine room one passes through a department devoted to a 

 special line of rubber work, w^here are 6 grinders, i calender, 

 2 big presses, and 2 vulcanizers. Across the way is a press 

 room for belts that at once takes the eye because of its complete- 

 ness and wise arrangement. Here are two 35 foot and two 20 

 foot belt presses, 5 combination presses, and one for extra heavy 

 work, on which a pressure of 2500 pounds to the square inch is 

 secured. 



A feature of this equipment is the fact that the platens of the 

 presses are all covered with asibestos mortar to prevent radia- 

 tion, and that each press is equipped not only with recording 

 but with an automatic regulator for heat and pressure 



gage. 



recording 

 regulator 

 Just above this is the belt making room, run by electricity, the 

 whole lighted with huge windows of hammered glass. On the 

 same floor is the cotton 

 hose room, containing 

 not only braiders and 

 twisters but S looms. 



The largest single 

 room in the factory is 

 420 feet long and 70 

 feet wide, with a mon- 

 itor roof. Here is the 

 hose department, con- 

 taining some 30 -host 

 tables and two 50 foot 

 vulcanizers. On one 

 side of this great room 

 is a department for the 

 manufacture of horse- 

 shoe pads, while on the 

 other is one for the mak- 

 ing up of tiling and mat- 

 ling and for lining fab- 

 rics. Returning to the 

 ground floor, a depart- 

 ment of much interest 

 is that devoted to the 

 manufacture of couch 

 and squeeze rolls. This 

 is thoroughly equipped 

 with huge lathes, grind- 

 ers, and other heavy 



machinery necessary for this work. Close to this department, 

 and taking up most of the ground floor of the main building, 

 is the general mixing and calendering room. Here are 23 

 grinders and 5 calenders, together with the usual accessories, 

 such as duck driers, machines for brushing liners, etc. Of other 

 equipment in 'the factory, there are 10 tubing machines, 20 vulcan- 

 izers, 40 presses for small mold work, and what is said to be 

 one of the widest hydraulic presses ever made, its dimensions 

 being 10 X 10 feet. 



A year or more ago the offices of the company were removed 

 from New York to an end of the main factory. A new office 

 building close to the factory is planned and will be erected in 

 the spring. The plant to-day contains about 125,000 square feet 

 of floor space, and is employing 420 men, the maximum number 

 that have been employed being 540. The factory is situated ex- 

 cellently for shipping, having its own siding from the Del- 

 aware, Lackawanna and Western railroad, along the line of 

 which the company owns some 15 acres of land. 



A very practical improvement is an installation of the Bowser 

 system of handling naphtha. With a main supply home in the 

 yard, the volatile fluid received in tank cars is transferred to a 

 large storage tank and piped to all parts of the factory when 

 needed. 



One of the most interesting departments of all is the labora- 

 tory, which is housed in a brick building sufficiently removed 

 from the plant proper, containing experimental rubber machinery 

 throughout and an exceedingly complete laboratory equipment, 

 all the machines being operated by electricity. 



The name Manhattan at once suggests the very pleasant knowl- 

 edge that the trade have, both of the Townsends and th^ Hen- 

 dersons, two of each name — young, aggressive, friendly, who 

 have built up these great factories, not with knitted brow and 

 portentous frown, but with a cheerful smile as if each day's 

 work was a game that all played for the love of it. 



F.\CTORIES OF THE M.\NH\TT.\N RrBi:ER M.\N'UF.\CTUR1NC Co 



