278 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[February 1, \'>\7. 



The Obituary Record. 



ONE OF THE OLDEST RUBBER MEN IN THE WEST. 



J 01 IX M. MI1.I-I-:R, for over 10 years manager of the St. Louis, 

 .Missouri, braueli of the Goodyear Rubber Co., New ^'ork City, 

 died January 2 as 

 tlie result of a para- 

 lytic stroke. The St. 

 1. o 11 i s stnre was 

 opened over half a 

 century ago under 

 the management of 

 George U. Thomp- 

 son, who employed 

 Mr. Miller as book- 

 keeper 45 years ago. 

 In mfl6 Mr. Thonip- 

 .son (lied, and Mr. 

 .Miller, then assistant 

 niiinager, became his 

 successor. For IS 

 years past Mr. Mil- 

 ler has suffered from 

 rheumatism, but his 

 indomitalile energy 

 and desire to ex- 

 pand the business 



J. M, Miller. '^3^'' ''^'^1^^ '""^ ^'^' 



t i V e . .About six 



weeks before his death a paralytic stroke confined him to his 



home, and he died upon the second occurrence. 



Mr. Miller's long association with the trade had made for 

 him many acquaintances and friends throughout the United 

 States, all of whom will be glad to know that Fred Sheppard, 

 president of the company, has appointed Paul Miller to succeed 

 his father in the store which has been located in the same block 

 on Fourth street for over 50 years. 



A PIONEER IN RUBBER MANUFACTURE, 

 e'olliee Osmund llenton. an old-time rubber manufacturer, died 

 late in December at his home in Framingham, Massachusetts, 

 aged 81 years. Mr. Benton was born in Lebanon, New Hamp- 

 shire, June 21, 1835, and at the age of 19 entered the employ of 

 the Canadian Rubber Co., at the time of its establishment in 

 Montreal, Canada, having gone there with Messrs. Brown, Bourn, 

 Chaffee, and Xathaniel Hayward. Mr. Benton realized the grow- 

 ing importance of the rubber industry, and devoted much time 

 and study to compounds and processes. In 1863 he went to 

 Manchester. England, and became superintendent of the Weast 

 Rubber Co., manufacturing mechanicals and footwear. He later 

 established the manufacture of mechanical goods at the factory 

 of the Liverpool Rubber Co. 



At that time poor health necessitated his return to his home in 

 New Hampshire, and after two years' rest he became connected 

 with the Boston Car Spring Co. in Boston, Massachusetts. In 

 1876 he commenced manufacturing sun-cured rubber garment 

 cloth for the Conant Brothers of Boston, at first in Cambridge, 

 Massachusetts, and then in South Framingham, Massachusetts, 

 where a factory was built in 1877. It is said that he was the 

 first man to use African rubber successfully in the manufacture 

 of mechanical goods. In 1885. because of impaired health, he 

 again retired for a time, but the next year associated himself 

 with the Saratoga Rubber Co., at Saratoga, New York, but his 

 health failing, he was forced to retire permanently, and for sev- 



eral years past had been an invalid. Mr. Bciitou was a i)romi- 

 nent member of St. Andrew's Protestant Episcopal Church at 

 F>amingham. His wife survives him. 



FIRST TRAFFIC MANAGER OF A RUBBER COMPANY, 



Frederick Russell Lyman, traffic manager of The Fisk Rubber 

 Co.. Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts, died of pneumonia January 7, 

 at the age of 47. He had been employed by the Fisk company 

 for the past 17 years, coming to it vvdien it was in its infancy. 

 .\s the originator of its traffic department, he was widely known 

 among railroad men from coast to coast, and was a member of 

 the Traffic Club of New York and the Hampden County Traffic 

 -Association. Mr. Lyman is said to have been the first traffic 

 manager of a rubber company in the United States. Besides his 

 wife and mother, he leaves two daughters, a sister and two 

 brothers. 



LONG A RUBBER FOREMAN. 



J. Franklin Bates, for many years a foreman in the American 

 Rubber Co. plant at Cairibridge, Massachusetts, died in that city 

 January 5, aged 62 years. His wife survives him. 



JUDICIAL DECISIONS. 



P.vNTHER Rubber Manuf.vcturing Co. v. J. T. S. Rubber Co. 

 This' cause in equity came up for a hearing upon a motion 

 of the defendant to dismiss a petition of the complainant for a 

 preliminary injunction to restrain it from manufacturing certain 

 patented rubber heels. The defendant's ground for its motion 

 was that claim No. 1 of the patent involved was not infringed 

 by its (the defendant's) heel construction. 



The complainant's patent was for "a rubber heel attachment 

 for boot and shoe heels, consisting of a heel section or body 

 molded to a concavo-convex form, and provided with a raised 

 marginal portion and openings therethrough." It was held not 

 infringed by rubber heels manufactured by defendant, which did 

 not resemble in form those described in the complainant's patent. 

 [The Federal Reporter, Vol. 334, page 377.] 



MicHELiN Tire Co. v. E. L. Hearn. Action by the Michelin 

 Tire Co. against E. L. Hearn. Judgment for the defendant. 

 Plaintiff appealed and decision affirmed. 



This was a suit for an itemized account, based upon a con- 

 tract covering a consignment of tires. 



Hearn. being adjudged bankrupt, and granted a discharge in- 

 bankruptcy, claimed that this discharge included indebtedness 

 on this account. Judgment was so entered. This decision on 

 subsequent appeal was affirmed. [The Southwestern Reporter, 

 Vol. 188, page 943.] 



De Laski & Thropp Circular V^'oven Tire Co. et al. v. 

 United States Tire Co. This was an appeal from the District 

 Court of the United States for the Southern District of New 

 York, which decided for defendant in an equity suit by the 

 De Laski & Thropp Circular Woven Tire Co., and the John 

 E. Thropp's Sons Co. against the LInited States- Tire Co. The 

 Thropp patent No. 822,561, for an apparatus for manufacturing 

 wdieel tires, was held void for application by prior use. It was 

 held, in this case, that the "date of invention'' of a patented' 

 device is the date when the invention in its entirety, as patented, 

 was conceived. The decree of the court below was affirmed. 

 [The Federal Reporter, Vol. 235, pages 290 to 295.] 



