Los Angeles herald., 1910-01-25
GOODYEAR FIRM
TELLS SECRETS
ALLOWS PUBLIC TO LEARN
TIRE-MAKING METHOD
MACHINES PROVE SUPERIORITY
OVER HAND WORK
Inner Tubes Only Part on Which Old
Methods Prevail in Big
Factory at Akron,
Ohio

For many years it has been the prac-
tice of manufacturers of automobile
tires to maintain an atmosphere of the
utmost mystery regarding the various
/ processes and trade secrets that enter
! into the manufacture of their products
Each manufacturer has endeavored to
create the impression that in his par
| ticular factory there were employed
number of secret methods on which he
relied for the superiority of his tires.
This art of secrecy has become almost
tradition with the tire making trade
/ and as result few of the thousands
| of automobile owners, whose chief trou-
/ bles are caused by tires, have the re-
hottest idea of how these bothersome
but necessary adjuncts to automobiling
are constructed.
An exception to the rule, however, is
| the Goodyear company, at Akron, o.
Perhaps the chief reason why the
| Goodyear people are willing to tell of
their methods lies in the fact that they
have succeeded in accomplishing by
machinery what had always heretofore
been done by hand.
The description of the methods by
which crude rubber is converted into
automobile tires will prove of interest
] 10 nlOSI dulOIlODlllSlSS III view VI TIC
fact that 1t is the first time that the
public has been taken behind the scenes
with reference to this industry.
To begin with, tire factory is not
permeated with the frightful smell that
one associates with burning rubber.
The rubber is neither cooked nor burn
ed at any stage of its evolution.
The raw rubber comes to the factory
in the shape of Jumps, and the first pro-
G~ to-. 1c11 nrin
of "masticating" machines, which lit
orally chew it up into small bits. At
the same time the rubber is flooded
with cold water, thus carrying away
the pieces of wood, dirt and other i'm
purities which cling to the rubber as it
comes from the forest.
Rubber Resembles Sponees
The rubber comes from these ma
chimes in rough sheets or layers, re-
sembling somewhat in their consis-
tency the sponges on sale in drug
S ores After hanging for some time in
the dark to dry these layers are passed
| through steam heated rolls. These rolls
travel at different speeds, and by pass
ing the sheets of gum or rubber be-
tween them the material is thoroughly
worked and kneaded, and becomes, in
fact. very much like an exceedingly
| sticky form of dough- AS it passes
through again and again it crackles
| and snaps and draws in quite a re-
markable manner
! From one set of rolls to another the
| sheets of material are kept moving,
and during one of the stages of this
process the chemicals which go to make
the final vulcanized product (the prin-
| cipal chemical of which is sulphur
are mixed with the gum. 1t is these
vulcanizing chemicals and their proper
proportions that constitute what really
are genuine trade secrets in the work
| of tire making.
From the mixing machines the
| sheets or long bands of rubber are
| taken to the calendering machines,
composed chiefly of steam heated rolls.
| A great part of the rubber sticks to
! the rolls, but, strangely enough, that
part which does come out is very
thin, smooth and even strip of material,
| though of course very sticky. By the
| adjustment of the rolls these sheets
| can be made of any desired thickness
| In order to handle these delicate and
| exceedingly sticky strips they are
reeled off from the calendering rolls
between sheets of cotton cloth. Thus
they are easily handled and carried
about and prevented from being torn
! or from accommodating dirt. When it
| is desired it is an easy matter to un-
| reel these rolls of cloth and to separate
the gum from the cotton.
The same rolls are used for making
! fabricated rubber: that is, a kind of
canvas permeated with the rubber
gum, and having one side composed of
| the fabric and one side of rubber. To
produce this fabric long strips of the
! canvas coated on one side with ce-
ment are fed through the rolls in such
a way that the rubber gum adhering
to one is squeezed down upon the can
vas and caused to thoroughly permeate
it. 1t is this fabricated rubber which
is used in large part in making up the
outer case, or shoes, of automobile
tires,
1t is here that the difference between
handmade and machine-made tires be-
gins to be apparent III the handmade
| process these strips of fabricated can
vas, in which the canvas is cut on a
bias, are carefully laid by hand upon
a cast iron core, the purpose of the core
being to give the correct shape to the
| tire.
Machines Prove Effective
BY main strength the operator draws
the fabric around the core, using his
utmost endeavor to put uniform
! stretch throughout the material as it
is drawn around. Several layers are
| Mo cod ono q hove the other thus build