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THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[June 



The Honorable Augustus O. Bourn, 



SCIENCE, politics, literature and rubber manufacture, while 

 not closely correlated, are all more or less combined in the 

 subject of this sketch, who is one of the oldest active members 

 of the industry to-day. As a founder of two rubber manufac- 

 turing concerns and an investigator of rubber chemistry and vul- 

 canization, he is prominent in the industry. As Governor of 

 his state and as Consul-General at Rome, he was prominent in 

 politics, while his literary work, mainly published for private 

 distribution, serves to show another aspect of this versatile man. 



Augustus Osborn Bourn was born October 1, 1834, at Provi- 

 dence, Rhode Island, and was educated at the public schools and 

 Brown University in that city. After graduation he entered 

 the employ of his father's firm. Bourn & Brown, later Bourn, 

 Brown & Chaffee, manufacturers of rubber shoes, of which firm, 

 after the death of his father, he became a member. In 1861 

 this firm was incorporated as the 

 Providence Rubber Co. and seven 

 years later was merged with the 

 National Rubber Co. Mr. Bourn re- 

 tained his connection with this com- 

 pany until 1887 or 1888, when he 

 retired from business and joined his 

 family in Europe. 



Returning to this country in 1893, 

 he established a rubber factory at 

 Providence the next year, carrying 

 on the business as the Bourn Rub- 

 ber Co., and manufacturing footwear 

 under the "Providence" and "Union" 

 brands. When this business was 

 incorporated in 1902, he continued 

 to be president and manager. Mean- 

 while the plant has steadily grown 

 till it now covers an entire city block 

 in Providence, 



About IS years ago the Bourn 

 Rubber Co. commenced the manu- 

 facture of insulated wire, and the 

 business so increased in volume as 

 to compel the erection, in 1918, of a 

 separate factory for this branch of 

 its business. No man in the rubber 

 business has had a wider experience than ex-Governor Bourn. 

 He is acquainted with every detail of the manufacture, as well 

 as with the general management, of the business. He introduced 

 many new styles and originated numerous innovations while 

 with the National Rubber Co., among them being "snow ex- 

 cluders," fusion linings for boots and lumbermen's goods and 

 button gaiters. He also manufactured the style now known as 

 "Alaskas" several years before any other company produced 

 this class of footwear. 



As an investigator, his experiments in vulcanizing began in 

 1903, and were reported in an address at the Rubber Conference 

 in New York in 1912, receiving the marked attention of all prac- 

 tical rubber men and chemists. He showed that the rate of 

 vulcanization was doubled for every 11 degrees F. and that the 

 same compound which vulcanized in 14 hours at a temperature 

 of 194 degrees F. could be similarly vulcanized in IS seconds 

 in a heat of 327 degrees F. 



He has written several treatises on astro-physical subjects, 

 which, however, he declines to have published, having written 

 them solely to occupy his spare moments. Some years ago he 

 published, for private distribution, a small volume of memorial 

 addresses of prominent public men delivered in Rhode Island 



and elsewhere, and he is now preparing for publication a large 

 number of speeches delivered between 1876 and 1888, which 

 exemplify the political conditions and thoughts of that period. 

 In politics, Mr. Bourn has played a prominent part. He was 

 a member of the Rhode Island Senate from 1876 to 1883 and 

 from 1886 to 1888. For six years from 1877 he was chairman 

 of the Finance Committee and member of the Judiciary Com- 

 mittee. He was the author of the "Bourn Amendment" to the 

 Constitution of Rhode Island, extending to foreign-born citizens 

 the same rights of franchise enjoyed by the native-born. In 

 1883 he was elected Governor by the Republicans, and re-elected 

 in 1884, receiving all but 13 votes of the total of nearly 16,000 

 votes cast. During his term in this office, at the time of the 

 settlement of the international differences growing out of the 

 New Orleans riots, he was in 1889 appointed Consul-General 

 of the United States for Italy and 

 was stationed at Rome. For a 

 period he was both Consul-General 

 and in charge of the Legation. 



In his younger days he served 

 with the Providence Horse Guards, 

 rising from private to the rank of 

 Lieutenant-Colonel of the First Bat- 

 talion of Cavalry. 



He moved from Providence to 

 Bristol, Rhode Island, in 1873, and 

 his residence, "Seven Oaks," is one 

 of the most attractive in that city, 

 the garden running down to the wa- 

 ters of Narragansett Bay. He is 

 very fond of flowers and this garden 

 is one of his hobbies ; having been 

 arranged by himself, it is now cul- 

 tivated in accordance with his direc- 

 tions. 



Ex-Governor Bourn is a busy, as 

 well as a business, man, leaving 

 Bristol at 10 a. m. and returning at 

 7:05 p. m. At noon it is his custom 

 to lunch at the University Club, at 

 Providence, with a number of con- 

 genial men, all graduates of Brown 

 University, including editors, educators, jurists and manufactur- 

 ers promiient in the professions and leading industries. 



Ex-Governor Bourn is an ex-officio member of the board of 

 directors and Executive Committee of The Rubber Association 

 of America, and v/as the second president of the New England 

 Rubber Club, the predecessor of the above-named association. 



INTERESTING LETTERS FOR OUR READERS 



ARMENIAN BOLE. 



To THE Editor of the India Rubber World: 



DEAR SIR — Can you give me any information as to what bole 

 Armenia may be? Furthermore, is it used in rubber 

 compounding? 



Bole Armenia, or more correctly Armenian bole, is a bright 

 red, friable clayey earth found in Tuscany and in Armenia. 

 Chemically it is clay or hydrous aluminum silicate, known in 

 its purest forms as kaolin and fuller's earth. Its color is due to 

 the presence of iron oxide. 



Armenian bole is used to color or adulterate various sub- 

 stances, notably tooth powders, and was formerly used in cer- 

 tain horse medicines as an absorbent and astringent. Very little 

 attention has been paid to it in rubber manufacture, although it 

 is said that 10 per cent added to Para rubber has been employed 

 in making inner tube patches. — The Editor. 



