I.--, I. 1915 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



285 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN AKRON. 

 Out ' ' tpondent. 



OPTIMISM has been restored in local rubber circles now 

 thai arrangements have been made for adjustment of 

 English regulations affecting the shipping of rubber. Officials of 

 the Akroii rubbei companies, including \. II. Marks, g< i 

 manager of the B. F. Goodrich Go., II . S I in tone, of the Fire- 

 stone Tire & Rubber Co., and P. W. Litchfield, of the Gooi 



& Rubbei Co., in interviews this week, expressed con- 

 fidence ni an earlj revival of trade. While this city has felt 

 the business depression affecting practically every industrial 

 center ol Vmericaj during the past six months, conditions are 

 gradually improving and by the first of April will probably be 

 restored to normal. The depression has not had the effect 

 upon Akron that other cities of the same class in this section 

 of the countrj have experienced and the number of unemplo ed 

 here i> much less than in neighboring cities 



* * * 



One hundred salesmen of the boot and shoe department of The 



B I G Lrictl I attended the first of a series of five winter 



sales conventions in Akron the second week in January. Social 

 and luisiness sessions covering three days marked the convention. 



Frank Kenton, a Goodrich company fort-man. and three other 

 employes, sailed January 19 for Paris, France, where they will 

 join the allied armies' crew of tire repair men. It is said that an 

 I will also he made by Goodrich officials to regain control 

 of the French branch factory of the company which was com- 

 mandeered b\ the French government at the beginning of the 

 European war. 



Dr C. E. Smith will be in charge of the department of dental 

 inspection to be opened by this companj February 1. Lectures 

 on the importance and care of the teeth and instructions on 

 caring for diem will be given by Dr. Smith in all of the de- 

 partment-, in which more than 10,000 nun are employed. The 

 Goodrich is the first big industrial institution in this section 

 of the countrj to establish a dental inspection department. 



Diamond tires made a successful addition to their list in 

 "Squeegee,'!' the new non-skid tread Diamond. The tread is 

 ■i" i three continuous rihs. with cross-bars, and like its 

 namesake, it clings so closely to wet and slippery pavements as 

 to offer sturdj opposition to skidding either forward or side- 

 ways 



i'hi,! '.. 26 o! the Goodrich Company is to have an ad- 

 dition, .' permit having recently been granted by the building 

 department of the city for the erection of such a structure, two 

 high, and costing $5,000. 



The B. 1 Goodrich Co. and the Firestone lire & Rubber 

 I i arc included in the list of Akron industrial concerns which 

 are affected by the increased rates for use of State water. 

 The companies have appealed from the decision of the State 

 Superintendent of Public Works, but after receiving an opinion 

 from Attorney General Turner. Governor F. B. Willis decided 

 that the rate increases were legal and declined to interfere. 



The largest check for taxes ever received by the county 

 treasurer of Summit count) was received the second week in 

 January from tin Goodrich company. It was for $148,000 



John R Gammeter and The B. F. Goodrich Co. have lost 

 their fight in the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia 

 for ownership of patent rights on a head placing ring. After 

 tour years of litigation the DeLaski & Thropp Co., of Trenton. 

 Xew Jersey, was awarded the claim. Priority of filing of patent 

 claim was the point involved in the se.it. 



* * * 



The Miller Rubber Co.,. by a two-story, fireproof, brick addi- 

 tion to their plant, have provided for an increase of 1.000 tires 

 in their daily output. A three-story 40 x 110 feet warehouse is 

 eing ivilt also a SO x 100 extension to the rubber drying room 

 The additional factory space, including a ■ nrw shipping depart 



ment built on adjoining property recently purchased, will total 

 272,905 square feet, or about 6*/i acres, and a 2,000 horsepower 



plant i- also being installed I tion purpi 



* * * 



Firest Hre & Rubbei Co. converted 12,000 tons, or 



24.000,000 pounds, of Meet into Firestone runs f, i i Con- 



tractoi i mate 1. ,000 pounds as a liberal allowance for a 



fairly large building. A working floor spa.. I 1 0,000 square 

 feet, a force oi loti men and a line equipment of machinery, 

 including Id electric welders, find employment in this branch. 

 Firestone rims will he used exclusive!) this yeai by sixty 

 .mi ■ imobile manufai turei - 



II S. Firestone, president of the company, in an add 

 before members of tin Cleveland Advertising Club, Thursday, 

 January 21. told how rubber trees are grown and cared for 

 ami how rubber is transformed from the crude state- into the 

 finished product. Stereopticon pictures illustrated the lecture. 



Mr. Firestone and other officials of the company attended 

 the factory hall recentl) given by employes at an Akron dancing 

 academy. 



Hanging to a lire escape, four stories above the ground, 

 Jerry Phelps, an Akron man. reached through a window at the 

 Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. plant not long ago, and pulled out 

 more than $200 worth of auto, tires which he threw to a com- 

 panion. The men were arrested and hound over to await action 



id' the Grand Jury. 



* * * 



The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. recentl) made public a 

 statement showing the growth of their pneumatic tire produc- 

 tion for the past six years. In 1909 the) made and sold 102.669 

 tires, ami this number has shown a steady yearly increase, until 

 in 1914 the number oft, lyear tires made and sold was 1,478,396. 



I In demand for the Company's pneumatics for heavy motor 

 trucks is likely to further increase these sales. The corn- 

 pan) is now supplying a .IS x 7-inch tire with a rated carrying 

 capacity of 2.500 pounds, a 42 x 9-inch carrying 4.500 pounds 

 per tire and a 48 x 12-inch of 7.500 pounds carrying capacity 

 per tire. All are of the Xo-Rim-Cut type and conform to the 

 company's Ideal Detachable Rim. '07 profile. This company 

 last month entertained the selling force of Morley Bros., who 

 handle their goods at Saginaw, Michigan. The party were the 

 company's guests from the 12th to the 16th ult.. ami were 

 afforded an opportunit) to inspect the big plant and attend the 

 school of instruction for Goodyear salesmen. 



President F. A. Seiberling. of the (. lyi u company, and 



Mrs, Seiberling are now in London arranging for decorations 

 for their new home on Portage Path, one of the finest in this 

 section of the country. They will return to Ucron early in 

 February. 



William Upson, former Akron attorne) and father of Ralph 

 H. L'pson. world champion balloonist, of the Goodyear company, 

 is helping to nurse wounded soldiers in a war hospital at 

 Bagueres de Bigorre, France. He was traveling in France at 

 the beginning of the European war. 



* * 



According to Jos. Dangel. general factory superintendent of 

 the American Hard Rubber Co., Akron is the only city in the 

 world which boasts a plant successfully manufacturing hard 

 rubber fowling balls. The Akron halls are made entirely of 

 rubber. Mr. Dangel is one of the expert bowlers in this section 

 of the country and it is due to the study he has given the 

 manufacture of the rubber halls that they have been such a 



success 



* * * 



Akron rubber companies exhibited at the Ohio Industrial 

 Safety First Exposition at Columbus the second week in Janu- 

 ary. W. X. Fitch, safety director of the Goodrich, and R. E. 

 Lee. safety director of the Firestone, were among the speakers. 



