162 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[December 1, 1916. 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN BOSTON. 



By Our Rcniilar Correspondent. 



■"PHE rubber sole industry received a good boost at the 

 * monthly banquet of the Boston Boot and Shoe Club, when 

 Ex-President Donovan, who is a leading manufacturer of men's 

 shoes, declared that the present high prices of sole leather had 

 led shoe manufacturers to sulistitute ruljlicr and composition soles 

 in some of their lines, and that experience had proved them to 

 give better service than ordinary sole leather. Makers of this 

 class of goods are receiving heavy orders, and leading shoe 

 manufacturers are among their best customers. . These composi^ 

 tion soles are made of rubber in combination with other materi- 

 als, added to give increased wear, and to prevent slipping. 

 Leather cuttings, ground to a fibrous state, are used largely for 

 this purpose, but cotton and flax libers are also among the 

 materials employed. 



* * * 



But high prices arc not confined to sole leather. Furniture 

 and upholstery leathers, carriage and automoI)iIe leathers are 

 all so e,\pensive as to be almost prohibitive, and artificial leather 

 is coming into use much faster in consequence. 



Until recently attempts to produce an artificial leather to be 

 used in shoe uppers have not been successful, .^new material, 

 made by the Reading Rubber Manufacturing Co., is already 

 being used in considerable amounts for shoe topping. This is 

 a coated fabric, closely resembling matcalf or gun-metal calf 

 in appearance and te.xture. While it has not yet been used 

 extensively in vamps, some manufacturers of infants' shoes are 

 employing it for the entire uppers. The sales, through L. C. 

 Chase & Co., of Boston, already exceed 100,000 yards. 



4> * * 



The Boston Woven Hose & Rubber Co. is adding still 

 another building to its great plant at Cambridge. Like those 

 recently completed, it is of reinforced concrete, comprises four 

 stories and basement, and measures 65 by 324 feet. It will 

 be used for the friction tape, coated fabric and molded goods 

 departments. It stands on the site of the old friction tape depart- 

 ment, and to avoid any stoppage of maximum output was built 

 complete to the roof one half at a time. When all the altera- 

 tions and contemplated additions to this plant are completed, it 

 will be one of the finest and most up-to-date rubber manufac- 

 turing establishments in the country. 



* * * 



The Converse Rubber Shoe Co. has just completed enlarge- 

 ments to its factory and shipping departments which more than 

 double its floor area and producing capacity. Much of the new 

 space is already occupied, but because of delays in receiving 

 machinery, the full benefit of this extension has not yet become 

 available. A gravity convej-or has been installed, also another 

 motor, and new mixers and calenders will be added. Rest rooms 

 and a restaurant have been established, while every department 

 is being extended and enlarged to take care of increased business. 

 The storehouse and shipping department, in an entirely separate 

 building, have also been nearly doubled in size, giving additional 

 facilities for carrying a much larger stock. To this building 

 runs a railroad siding, for direct receipt of raw material and 

 shipment of finished goods. The manufacture of tires is carried 

 on in a separate building, which will be brought up to present 

 requirements as soon as the footwear factory is in full running 

 order. The prestnt capacity of the latter factory is now 1.^,000 

 pairs of shoes daily. 



* * ♦ 



Wilbur N. Shelton has been appointed general manager of the 

 L. J. Mutty Co., 175 Congress street, Boston, manufacturer of 

 fabrics for the automobile, and tubing for automatic piano 

 players, in which it has developed a large business. After com- 

 pleting his education, Mr. Shelton entered the employ of the 



Conant Rubber Co., of Hartford. Connecticut, and rose to the 

 position of salesman in southern New England. For 23 years 

 he was connected with the Franklin Rubber Co., Maiden, Massa- 

 chusetts, and for the last 10 or 12 years has been its general 

 sales manager, visiting the large customers of this company in 

 the principal western cities. Thus he brings to his new position 

 an experience of great practical value. W. S. Osborne, formerly 

 connected with the Boston Safe Deposit Co., is now with the 

 L. J. Mutty Co. as assistant treasurer, succeeding F. H. Brown, 

 who has retired. 



* * * 



A new hospital has recenth' been installed at the factory of the 

 .\merican Rubber Co., East Cambridge. It is situated at about 

 the center of the large group of buildings, and on the ground 

 floor conveniently near the calender and mill rooms, where the 

 most serious accidents are likely to occur. There are two inter- 

 communicating rooms, one used as a hospital, or first-aid room, 

 the other suitably fitted up as a rest room for the women 

 employes in case of illness or fatigue. The hospital room has 

 hard plaster walls, metal ceiling, and sanitary marbleoid flooring, 

 and is finished throughout in white enamel. The regulation hos- 

 pital furniture is of white enameled steel, and the room is 

 otherwise equipped with every appliance and material necessary 

 to give immediate treatment in any emergency. 



* * * 



The Rockland Webbing Co., manufacturer of non-elastic and 

 elastic webbings, at Rockland, Massachusetts, has taken a ten- 

 year lease of the plant of the Victory Webbing Co., at North 

 Abington, and will run both factories, thereby practically dou- 

 bling the firm's productive capacity. The Victory Webbing Co. 

 has already discontinued business. 



* * * 



The recently completed garage of the Monatiquot Rubber 

 Works Co., South Braintree, Massachusetts, is a semi-circular 

 brick building located near the main office and adapted for the 

 accommodation of oflncers' cars as well as commercial trucks, 

 it is of the most modern type, each car stall being provided with 

 a separate door entrance and individually equipped for washing 

 and all maintenance. 



An extension to factory building Xo. 3, now in progress, will 

 soon make available an increased output of the Monatiquot com- 

 pany's products. 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN AKRON. 



By Our Regular Correspondent. 



JUST what the tire industry has meant to Akron is shown by 

 the tremendous increase in population and in building. In 

 IS years it has grown from a town of about 12.000 inhabitants 

 to a great city of primary importance and known to motorists 

 the world over. The building permits issued in 1915 represented 

 an investment of $6,000,000. and for the first nine months of the 

 present year, $9,800,000. 



Long famed as the "Rubber City," .Akron has now qualified as 

 "Ohio's Eight-Hour Town." The Firestone, Goodrich, Good- 

 year and other rubber factories have recently adopted the eight- 

 hour system, and while the results vary somewhat, general satis- 

 faction is expressed by employers and operatives. The reports 

 range from an increase in cost of production so slight as to be 

 characterized as "about an even break" compared with the ten 

 or twelve-hour work day. to a statement that in certain depart- 

 m.ents the eight-hour system has effected an 18-per cent increase 

 in production with only a 10-per cent wage increase, while work- 

 men are averaging the same pay per week that they did under 

 the longer hours. 



Tire factories are operated mainly by piece work, and in adopt- 

 ing the eight-hour day the rates were readjusted so' that the men 

 would receive at least as much money as before. The result 



