344 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[July i, 1908. 



The W. D. Xewerf Co., Los Angeles and San Francisco, 

 Pacific coast agents for The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co.'s 

 tires, donated a beautiful cup as a prize for the winner of the 

 50-mile Derby at the race meet of the Los Angeles Auto- 

 mobile Dealers' Association, on Decoration day. 



The report from the Gutta Percha and Rubber Manufacturing 

 Co., at No. 69 First street^ shows that this is the best month 

 the firm have had so far this year, and that trade conditions 

 are showing steady improvement. 



Buckingham & Hecht, extensive wholesalers of rubber boots 

 and shoes, have just moved to their new permanent building 

 at the corner of Second and Mission streets, where they now 

 occupy large quarters. 



Mr. W. J. Gorham, of the Gorham Rubber Co., has just re- 

 turned from an automobile trip to Los Angeles, combining busi- 

 ness with pleasure. He found the branch store in Los Angeles 

 doing a satisfactory business considering the general depression, 

 and believes that the outlook is bright for southern part of 

 California. 



THE RUBBER TRADE AT AKRON. 



BY A RESIDENT CORRESPONDENT. 



THE rubber manufacturers of Akron say they are making 

 more automobile tires than ever at the present time. The 

 rush of orders mentioned in recent issues of The India Rubber 

 World is keeping up steadily. The slack season, during which 

 the orders for the present year will be falling off and the work 

 for next year has not begun, is expected in August and Sep- 

 tember. On account of the fact that the Chicago and New York 

 automobile shows have been set from one to three months 

 ahead of the time they were held last year, some have feared 

 that the 1909 tire business will be greatly delayed, but a manu- 

 facturer here said that he had no apprehensions on that score. 

 Last year the shows were held early as an experiment, but it 

 was found that the orders for cars came as late as ever. While 

 the manufacturing at this time is mostly to fill consumers' orders, 

 the work in the fall will be for the automobile manufacturers 

 who are beginning to place orders for their 1909 output. 



* * * 



Most of the automobile tire manufacturers in the United 

 States attended a meeting at Cleveland, Ohio, on May 21, to con- 

 sider matters of common interest with regard to trade conditions. 

 A committee was appointed to report at a future meeting, which 

 is expected to be held on July 25. Prices of tires have been 

 irregular of late and there are complaints in some quarters of 

 price cutting. Another factor in the situation has been the club 

 proposition, which the tire and accessory makers desire to have 

 regulated before its further spreading. The practice of club 

 members securing inside prices is seriously cutting into the busi- 

 ness of the accessory dealers and is generally considered detri- 

 mental to the trade, which fears that it may even extend to 

 the buying of cars. 



At the same time a meeting of the Clincher Rim Association 

 was held in Cleveland, attended by representatives of companies 

 making and using the principal rims on the market — the Good- 

 rich, the Diamond, the Goodyear, and the Midgley — with the 

 object of devising a plan for standardizing rims. It is stated 

 that progress was made toward realizing this end and other 



meetings will be called. 



* * * 



S. S. Miller, superintendent of the Buckeye Rubber Co., 

 states that the addition to the factory of that company will 

 be in operation in two months. The new building will be 

 used entirely for the manufacture of pneumatic automobile tires. 

 Since the establishment of the factory seven years ago, it has 

 been devoted to the manufacture of the Kelly-Springfield solid 

 carriage tire. During the last year the company have been 

 placing pneumatic tires on the market, with such success as to 



lead the construction of the new building for their manufacture 

 on a larger scale. The structure is three stories high, 40 x 231 

 feet. A new 700 hp. engine, two new boilers, two calenders, two 

 washers, five mills, and a combination press and vulcanizer for 

 automobile tires will be installed. Mr. Miller said that the busi- 

 ness of the company in solid tires during the last three months 

 has been the largest it has ever seen. 



* * * 



.\s a tribute to the state of Ohio for the privilege of doing 

 business within its borders, the secretary of state received from 

 The B. F. Goodrich Co. alone an annual fee of $10,000. The 

 fee was paid May 25, under the act of the legislature known as 

 the Willis law. Each year every corporation in the state is re- 

 quired to send to the secretary of state a certificate of its con- 

 dition and to pay a fee equal to one-tenth of I per cent, of the 

 capital stock of the company, which in the case of the Goodrich 

 company is $10,000,000 and of the Diamond Rubber Co., $5,000,- 

 000. Failure to pay this fee subjects a corporation to the for- 

 feiture of its charter and delay in payment subjects the cor- 

 poration to a penalty «i $500, and $100 additional for each day 



of delay. 



* * * 



The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. are putting on the 

 market an important automobile accessory in the form of the 

 Goodyear Air Bottle. It is a tank fitted with valve, pressure 

 gage, safety blow off, and valve lifter, filled with sufficient com- 

 pressed air *to inflate eight 3-inch tires to 60 pounds pressure 

 or equivalent. A small hose attached to the bottle is fastened 

 to the opening of the tire valve and the valve on the bottle 

 opened. The pressure gage indicates when the tire is full enough. 

 The bottle enables automobile drivers to save time while en 

 route, in case it is necessary to inflate a tire. 



* * * 



The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. recently closed a contract 

 with the New York Taxicab Co. to equip the cabs of that com- 

 pany with tires. Instead of selling the tires to the company, 

 the Goodyear people contract to furnish tires by the mile. The 

 tires remain the property of the manufacturers, who are paid 

 so much for each mile each tire travels. Three hundred cabs 

 were equipped for the New York Taxicab Co. and 50 cabs for 

 the New York Transportation Co., the latter contract amount- 

 ing to about 3,300,000 miles. They are the Goodyear Detach- 

 able tires on Goodyear Universal rims. The contract also in- 

 cludes the Goodyear air bottle for inflating tires. 



Orders for a new patent tire protector are being filled by the 

 O'Neil Tire and Protector Co., of Akron. The appliance is 

 called the O'Neil Internal Tire Protector. It is made of duck 

 covered with fabric, chemically treated, placed between the tire 

 case and the inner tube, and referred to as cutting down the 

 number of punctures from 70 to 80 per cent. ^\'. J. O'Neil is 

 president, and W. T. Tobin vice-president, and C. J. Maxon, 

 secretary and sales manager of the company. Mr. Maxson said 

 that considerable success had been met with in equipping Glidden 

 cars with the protectors, about 12 drivers in Cleveland and Buf- 

 falo having agreed to use the appliance. 

 * * * * 



A PRIVATE rubber enterprise called the Eagle Rubber Co., op- 

 erated by Mr. George N. Eby, is making rubber gloves in the 

 old plant of the Summit Rubber Co.,- in Barbertown. It is the 

 intention of the company to add other lines of dipped goods. 



The Akron Automobile Club has been reorganized, with Fred 

 Work as president, A. B. Smith, vice-president, A. Auble, Jr., sec- 

 retary, and E. H. Roth treasurer. The club will work for the 

 completion of an improved roadway from Akron to Cleveland. 



M. S. Johnson, of The B. F. Goodrich Co., and J. R, Bailey 

 and T. J. Smith, of the Diamond Rubber Co., attended the con- 

 vention of the Master Car Builders" Association in Atlantic 

 City during the week of June 14. 



