THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[March 1. 1916. 



rapidly increased. In making the earlier gutta percha balls, 

 the gutta was boiled until soft and then rolled by hand until 

 smooth and round, but its flight was never true and, strange 

 to relate, the more it was played with and hacked al)out. the 

 better its flight seemed. 



Then some one suggested that the surface of the ball might 

 be nicked into lines with a shoemaker's hammer, and this was 

 done with good results. The flight of the "hand hammered" 

 ball was now all that could be desired, and the feather ball was 

 doomed. The demand for balls grew to such an e-xtent that 

 ball makers, who formerly were situated at the links, selling 

 every ball direct to the players, were forced to produce balls in 

 larger quantities and by a quicker method. By this new pro- 

 cedure, when the gutta was softened, a quantity sufficient to 

 make one ball was kneaded and rolled in the palms of the hands, 

 then put into a steel mold and pressed in a vise until sufficiently 

 cool to be taken from the mold and dropped into cold water to 

 harden. 



The problem of marking more quickly than by the hand 

 hacking method was solved by the use of a mold made with 

 the markings cut inside. The ball was dipped into hot water, 

 put into the marking mold and squeezed again in the vise, with 

 the result that the ball was regularly marked all over. 



By this time the manufacturers of gutta percha goods, who 

 were chiefly large rubber concerns, began to interest themselves 

 in the golf ball industry, and made the gutta percha into rods 

 of sufficient size to make one dozen balls. The small makers 

 bought these especially, as the gutta was then already cleaned 

 and massed, and only required to be cut and stuffed into the 

 molds, painted and sold. 



Freshly made balls, however, were so soft that they soon lost 

 shape, and seasoning was found necessary. The small makers 

 could not afford to put their manufactured balls aside for any 

 length of time, so large manufacturers with plenty of capital took 

 up the making of golf balls. 



The India Rubber, Gutta Percha and Telegraph Works Co., 

 Silvertown, London, was among the first to do this. When the 

 products from the large manufacturers were placed on the 

 market, the game which had been held in check for want of 

 supplies began to forge ahead, and even working men took up 

 golf. 



In 1884 the "Eclipse" ball, made of a composition of cork, 

 rubber and gutta percha, was introduced, and many thought it 

 would meet the demand. It did not chip or lose shape, but it 

 proved to be too heavy, and would not rise, but rolled along the 

 golf course and into every bunker on the links. The paint did 

 not stick properly, and the ball became black when a few holes 

 had been played. This disgusted the players and the ball died 

 a natural death. 



The ".\r' ball, made of pure gutta percha, followed the 

 "Eclipse" and for a time w^as popular. The Silvertown com- 

 pany then brought out the "No. 4" ball, made of black gutta. 

 This displaced the "Al," as it was harder and more serviceable. 

 The first pebbled ball was called the "Ocobo." It had a harder 

 surface than any of its predecessors and soon met with favor. 

 All of these balls of this period sold at one shilling each, which 

 was considered a high price, until the Silvertown company once 

 more came to the front in 1890 with a new ball called the "4 S's," 

 composed of pure gutta percha, which possessed the greatest 

 driving qualities of any ball yet produced. It had a pinkish 

 shade before painting, kept its shape, held its own against com- 

 petitors, and sold for a guinea ($5.10) a dozen. This relatively 

 high price did not stop the sale, and the demand was so great 

 that it became difficult to fill orders. 



At this time America was being smitten with the golf fever, 

 and the ball question was taken up seriously, and good solid 

 gutta balls were produced by the Boston Belting Co., the David- 

 son Rubber Co. and others, .^fter experimenting with the com- 

 paratively unsatisfactory balls of that time, Bertram G. Work, 



of Akron, Ohio, and Coburn Haskell, of Glenville, Ohio, devised 

 a ball which was patented April 11, 1899. Their patent provides 

 for "a golf ball, comprising a core composed wholly or in part 

 of rubber thread wound under high tension, and a gutta percha 

 inclosing-shell for the core, of such thickness as to give it the 

 required rigidity," and also in the second claim, for "a golf ball, 

 comprising a central core section of relatively non-elastic ma- 

 terial, rubber thread wound thereon under tension," etc. 



The extra distance resulting from this new ball called the 

 "Haskell" won the hearts of all golfers. The only drawback to 

 it was that it did not have a "click" when hit by the club, and 

 to golfers in those days, half the pleasure was that fascinating 

 sound. This difiiculty, however, was soon overcome. The 

 "Haskell" ball when first made was produced laboriously by 

 winding rubber threads on the core by hand, and the total output 

 for one man was three balls a day. After experimenting. The 

 B. F. Goodrich Co. devised a machine that in three minutes ac- 

 complished the same work that one man formerly produced in 

 a day. 



This ball has a core of soft rubber about the size of a small 

 marble around which are wound seven hundred feet of tightly 

 stretched rubber thread, and the whole is covered with gutta 

 percha about one-eighth of an inch thick. All patent infringe- 

 ments were successfully stopped except in England. Licenses 

 for the manufacture were granted by the Haskell Golf Ball Co., 

 of .\kron, Ohio, to several manufacturers desiring to make balls 

 under the Haskell patent. 



In 1902 the Kempshall Manufacturing Co., Arlington, N. J., 

 took out sixty patents on golf balls, of which the main features 

 were the use of plastic material forced into a hollow sphere 

 of rubber or gutta percha, and also a sphere expanded by liquid 

 gutta percha and covered with celluloid. Later, in 1905, a "Pneu- 

 matic" golf ball was introduced by the Goodyear Tire & Rubber 

 Co., Akron, Ohio. This consisted of a core which was a retainer 

 into which air under pressure of eight hundred pounds per 

 square inch was forced. The "Bogey" ball, made by the Seaman 

 Manufacturing Co., Milwaukee, Wisconsin, appeared in the same 

 year, and had a non-elastic center on which were tightly 

 stretched small rublier rings over which was the usual 'gutta 

 percha cover. 



The latter day balls include the "Colonel" of the St. Mungo 

 Manufacturing Co., Glasgow-, Scotland, and New York City, and 

 the green, red and black "Circle" balls of Wright & Ditson, 

 Boston. Massachusetts, which appeared in 1911. The next year 

 saw the advent of the "Dimple," made by A. G. Spaulding & 

 Bros, in both this country and Great Britain. Other well-known 

 golf balls are the "Whippet," formerly manufactured by The B. F. 

 Goodrich Co., Akron, Ohio, and now by A. J. Reach Co., Phil- 

 adelphia. Pennsylvania ; the "Diamond" balls of the Worthing- 

 ton Ball Co., and the latest balls, "Bullet Honor," "Witch," "Wiz- 

 ard" and "Orange Domino" of A. G. Spaulding & Bros. The 

 "Whippet," "Stag," "Meteor" and "Scotty" balls, all made under 

 the "Haskell" patent, have been sold by The B. F. Goodrich Co. 

 to the A. J. Reach Co. 



A FRENCH TRADE STAMP. 



Symbolic stamps or "stickers" are extensively used by Euro- 

 pean concerns for attaching to correspondence. The stamp here 

 shown is used by the Societe des Etablissements Bergougnan, 

 Clermont-Ferrand, Puy-de-D6me, manufacturers 

 nf "Le (iaulois" tires. The golden sun of pros- 

 perity, rising over the peak of the Puy-de-D6me, 

 casts its light upon the effigy of Vercingetorix. 

 the great Gaulois, hero of the struggles of the 

 Gauls against Roman domination and adopted as 

 the symbol of the "Gaulois" tires. The graceful 

 folds of the French tri-color add to the picture 

 and indicate that "Le Gaulois" tires are of 

 French production. 



