Rubber sundries had their inception many centuries before the discovery of America in the form of native bottles, canteens, etc. Man ufacture began, however, with Hancock in England, about 1825. He designed and patented several articles such as water bottles, air cushions, etc. In America the Union Rubber Company of New York can be said to be the first to manufacture sundries under the Good year patents. They started in business in 1857 and to-day this branch of rubber manufactur ing occupies a most prominent place — the vol ume in sales running up to approximately 10 or 12 million dollars.
Rubber sundries embrace a large number of items. These are usually sub-classified into five divisions such as drug sundries which include hot water bottles, etc.; surgeons' sundries in cluding drainage tubes, operating cushions, etc.; dental sundries including bowls, etc.; stationers' supplies including bands, erasers, etc.; athletic sundries including tennis balls, baseball body protectors and golf balls. Many special items such as respirators are also in cluded in the production of this division.
Insulated wire, although using a compara tively small proportion of crude rubber, is one of the most important divisions of the rubber business. Without rubber insulated wire, civil ization could not exist as it does to-day. Build ing cables, automobile cables, mining cables, telephone wire and cables all depend upon the insulating qualities of rubber for their success. In other words, were it not for this rubber in sulation, the "juice* would leak away long be fore it reached its destination. Several millions dollars' worth of this product alone are pro duced yearly in the United States — the output being confined to relatively few factories.
Charles Goodyear began the manufacture of hard rubber about 10 years after his patent was granted. In 1851 when he made his famous exhibit in London, hard rubber items played an important part in the display. The first article made to any extent was the comb. Goodyear's biographer, a personal friend, re lates that the original combs cost 20 times as much as the ivory ones then in use, but only 20 years after this, the India Rubber Comb Company practically enjoyed a monopoly in the business. In 1898 the American Hard Rub ber Company, a combination of several small companies, with a capital of $2,500,000 was or ganized and captured the bulls of the business.
Other independent companies have since en tered the field and to-day enjoy a large portion of the business.
Hard rubber differs from the soft product mainly in that there is more sulphur in the com pound — the value sometimes reaching 30 per cent— and the cure is longer. Battery jars con stitute, perhaps, the largest single item in hard rubber manufacture although the complete list embraces some 15000 to 18,000 items. These are represented by tubing, steering wheel rims, pipe stems, buttons, fountain pen barrels and a mul titude of articles necessary to the success of all sorts of electrical devices. For example, there are on every desk telephone set a dozen or more hard ruerpieces. As may be im agined the value in sales of hard alone is considerable.
In so far as the motor truck is concerned the highway is, in truth, paved with rubber and had it not been for the solid rubber tire, the motor truck would have remained an ment and the World War might not have one for democracy. Even before the discovery of vulcanization, ideas were entertained for the reducing of vibration in vehicles by the use of rubber. As early as 1846, the firm of Charles McIntosh and Company of Manchester, Eng land, perfected and manufactured a solid rub ber carriage tire for Her Majesty's brougham. The Shrewsbury and Talbot Noiseless Tire and Cab Company, Ltd., of England and Brews ter and Company of New York were the first to popularize this solid rubber vehicle tire. This tire was the Carmont, patented in 1881. Fol lowing this came the a solid tire with a hollow or sponge rubber centre patented in 1884. The Internal Wire type patented by Grant in 1896 was, however, by far the most popular solid rubber carriage tire made. In 1891, J. A. Swinehart patented what is known as the side wire tire and this is the one which was introduced and first, adopted for motor vehicle use. The side wire tire failed in motor vehicle service and the °steel base* type took its place and is the one in use to-day. This type is the outgrowth of experiments made by the B. F. Goodrich Company in 1909 to overcome the difficulties in motor vehicle service attend ing the use of other types.