No rule can be laid down by which to cla§sify rubber products. There are, however, 12 general divisions of manu facture and sales which are quite generally recognized both from the standpoint of manu facturing and marketing. While several lines are often sold through the same factors the problems of selling the different lines are some what diversified, and hence the necessity for continuing the classification into the sales end of the business. These lines are, viz., footwear, mechanical rubber goods, rubber sundries, in sulated wire, hard rubber items, solid tires, pneumatic tires, auto accessories, tire repair materials, rubberized fabric products, , dipped goods and lathe cut items.
The rubber business in America can be said with truth to have begun with the rubber shoe in 1823. A few pairs were at that time brought to Boston by a sea captain, plying be tween the ports of South America and. New England in the rum trade. During 1825, 500 pairs of crude native-made rubber shoes were drought to Boston and found a ready market. Although thick and clumsy. being made from the raw unvulcanized gums, these readily sold for from $3 to $5 per pair. Although having many drawbacks as an item of wearing apparel, they were, nevertheless, waterproof ; and, being a curiosity, found a ready market among the rich. The following 15 years probably saw 1,000,000 pairs of these crude rubber shoes brought into the United States and all found ready sale. When, however, the mechanical process of rubberizing fabric with a varnish of spirits of turpentine, lamp black and rubber made possible the construction of rubber shoes on a factory. basis the popularity of rubber shoes died out. The shortcomings of =vul canized rubber then became more generally recognized, i.e., its tendency to viscousness in warm and its brittleness in cold weather and The Roxbury India Rubber Company, estab lished in 1833, for the manufacture of shoes after this plan, met with ignominious failure in less than three years.
Immediately after Goodyear's discovery of vulcanization, L. Candee, who purchased the license to manufacture rubber goods under this patent, repopularized the rubber shoe and put it on the market to stay and this company 'has continued to the present time as one of the important factors in the American rubber foot wear industry. One very important event in the history of the rubber boot and shoe busi ness in the United States occurred in the fall of 1892 when the United States Rubber Com pany purchased nearly all the larger rubber footwear interests of this country. This cen tralization resulted in conspicuous economies for while the industrial units of this combina tion have remained under their former manage ment, they have shared their individual profits in common. The patents and secret processes of one factory became the property of all and in• this way all important methods and formula; which each factory enjoyed before were equally shared by the whole .organization. There was
also a great saving in the matter of crude rubber purchases, the large single purchase be ing made at great advantage over a number of small scattered purchases. Other advantages also accrued by eliminating the necessity of carrying large stocks and in diminishing the duplication of a large tlasto equipment.
The next great step in rubber footwear development came as a result of experiments made by the B. F. Goodrich Company. This company entered the footwear business in 1905, making a line of light-weight wear under a contract for one of the large jobbers. In 1913 the Goodrich Company introduced their Hi-press line of heavy boots and shoes made by an altogether new process resulting in a qual ity 'far beyond what had been previously pos sible. In 1916 the Goodrich Company reorgan ized its footwear manufacturing and sales de partments coming out, at that time, with a complete line which they began to market direct to- the retailer. In ' 1917 the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company of Akron also launched a rubber footwear department.
Although for many years the footwear busi ness monopolized the bulk of the crude rubber imports, other lines have now developed to the point where but 8 per cent is utilized by this division. The growth of the rubber shoe business, has, however, been very phenomenal. From an annual output in 1860, valued at $795, 000, the increase has been in leaps and bounds. To show its growth in chronological order, in 1870 the value reached $8,000,000; in 1880, $16, 000,000; in 1890, $24,000,000; in 1900, $40,000,000; in 1914, $60,000,000 and during 1918 the produc tion reached the grand, total of 65,750,000 pairs, worth, approximately, $125,000,000. Sales dur ing these two years were, however, largely aug mented through the necessities of the warring nations for large quantities of waterproof shoes. For 1919 the butput will not exceed in value $100,000A00, The manufacture of mechanical goods began with hose and belting; but development in this field has probably been more prolific in inven tion than in other lines of rubber manufac ture. To-day the full mechanical line not only embraces belting and hose but about 30,000 molded items such as bumpers, valve discs, etc. Packing of several kinds for steam engines, etc., is also an important item. Rubber insu lated wire of all kinds, floor covering such as matting and tiling, while deciclestraps, billiard cushions, etc., are also embraced within this class. To give an idea of the volume of busi ness which is done in rubber mechanical goods the last item (billiard cushions) uses one-fourth million dollars' worth of. crude rubber each year and this by no means is the largest single item.