March 1, 1917. j 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



335 



TIRES CARRY MORE THAN STEEL RAILS. 



p UBBER-TIREL) vehicles provided a passenger and freight 

 '^ service in the United States estimated at $1,725,000,000 for 

 the year 1916. a tutal so enormous that more and better highways 

 now constitute the greatest transportation need in America, This 

 conclusion was l)ased upon the startling figures presented by 

 Alfred Reeves, general manager of the National Automobile 

 Chamber of Commerce, at the highway engineering meeting held 

 in N'ew York, December 28. They show that automobiles are 

 now rendering a greater passenger transportation service than 

 all the steam railways of the country, or than all the urban and 

 interurban electric roads combined, and that the automobile 

 freight traffic is also assuming enormous proportions. 



According to the Bureau of Railway Economics the steam rail- 

 roads carried 1,053.000,000 passengers in 1914, with little increase 

 in 1916, an average distance of 33 6/10 miles, or a total of 35;.^ 

 billion passenger miles, and earned a revenue of $700,400,000 on 

 this service. By comparison, the 3'4 million [lassenger automo- 

 biles now registered in the country, averaging 5,000 miles a year, 

 and three passengers per car, gave a service of 48|4 billion pas- 

 senger miles, worth 975 million dollars on the railroad basis of 

 two cents per mile, or over 200 million more th.iu the railroad 

 passenger service. 



The street and electric railroads carried 9K' billion passengers 

 in 1912 (.the latest year for which official figures were available'). 

 The average distance traveled was four miles, making 38 billion 

 passenger miles. This produced a little more than half a billion 

 dollars, averaging 1'/) cents a mile. At this rate of fare, the 

 automobiles rendered a service this year of 598^2 million dollars, 

 or about 98 million more than the street railways. 



The 250,000 commercial 

 motor vehicles in the 

 c o u n t r y, averaging 50 

 miles a day, half the dis- 

 tance with an average 

 load of two tons, .give a 

 total of 354 billion ton- 

 miles annually. Taking 

 20 cents per ton-mile as a 

 fair average cost of haul- 

 ing liy horse-drawn ve- 

 hicle on the public roads, 

 this is worth 750 million 

 dollars a year. 



SCALE FOR WEIGHING TIRE 

 CASINGS. 



A convenient accessory 

 to facilitate the weighing 

 of tire casings is shown 

 here in connection with a 

 hanging scale. This con- 

 sists of a hook of sheet 

 metal, so formed as to re- 

 ceive readily and firmly 

 hold the tire. The scale, 

 which is of the "no 

 spring" variety, is fur- 

 nished with a 100-pound 

 chart graduated to quar- 

 ter-pound divisions, or 

 with a 50-pound chart 

 having two-ounce gradua- 

 tions if preferred. The entire arrangement can be so placed 

 at some convenient point on the shipping room wall, that the 

 adjustment of- the tire and the reading of the register are almost 

 instantaneous. [Toledo Scale Co., Toledo, Ohio.] 



PORTABLE IVBE TULCANIZERS. 



Two very light and simple tube vulcanizers of the pocket 

 variety have been offered to the motorist trade recently. In 



appearance they resemble 

 nothing more than an ordi- 

 nary clamp, the upper jaw 

 of which forms the heating 

 pan, while the clamp is 

 tightened on the part to be 

 repaired by a thumb screw. 

 In the Low vulcanizer the 

 • rtadiat f^^^^^ ''P^t is furnished by a. disk 



Low's Five Mintte Vrix.\xizER. 



of cardboard saturated with a 



coml)ustible which, when placed in 



the paii and ignited, will Ijurn 



without flame, and produce the 



correct heat for curing. The M-\RVF.r, Junior Vulcanizcb. 



-Marvel Junior uses a composition fuel tablet that burns slowly, 



yet radiates sufficient heat to cure the repair projierlv. 



KEYSTONE ADJUSTABLE BLOW-OUT PATCH. 



This blow-out patch is made of rublier and fabric, and, it is 

 claimed, eliminates the common difficulty caused by the tire 

 swelling after a patch is placed over the crack and thereby 

 gradually forcing the patch through tlie liole by the pressure of 

 the inner tube. This improved tire accessory, which has recently 

 been patented, is applied as follows : 



The inner tube 

 is blown up to 

 its normal size, 

 which will near- 

 ly fit the inside 

 of the c a s i n ,12;. 

 as is customary 

 when inserting 

 the inner tube at 

 any time. The 

 patch is then put 

 on the inner tube 

 and the strip which will be seen in the illustration is 

 wrapped around the patch, which is then put in the casing over 

 the crack and the tire put on the rim as usual. When the tire 

 is inflated, the blow-out patch, if not backed enough to fit the 

 tire, wdl allow the strip to unwrap until the patch comes in 

 contact with the inside of the casing and the pressure of the 

 patch against the casing prevents it from unwrapping any 

 further. In this manner the inner tube is tied down and the 

 pressure is taken off of the easing and is on the patch instead, 

 and therefore will not cause the tire to swell. 



These patches are .supplied in three sizes: No. 1 fits a 3 and 

 3'.4-inch tire; No. 2 fits 4 and 4'^inch tire.s. and No. 3 fits 5 and 

 SVa-inch tires. (Keystone Rubber Manufacturing Co.. Erie. 

 Pennsylvania.] 



The addition to the shipping department of the Pennsyl- 

 vania Rubber Co.. Jeannettc. Pennsylvania, now in process 

 of erection, will double its capacity and assure the prompt and 

 cfticient handlint; of the company's rapidly growing business. 



The I'.irch-IIintz Manufacturin.g Co., maker «f "Birch" 

 pump valves, rubber molds and machinery for rubber fac- 

 tories, is now located in its new factory buildiiii; at 1000-1100 

 South Kii:)orn .Avenue. Chicago. Illinois. 



