July 1, 1917.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



597 



It was in February, 1916, that the Perlman patent was sus- 

 tained in a suit against the Standard Welding Co. Up to that 

 time anyone had made demountable rims without restrictions, the 

 Firestone company, for instance, having been making them since 

 1908. The Perlman patent, not issued until 1913, was made 

 operative by Perlman swearing that his invention dated back 

 to 1903. 



Thus Perlman had a practical monopoly on all forms of de- 

 mountable rims. The factory of the Standard Welding Co. was 

 closed and all rim manufacturers notified to discontinue making 

 rims. Then the Perlman Rim Corporation was organized with a 

 capital of $10,000,000, and it was understood that Perlman re- 

 ceived between $3,000,000 and $4,000,000 for his invention. 



The entire automobile industry was disturbed and its output 

 seriously threatened. Automobile manufacturers who had been 

 receiving their rims from the Standard Welding Co. made 

 arrangements with the Perlman Rim Corporation to release a 

 suflficient number to maintain their deliveries, and most of the 

 other rim manufacturers submitted and turned their plants over 

 to the Perlman Rim Corporation. 



Being firmly convinced that this patent was unjust and a ser- 

 ious menace to the entire motoring public, H. S. Firestone re- 

 fused to recognize the Perlman claims in any way. Braving an 

 injunction against his firm and the closing of his rim plant, he 

 decided to fight the matter out in the courts and took personal 

 charge of the case for his company. The injunction was first 

 argued in New York before Judge Mayer on April 13 last. 

 By that time the Firestone attorneys had gathered new evidence 

 showing the character of the testimony on which the decision 

 in the former suit had been obtained and asked that they be 

 given an opportunity to present the facts in open court. On this 

 showing, an injunction was denied and the present suit was set 

 for a hearing. 



The Firestone company is still manufacturing rims untram- 

 meled by any patent claims, and Mr. Firestone believes every- 

 body is now put on an equal footing again where merit and 

 efficiency are the measures by which all will be judged. 



JUDICIAL DECISIONS. 



ROUTES FOR RUBBER SHIPMENTS. 



A N important decision was rendered in the Court of Ap- 

 •**• peals London, in a rubber contract case regarding routes 

 for rubber shipments. 



L. Sutro & Co., London, England, bought a quantity of rubber 

 under a contract (c. i. f.) from Heilbut, Symons & Co., London, 

 England. The sellers had the goods shipped to Seattle, whence 

 they were to be reshipped by rail to their destination, New York 

 City. To this the buyers objected and demanded arbitration to 

 settle the matter. When their objection was overruled, they ap- 

 pealed to the Committee of the Rubber Trade Association and 

 by a second decision in a special case, it was held that the buy- 

 ers were not liable to accept delivery. From this decision the 

 sellers now appealed, claiming that the route by which they had 

 sent the rubber had become a usual one, that it could be read 

 into the contract and that they, therefore, had the right to use 

 it instead of the route wholly by sea. 



It was held, however, that the terms of the contract, referring 

 constantly to "vessel or vessels" and to "the port of discharge," 

 provided for carriage by sea only, and that consequently, al- 

 though it had become the custom to ship goods from the East 

 to Seattle and then transmit them by rail to New York City, the 

 terms of the contract could not be construed to include this cus- 

 tom. The appeal by the sellers was, therefore, dismissed with 

 costs. 



DeLaski & Thropp Circular Woven Tire Co. v. Empire Rus- 

 her & Tire Co., in District Court, New Jersey, December 12- 

 16. In a suit for infringement by the manufacture and sale of 



infringing machines, an interlocutory decree was entered in favor 

 of complainant, but limiting the accounting and extent of com- 

 plainant's recovery to the profit? which defendant had derived 

 from the infringement. On affirmance of such decree the parties 

 made a settlement and entered into a stipulation that the amount 

 paid by defendant was accepted by complainant in full payment 

 of all claims and demands which it may have against the de- 

 fendant by reason of the defendant's infringement. 



Held, that the settlement covered only infringements of the 

 character charged in the bill and such damages and profits as 

 could have been recovered under the issues in the cause and that 

 it did not bar a subsequent suit by complainant against a user 

 of machines sold by defendant although bought before it was 

 made. [Federal Reporter, Vol. 239, page 139.] 



Foley v. Home Rubber Co. New Jersey Supreme Court. A 

 sales representative of a manufacturing company who became one 

 of the Lusitania victims, while on his way to Europe on business 

 for his company, must be regarded as having lost his life in an 

 accident in the course of his employment, within the provisions of 

 the New Jersey workmen's compensation act, entitling his widow 

 to an award under that law. [Atlantic Reporter, Vol. 99, page 

 624.1 



Wendell v. American Laundry Machinery Co., United States 

 District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Public use of a 

 machine with permission of the inventor for two years before his 

 application for a patent conclusively establishes his abandonment 

 of any right to a patent, unless it appears that such use was for 

 experimental purposes only. [Federal Reporter, Vol. 239, page 

 555.1 



INTERESTING LETTERS FROM OUR READERS. 



SINGAPORE CELEBRATES AMERICAN WAR PARTICIPATION, 



To the Editor of The India Rubber World : 

 r^EAR SIR — The weekly rubber auction was suspended for 

 ■'-^ an hour yesterday to enable those present to attend the 

 Anglo-American war participation services which were quite 

 impressive, the address being delivered by an American Epis- 

 copal archdeacon, as per enclosed clipping and two postcards, 

 showing St. Andrew's Cathedral and statue of Sir Stamford 

 Raffles, the founder of Singapore. 

 Singapore, April 27, 1917. Richard ^^'EIL. 



DO RUBBER SOLES AND HEELS PROTECT ARTILLERYMEN? 



To the Editor of The India Rubber World: 

 r^EAR SIR. — In the "Red Cross Magazine" for July, page 

 '-^ 249, G. F. Keogh, an ambulance man with the Red Cross 

 in France, describes how heavy artillery gunners use plugs of 

 cotton in their ears and rise on their toes during the firing to 

 prevent rupture of the ear drums. 



Can you advise a reader of The India Rubber World to what 

 extent, if any, a good rubber heel and sole will prevent or ease 

 the concussion? Chas. P. Fox. 



Cleveland, Ohio, June 20, 1917. 



AKRON-BOSTON EXPRESS. 



The present railroad congestion has greatly increased the trans- 

 portation of freight by motor trucks for distances up to 75 miles 

 or more. A route covering a distance of 1,540 miles, maintaining 

 regular schedules night and day, is therefore an interesting devel- 

 opment of motor truck possibilities. The Goodyear Tire & Rubber 

 Co. has inaugurated this new service by the establishment of a 

 line operating between its factory at Akron, Ohio, and Boston, 

 Massachusetts, hauling tires to its eastern branches, and return- 

 ing laden with cotton fabric from the Goodyear Cotton Mills, 

 at Goodyear, Connecticut. Several round trips have already been 

 made, the last of which was accomplished in seven and one-half 

 days. 



