April 1, 1919.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



375 



FROM A WELL-KNOWN FRENCHMAN. 



To THE Editor of The India Rubber World : 



Dear Sir. — I send you enclosed a short note on rubber factories 

 in the occupied territories, which have been destroyed by the 

 Boches. 



Among them were two particularly important factories, that 

 of Englebert at Liege, which employed 3,000 to 4,000 workers, 

 and that of Wolber at Soissons, which had as numerous a staff. 

 Nothing remains and all the stolen equipment has been method- 

 ically transported to Germany. The damage done to the rubber 

 industry in the invaded territories amounts to about forty mil- 

 lions of francs. To that must be added the formidable stocks of 

 crude rubber which were at Antwerp, especially those consigned 

 to Messrs. Osterrieth & de Bude of a value of fifty or sixty 

 millions, and which were simply stolen by the Boches. 



Many factories using rubber and others making products used 

 in rubber factories were situated in the territories occupied by 

 the Germans. Of all these establishments nothing remains ; the 

 equipment has been sent to Germany. The generators, the steam 

 engines, the electric motors, the transmissions, have also disap- 

 peared, stolen or destroyed. In many places the buildings them- 

 selves have been destroyed, either by bombardment or by fire. 



The factory of Le Frant & Co., which was at Ham (Somme), 

 one of the greatest manufacturers of substitutes, has disappeared. 



The factory of Lufbery and Chardonnier at Chauny (Aisne), 

 has also disappeared. 



The rubber factory of Boinet, formerly Lefebure, at St. 

 Quentin, has been leveled to the ground. 



The same is the case with the factories of electric cables of 

 Jeumont (Nord), the Destriez factory at Pont a Marcq (Nord), 

 the Henry factory at Soissons (Aisne), the factory of the Co- 

 lonial Rubber Co., at Uriant and at Gand (Belgium), the Jack- 

 son factories at Halluin and at Menin (Belgium), and the two 

 groups of Wolber factories at Soissons. About a dozen im- 

 portant factories disappeared during the war. 

 Yours sincerely, 



Andr^ Dubosc. 



Bapaume-les-Rouen. 



JUDICIAL DECISIONS. 



DING Co. V. Tubular Woven Fabric 

 )f Appeals, First Circuit, November 



jVTATIONAL Metal ] 

 ^ ^ Co. — Circuit Cour 

 14, 1917. 



A decision declaring the Osborn patent No. 652,806 for flexible 

 electric conduit valid and infringed by the Tubular people's 

 product was given in November, 1915, and the latter were en- 

 joined from making their product. They changed it to eliminate 

 the infringing feature. 



Contempt proceedings were started by the National people 

 when they started to make their modified article. The Court 

 refused to hold them in contempt on the ground that the new 

 article raised a new question of infringement. A supplemental 

 bill of infringement was presented and the modified structure 

 was held not to infringe the Osborn patent No. 652.806 for 

 flexible electrical conduit. (Federal Reporter, Volume 254, 

 page 304.) 



Dowse v. Federal Rubber Company et al. — District Court, 

 N. D., Illinois, E. D., December 7, 1918. 



Byron C. Dowse, while employed by the Federal Rubber Co.. 

 being one of the largest stockholders and virtually in charge of 

 the entire works of the company, invented a method of rein- 

 forcing automobile tires, known as the "double cable base." .\Uftr 

 applying for the patent, but before it was issued to him. Dowse 

 sold his stock and severed his connection with the company. 

 Suit was brought to test the validity of the patent and to ascer- 

 tain tiie ownership of the patent. 



If Dowse had been employed by the manufacturing company 



taking orders from another officer of the company, then the 

 patent would have been his personal property, and the company 

 would only have an implied shop right to the invention. How- 

 ever, he being an officer the patent belongs to the company. It 

 was also adjudged valid. (Federal Reporter, Volume 254, page 

 308.) 



Hood Rubber Co. vs. Needham Tire Co.— Court of Appeals of 

 the District of Columbia. Decided December 2, 1918. Patent 

 appeals Nos. 1,180 and 1,181. 



In trade-mark cancellation proceedings where each party 

 sought the cancellation of the other's mark, a trade-mark con- 

 sisting of the word "Needham," with the barb and feather of an 

 arrow projecting beyond the end of the word, was held to con- 

 flict with a mark consisting of the picture of an arrow, the arrow 

 being an essential and prominent part of the first trade-mark 

 which had been in longer use. 



The Examiner of Interferences dismissed the Needham com- 

 pany's petition for cancellation and sustained that of the Hood 

 company, but on appeal an assistant commissioner cancelled the 

 registration of the Hood company, ruling that because the arrow 

 is one of the widest known and most useful functional signs, it 

 could not be registered as a trade-mark. 



After consideration of the evidence it was held that the appel- 

 lant used the arrow-mark as a trade-mark and not as a functional 

 sign, and that its use of this mark could in no way abridge the 

 right of the general public to use the represenation of an arrow 

 as a functional sign. It was further contended that other 

 persons have used the word "Arrow" or the picture of an arrow 

 as a trade-mark in a similar manner, but the appellee was not al- 

 lowed to raise that question. 



The registration of the Needham Tire Co. was cancelled and 

 that of the Hood Rubber Co. sustained on reversal. 



FRASCHE SULPHUR LIQUEFACTION PATENTS INVALID. 



The United States Circuit Court, sitting at Philadelphia, Penn- 

 sylvania, has just rendered a decision reversing that of the lower 

 tribunal, decreeing that the so-called Frasche patents covering 

 methods and processes of mining sulphur are not of basic patenta- 

 bility and that no control of certain mining methods is given by 

 them. Sulphur deposits are, therefore, opened up and the studies 

 and experiences which Frasche made and had are now open to the 

 world. This decision debars the holders of the Frasche patents 

 from otherwise exercising a monopoly for 31 years of under- 

 ground sulphur liquefaction by the heat process. 



This decision is of special interest, since the rubber industry 

 of the United States is estimated to consume annually about 

 15,000 tons of sulphur. 



A complete illustrated account of this Frasche method of sul- 

 phur mining will be found in The India RtrsBER World 

 August 1, 1914, pages 597-599. 



TRIED TO SELL REMADE TIRES AS NEW. 



Early in February the Federal Trade Commission issued form- 

 al complaints against E. P. Jones and S. A. Paul and four con- 

 cerns alleged to be operated by them in New York City, The 

 Mercury Tire Co., Inc., New York City, the Akron Tire Co., 

 Inc., Long Island City, New York, and William H. and George 

 Batcheller, "dominant factors" in the Long Island City con- 

 cern, charging attempts to "deceive and mislead the public" in 

 selling remade old automobile tires under new names and 

 brands as new tires. 



The concerns, the Commission says it has reason to believe, 

 purchased old and discarded automobile tires in various parts of 

 the United States, cause them to be repaired and coated with a 

 thin coating of rubber or composition of similar appearance, 

 thus removing or concealing the name or brand of the original 

 makers, and restamp them with new names or brands with the 



