656 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[AiGusT 1, 1919. 



THE GOODYEAR PACIFIC COAST FACTORY. 



THE ..\i\NUL NCEMENT by The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., 

 .\kron, Ohio, of its decision to erect a $4,0(X).(X)0 rubber 

 manufacturing plant and a $1,500,000 cotton mill in Los Angeles, 

 California, is the most important industrial development in 

 years on the Pacific Coast. All the preliminary details have 

 been settled, the deeds 

 have been placed in es- 

 crow for the large tract 

 of land that has been 

 acquired and ground has 

 already been broken for 

 the new enterprise. It is 

 planned to have the plant 

 in actual operation by 

 ne.xt March. 



The rubber company is 

 capitalized at $20,000,000 

 and the Pacific Cotton 

 Mills Co. at $5,000,000. 

 Ascot Park in Los An- 

 geles, famous for its 

 many automobile races. 

 was acquired by the com- 

 pany as the site for the 

 rubber factory and addi- 

 tional acreage in the 

 ity, amounting in all to 



THE Goodyear Plant in Los Angeles 

 OF F. A. Seiberling, President. 



acres, was also purchased. The 

 rubber plant will have a capacity of 3,000 tires a day, an annual 

 business appro.ximating $15,000,000, and will employ 1,500 oper- 

 atives. 



The cotton mills, according to the present plans, will have 

 33,000 spindles, a capacity of 75,000 pounds of cord fabric and 

 75,000 pounds of woven fabric, an annual business of $7,500,000, 

 and will employ 1.200 operatives. It is planned to eventually 

 expand both industries to four times the above capacities. The 

 management of the company, in announcing its future plans, is 

 looking forward not only to the increase in the demand for 



automobile tires but also to the probable increase in tlic demand 

 for many products requiring rubber and cotton. 



In addition to the manufacturing plants the company will 

 erect an industrial city, laying out a large area to be known as 

 i'.o(id\ear Park, for a community settlement for its employes. 

 .\ tract of 160 acres has 

 been set aside for the 

 homes of the workmen. 

 Landscape architects will 

 supervise the improve- 

 ment of the grounds with 

 boulevards, trees, shrub- 

 l)ery. lawns, etc., and 800 

 fine houses will be built. 

 The employes are to be 

 permitted to purchase the 

 houses on the instalment 

 plan in payments of about 

 the same amount as rent. 

 Xo cheap houses will be 

 built, and they will be 

 varied in their style of 

 architecture to make the 

 general appearance of the 

 district more attractive. 

 Very practical were the 

 reasons that induced 1*'. A. Seiberling, president of The Good- 

 year Tire & Rubber Co., and the other officers to take this 

 epochal step. California and Arizona produce Egyptian and 

 Pima cotton, and these loiig-staple varieties, with their superior 

 tensile strength, are essential in the manufacture of high-grade 

 automobile tires and other rubber products. The world's great- 

 est rubber-producing districts are located in the Far East, and 

 crude rubber can be brought across the Pacific to Los Angeles 

 in ships flying the flag of the United States. Superior climatic 

 conditions and freedom from labor troubles are cogent reasons for 

 the coming of the great plant to Los Angeles. 



GOOD ROADS MOVEMENT IN CALIFORNIA. 



The passage of the $40,000,000 bond issue in California for 

 the expansion of the state highway system, by a vote of more 

 than 7 to 1, is an event of the greatest importance, not only 

 to motorists, tire users and tire manufacturers, but to the good 

 roads movement in general throughout the United States. Cali- 

 fornia's highway system is already one of the best in the coun- 

 try, as the immense number of automobiles, stages and trucks 

 in that state testify, but the construction of new highways will 

 lead to the development of sections which have hitherto been 

 inaccessible. Other states will undoubtedly follow the example 

 of California, and a tremendous impetus to road building all 

 over this country will be the result. 



The present system of good roads in California makes it a 

 territory where tires give unusual mileages. Tire performances 

 which would be considered phenomenal elsewhere are common 

 there. It is estimated that good roads extend the life of a tire 

 by one-fifth. Figuring the cost of the average set of tires at 

 $100, and placing the average life of a set of casings at one 

 year, then a saving of $20 a year per car in tire cost may be 

 attributed to good roads. 



There are approximately 350,000 cars in use in California at 

 present. -\ saving of $20 a car per .year on tires would mean 

 $7,000,000 saved in tire wear alone to California motorists. This 

 saving would wipe out the entire bond issue in less than six 

 years. The present vear promises to be a banner vear for good 

 roads. 



"DUNLOP 1919 GROOVED" NON-SKID TREAD. 



The Dunlop Rubber Co., Limited, London, England, is pro- 

 ducing a new non-skid tread design which is said to be highly 

 effective as well as durable, due to the fact that the bulk of the 

 tread rubber is placed along the line of greatest wear. This 

 pattern is to be supplied on all future orders for grooved tires 

 as fast as stocks become available. 



NEW DUTCH TIRE FACTORY. 



.\s a consequence of war conditions, making difficult the im- 

 portation of tires into Holland, a new company called the Rub- 

 berfabrik "Vredestein," has been organized at Loosduinen, near 

 the Hague, to manufacture pneumatic tires. 



FRENCH IMPORT DUTY ON AUTOMOBILE TIRES. 



Effective after July 12, 1919, automobile pneumatic tires, 

 casings and inner tubes, imported into France from the United 

 States are subject to a surtax of 10 per cent ad valorem in ad- 

 dition to the import duty of $13.13 per hundred pounds net 

 weight. 



Under the minimum tarilf, which applies to imports from the 

 United Kingdom and certain other countries, the present rate 

 is $8.75 per hundred pounds plus 5 per cent ad valorem. Under 

 a recent ruling automobile tires had been dutiable at the rate 

 of 70 per cent ad valorem, together with automobiles weighing 

 less than 2,500 kilos (5.509 pounds'), and parts for the same, 

 and this rate continues to apply to other parts when intended 

 for automobiles weighing less than 2,500 kilos. 



