346 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[March 1, 1917. 



PERSONAL MENTION. 



Fred H. Ferguson, for over 20 years a salesman of tlie Bos- 

 ton Belting Co., in Buffalo, New York, and vicinity, has taken 

 the agency for the New Jersey Car Spring & Rubber Co, Jersey 

 City, New Jersey, covering the same territory. 



J. A. Kurvy, formerly with Taylor, .Xrmitage & Co., New York 

 City, is now associated with Forney & Co., 350 Broadway, New 

 York City, dealer in sheetings, drills, osnaburgs and special 

 fabrics used by the rubber trade. 



Edwin Curbishley, manager of the Xylos Rubber Co., Limited, 

 Manchester, England, manufacturer of reclaimed rubber, re- 

 cently called on the American rubber trade. 



P. J. Ramler, recently connected with the sales department of 

 tlie Racine Jtubber Co., has been appointed mana.ger of sales 

 for the Vulcanized Products Co., Muskegon, Michigan. 



E. B. Merriam, for several years assistant engineer of the 

 switchboard department of the General Electric Co., Schenec- 

 tady, New York, has resigned that position to assume the manage- 

 ment of the industrial service department recently organized to 

 supervise education, employment, and provision of opportunities 

 for advancement of employes at the Schenectady plant of the 

 company. He brings to his new position a broad and sympathetic 

 understanding of tlie requirements of the situation. 



F. Richard Carroll is the new district manager for The B. F. 

 Goodrich Co., at San Francisco, California, succeeding C. E. 

 Cook. Mr. Carroll has been manager of the Los Angeles, Cali- 

 fornia, branch for the past six years, and on the eve of his 

 departure from that city, was given a surprise dinner by the 

 Goodrich organization in the South, at which a handsome gold 

 watch and chain were presented to him. 



George B. Hodgman, president of the Hodgman Rubber Co., 

 Tuckahoe, New York, and Mrs. Hodgman celebrated the twenty- 

 fifth anniversary of their marriage by entertaining a large num- 

 ber of their friends at a dinner and dance in the ball room of the 

 Ritz Carlton Hotel, New York City, February 23. 



FEOM THE FAB EAST. 



Dr. J. G. C. Vriens, of Medan, Deli, east coast of Sumatra, 

 for the 'last three years technical adviser of the "Association 

 des Planteurs de Caoutchouc de la Belgique," and for the ten 

 previous years director of the experimental station for tea and 

 tobacco cultivation in Sumatra, was in New York last month, 

 on an enforced supplementary visit. He left Medan some months 

 ago to visit his native city, Rotterdam, visiting Japan, 

 Hawaii and many points of interest in the United States 

 en route, and embarked on the "Ryndam" for Rotterdam, which 

 steamer, when nearly in sight of Europe, was ordered by wire- 

 less to put about and return to New York. Doctor Vriens 

 predicts a great future for the rubber plantation industry in 

 Sumatra, with a steady increase in direct shipments from there 

 to this country. 



J. C. MATLACK KETIRES FROM AJAX CO. 



J. C. Matlack, secretary and general manager of the Ajax 

 Rubber Co., Inc., New Y^ork City, tendered his resignation at 

 the annual meeting of the company, February 13. It is his in- 

 tention to take a long rest at his home at Great Neck, Long Island. 



Starting in business with the Simmons Hardware Co., in St. 

 Louis, Missouri, he rose to the management of the bicycle and 

 accessory department of that house and then went to A. Fether- 

 stone Co., of Chicago, Illinois, as eastern sales manager. When 

 the American Bicycle Co. was organized he became purchasing 

 agent for the more than 60 factories. In 1901 he was made west- 

 ern sales manager, which position he resigned in 1902 to become 

 president of the International Automobile & Vehicle Tire Co., 

 Milltown, New Jersey. In 1907, when this company was suc- 



ceeded by the Michelin Tire Co., he was made vice-president and 

 general manager. In 1911 he left the Michelin company to con- 

 nect himself with the newly organized Ajax Rubber Co., as sec- 

 retary and general manager, and tlie success of that company 

 under his able management is too well known to need further 

 mention. 



Mr. Matlack is too active and vigorous to retire and it is quite 

 unlikely that he will content himself to remain out of business 

 for any great length of time. He is succeeded in the Ajax com- 

 pany by Fred E. Dayton, who acts as general sales manager. 



RICHARD A. LEIGH. 



R 



ICHARD A. LEIGH, general manager of the Dry Climate 

 Tire Manufacturing Co., Arvada, Colorado, began his busi- 

 ness career as an ap- 

 prentice with the 

 Revere Rubber Co., 

 Chelsea, Massachus- 

 etts, in 1888, under 

 the direction of his 

 father, who was then, 

 factory superintend- 

 ent. Later he be- 

 came associated with 

 the Boston Car 

 Spring Co., Boston, 

 Massachusetts, and 

 from there went to 

 the Reading Rubber 

 Tire Co., which later 

 merged into the 

 Consolidated Rubber 

 Works, taking over 

 the plant of the 

 Chelsea Fabric Co., 

 Chelsea, Massachu- 

 setts. The firm was 

 afterwards absorbed 

 by the L'nited States Rubber Co. and the plant and machinery 

 transferred to the National Rubber Co., Bristol, Rhode Island, 

 with which Mr. Leigh was connected for five years. He then 

 became tire expert for the Mechanical Rubber Co., Cleveland, 

 Ohio, from which position he went to take up his present work. 

 The Dry Climate Tire Manufacturing Co. is to be congratulated 

 upon having as general manager a man of such long and varied 

 practical experience in the manufacture and selling of rubber 

 goods. 



R. A. Leigh. 



BATAVIA RUBBER CO. ABSORBS SIMPLEX RUBBER CO. 



At a special meeting of the stockholders of the Batavia Rubber 

 Co., held at the main offices of the company at Batavia, New 

 Y'ork, February 23, the capital stock of the company was in- 

 creased from $500,000 to $675,000 to provide for the purchase of 

 the plant and other assets of the Simplex Rubber Co. of America, 

 Ossining, New York. The Batavia company manufactures 

 pneumatic automobile tires and the Simplex company solid rubber 

 truck tires. 



The merger of the two companies has also been authorized by 

 the Simplex stockholders and the plant and organization will 

 probably be moved to Batavia as soon as arrangements can be 

 completed, and will occupy a site recently purchased by the 

 Batavia company, adjoining its present factory. The consolidated 

 company will be known as the Batavia Rubber Co. and will 

 manufacture pneumatic automobile tires, solid rubber truck tires 

 and a line of mechanical goods. 



