198 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[March i, 190S. 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN SAN FRANCISCO. 



BY A RESIDENT CORRESPONDENT. 



REPORTS from the leading rubber goods dealers in rubber 

 in San Francisco show that the improvement which has 

 been noticed for several weeks past is getting even better every 

 day. .\Ithough it has been slow, it is sure, and new avenues of 

 commerce are being developed constantly. Retailers who have 

 been allowing their stocks to run very low are now corapel'.ed to 

 stock up again, and as the outlook throughout California has 

 grown very bright on account of the excellent crop prospects, 

 they are not so slow in ordering liberally. It is the general feel- 

 ing that trade will soon be normal, and although there has been 

 a general holding back it was more because people could not get 

 hold of money for the time being rather than they did not have 

 sufficient confidence in the future. Now that money has become 

 easier to get the retailers look forward to a ver>- good business 

 and are beginning to order accordingly. Not only have the 

 bountiful supply of rains caused a feeling of faith in the outcome 

 of the next year to arise, but work in the countrj' is becoming 

 more plentiful, particularly in the mining districts. 



The Western Belting and Hose Co. report a satisfactory busi- 

 ness at their new permanent location, Xo. 679 Howard street, 

 where they carrj- a general supply in rubber goods. 



Barton-Squires-Byme, Inc., are actively engaged completing 

 their new plant, and report that business looks well for the 

 future. A new factor}- foreman has been secured for the com- 

 pany from Akron, Ohio. 



Mr. E. T. Watros. representing the Voorhees Rubber Manu- 

 facturing Co. (Jersey City, N. J.), is now in San Francisco, and 

 states that he finds business verj- favorable and a great deal better 

 on the Pacific coast than he had been led to believe. 



The Pacific Coast Rubber Co. are now installed with a ver>- 

 complete stock of rubber belting and general rubber stock in its 

 modem quarters on Mission street. The firm is now permanently 

 located and anticipates an excellent business for the coming sea- 

 son. Mr. H. C. Norton, of this company, will leave before March 

 25 on his regular yearly trip through the manufacturing centers 

 of the East. 



The Gutta Percha and Rubber Manufacturing Co. have just 

 moved over from the temporarj- location which the firm has oc- 

 cupied across the bay, in Alameda, since the fire, to modem and 

 fireproof quarters on First street near Mission, where all hands 

 are busy getting the goods arranged in the new store. 



Ed. Garratt. formerly for many years manager of the Seattle 

 branch of the Gorham Rubber Co., has lately resigned to go into 

 business for himself, and he is now in San Francisco with the 

 Calahan boiler compoimd. He will make Seattle his headquar- 

 ters. 



The Gorham Rubber Co. of San Francisco have decided to sys- 

 tematize farther the baying and selling of goods for the three 

 stores, including the branches in Seattle and Los Angeles, so 

 that they will not be buying independently of one another as 

 heretofore. For this purpose W. H. Heckmann has been ap- 

 pointed to the new position of general buyer and salesman for 

 the company's three branches. This firm has installed an entirely 

 new department, devoted to fire appliances and supplies, which 

 will be devoted not only to fire hose and accessories, but to 

 everything else that a fire department needs. Mr. J. L. Phillips 

 is the general manager of the new department, with headquar- 

 ters in Seattle, and the manager in San Francisco will be Mr. C 

 .\. Taber. 



Mr. Gorham has just returned from his eastern trip by way of 

 Lss .Angeles, and within a week he will go on up to the Seattle 

 branch. "I noticed a general improvement in the factories 

 throughout the East," he said, "and I notice the same thing in 

 Los .\ngeles, where we look forward to a business which will be 

 all right .Ml along business just at this time is probably not as 



hea\y as it was last year, but at least we are getting away from 

 the slump. Up around Seattle the mills are starting up and things 

 are getting better. We are shipping garden hose from San Fran- 

 cisco now in large quantities, and that with our export trade is 

 holding up business very favorably." 



Mr. McMillan has resigned as secretary of the Sterling Rubber 

 Co. and Mr. A. R. EUert has been chosen to take the position. 

 Mr. Ellert has recently made a trip through the northern valleys 

 as far up as McCloud in California, and coming down through 

 the Sacramento, the Napa and the Sonoma valleys, where he 

 found business so greatly improved and the confidence so much 

 restored that results were greater than any trip that has been 

 made through that portion of the state for some time, showing 

 that there is a general improvement in the interior districts. 



Mr. Chase, of the Bowers Rubber Works, states that business 

 has been so favorable with them that they feel the dull times 

 less than ever, and that all along business has been picking up 

 remarkably well. "In fact," he said, "the sales for the past four 

 months, which have been the worst of the dull period, have been 

 in excess of any corresponding year in the company's history." 



The Phcenix Rubber Co. have opened an agency for Republic 

 tires at No. 606 Van Ness avenue in the permanent building on 

 the corner of Golden Gate avenue. Mr. C. P. Overton will be the 

 manager of the new branch. 



The rubber tire representatives and agencies are preparing to 

 make a great display of tires at the San Francisco automobile 

 show, which will be held at the Coliseum March 2-8. 



COMPRESSED AIR IN A VULCANIZER. 



A RECENT patent issued to Augustus O. Bourn, of the 

 Bourn Rubber Co., Pro\-idence. Rhode Island (No. 876,- 

 431), covers the ^•ulcanization of rubber goods in drj- heat, with 

 the novel feature that the air in the vulcanizer is compressed. 

 As is very well known, air is a poor conductor of heat. Its 

 non conductivin-, indeed, is the reason that dr>- heat cures take 



BoL-RNS Process of Vi.-lc.\xiz.\tiox. 



from ID to 40 times as long as where the heat is carried to the 

 rubber from some good conductor. By compressing the air, 

 however, it is found to conduct heat ver>- much more quickly 

 and it is also claimed that the compression solidifies and toughens 

 the rubber compound. Governor Boum has experimented with 

 this process for something like seven years, and is to be con- 

 gratulated on securing a good clean patent protecting his in- 

 vention. 



Mention is made of the arrival at Bordeaux of shipments of 

 rubber for Michelin & Co. (Qermont-Ferrand), under their con- 

 tract to take 600.000 pounds a year from the Galvez Rubber Els- 

 tates. Limited, of London and Bolivia. 



MiTTELDEVTSCHE Gummiwaten-Fabrik Louis Peter, Actienge- 

 sellschaft, of Frankfort o/M., Germany, has established a branch 

 in Turin, at 40 via Carlo Alberto. They now have 22 branches. 



