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THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[December 1, 1915. 



THE HOME OF THE PENNSYLVANIA COMPANY. 



AllUL r luciiu-six miles from Pittsburgh, at Jc;uiiKttc, in a 

 picturesque valley adjacent to the main line of the Penn- 

 sylvania Railroad, are the factory and main offices of the Penn- 

 sylvania Rubber Company, a thoroughly modern establishment. 

 The company started as manufacturers of rubber goods of 

 various descriptions in 1S02. The growth of the business made 

 reorganization necessary in 1910, when many new additions were 

 made to the rapidly expanding plant. Last year, the build- 

 ing that forms the central feature of our picture, a six 

 story, fireproof structure 200 x 140 feet, with steel frame, brick 

 walls and concrete floors and columns, was completed, making 

 an addition of 125.000 feet of floor space to the already large 

 plant, which now has in the various buildings, a floor space of 

 400,000 square feet. Five of the stories are employed for manu 



CHANGES AT THE FISK RUBBER CO. 



Tlic Fisk Rubber Co., Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts, has 

 issued an addition to its lirst preferred stock of $1,500,000, 

 making the total outstanding stock, $14,775,000. 



New additions to the plant, now in process of construction, 

 are an administration building ; a concrete warehouse, 300 x 

 120 feet ; a manufacturing building, 600 x 120 feet ; each build- 

 ing to be six stories high — which will give the company a total 

 Hoor space of more than 27 acres. 



The Fisk Company has appointed R. D. McPhal manager, 

 covering the states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho and 

 British Columbia, with headquarters at Portland, Oregon. 



NEW RUBBER COMPANY AT PLAINFIELD. 



The Rubber Insulated Metals Corporation, recently incorpor- 

 ated in New Jersey, has purchased the Electro-Chemical Rubber 

 & Manufacturing Cd. and now controls its patented electro- 



the general offices of the company occupying chemical process for the permanent attachment of rubber to iron 



facturmg purposes, 

 the sixth or top 

 floor. With the 

 aid of the latest 

 improved ma- 

 chinery the com- 

 pany turns out 

 daily 2,000 "va- 

 cuum cup" auto- 

 mobile tires, 5.000 

 automobile inner 

 tubes, 3,000 bi- 

 cycle tires and 

 3,500 hand-made 

 tennis balls. .A 

 new power plant. 

 adjacent to ili 

 main buildii 

 with boilers ' ' 

 3,000 horse-power 

 and turbo-gener- 

 ators, furnishes 

 power, light and heat for the various departments. 



A feature of the establishment is the solicitude displayed for 

 the comfort and health of employees, which is regarded as a 

 factor in successful work. Light and fresh air are abundant 

 on every floor. For every employee a steel locker is provided 

 and in addition to the excellent lavatory accommodations there 

 are 14 shower baths for the use of employees. The drinking 

 water supplied by never-failing sanitary fountains, is first fil- 

 tered, sterilized and refrigerated. A dining room, a hospital 

 with skilled attendance, and a laboratory contribute to the com- 

 pleteness of this model home of the "vacuum cup" tires. 



BULLET-PROOF TIRES AGAIN. 



Five years ago it was attempted to adapt the Casimir 

 Zeglen invention of a bullet-proof fabric to the manufacture 

 of pneumatic tires, but the Philadelphia company which ac- 

 quired the rights was not successful in the undertaking and 

 failed financially. The problem has been taken up again 

 by a $50,000 corporation, formed recently by Mr. Zeglen in 

 South Bend, Indiana, and known as the Zeglen Tire & Fabric 

 Co. Dr. E. R. Dean, of South Bend, is president of the new- 

 company, and F. J. Hardy, secretary. 



OPIUM SMUGGLED IN RUBBER TIRES. 



The daily newspapers recently reported a new use for 

 rubber pneumatic tires which was discovered in Manila, 

 Philippine Islands. A large touring car was landed on the 

 wharf from a trans-Pacific liner and driven away under its own 

 power. It was afterwards learned that $27,500 worth of 

 opium had been injected into the four tires fitted to the 

 wheels of the car and into three spare tires carried '"for 

 emergencies." 



and steel. The 

 company has se- 

 cured the plant at 

 Plainfield, New 

 Jersey, formerly 

 operated by the 

 Century Rubber 

 Co., and is en- 

 gaged in manu- 

 facturing the Cen- 

 tury brand of 

 automobile tires 

 and inner tubes. 

 The capacity of 

 e equipment is 

 200 or more tires 

 and tubes daily. 

 The factory is in 

 charge of J. A. 

 MacEwan, super- 

 intendent, and 

 Dr. Leo Daft, chemist and consuhing engineer. It is the plan of 

 the company to add to its tire business a line of mechanical goods, 

 especially such as require the attachment of rubber to metal, as 

 ill sohd tires, squeeze rolls, valves and other specialties. 



A RUBBER FIBER TIRE TREAD. 



The main portion of the tire tread here illustrated consists 

 of one continuous piece of specially compounded fiber, J4 inch 

 thick on the tread portion, and tapering 

 down to where the tread enters the beads 

 to approximately 1/16 inch. The manu- 

 facturers claim that this trfed afifords un- 

 equaled wearing and resilient properties, 

 the side walls giving with the movement 

 of the tire as leather side walls cannot 

 do, and the fiber being tougher than 

 leather, and very flexible and waterproof. 

 The one-piece construction does away 

 with the laps along the side that all leather 

 treads must have, and which let in water. 

 It can be cemented at the bead of the cas- 

 ing, and fitted perfectly to any sort of tire 

 — after inflation to the correct pressure, 

 depending upon the size of the tire — the 

 edges gripping between the rim and the 

 casing, and being held on by the same 

 pressure and in the same manner as the 

 tire itself. [V. K. Sturges Co., Oakland, 

 California.] 



