356 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[April 1, 1911 



The Obituary Record. 



Theodore H. X'ideto. 



A PIONEER RUBBER MANUFACTURER. 



THEODORE H. VIDETO, who for more than 30 years was 

 connected with various New England rubber manufacturing 

 enterprises, died at his home in South Franiingham, Massa- 

 cluisetts, at the age of 82 years. He was born in Wilmot, New 

 Brunswick, February 23, 1834. At tlie age of 17, so proficient was 

 he in the higher niatheniatii -. Latin, Drcck and the modern lan- 

 guages, that he was 

 given a professorship 

 in a New Brunswick 

 seminary. After 

 teaching there for 10 

 years he came to the 

 United States for 

 further study. In 

 1879, however, he for- 

 sook scholastic life, 

 and began manufac- 

 turing light - weight 

 solarized rubber 

 clothing. His first 

 position was with 

 the Globe, later the 

 Readville Rubber Co., 

 "gossamer" rubber 

 proofers. At this time 

 all of these goods 

 were plain black sur- 

 faced. Soon English 

 rubber men began to 

 send in beautiful sil- 

 vered "electric" garments, the effects gained by surfacing with 

 potato starch. In attempting to imitate this, an American com- 

 pany, the Solarized Rubber Co., brought out garments in 

 checks and stripes, but lost money and gave up the business. 

 Mr. Videto, however, after much experimenting, evolved a 

 cheap and simple process for producing what was known as the 

 "India stripe." In 1886 he secured the assistance of L. D. 

 Apsley, who was then operating the Goodyear Gossamer Co. 

 at Hudson, Massachusetts, and entered his employ. Later he 

 went to South Framingham with the Gossamer Rubber Co., 

 where his son was employed as superintendent. Upon the death 

 of Ira M. Conant, the founder of the business, he left and took 

 an advisory position with the Conant Rubber Co. The "gossa- 

 mer" garments once sold by the million, were, however, being 

 rapidly displaced by light-weight calendered, vulcanized goods, 

 and in time the Conant Rubber Co. went out of business. 



Mr. \"ideto did not seek another engagement, but devoted the 

 remainder of his hfe to study and public work. 



For nine years he served as chairman of the Framingham 

 school committee, and was chairman of the town's committee 

 having charge of the construction of its new high school. He 

 was a member of the board of trade, and of the town's com- 

 mittee on the separation of street and railroad crossings. 



Mr. Videto was for many years a deacon of the First Baptist 

 Church, Hyde Park, and was also deacon and clerk of the Park 

 Street Baptist Church of Framingham. He was chaplain of 

 .Alpha Lodge of Masons, and belonged to Concord Royal Arch 

 Chapter of Framingham. As a Knight Templar he was af- 

 filiated with the Natick Commandery. He was a charter member 

 and past commander of Cyprus Commandery, Knights of Malta. 

 He married in 1857 Rebecca Homan Dodge, of Charleston, 

 daughter of John and Sarah (Pedrick) Dodge. Four children 

 survive. John F. \'ideto. Mount Vernon, New York; Nathaniel 



E. Videto. Mrs. William Johnson, Framingham, Massachusetts, 

 and Theodore E. Videto, Montreal, Canada. 



MELVILLE HAZEN BARKER. 



Melville Hazen Barker, general manager of the .\merican 

 Tool & Machine Co., Boston, Massachusetts, died on March 

 9 at his home in Dorchester, Massachusetts, after a short 

 illness, of pneumonia. Mr. Barker was born in Bridgton, 

 Maine, but when only three years old was taken West by 

 his family, his early education being in the public schools 

 of Chicago, after which he took an architectural course at 

 the Wisconsin State University. Later he removed to 

 Lawrence, Massachusetts, and became connected with the 

 repair department of the Everett Mills, afterwards going 

 into retail business. His store being burned out, he went 

 to the repair department of the Atlantic Cotton Mills. In 

 1874 he became connected with the American Tool & Ma- 

 chine Co. and 20 years later became general manager, the 

 position which he held at the time of his death. Mr. Barker 

 was a charter member of the National Metal Trades Asso- 

 ciation and its president in 1907. He was a member of the 

 Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics' Association, the City 

 Club, Engineers' Club and Art Club, of Boston, and the 

 Engineers' and Machinery Clubs of New York; also a Mason 

 an Odd Fellow and a Knight of Honor. He is survived bj 

 a wife and two children. 



EDWIN R. HALL. 



Edwin R. Hall, chief experimental engineer of the Good- 

 year Tire & Rubber Co., -Akron, Ohio, died of pneumonia at 

 Mt. Clemens, Michigan. March 17, where he had been taking 

 treatments for rheumatism. Mr. Hall was born in Somerville, 

 Massachusetts, in 1885. and educated in the grammar and 

 high schools of 

 that city and at 

 the Institute of 

 Technology, from 

 w h i c h institution 

 he graduated as 

 mechanical e n g i - 

 neer in 1908, going 

 directly to Akron 

 to the Goodyear 

 company in its ex- 

 perimental depart- 

 ment, which he has 

 seen develop from 

 a one-man bureau 

 to a department 

 employing 125 

 men. He was very 

 active in the So- 

 ciety of Automo- 

 bile Engineers and 

 the Clincher Auto- 

 mobile Tire Manu- 

 facturers' Associa- 

 e served on several com- 



Edwin R. H.'^ll. 



tion. In the former organiza 

 mittees and contributed a number of important papers, and 

 at the time of his death was a member of the council of the 

 Society and chairman of the Standards Committee. In the 

 Clincher Automobile Tire Manufacturers' Association he was 

 chairman of the Engineers Committee, and the present ex- 

 cellent condition of inspection, and satisfactory rims for 



