June 1, 1916.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



497 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN AKRON. 



B.v Our Regular Correspondent. 



ACCORDING to estimates of the city building department, 

 nearly $5,000,000 worth of building is under way in Akron, 

 and it is estimated that factory additions alone will total over 

 $2,500,000 before they are completed. Even at this rate, houses 

 are not being built fast enough to accommodate the hundreds 

 of workers and their families who are pouring into the city 

 every week in response to manufacturers' calls for help. 



The rate of tire output at the plant of The B. F. Goodrich Co. 

 is now 17,000 tires daily, last year's record output being 14,000 

 daily. 



An application for a trade-mark consisting of a tire with a 

 black tread with red side walls has been opposed by the Goodrich 

 company, which claims rights to a mark consisting of a black 

 tread, intermediate to circumferential bands of contrasting color 

 or colors, these colors being especially light gray or white. The 

 Goodrich company also claims to have been the first to use red 

 side walls with a black tread, and this contention has been sus- 

 tained by the Examiner of Interferences. 



People in various parts of the United States are familiar with 

 the guide posts which have been erected by the Goodrich com- 

 pany. It is stated that this company has erected nearly 85,000 

 such guide posts, each individually labeled. Most of these, of 

 course, are in the United States on principal highways, but the 

 northern and southern national boundaries have been passed in 

 some cases in the erection of these valuable guide posts, each 

 of which is also a good advertisement for the company. 



W. H. Yule, formerly manager of the New York branch of 

 the Goodrich company, has been made sales manager of the 

 mechanical department at the home office, in which capacity he 

 will be an immediate assistant to W. O. Rutherford, general 

 sales manager, handling the general mechanical specialties of 

 the company in hard rubber, wire and clothing, his work 

 paralleling that of H. C. Miller, who is sales manager of tlio 

 tire department. Mr. Yule was graduated from Harvard in 

 1906 and has been directly and indirectly connected with the 

 automobile industry ever since. He is succeeded in Xew York 

 by H. J. Morehead, who was formerly in charge of the Detroit 

 branch of the Goodrich company. 



F. .\. SeiVicrling. president of the Goodyear Tire & Rubber 

 Co., and A. B. Jones, of The B. F. Goodrich Co.. were delegates 

 to the National Conservation Congress held in Washington last 

 month. 



A new $30,000 library building recently opened to the stu- 

 dents of Akron University was a gift from F. H. Mahon, of The 

 B. F. Goodrich Co.. and F. A. Seiberling, of the Goodyear Tire 

 & Rubber Co. 



M. A. Flynn, superintendent of The B. F. Goodrich Co., and 

 \V. M. Metzler, superintendent of the mechanical goods depart- 

 ment of the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., represented their 

 respective factories at the State Convention of the Knights of 

 Columbus held in Akron the early part of last month. 



The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. has dedicated to "The Old 

 Guard," an organization of their old employes who were with 

 the company when P. W. Litchfield, present factory manager, 

 assumed charge 16 years ago, an eight-story tower carrying a 

 huge clock, which will inform all the residents of the city of 

 the time of day. These old employes will hold their annual 

 dinner hereafter in the Old Guard Tower. 



The annual relief association picnic of the Goodyear company 

 will be held at Cedar Point on June 24. Eight trains with a 



total of 80 coaches will be used to transport the 5,000 employes 

 who will attend the outing. 



M. E. Morris, formerly Pacific Coast manager for the Good- 

 year company, has been made manager of the salesmen's de- 

 partment of the .\kron factory. 



On June 2 a meeting of the stockholders of the Miller Rubber 

 Co. is to be held to approve the action of the board of directors 

 to increase its present capital stock of $2,000,000 to such amount 

 as may be determined upon at that meeting. It is understood 

 •hat if this action is taken, a stock dividend of 667^ per cent will 



: declared to the common stockholders, provided they will waive 

 their right to subscribe to a proposed new issue of preferred 

 stock to the amount of $2,500,000, and to consent that the same 

 may be sold by the directors at par, or better. The board of 

 directors has also decided to retire all the present outstanding 

 preferred stock at the price at which it is redeemable, namely, 

 $120 per share. It is stated that the proposed increase of capital 

 is for the purpose of taking care of rapidly enlarging business, 

 sales for the past six months having increased more than 100 

 per cent over the same period the previous year. 



The American Rubber & Tire Co. is erecting a two-story addi- 



In a spacious laboratory connected with the factory of the 

 Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. and equipped with every modern 

 device to aid in rubber research, H. W. Kugler, head chemist of 

 the company, produces, studies and se- 

 ^^^^^^ lects the ingredients and compounds that 



^^^m^^jk are used in the manufacture of Fire- 



W" aL^ stone tires and tubes. Mr. Kugler's 



' J^^ early training especially fits him for this 



9S- ^(KS*-^^. important work. He was born at 

 ' ' - Barnesville, Ohio, and at an early age 



went to England. Some years later he 

 entered the Manchester Technical School, 

 remaining there for four years. Imme- 

 diately thereafter he spent three years 

 as chemist with Dr. Liebman, of Man- 

 chester, and in June, 1909, became head 

 of the cliemistry and experimental de- 



H. W, Kugler. 

 partment of the Firestone factory. 



Charles E. Wood, crude rubber operator, of 24 Stone street, 

 New York City, has opened an Akron office at room 504 Hamil- 

 ton Building and will be represented there by Walter H. Bass. 

 Mr. Bass, who is a graduate of Princeton College, has been in the 

 employ of Mr. Wood for some time, having been connected with 

 the liome office. 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN BOSTON. 



By Our Regular Correspondent. 

 VV/1£ do not find people in any branch of the rubber business 

 ** complaining of lack of trade. Of course, the boot and 

 shoe industry will now have a little lull, for the retail merchants 

 who proposed to lake advantage of the extra discount have 

 already sent in their orders, and the jobbers have now a month 

 during which to forward their orders previous to the expiration 

 of the time limit. There seems to be some let-up as regards 

 tennis orders, but all factories are still at work on goods pre- 

 viously ordered, and are rushing them out as fast as possible. 

 In the clothing business trade has been unusually good, and the 

 demand for goods for fall delivery continues to such an extent 

 that some of the manufacturers are practically swamped with 

 orders. Tire manufacturers are busy with more than seasonable 

 demands. In fact, while there arc some reports that the higher 



