March i, 190S.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



193 



AUTOMOBILES AND TIRES. 



TIERE are some figures that may be of interest to those per- 

 ■*■ ^ sons who try to figure out the number of rubber tires made 

 and used. The records kept by the association of licensed au- 

 tomobile manufacturers show that 47,302 pleasure vehicles of the 

 gasoline type were made in the United States during igoy. The 

 aggregated value is $96,169,572. It is estimated that during the 

 same year 5,000 steam and electric pleasure vehicles were built 

 and sold, of the value of $7,500,000, making a total value of 

 $105,669,572. The value of such products in 1904 was $26,645,064, 

 since which the increase of production has increased at a prac- 

 tically steady rate. 



STEPNEY SPARE WHEEL IN AMERICA. 



At the statutory meeting of the Spare Motor Wheel of 

 America, Limited (London, January 21), the chairman, Robert 

 Lee Wood, reported the details of a recent visit to the United 

 States, and particularly to the works of the American company, 

 at St. .\nne. Illinois. [See The India Rubber World, December 

 I, 1907 — page 88.] He congratulated the members of the parent 

 company, in England, upon the prospects of the trade in Amer- 

 ica, through the Illinois company. He thought that the demand 

 for the spare wheels would be very large on this side, owing to 

 the great stretches of bad roads which tnotorists find themselves 

 compelled to deal with. The branch company was registered on 

 October 14 last, and the chairman, at the London meeting, as- 

 serted that orders had been booked for 23,600 wheels, all to be 

 delivered before September. .At the St. Anne works the wheels 

 are made from start to finish, whereas in England the company 

 lias the rims made and simply fits them up. The Spare Motor 

 Wheel of .America, Limited, have opened offices at No. 2148 

 Broadway, New York. 



WHY TIRE INNER TUBES "PINCH." 



It is not an infrequent occurrence at a rubber tire factory to 

 have returned inner tubes which have only been used a short 

 time and come back with a longitudinal tearing. The cause of 

 that tearing is easy to recognize. The air tube has been pinched 

 ty a careless person during the operation of mounting the tire. 

 The "pinch" is an accident, generally occasioned when the auto- 

 ■mobilist is trying to place the second cushion inside the rim. 

 The air chamber gets pinched to a more or less considerable 

 length, and determines a corresponding cut, which it is ahnost 

 always impossible to repair on the road. Then the tube is for- 

 warded to the factory, where a "muff," of a length equal to the 

 ■wounded part, is fitted. While the pinch is considered as a.i 

 -onerous accident, there is nothing easier than to avoid it. 



There are three sorts of pinches. The first is formed between 

 the shoe cushion and the bottom of the rim. It occurs generally 

 -when the operator puts into place the last part of the cushion, 

 and the tube is not sufficiently inflated. The second sort of pinch 

 IS formed by the introduction of a part of the air chamber 

 under the head of one — or several — of the safety bolts. The 

 third, which is less frequent, consists of a fold formed by the 

 air chamber near the valve, and maintained in this position by 

 the valve itself. 



MOTOR CARS POPUULE IN CHINA. 



China may yet afford a great market for rubber tires, judging 

 irom the reports from many sources of the growing popularity 

 of the automobile among the Orientals. The commissioner of 

 customs at Shanghai thinks it worth while to write in an official 

 report : "No modern invention has developed more rapidly in 

 Shanghai, or contributed more to the expansion of the town, 

 than the motor industry. Garages and repair shops are springing 

 up in all directions, and the large number of valuable motor 

 •cars would strike any newly arrived occidental as exceptional. 

 Many wealthy natives have acquired cars, which they drive them- 

 selves at times, while enormous motor vans, used by firms which 

 have their godowns far removed from their office, the municipal 



council's new motor chemical fire engine, etc., all prove how 

 welcome and serviceable their new industry is in this flat 

 country." 



TIRE ODDS AND ENDS. 



A Londoner described in one of the automobile journals as 

 an expert estimates the average yearly cost of upkeep of tires 

 on motor 'buses at £200, and on motor cabs at iioo. Therefore 

 1000 motor 'buses and 1,000 motor cabs in use would mean the 

 expenditure of £300,000 [=$i,439,950] per amium for tires alone. 



The Avon India Rubber Co., Limited, of Melksham, have taken 

 over the site of 35 Long Acre, and will erect thereon premises for 

 their London depot. Meanwhile a stock of Avon tires will be 

 kept for the London trade at 31 Brooke street, Holborn. 



After much experimenting the Diamond company have placed 

 on the market a demountable rim — something new in tire circles. 

 The rim is of the usual clincher type, but is provided with six 

 lugs on the outside edge which engage with notches cut in the 

 side of the felloe and the permanent steel rim and through which 

 and the felloe six bolts pass. The removal of the six nuts makes 

 it possible to draw off the tire rim and to substitute another. In- 

 flated tires are carried ready upon a rim for a breakdown and 

 little time need be lost in making the exchange. 



An automobile owner in New York, arrested for overspeeding 

 and not happening to have enough cash about him for a bail 

 bond, induced the magistrate to let him go by depositing his extra 

 automobile tire. 



An English export trade journal contains the announcements 

 of a number of bicycle firms, quoting prices for export at from 

 £2 10s. [=$12.17] to £3 ss. [=$15.82], for bicycles complete, ex- 

 cept that tires are extra. Unnamed tires are quoted by some 

 firms as low as 10 shillings [=$2.44] per pair, with prices ranging 

 all the way up to standard prices for leading makes. Dunlop, 

 Palmer, and "A Won" Tires are quoted by some bicycle firms at 

 £1 6s. [^.33], and by others at a shilling or two less. 



H. F. Mitzel writes to The India Rubber World from Cleve- 

 land, Ohio, that he has been working for some time upon a 

 pneuinatic tire, with the idea of developing one that should be 

 puncture-proof. He has applied for a patent on a tire the dis- 

 tinctive feature of which is its equipment with more than one 

 valve, so that in some cases it would not be necessary, in the 

 event of a tire injury, to make repairs, but to use another valve 

 than the first for inflation. 



At the end of 1907 tliere were at the United States patent 

 office 533 applications for rubber tire patents awaiting action by 

 the examiners. 



FIRE HOSE SPECIFICATIONS. 



MR. H. W. FORSTER, chairman of the special hose com- 

 mittee of the National Fire Protection Association, who 

 knows perhaps as much about fire hose as any one in the United 

 States, has recently drawn up specifications for fire departments, 

 covering both rubber and cotton hose. These specifications are 

 exceedingly complete. Indeed, their volume precludes their pres- 

 ent publication in The India Rubber World in extcnso. Briefly, 

 however, they cover the permanent marking of the hose with 

 the manufacturer's name, the type of cotton duck used with 

 number of plies and w'eights, friction tests, specifications for 

 rubber lining, couplings and their composition, weight and flexi- 

 bility of finished hose, strength tests, elongation, twist and diam- 

 eter, chemical tests of rubber compounds, physical tests, manu- 

 facturers' guarantee, and finally, suggestions for the care of hose 

 for fire department officials. The specifications referred to are 

 preliminary in their character, and are being sent out to fire de- 

 partment officials and others likely to be interested, with a view 

 to inviting comments or suggestions to be used in putting the 

 specifications in shape for submission to the National Fire Pro- 

 tection Association at the Chicago meeting next May. 



