September 1, 1919. 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



Six Years of Tire Production in the United States. 



STATISTICS RECENTLY PUBLISHED . 

 by the National Automo- 

 bile Chamber of Com- ; 

 merce, Inc., together with a few 

 conservative estimates by The ' 

 India Rubber World, show the 

 remarkable growth of the rub- 

 ber tire industry during the t 

 major part of the war period | 

 and the check placed upon its * 

 nominal development after the £ 

 United States joined the con- | 

 flict. ^ 



That the phenomenal growth 

 of the United States tire out- 

 put is due chiefly to the enor- 

 mous and steadily increasing 

 use of the automobile for both 

 business and pleasure is indi- 

 cated by the motor vehicle reg- 

 istration for recent years and 

 the fact that about 2 per cent, 

 of the product is being ex- 

 ported. The United States consul 

 product. 



practically its entire tire 



AMERICAN MOTOR VEHICLE REGISTRATION. 



Year 1913 I'H^ 1915. 1916. 1917. 1918. 

 Cars..'.'.'.' 1,;54.9'-1 1,711,0.!') J, 445, 664 3.512,996 4,983,340 6.146,617 



Assuming live tires per car as the average annual consump- 

 tion the American demand for tires has grown from about 

 6,275,000 in 1913 to nearly 31,000,000 in 1918, or to n^ 

 times that of 1913. 



AMERICAN TIRE AND TUBE PRODUCTION. 



During the past si.x years the AmeriL-an tire and tnlii 

 tion, actual and estiiuated, has been as 



rly five 



produ 



follov 



9 Mo 



AMERICAN TIRE DEMAND FOR ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT. 



Statistics of motor vehicle production in the United States 

 indicate the increasing number of pneumatic and solid tires re- 

 quired annually for original equipment. 



MOTOR VEHICLE PRODUCTION. 



Passenger 



1914 

 1915 

 1916 



dies ... i6,58S,O0O 18.983.000 '12.840.000 18.564,957 25,840,656 16,196,196 

 Tubes under 



6 inches 16,785,398 23.256.752 16.037.155 



1 Estimated. 



It will be seen that the figures for 1917, the last whole year 

 for which complete totals are given and the last year of un- 

 restricted production, show an increase of nearly three times 

 over the output for 1913. At an average of $25 per tire the 

 value of the 1917 product was about $646,016,400. 



AMERICAN CRUDE RUBBER CONSUMPTION FOR TIRES. 



For the manufacture of ihe tires and tubes mentioned above 

 the consumption of crude rubber was as follows: 



Nine Months, 

 1917. 1918. 



Casin,!.s under 6 incl'.es foumli:. (Irv wcisht 162,643.482 106,256,616 



Tubes under 6 inches 35.704,446 24,577,986 



Solid tires 25,055,673 38,634.236 



Other tires and sundries 9,983,195 11.105,397 



Totals 233,386,796 180,574,235 



1 Onlv the estimated total weights arc available for the years 1913-1916. 

 They are: 1913, 65,880,000 pounds; 1914, 89,830,000 pounds; 1915, 128,- 

 400,000 pounds; and 1916, 185,649,570 pounds. 



In 1917 approximately 75 per cent of the rubber consumed in 

 the United States was used for tires and tire sundries as 

 against only 58 per cent of the crude rubber imports for the 

 fiscal year 1913. The actual quantity of crude rubber used in 

 1917, the year in which tire production reached its highest mark, 

 was fully 3^ times that for the year 1913. 



ures is necessary to 

 and correspondingly 



Only a cursory inspection of these 

 see how the production of passenger ( 

 of pneumatic tires was curtailed by the war situation of 1918, 

 and the production of trucks and solid tires stimulated. Truck 

 tire production for original equipment showed continuous 

 growth during the war period and in 1918 had increased over 

 8i/< times more than the 1913 production. Pneumatic tire pro- 

 duction for the original equipment of cars reached its highest 

 figure for the year 1917, when it was nearly 3^ times the 1913 

 output. It is seen, therefore, that while 1,940,000 tires sufficed 

 for new equipment in 1913, no less than 7,475,776 were required 

 in 1917, an increase of nearly three times. Although the greater 

 volume of increase has been in pneumatic tires under 6 inches, 

 the greater rate of increase has been in solid and large pneu- 

 matic tires for trucks. 



TIRES IN USE IN THE UNITED STATES. 



Of the 6,146,617 motor vehicles registered in the United States 

 during the calender year 1918, some 662,000 were trucks, so that 







about 8;4 times as many pneumatic tires under 6 inches as truck 

 tires were in use last year, the number of each sort, exclusive 

 of spares and replacements, being approximately 21,938,000 

 pneumatics and 2„648,000 truck tires. One additional tire per car 

 would be a conservative estimate for spares and replacements, 

 making the totals 27,423,000 pneumatics and 3,310,000 truck tires. 

 With nearly 31,000.000 motor vehicles tires in use it is not sur- 

 prising that some 12,000 vulcanizers are kept busy with repairs 

 and retreading. 



On the basis of 20 pounds of rubber average per car for regular 

 equipment, and one-fourth of that extra for one spare per car. 



