The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-06-11
MAKING 4 COLE BALL
Great Skill and Care R CURED in
Its Construction.
The Best Material of Guttn Percha
Needed for the Manufacture of the
Fashionable TOy-An the Work
Must He Done by Hnnd-A Year Re
quired to Thoroughly Season 1t.

To make little gutta percha golf ball
and make it properly requires skill and pa
thence. More money is spent to purchase
golf balls than for any other plaything..
The only suitable material for golf balls
is gutta percha-a gum which comes from
India and Borneo and other tropical lands.
1t is resilient but not elastic. like India
rubber 1t is heavy enough TO fly well,
tough enough to resist, without cracking
or crumbing or chipping, the hardest
blows of a driver of wood or of iron.
Gutta percha costs about double the
price of India rubber, or about S1.S0 to 81
per pound, and the demand is increasing
and the supply diminishing. Golf alone is
I. responsible for very sharp advance in
the price of this commodity. After gut,a
percha is procured in its raw state, 1t Is
more or less adulterated. 1t is necessary
to wash it and purify it. 1t is then rolled
into sheets and compressed and made
into tubes or sticks about an inch and a
half in diameter. These sticks are then
carefully cut into sections just large enough
to mold a golf ball of any given size want
ed with as little TO spare as possible be-
use-all -excess-and there must be some
is saved and reformed into stick"
again, together with all imperfectly mold
ed balls
After the stick has been cut into Jumps
these Jumps are placed in pans of water,
which are gradually heated until the gutta
percha becomes plastic and of Just the
right consistency. If too warm, 1t must
be cooled off; if too cold, work must cease
until the right temperature is attained.
The Jumps OF gutta percha are then taken
by the operator, quickly dried and worked
in the hand for the mold. Then they are
put into the mold and screwed down hard
in the press, which may contain three or
six molds. The molds are all filled and
pressed in the same manner each ball be-
ing left under pressure four to six minutes,
SO that it will be cool and hard enough to
retain its shape perfectly, on being taken
from the mold.
After mounting the balls are stored in
racks, where they can be exposed to the
air to season, each days or weeks pro-
duction being carefully examined, imper-
fectly shaped or marked balls being
thrown out and the lots properly dated
and marked. The balls should be sea-
soned either in the stick or after mold
ing, or both combined, for u year. They
are then trimmed to take off the squeeze
out" or excess after moldins. and painted.
Then when the paint is hardened and dried
they are boxed in dozens and are ready
for the dealer OF player To make golf
balls Of known reliability, of uniform size
and appearance, with clean-cut markings,
resilient enough to suit the most skillful
and strongest players, durable and prop
erly painted with paint that will not
easily wear or chip off, and perhaps most
important of all, properly seasoned, re-
Quires skill, patience, and large amount
Of capital.
AS there are differences in size, SO there
are in markings. The easiest to make is
the pebbled "Agrippa" style, because the
upper half of the mold does not have to
match or line up with the lower half.
Others are marked with concentric circles
of different sizes. varying in number from
five to ten on each hemisphere, with like
number of circles running tTausv ersely. the
makers name marked at top or bottom.
One marking is as good as another-it is
all matter Of style, taste, individuality,
not question of flight. But it is believed
that markings of some kind are absolutely
necessary-that they cause the bal! to fly
better. This is a tradition which is ac-
cepted as true.
A full size ball weighs twenty and
one-half pennyweights, AID is SO marked.
Balls of the larger size can be remade by
anybody with a mold, some potash to take
off the paint, pan OF hot water and some
good white paint that will adhere. Balls
too small TO remake may be sold for the
gutta percha that is in them, and made
into stick" Red and white gutta percha
Is common, but a green variety, obtained
from the leaves OF the tree, Is said to be
the best ever imported for golf balls. The
gutta, by the way, has grain or fiber as
a result Of manufacturing which runs al
ways transversely in every ball properly
nodded. The molding or COMPRISING is
from top to bottom, and the grain runs
So great is the scarcity of gutta that
are buying up old balls,
no matter what the condition, making
them into stick" and making new full
sized balls from it, practice which is IA
tai to the honesty of many caddies.
Besides years stock of madeup balls
on hand seasoning a golf ball
must have a large amount
Of raw stock, which at a cost Of So per
pound is large item In itself. To wash
grind, roll, and make into tubes or stick
requires special heavy expensive machin-
cry, with great engines to run 1t. Then
there are the presses and molds. all to
be specially and carefully made by the
most expensive skilled labor, molds of
different kinds and styles, presses of Pc
cuiar and expensive make and of different
sizes.
In making, all the work must be done
by hand, and the Jumps Of gutta and the
ball must be handled separately ten or a
dozen times before II is ready to sell The
ball must be tested carefully to ascertain
quality of paint, which should be thin,
clear white, leaving the markings well de-
fined, not covered up. and IL must adhere |
we'll. Balls shrink trifle in size after sea-
a n hof Of
which tendencies must be allowed for. II !
there were large concerns fitted with heavy |
which could make gutta stick |
and sell it, just as steel tubes are Sold it |
would not require quite SO much capital /
% manufacture golf balls. Suppose bust |
ness of $4,000 only annually is desired; |
he first year all business must be done !
without a sale and without revenue, MOTH
ng but expense; labor. stock, rent. and |
must all be paid for-all outgo, |
10 income
Twenty thousand dollars worth of balls !
must be stored, certain amount of raw !
stock must be on hand or in progress, and |
statesmen sent out to the trade and adver- !
Using paid for to get the goods before the !
public. If the stick could be purchased (
IS ] have suggested the outlay would be +
n the neighborhood of $50. 900, invested for |
nearly if not quite a whole year before |
he product of the first month could be
If raw gutta percha is to be
bought and manufactured into stick the
irst cost would be very much greater,
md business on a much larger scale would |
lave to be undertaken.
Gutta percha is imported free of duty,
,ut a golf ball pays a heavy duty-35 per
Transcript.
Racing mt BriEhtwOOd.
There will be three events at the
3rightwood halfmile track Wednesday
afternoon with unusually large fields