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THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[May 1, 1916. 



THE GRANT SOLID TIRE PATENT LITIGATION. 



"T^HE Circuit Court of Appeals, in New York City, affirmed the 

 ' decision of the lower court March 17 in the suit between 

 the Diamond Rubber Co., New York City, and the Kelly-Spring- 

 field Tire Co., Akron, Ohio. Approximately $210,000 damages 

 ■were awarded to the latter company for infringement of the 

 Grant solid tire patent owned by the Kelly- Springfield company. 

 This sum includes five cents per pound on the sales of infringing 

 tires, amounting to over $130,000, $27,000 for interest, and an 

 additional $50,000 "smart money," because of the flagrant char- 

 acter of the infringement. 



As this famous patent has been the subject of almost constant 

 litigation since 1896, and suits are still pending, a brief review 

 of the principal facts furnished by a representative of the Kelly- 

 Springfield company is interesting. 



The Grant patent No. 554,675 covers the solid rubber tires 

 now commonly used on horse-drawn vehicles throughout the 

 world, and was granted to Arthur W. Grant February 18, 1896. 

 At once, upon its introduction, it drove all other solid rubber 

 tires out of the market, and after becoming established, its sales 

 amounted to around 10,000,000 pounds of tires every year. The 

 patent was infringed almost from the beginning, principally by 

 rubber manufacturers, who endeavored to imitate it and avoid 

 infringement, but their imitations were all short-lived and 

 failures. 



Many of the principal rubber companies were prosecuted for 

 infringement, among them The B. F. Goodrich Co., Akron, Ohio ; 

 Diamond Rubber Co., Akron, Ohio ; Firestone Tire & Rubber 

 Co.. Akron, Ohio; Pennsylvania Rubber Co., Jeannette, Penn- 

 sylvania ; Republic Rubber Co., Youngstown, Ohio ; Victor Rub- 

 ber Co., Springfield, Ohio ; Acme Rubber Manufacturing Co., 

 Rutherford Rubber Co. and Thermoid Rubber Co., of Trenton, 

 New Jersey; Hartford Rubber Works Co., Hartford, Connecti- 

 cut ; Morgan & Wright, Detroit, Michigan, and others. 



In 1911 the Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. paid damages for 

 infringement. This company also acquired a manufacturing li- 

 cense for the balance of the term of the patent, which expired 

 February 18, 1913. Morgan & Wright acquired a manufacturing 

 license about the same time and paid damages for past infringe- 

 ment. 



In the case against the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. the 

 defendant won and the patent was declared void in 1902, but sub- 

 sequently it was adjudged valid by the Federal Courts in Mil- 

 waukee, Wisconsin, and New York City, and later on by the 

 Supreme Court at Washington, D. C, after which settlements 

 and adjustments were made. 



The decision at Washington, while not directly in the Goodyear 

 case, made the customers of that company liable for infringe- 

 ment and the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. made satisfactory set- 

 tlement. The Thermoid Rubber Co., the Acme Rubber Co. and 

 the Rutherford Rubber Co. also settled, the former paying dam- 

 ages and the other companies making satisfactory arrangements. 



Cases are now pending against the Republic Rubber Co., 

 Youngstown, Ohio ; the Pennsylvania Rubber Co., Jeannette, 

 Pennsylvania ; two cases against The B. F. Goodrich Co., Akron, 

 Ohio, and three cases against the Diamond Rubber Co., Akron, 

 Ohio. Decrees in favor of the plaintiff have been entered in all 

 of these cases and the matter is now before the masters on the 

 accounting, except in the case against one of the Diamond rubber 

 companies, viz., the Diamond Rubber Co. of New York. In 

 this case the plaintiffs have been awarded by the court five cents 

 a pound on the number of pounds made by the Diamond Rubber 

 Co., amounting to $130,000, $50,000 additional damages and 

 $26,000 interest and costs, a judgment for $210,000. This is the 

 case that was affirmed in March by the Circuit Court of .Appeals 

 in New York. 



Besides the above, numerous suits were brought against other 



infringers, all of whom acquired licenses and damages against 

 tliem were not pressed. 



The plaintiffs in all these cases have been the Consolidated 

 Rubber Tire Co. and the Rubber Tire Wheel Co. The name of 

 the Consolidated Rubber Tire Co. was changed on January 1, 

 1914, to Kelly-Springfield Tire Co. It is the same company, its 

 name having merely been changed by amending its charter. 



A very large poundage is involved in the suits now pending, 

 that of The B. F. Goodrich Co. approximating five and one-half 

 million pounds. 



Suits over this patent have been pending since 1896, the first 

 being against the American Rubber Tire Co. of New York City, 

 wherein the patent was adjudged valid. Then came the decision 

 at Cincinnati adjudging the patent void, which al^orded an ex- 

 cuse for infringers. But in 1906-7 the patent was adjudged valid 

 by the Circuit Court of -Appeals in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and 

 New York, and was finally adjudged valid by the Supreme Court 

 01 the United States .'Vpril 10, 1911. 



STANDARD PNEUMATIC TUBES AND TIRES. 



A tire which is guaranteed for 5,000 miles must have behind 

 a responsible organization and a corps of experts in every 



stage of its 



manufacture. The Standard hand-made tire has 

 such a guarantee molded right on the tire 

 itself. The manufacturers' claims for su- 

 periority of these tires are that they are hand- 

 made by experts, are full molded by a 

 process original with them, at a temperature 

 and pressure which produces a perfect cure. 

 Fabrics and materials of superior quality are 

 used in the carcass, and the rubber is carefully 

 selected from uniform grades of the best 

 quality. There is one ply more of fabric used 

 in this tire than in some popular tires. The 

 treads are of a specially tough rubber, the re- 

 sult of years of study, test and development 

 They are furnished both smooth and non-skid, 

 the latter bearing a combination of the letter 

 S, the initial of the company. It is the same 

 story regarding inner tubes, pure Para rub- 

 ber, extra thick, cured by slow vulcanization, 

 and heat-resisting. [The Standard Tire & 



Hippodrome Building. Cleveland, Ohio] 



MIDGLEY COLLAPSIBLE CORE. 



The novel method of making this core consists in stamping 

 up a series of thin sheet steel plates that have been prepared 

 so they will adhere to molten iron and casting them in the usual 

 core sand mold. The 

 sections are held in align- 

 ment by four plugs that 

 occupy the bolt holes 

 and are cast integral with 

 the core. These are 

 afterward drilled out, 

 forming holes for the retainmg bolts of the core, which is then 

 machined in the usual manner. 



The interlocking joint is strong and well designed to with- 

 stand the severe strain to which cores are subjected. The method 

 of assembling the core by means of the interlocking joints and 

 retaining bolts is very clearly shown in the illustration. [Thomas 

 Midgley, 85 East Gay street, Columbus. Ohio.] 



W. A. Kirkpatrick, formerly connected with the Philadelphia 

 branch of the Hardman Tire & Rubber Co., Belleville, New Jer- 

 sey, has been appointed manager of the branch at Baltimore, 

 Maryland. 



