372 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[April 1, 1916. 



Arthur W. Stednian. the well-known crude rubber man, 

 has just announced to the trade his removal to a new office 

 at 727 Atlantic avenue. This is in the handsome new build- 

 ing at the corner of Beach street, opposite the South Ter- 

 minal station and within a block of the Hotel Essex, thus 

 lieing most convenient and accessible to his many patrons 

 and friends in the trade. 



.\ laryc delegation from the Firestone Tire & Rubber fac- 

 tory was in attendance at the Automobile Show early last 

 month. Among them were: D. S. Swander, district manager; 

 E. S. Babcox, advertising manager; C. H. Sorrick, manager 

 of pneumatic .sales, and C. H. Gerhold, manager of accessory 

 sales. 



* * * 



W. H. Piggott has become manager of the local branch of 

 the Federal Rubber Manufacturing Co., at 173 Massachusetts 

 avenue, succeeding Charles Langmaid, resigned. Mr. Piggott 

 is a Mihvaukean. who has been in the Federal factory service 

 for some time. 



A new mill is to be erected at Xewburyport by the Ar 

 Tire Fabric Co., which is successor to the .American Textilose 

 Co. The mill is to be of brick, 186 feet in length, the width 

 varying from 20 to 64 feet. The orders for machinery have 

 already been placed, and it is expected that the mill will be 

 completed within two months. 



In my Decemlier letter I mentioned the fact that the Bemis 

 Rubber Co.'s plant in Watertown had been sold. 1 under- 

 stand that this plant will be equipped to manufacture, coiifee 

 and breakfast foods from bananas, and also high-grade con- 

 fectionery, a new company having been formed to exploit this 

 enterprise. Everett C. Tarr, president, and E. Carleton Green- 

 wood, treasurer of the Pan-American Chicle Co., are promi- 

 nent in this new enterprise. 



The Meade Rubber Co. is the name of a new concern, which 

 is now Iniilding a two-story brick factory at Stoughton, which 

 is expected to be finished and occupied early next month. 

 James Meade, the head of this company, was until recently 

 superintendent of the Plymouth Rubber 

 I o. During his years in the rubber busi- 

 iKss he has invented several improve- 

 ments in processes for rubberizing fabrics, 

 and it is his purpose to begin the manu- 

 facture of hospital sheetings, rubber heels 

 and soles, and some other specialties, such 

 as Gem inner soles for the shoe trade. 

 He has secured a large tract of land close 

 to the New York, New Haven and Hart- 

 ford railroad tracks, excellently situated 

 for business, and sufficiently large to al- 

 J.\MEs Meade. Jq^ ^^J. considerable expansion. The 



machinery is being installed as fast as the building progresses, 

 and manufacturing will begin almost immediately after the 

 factory is completed. Mr. Meade is a thorough rubber man, 

 having been for over 20 years in the business, going first with 

 the Stoughton Rubber Co. and afterwards with the Mystic Rub- 

 ber Co., which later became the Plymouth Rubber Co., and 

 from the position of workman in the mill he rose to be super- 

 intendent and vice-president of that corporation, a position which 

 he held up to the time when the plant of the Plymouth Rubber 

 Co. was removed to Canton, he deciding to remain in Stoughton 

 and establish a new industry. 



Daviil .-\. Cutler has purchased the business, factory and real 

 estate of the Alfred Hale Rubber Co. in South Boston. The 



company will continue to make diving suits, wading pants, 

 rubljer cement and molded specialties. Mr. Cutler, who is a 

 recognized progressive, will develop this business along up-to- 

 date lines, and is already erecting new buildings. The company 

 as it stands afifords an excellent nucleus as it has always en- 

 joyed a steady, moderate volume of business and high credit. 

 V\'. D. Lamond, for many years with the Revere Rubber Co., 

 is the superintendent, and Kirk L. Moses, prominently identified 

 with ru1)l)er interests, is sales manager. The directors are 

 Edward F. Bragg, Richard C. Storey, Francis H. Swift, Parker 

 G. Stevens and David .\. Cutler. 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN RHODE ISLAND. 



By Our Regular Correspondent. 

 ""pHE several rubber factories throughout Rhode Island are at 

 ■'■ present rushing their plants at the same top-speed that has 

 characterized their activities during the greater portion of the 

 past year, and there is the same insistent demand for additional 

 operatives, both experienced and inexperienced hands, that has 

 been heard for a number of months, notwithstanding that the 

 number of operatives now on the payrolls is far in excess of 

 any previous period in the history of the rubber industry in 

 Rhode Island. 



Never in the history of the industry in this State has there 

 been such a continued period of capacity business, and there does 

 not appear to be an immediate prospect of any dimunition in 

 the demands upon the resources of the factories. This ex- 

 traordinary demand is noticeable from both the foreign and do- 

 mestic sources, and is for goods of all kinds, including the 

 automobile tires, shoes, boots and medical supplies that are 

 turned out at the local plants. The insulated wire business is 

 also very brisk with all producers here. 



From all the factories, especially those making rubber shoes, 

 reports are at hand that orders continue to come in, and that 

 every concern has large bookings ahead. These factories are 

 turning out thousands of pairs of rubber shoes every day, in 

 addition to other goods that are being made here, and the result 

 is the greatest output that the industry has ever known in this 

 State. The long, steady spell of bad weather underfoot has 

 greatly accelerated the demand for rubber footwear, and the 

 supply has been very greatly depleted. 



The first annual dinner of the Providence factory organization 

 of the Revere Rubber Co. was held at the Crown Hotel on Sat- 

 urday evening. March 11, and was well attended. The occasion 

 was one of a general "get-together" nature, and called forth 

 a hearty spirit of comradeship and good cheer, which prevailed 

 during the entire evening among the hundred or more employes 

 of the company, who sat down for the first time at their own 

 banquet. Later in the evening they enjoyed a number of ad- 

 dresses and a vaudeville entertainment. 



Harlow W. Waite acted as toastmaster at the post-prandial 

 exercises, and introduced as speakers of the evening Dr. T. 

 Whittelsey, director of the New York laboratories of the United 

 States Rubber Co. ; Lieutenant James B. Littlefield, Rhode Island 

 coast artillery corps, who spoke on "Our Country's Defenses" ; 

 Albert W. Perkins, Superintendent .Arthur H. Carr and Fore- 

 man W. Ross Gates, the last three being affiliated with the Prov- 

 idence branch. During the serving of the dinner popular selec- 

 tions were played by the orchestra, and many parodies on popu- 

 lar songs pertaining to their own particular business were sung 

 with a zest that left no room for doubt as to their enthusiasm. 



Dr. Whittelsey gave an interesting and instructive illustrated 

 lecture on the raising and collection of rubber on the great 

 plantations of South America and Sumatra, referring espe- 

 cially to the 90,000-acre plantation maintained by the United 

 States Rubber Co. on the latter island, half of which is already 



