March 1, 1916.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



287 



Development and Changes In the Golf Ball Industry. 



AT the present time considerable attention is being attracted 

 to the golf ball industry owing to the fact that the Haskell 

 patent, under which most of the popular golf balls are 

 manufactured, is about to expire in the United States, and also 

 that announcement has been made that The B. F. Goodrich Co., 

 Akron, Ohio, has disposed of its golf ball business to A. J. 

 Reach Co., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 



When the Haskell patent e.xpires on April II, it is expected 

 that balls of English manufacture will be imported into the 

 United States in large quantities to compete with .American 

 balls now on the market, .\nnouncement has been made that 



prohibitory duty upon imported golf balls because they were 

 taking too much gold out of the country. 



Three or four hundred years ago golf was played with a 

 leather covered feather ball. The leather was of untanned bull's 

 hide, the covering consisting of two round pieces for the ends, 

 and one zone piece for the middle. After being softened, these 

 pieces were shaped and then firmly sewed together, a small hole 

 being left through which the feathers were afterwards inserted. 



Before stuffing the ball the cover had to be turned inside out 

 through this little hole, thus bringing the seams on the inside — 

 an operation not without difficulties. The making of this feather 



H.\ND-H.\M>IERED 



GuTT.\ Perch.\ B.\ll. 



'Eclipse" Ball. 



Win-ding of 

 "H.\skell" B.\ 



Rubber Rings 

 )F "Bogey" B.\ll. 



Section of 

 'Pneum.\tic" I: 



the high-grade .\merican balls, such as the "Whippet" and the 

 "Dimple," will be sold at the same price as formerly, $9 per 

 dozen, and that the "Silver King." a popular English ball, will 

 be offered to the public on April 13 at the same figure. To com- 

 pete with other English balls that may be imported, it is said 

 that -American made balls formerly selling for 65 cents each 

 will be offered this season for 50 cents, that SO cent balls will 

 sell for 40 cents, while others may be marked as low as 25 

 cents each. 



It will be remembered that in 1905 the English courts decided 

 that the Haskell patent on golf balls did not hold in England 

 because of prior uses of the same principle. Then the English 

 balls began to make their appearance in this country through 

 mail deliveries to individuals, but few sales were actually made 

 by this method, and it was soon discontinued. 



THE HISTORY OF THE GOLF B.\LL. 



There is no record as to the age of golf. It is known that 

 it became fairly popular in Great Britain during the fifteenth 

 century. It is also recorded that golf was denounced from the 

 pulpit in Scotland because it was played "in tyme of sermonses," 

 leaving only empty benches in the "kirk" and in parliament, 

 because it led to neglect of the art of war so necessary for de- 

 fense against the English. One of the Scotch kings imposed a 



ball was considered one of the most arduous labors of the day, 

 because in the packing, the feathers wxre inserted through the 

 small opening in the leather cover, and pressed in with an iron 

 rod, one end of which had a small, flat breast-plate, which ena- 

 bled the maker to use the weight of his body to compress the 

 feathers. This work was so severe that golf ball makers in 

 those days seldom lived past 38 years. 



The balls cost about 5 shillings each, and were an expensive 

 item, for money was of more value then than now. Golf was 

 only played by the very rich, as the other classes could not 

 afford to buy the balls, and it was referred to as the "gentlemen's 

 game." The size of the old feather ball was the same as the 

 balls now in use, approximately twenty-seven and one-half six- 

 teenths of an inch in diameter. 



In 1848 gutta percha balls were first introduced into Europe, 

 Sir Thomas Moncrieff, an English enthusiast, being generally 

 credited with having conceived the idea of making golf balls 

 of this material, although the Rev. Robert A. Paterson claimed 

 to have rolled gutta percha clippings into a ball, which he painted 

 and used on the links in 1845. 



Gutta percha balls soon became popular as their price was 

 about one-fifth of that of the original feather balls, thus bring- 

 ing golf within the reach of many. The number of devotees 



