The Manufacture of
Rubber Footwear
An illustrated story of
Rubber from its growth
to the finished Product
La Crosse Rubber Mills Company
La Crosse, Wisconsin
Copyright 1925
La Crosse Rubber Mills Company
La Crosse, Wisconsin
Looking Backward
On the Banks of the Mississippi
On the raised prairie, flanking the line of the wooded
Mississippi bluffs, and fringed with a border of
Scarlet-tinged sumach and brilliant yellow birch and
hazel,
might be seen, some hundreds of years ago, a gathering of
Indians playing their favorite autumn game of Lacrosse.
To the west, but a mile away, flowed the Father of Waters
with its soft blue hills rising high behind heavily wooded
banks—a beautiful view.
Only dimly conscious of Nature's charms, the Indians
plied their game with all the zeal and vigor of school and
college youths of today. Lightly clad, their perspiring
bodies shone in the hot September sun like new molten
statues of bronze. This made all the more noticeable the
careful protection afforded their feet by the well made
and in many cases highly decorated moccasins they wore.
Soles and shins well needed protection from bramble and
sand-bur, stones and flinty pebbles as well as from the
swift strokes of their long netted racquets. As useful an
automobile today without tires as an Indian bereft of his
moccasins. The moccasin was his salvation in summer or
winter, on the war-path or in sport, for young and old.
Nothing the American Indian ever devised or made excelled
the moccasin in fulfilling satisfactorily its specific
service to him.
On the Shores of the Amazon
With movie-like swiftness and ease, we now change the
scene from the banks of the Father of Waters. to the
shores of the Amazon, three thousand miles away, in
the equatorial region of Brazil. Here, too, Indians are
playing a game of ball. Whether with bat or racquet we
do not know. But it was with a ball that bounded
miraculously
when it struck the ground and yielded gently to
the hand when you caught it. Wonderful to say, it
never seemed to lose its bound, and water did not injure
it. Corresponding to the moccasin of their brothers in the
Northern Hemisphere, we note that some of the players
are wearing crudely fashioned but snugly fitting shoes on
their feet. From their color and appearance, these are
evidently made from the same material as the bounding
ball with which they are playing.
We wish you particularly to mark this, for in the course
of a few centuries the crude shoes made of this same
material will meet the moccasins of the North in an
ingenious
bond of union.
Our Story Begins
This in fact is the story we have to tell. It covers some
four centuries of time and will lead us to all parts of
the
world before we return again to the banks of the
Mississippi
and the scene of Lacrosse.
Many notable men will play their parts in it for the
makers of rubber are a distinguished line. It would seem
that this product from the very beginning gave such
promise of mysterious powers and of unlimited
possibilities
that it has attracted to it the best thought and
efforts of some of the world's greatest minds. The
marvelous
part it is playing in the world's work and play and
welfare of today would have been impossible without it.
Rubber Begins Its Travels
Columbus learned of this strange new substance on his
second voyage in 1493 and brought reports of it with him
to the Spanish Court. When the later Spanish explorers
saw these rubber balls, they were delighted and brought
scores of them back for their various ball games at home -
tennis in its beginnings, no doubt — and for children to
bounce and play with.
The French called the substance from which these
balls were made, "Caoutchouc," the nearest they could
get to the Indian name, "caa-o-chu," "weeping tree,"
from whose milky liquid, or tears, it was made.
The first of the English to bring reports of it to England
was none other than the redoubtable Sir Walter Raleigh.
Page three
The Manufacture of Rubber Footwear
No doubt the great Queen Elizabeth heard of it from his
lips with unfeigned interest and a woman's curiosity.
The Origin of Rubber
Reverting for the moment again to the country of its
origin on the upper branches of the Amazon, it will be
instructive and interesting to trace the source and manner
of the making of this mysterious substance that so aroused
the wonder of all.
Caoutchouc originates, we find, from the milk-like
sap or latex of a large number of tropical trees, shrubs,
vines, even weeds. These are all to be found in almost
every country of the globe which lies in the belt from 30°
North latitude to 30? South latitude. The most prolific
growth of them, however, is to be found within the 10°
meridians under distinctly equatorial conditions of
climate and rainfall.
The latex of which rubber is a residue, somewhat as
butter-fat is of cream, flows more or less freely from any
part of the tree or shrub as soon as a cut or incision is
made. It comes very much as the sap runs from our own
sugar maples in early spring, or as turpentine does from
the pines in the South.
While there are thus a great variety of rubber-yielding
trees and plants, the one from which our best commercial
rubber is obtained is known to the botanist as Hevea
Braziliensis. This tree grows to very large size and is
native to the upper branches of the Amazon River. It is
beyond question the king of rubber - bearing trees.
Therefore,
the very best grades of rubber, coming from these
trees in the Upper Amazon, are known as "Up River
Fine Para."
This same species of Hevea Braziliensis yields today our
best Plantation or Cultivated Rubber, for, as we shall
later relate, seeds of this tree were smuggled out of
Brazil
and used to start the present great plantations in the Far
East. The rubber trees on our great plantations today are
direct descendants of the Hevea Braziliensis of the
Amazon.
How the Milk is Gathered
and Treated
The trees do not grow in great forests of their own but
are
scattered through the dense jungle land of the upper
branches of the Amazon. This country is so wild and
tangled and dangerous that only the native Indians will
follow the occupation of gathering the milk and undergo
the torture of coagulating the milk into the raw rubber
biscuits of commerce.
When the native rubber gatherer arrives at the scene
of his labors by the rivers and streams that penetrate the
jungle, his first work is to build a hut suspended among
the trees above the dense tropical undergrowth. The rubber
gathering season usually begins in May. Starting out
early each morning, this native Indian makes the round
of as many trees as he can "farm,11 from 70 to 150 in a
day,
winding his way from tree to tree by devious, difficult
paths which he has cleared in the impenetrable jungle.
These forests are very dangerous to life as well because
of the reptiles and poisonous insects that infest them.
The deadly tarantula is especially feared.
With a small hatchet he makes two converging incisions
in the bark, and sees that each cup is in its place
directly under the small spout or stem which he has
inserted at the junction of the two incisions.
A typical rubber grove on the Island of Ceylon
Having completed his first round, he takes a large pail
and immediately sets out on his second round, collecting
the latex or milk from his cups.
With his pail at last well filled, he repairs to his hut
and builds a fire under a sort of clay-baked oven or
chimney, which is made conical in shape the better to
concentrate the smoke and heat. By feeding his fire palm
nuts, a heavy, hot, suffocating smoke is formed. Taking a
stick or paddle, he immerses this in the pail of milk or
pours it a little at a time over the paddle. This he keeps
turning and turning over the smoking embers until the
milk has coagulated from the heat and smoke, forming a
close-fitting covering of smoky brown caoutchouc or
native rubber. This process is repeated again and again,
Page four
La Crosse Rubber Mills Company
the smoke almost suffocating him meanwhile, and all but
blinding his smarting eyes. It is a painful, trying
process.
But his patience and perseverance are finally rewarded
with a great rounded mass of pure rubber. It is about the
size, and shape of a large hornets" nest, and smells very
much like a freshly smoked ham. When it is cut in two,
in order to release the paddle on which it has been so
painfully formed, the native has two so-called "biscuits"
of "fine para," weighing from sixty to eighty pounds, as
the reward for his arduous and painful labor.
At the end of the working season, before the heavy
November rains begin, the native loads his year's
production
on board a raft or dugout and floats it down the river
to Para, the original rubber port to all the world.
This raw rubber, crudely made by these native Indians
of the Amazon, but coming from the finest rubber trees
in the world, was for years the best and purest grade
rubber produced anywhere. Even today it is unexcelled.
"Fine Hard Para” in rubber is equivalent to 24 karat in
gold, to sterling in silver, the standard by which all
others
are measured. This grade, however, is now attained by
plantation rubber from the transplanted Heveas in the
East Indies as well as from the native grown trees in
Brazil. But for the greater part of the 19th century, "Up
River Para," was our only source of supply. The City of
Para was the world's own rubber port. The city that was
formerly known as Para on the upper Amazon, is now
Native tapping rubber tree, showing the now much used
herring-bone cut
the city of Manaos, the present City of Para being a
coast port near the mouth of the Para River.
Rubber Receives Its Name
It was not until early in the 19th century, however, that
any quantity of this new and mysterious substance found
its way into England, the country which, with our own,
was destined to play a most important part in its
development.
While experimenting with it at this time, a learned
Englishman, Dr. Joseph Priestly, discovered that it would
erase pencil marks wonderfully well. So he quite casually
told the artist world about it in a little work he was
then
writing on the "Theory and Practice of Perspective."
It should be of special interest to them, he thought, and
directed them to where it could be purchased.
The artists of that day took to the suggestion eagerly
and in good practical English simply called the substance,
"rubber," because it would "rub" out their mistakes
made in pencil when drawing. And so what is likely the
least of its commercial uses today was its very first, and
was the one which gave it its name.
First "Mackintosh" Made
In 1823, Charles Mackintosh invented a cloth impregnated-
with rubber that within certain bounds proved
quite serviceable. The name, "Mackintosh," for rubber
coats thus came in vogue.
Thomas Hancock, the other important English inventor
of this period, brought out an endless variety of rubber
products. These soon began to be shipped all over the
world. Roughly fashioned rubber overshoes and bottles
made by the natives of the Amazon by simply allowing
the rubber fluid to coagulate over forms of wood or clay
found increasing favor.
American Manufacture of
Rubber Begins
America was early an eager importer of rubber goods,
both from England and from Brazil. The Roxbury India
Rubber Company of Roxbury, Mass., was the first to
begin its manufacture. Many others soon engaged in its
trade and almost over night the first great rubber boom
was on.
But it was not to be of long duration. The bubble soon
burst. For while these early rubber products were
waterproof
and serviceable under certain favorable conditions,
they did not bear up under heat or cold. Rubber coats
subject to the heat of summer sun or the warmth of a
stove would melt and wither away, while in cold weather
the fabric would crack and break and become useless for
wear. With all their experimenting and inventions, the
fundamental secret of fabricating rubber had not yet been
found.
Page five
Goodyear Discovers Vulcanization
The discovery of this secret was left for the inventive
genius and untiring effort of an American, Charles
Goodyear, to make. An admitted failure as a business
man, at one time, in fact, imprisoned for debt, Charles
Goodyear was drawn into the solution of the problem
of rubber as the one great purpose and passion of his
life.
Goodyear, an inventor by profession, had this seemingly
insurmountable problem of the rubber industry presented
to him to solve by an employee of the pioneer Roxbury
Rubber Company mentioned above. This company was
then on the very verge of bankruptcy due to the failure
of its rubber products to stand up under wear. The
public had become disgusted with anything and everything
made of "gum elastic," as it was called, and would
have nothing more of it at any price.
Charles Goodyear spent the next six years either in the
direct employ of the Roxbury company or working in
cooperation
with it, seeking the solution he knew he would
discover some day. Nothing in the world could stop him.
Finally, as it chanced, he became acquainted with a
foreman of a rubber company which had just failed, a
Nathaniel Hayward, and learned of his partial success in
hardening rubber by sprinkling the raw rubber article
thinly with sulphur and exposing it to the sun. As
children say in playing hide-and-seek, Hayward and
Goodyear were getting very "warm," but they had not
yet found the secret, though it was now right under their
eyes.
Sulphur Saves the Day
Charles Goodyear bought Hayward's sulphur idea from
him and continued to work upon it, trying now this
experiment,
now that. A year afterwards, in 1839, the
elusive secret of vulcanizing rubber with the aid of
sulphur
was at last discovered. It seemed almost by accident.
Such, indeed, is the accepted tradition. But it was in
fact
the well and hard-earned reward of years of indefatigable
research, experiment, and heart-breaking failure.
While testing out some samples of rubber materials
with sulphur in them, Goodyear noticed pieces which
had chanced to come in contact with the hot surface of a
stove became charred and hard like leather. Confident
that he was at last on the right trail of his
revolutionary
discovery, he kept on with his experiments until he was
satisfied his method was sure and complete. The mixing of
sulphur with the raw rubber and subjecting this mixture
to the action of great heat, was at last an accomplished
fact. To this day, this discovery of Goodyear is as
fundamental
to the manufacturer of rubber, albeit with
South View of Main Manufacturing Buildings, La Crosse,
Wis.
Page six
Goodyear s Struggle to Win
Recognition
But even with the possession of his long-sought and
precious secret, Goodyear's financial troubles pursued
him until his dying day. It was two years before he could
get capital interested to back his discovery. The original
patents were granted in 1841.
Then came years of litigation to defend his patent.
Where everyone had scoffed at his unceasing efforts
and heart-breaking self-sacrifice to gain his goal, now
hundreds
sprang up to claim that they had had the idea first.
Daniel Webster, America's most eminent statesman and
lawyer, was Goodyear's faithful counsel and finally won
the day for him.
Vulcanization in England
During this period, Goodyear, seeking to protect his
discovery abroad, had sent a representative to England
with samples of the new rubber or "gum elastic," as he
called it. Pieces of this fell into the hands of Thomas
Hancock, the same Hancock that we have previously
mentioned as the most energetic and enterprising of
English rubber goods manufacturers. At once recognizing
that a revolutionary discovery had been made, he set
about re-discovering the secret for himself.
It did not take his keen chemical scent long to detect
the presence of sulphur. He soon developed his own
process, based on the knowledge thus gained, and took
out his own patent in England. It was one of Hancock's
co-workers who gave the process its name, "vulcanization,"
from Vulcan, the Greek God of Fire. Hancock,
however, was always fair enough to give Goodyear all the
credit for the discovery.
To Goodyear, indeed, must ever remain the chief credit
for effecting this momentous union of sulphur and crude
rubber with heat, which has wrought such a miracle in
the life of the world. The discovery takes its place
beside
that of Watts' Steam Engine, Morse's Telegraph, Bell's
Telephone, Ericsson's Merrimac, the Pasteur discovery of
bacteria, the gas engine, the electric dynamo, the
airplane
and the other "Seven Wonders" of the Modern World.
Some of the crude rubber as it comes to our mills
Employees entering the plant
Some of the crude rubber as it comes to our mills
Page seven
Wild Versus Plantation Rubber
This long-sought discovery of Goodyear's which was
so fundamental and essential to the manufacture of
rubber products was immediately followed by a development
of that industry such as has never been equalled in
any other before or since. While given unprecedented
impetus
by the advent of the automobile, its development in
almost every branch of manufactured product has been
almost equally marked. Rubber is one of the essential
basic materials of our living needs today. The total
production
of rubber products has grown from an unknown
but quite negligible figure in 1843, and from over 25
millions in 1879, the year of the government's first
official
reports, to a possible billion and a quarter in 1925.
So vast an industry, so essential a need to the very
operation and well-being of our modern world could not
with safety depend on so difficult and uncertain a source
of supply as the virginal native rubber of the Amazon in
South America. Even as early as 1800 was the idea of
rubber plantations born, and our same Thomas Hancock
was in 1834 publicly advocating it.
First Plantations Started
Several unsuccessful attempts were made to start plants
in the botanical gardens in England from rubber-tree
seeds smuggled out of Brazil. The authorities there were
naturally watchful to protect their monopoly of the
world's greatest and best source of rubber. At last,
taking the bull by the horns in true English fashion, Sir
Joseph Hooker, then Director of the Kew Botanical
Gardens, located on the south bank of the Thames, near
London, entrusted the whole matter to Henry A. Wickham
of London, who had spent several years in Brazil
making a thorough study of rubber trees. He had arrived
at very well formulated plans for starting rubber
plantations
in the British East Indies from the seeds of the
Hevea Braziliensis, if he could only secure the seeds.
Given
carte blanche to secure the seeds, no matter how, and tell
how he had done it afterwards, Wickham accomplished
his task in a soldierly and scientific manner.
Having very carefully gathered a plentiful supply of
selected seeds of Hevea Braziliensis, king of rubber
trees,
and with great pains wrapped each one up to prevent its
"dying" en route, Wickham had the good fortune to get
his whole precious cargo on board a cargoless home-bound
boat at exactly the time he needed it. With the British
Consul at Para assisting him, he represented to the port
authorities that he had a very valuable cargo of rare
botanical specimens for Queen Victoria's own Royal
Botanical Gardens at Kew, which was, in fact, the truth.
This representation made such an impression on the
These precious seeds, rushed to England with all possible
speed—did not millions, yes, billions of dollars depend
upon it?—were immediately planted in the Kew Botanical
Gardens in June, 1876. The seedlings were later carefully
transplanted in Ceylon, Borneo and Malaya, and the
foundation for the wonderfully productive rubber
plantations
of the present were laid. Modern development of
the rubber industry in tires, footwear, and clothing would
have been out of the question without them.
This happened in 1876, our Centennial Year. There are
trees still living today in the Eastern Tropic Botanical
Gardens in Ceylon that were grown from Sir Wickhair’s
original seeds. He was knighted for his resourcefulness
and
daring.
Now instead of trees being scattered in jungles, almost
beyond human reach, and being farmed by poor ignorant
natives for only a few months in the year, we have
pedigreed
trees set out row upon row, carefully, scientifically
cultivated from the day they are first set out. It
requires
about six years' growth before the Hevea Braziliensis
trees
can be tapped. Only the most skilled and experienced
workers are allowed to make the tapping incisions, and
Other forms of crude rubber
every effort is made to render the housing and living conditions
of the labor employed comfortable and agreeable.
No high-grade dairy farm in our own country is conducted
with a keener eye to cleanliness and to scientific
handling
of the milk, than is exercised on one of these East India
Rubber Plantations. Only the cows here are milk-producing
trees, and the milk, instead of curdling into butter
and cheese, coagulates into pure India rubber.
The first step in the handling of crude rubber. The wash
mill
Page nine
Plantation Rubber Dominates Today
This development of plantation rubber was slow of
growth and even as late as 1905, almost thirty years after
Wickham brought the fateful seeds to England, the world's
production of plantation rubber was only 3/10 of one
per cent, that of wild rubber 99.7%. But then the
production
of plantation rubber began to climb with a will, so
that the latter was passed on the 50-50% mark in 1914,
and in 1924 plantations furnished 93.2% of the world's
supply and only 6.8% came from the wild. Man's well-
ordered cultivation had won over the productiveness of
the jungle.
The British, having thus in their colonies been pioneers
in Rubber Plantation development, and possessing unlimited
areas in their Colonies ideally adapted for it, have
naturally and deservedly gained first place and virtual
control of the world's supply of crude rubber. Seventy-
five per cent of the world's plantation areas is under
British ownership or control.
On the other hand, our own country is the world's
greatest market for crude rubber. More than 80 per cent
of the world's production of crude rubber is consumed in
the United States. Only three other products exceed it in
import value—raw silk, sugar, and coffee. Our rubber
imports in 1924 were about $250,000,000. Three of our
major industries depend upon it,—rubber manufacturing,
the automobile, and oil. Rubber manufacturing, which
today is one of the leaders in industry, is directly
dependent
on crude rubber for its existence. Without rubber
tires the great automobile industry would not be possible,
and the huge oil industry is largely dependent on the
automobile.
It is small wonder that thinking men high in the industry
in our country today are advocating the development
of rubber plantations on American soil. The cost of
automobiles, of auto travel, and of thousands of articles
of everyday use and wear are directly dependent upon
the cost of raw rubber. As the world's greatest consumers
of it, should we not provide means to supply ourselves
with a counterbalancing source of our own supply?
Para Joins Cotton and Wool on the Banks of the Mississippi
The time is now ripe for us to return to the scene of our
story's beginning on the banks of the Father of Waters,
and make good the prophecy then made. While the world
drama of rubber has been unfolding before us, with many
men of distinguished note, as we have seen, playing the
leading roles and covering centuries of time in the
acting,
here, too, we find great changes have taken place.
A mixing mill
Page ten
Indian Hill Today
Where our Indians, two and three hundred
years before, were playing so eagerly at
their game of Lacrosse, in the hot September sun,
now stands the plant of the La Crosse Rubber
Mills Company, an early and important outpost
of the rubber industry in America. Where before
lay unbroken wood, marsh and rolling prairie
to the silvery river beyond, lies now the modern
city of La Crosse. Its well-ordered streets and
lawns are so thickly shaded with thousands of
trees as to give one viewing it from Indian Hill
the impression of a City in a Wood. Now, as
then, the view is one of great and restful beauty.
At night, it becomes indeed a glorious scene,
resplendent with thousands of brilliant lights,
most of them fixed, but others fleeting in smooth,
swift movement over the highways and streets—
the electric light and the automobile, both made
possible by the wonder product, rubber.
The White Man's Moccasin
In the manufacture of the La Crosse Tennis and other
forms of athletic shoes, the Indian's Moccasin has been
transformed for white man's use, and by transforming the
crude rubbers of the South American Indian to the fine
new rubber footwear of today, our prophecy of the eventual
union of Para with Cotton and Wool on the banks of
the Mississippi has been fulfilled. There is no doubt of
their being most happy and useful in their union for many
years to come.
How these moccasins of the modern civilized world, La
Crosse Tennis Shoes, are made and fashioned, as well as
the many other forms of rubber footwear, is quite as
interesting
as the story of the origin and production of rubber
itself. While the latter has taken us to the far distant
corners of the world, covering several hundred years of
time, the process of its manufacture is entirely completed
within the walls of one large manufacturing plant, such as
the La Crosse Rubber Mills.
You will find, we believe, the illustrated journey
which follows covering the various steps of manufacture
of rubber footwear from the raw plantation
rubber to the finished La Crosse product both interesting
and instructive.
Churns for mixing rubber cement
Drying the crude rubber after the washing process
Grinding the rubber after it comes from the driers
Page eleven
How Rubber Footwear Is Made
The Mill Room
The scene of the very first processes in the manufacture
of any rubber product is the Mill Room. This is a large,
noisy room, reverberating with the pounding of the
heavy rollers and the clanking of gigantic gears of the
ponderous and powerful machines which are necessary to
subdue the tough, resisting crude rubber to clean and
plastic civilised use. Here is the big artillery of the
manufacturing
process, where whole batteries of "Big Berthas"
grind and roll our rubber into workable form.
Washing and Drying
The first step in the manufacture of rubber footwear is
the
washing and drying of the crude rubber as it comes from
the plantations of the East or from the wilds of the
Amazon. While this first step is now being taken care of
more and more at the rubber plantations themselves before
shipping and is even being done for the best grades of
Para rubber at the ports of export in South America,
thereby relieving the manufacturers of this task,
provision
has still to be made for it in the case of the lower
grades of
both the plantation and wild rubbers.
Washing and drying consists of first soaking the crude
rubber in warm water until it becomes fairly soft. It is
then cut into small pieces and fed into the wash mill or
cracker, the rolls of which are corrugated and over which
a stream of water is flowing. This operation is repeated
several times until the dirt is removed and the rubber
takes the form of a sheet.
These sheets are next put on trays and placed in the
vacuum drier, the temperature of which is varied according
to the grade of rubber. The best, such as Fine Para,
will stand a great deal of heat, while poorer grades will
stand much less. The time for drying varies from one to
two and one-half hours.
Making Rubber Plastic
After the washing and drying are complete the rubber is
thoroughly ground or masticated to make it plastic and
workable. This is done on large mills with smooth rolls
which gradually break down the rubber from the form of a
A calender showing fabric being processed with rubber
Page twelve
rough, thick sheet to a plastic mass. These rolls are
water-
cooled to offset the great amount of heat generated by the
friction of the rubber during this process. A plentiful
supply of good cold water for this cooling is a big
problem
with all rubber mills.
Here again, the quality of the rubber determines the
time required to obtain the desired results. Up River
Fine Para and also some Plantation Rubbers require three-
quarters to one hour for masticating while some of the
softer rubbers require only fifteen minutes. In fact, to
the
practical man this test scarcely ever fails to reveal the
true physical qualities of the rubber.
Mixing the Compounds
After the rubber has been reduced from an elastic to a
plastic condition, the reclaimed rubber and the compounds
are added, the reclaimed being added first. It generally
requires from five to ten minutes for the rubber to take
up the compound. At this stage the mixture is in the form
of a sheet from one-half to three-quarters of an inch in
thickness.
The weighing of crude rubber, reclaimed rubber and
the compounds, is in itself a very important step, and
must be done with great care to insure accurate
proportions
and uniformly satisfactory results.
Reclaimed Rubber
Reclaimed rubber is that which is recovered from various
kinds of worn or used rubber, such as tires, tubes, boots,
A large calender for coating fabrics
etc. Modern methods of reclaiming yield a product that
compares very favorably with crude rubber and is quite
generally used in rubber products.
The Compounds
The compounds consist of various chemicals used for
vulcanization, the basic one being sulphur. There are also
mineral fillers for reinforcing purposes, softeners,
and pigments for coloring purposes.
Internal Mixing Machines
The more modern method of mixing which is gradually
replacing the old is to place the rubber, reclaimed, and
compounds in internal mixing machines which to some
Soling sheets being run out from the calenders
Page thirteen
extent are comparable to the baker's dough-mixing
machines used in large bakeries. The advantages are lower
power and labor costs, increased production, and the
elimination of dust and fumes.
After the mixing operation the stock is sheeted out on a
rubber mill, then cut in pieces weighing about fifteen
pounds each and stored on benches or trucks.
Calendering
The stock is now ready for calender operations, which
consist of frictioning and coating fabrics and sheeting
out
of upper and soling stocks. Many thousand yards of
fabrics consisting of cotton sheeting, ducks, and
osnaburgs,
and woolen goods, such as jersey cloth and cashmerette
are used annually in manufacturing La Crosse Rubber
Footwear.
Moulding Rubber Heels
Rubber heels are also moulded in this department in
powerful hydraulic presses which are steam heated for
vulcanizing.
Cement Compound
Cement, which is simply a rich rubber compound thoroughly
mixed with gasoline in a power-driven churn, is
also prepared here. This cement forms the cohesive bond
between the component parts of rubber and the fabrics
used in various kinds of footwear.
Cutting Department
The fabric now goes to the cutting department. The
problems here are not very intricate, yet great care must
Operators at work cutting uppers
Page fourteen
be exercised or the department may operate at a big
loss. The greatest part of the cutting of the fabrics is
done with dies on machines. These dies call for a big
investment. The machines cut many thousands of
pieces daily—the balance of the cutting being done by
hand from metal patterns.
The cutting of outsoles is done in a large way on
special machines, a limited amount being cut by hand
from metal patterns. There is also a large amount of
hand cutting of various forms of rubber sheets, strips,
etc., that are assembled for the construction of uppers.
The many thousands of all the different sizes and
shapes of fabric cut and formed under the Production
Manager's careful daily directions and assignments, are
now passed on, according to their destined purpose, to
either the vast sewing room where the tennis uppers
are made and leather trimmings sewed on, or to the
largest department of all, the Shoe-Making Rooms.
Sewing Department
The Sewing Department is a veritable beehive of activity.
The main room is vast in extent, well lighted,
accommodating
several hundreds of employees. It is equipped with
machines of various types used in the sewing of the
fabrics and trimmings that go into the making of tennis
and other forms of rubber shoes. These machines are in a
word equipped to handle the sewing of all possible fabric,
Beam machine used for die cutting
leather and rubber combinations entering into the
manufacture
of rubber footwear. All the various upper parts
cut to pattern in the cutting department are here
assembled
and sewed into completed tops.
Here also are found the machines for the accurate
setting of eyelets and hooks, and for sewing on buttons
and making button holes. All of these are high-powered,
speedy machines of the most modern type. The arrangement
Cutting soles by hand from metal patterns
Page fifteen
Shoe Making Departments
The shoe making departments are most interesting.
They comprise by far the largest section of the factory,
including several large rooms and employing
alone approximately 50% of all who are employed in
the plant. Here the boots and shoes of all varieties
are actually built up on the lasts, the making of
boots requiring the most skilled workmen. The lasts
are handled on sticks which hold four or five pairs,
and these sticks, in turn, fit into slotted bars on shoe
cars. An average car will hold 250 pairs of shoes,
and these cars together with the trackage system
throughout these departments form the transportation
system for handling the many thousand pairs
of lasts and finished shoes daily.
Varnish and Vulcanizing Departments
The shoes after being built up on the lasts are
transported
to the Varnish and Vulcanizing Departments by
means of these cars. The dull finish shoes are run into
the
vulcanizers direct, while the bright finish are directed
into
the varnish room. Here they are varnished before being
vulcanized.
The time required for vulcanizing varies from three to
eight hours, depending upon the class of goods.
The boot makers
Modern Pressure Vulcanizers
The illustration on page 19 shows a battery of the latest
improved pressure vulcanizers. These new vulcanizers are
so constructed that the goods are subjected to air
pressure
while being vulcanized. This process welds together the
various parts, producing an improved product that has
tough, live, and elastic rubber, giving greatly increased
wearing qualities. These vulcanizers are used to produce
extra quality merchandise.
One of the several large shoemaking rooms
Page seventeen
Night Shift
After vulcanization, the shoes are removed from the
lasts and delivered to the packing room tables, the
many varieties being carefully sorted. The lasts are
then sent back to the shoe making department. This
work is done by a night crew so as to have everything
in readiness for prompt operation the following
day in the packing room and the shoemaking
departments.
Lasts — a Big Problem
The problem of lasts in a rubber footwear factory
has come to be very complicated and difficult. This
is because of the endless variety and constantly
changing styles. The lasts represent a very large
investment in order to be constantly abreast of
shoe fashions, and the efficient storage and handling
of the lasts involves a large amount of factory floor
space, equipment, and attention.
Packing Department
In the packing department the shoes of all kinds
are trimmed, sorted and subjected to the most rigid
inspection before they are passed and packed for
shipment. Every pair of boots, shoes or rubbers
passes through the hands of a competent and critical
inspector before it is permitted to leave the department.
This is the final inspection of the goods
themselves, and anything found in any way defective
or not up to the high standard set and maintained
for La Crosse products is thrown out.
Box making department
Inspecting light rubbers in packaging room
Stitching department where tennis tops are sewed
Page twenty
A section of the packing room
A section of the shipping department from where we ship La
Crosse Rubber Footwear to all parts of the world
Page twenty-one
However, a very important part remains, that of
delivering the product to thousands of dealers and
distributors scattered not only throughout this country
but in many countries of the Old World and of the
Orient as well.
From the packing department the product is therefore
passed on to the warehouse and shipping department.
This department is so extensive and important that it
is housed in a separate building designed especially for
the storage of rubber footwear and for the prompt and
efficient execution of all orders, large or small. Almost
60,000 square feet of space is devoted to the storing of
the
great variety of styles and sizes which it is always
necessary
to have in readiness to insure prompt and efficient
handling of all orders. Here are ample facilities for
loading
both by truck and direct into railroad cars. For the
latter
a sidetrack from the Chicago & North Western Railroad
is directly available. The railroad facilities in La
Crosse
can hardly be excelled, for in addition to the above named
railroad are also the Chicago, Milwaukee 6? St. Paul, the
Burlington Route and the Green Bay and Western.
Laboratory and experimental building
Designing and Experimental Department
In every large, progressive manufacturing plant, there
must be one department that is constantly and exclusively
working to improve product and methods. It not only
seeks by constant experiment and test to keep the product
In the La Crosse Rubber Mills, the Development
Department has a separate building of its own, immediately
adjoining the main plant. It comprises three distinct
divisions,—the Pattern Room, the Chemical and Physical
Laboratory, and the Miniature Manufacturing Plant.
Designing or Pattern Room
Styles in footwear, like styles in hats and clothing are,
of
course, constantly changing. The many different patterns
or designs must therefore be constantly changed to keep
pace with the latest fashions. This is particularly true
of
the styles to be worn over leather shoes, for these, in
order to fit neatly and give greatest satisfaction, must
conform
closely to the general styles of footwear in vogue at
the time, over which they are intended to be worn.
In this department, therefore, originate the patterns
for every style and kind of shoe, boot and rubber. It is
easy to understand that these many changes in designs
and patterns covering a great variety of product keep the
department busy all the year round. The work must be
done with great care and accuracy, for much of the success
of the finished product depends upon the skill and
exactness
with which all of these patterns and sizes are laid out
and fitted to meet these constantly changing requirements.
Grading Machine
An interesting device in the making of patterns is what
is called the grading machine. This operates on the same
principle as the draftsman's pantograph, so that when a
designer has once worked out a correct pattern for any
given size and style of shoe, all of the other sizes can
be
cut on this machine exactly to conform with it.
Satisfaction
in fit and appearance of the finished article in all
sizes of the same style is dependent on this grading being
done accurately.
Chemical and Physical Testing Laboratory
A completely equipped Laboratory affords means of
chemically and physically testing all the various
compounds,
mixtures and materials that enter into the manufacture
of rubber footwear. The purpose of this is two-
fold. First, to keep product uniform and up to standard
always in the matter of compounds and mixtures. Also, by
tests, to see that all materials purchased are up to the
required specifications. Second, to be working out new
compounds and mixtures necessary to solve new problems
of production as they come up.
Miniature Manufacturing Plant
In order to facilitate the Chemist and Production Manager
in trying out new compounds and methods, a complete
Rear view of plant showing power house and coal storage
Page twenty four
Miniature Rubber Manufacturing Plant has been constructed
for their use in this same experimental building.
Here are found in miniature exact working duplicates of
the rubber mills for grinding, calendering machines, the
vulcanizers and other special equipment and machinery
used in the factory itself. Nothing is ever adopted in the
Plant until it has been thoroughly and satisfactorily
tried
out first in the Miniature Plant.
The Power Plant
The power required to keep in constant motion these
hundreds of machines is very considerable. Above all this
power must be always dependable. It must never fail.
The prime movers of the La Crosse Rubber Mills
machinery are located in a large power house, furnishing
an independent and absolutely dependable supply of
power for the entire plant. Here are engines and
generators
of the most approved types. Also a very modern
boiler plant with a battery of large boilers, each
constructed
with the latest equipment for obtaining highest
possible efficiency, including the very latest in labor-
saving devices for handling coal and ashes.
In conjunction with this, a very complete machine
shop is maintained for keeping all machinery and equipment
in first-class condition at all times. Likewise to build
new equipment and machinery for the plant itself.
Fire Protection
The plant is protected throughout with modern sprinkler
equipment. Three sources of water supply are available
for this: the city water service; a special reserved
reservoir
supplied with an automatic fire-pump; and a large
tank supply mounted on a tower above the plant. In
addition, fire extinguishers are placed throughout the
plant, and proper exits provided on every floor. The
buildings themselves are of reinforced concrete fire-proof
construction.
The above precautions against fire provide the maximum
protection of life and property. From this follows,
too, the surest insurance against shut-downs on account
of fire and the consequent interruption of production.
This is also a protection to our customers, assuring them
prompt delivery of their orders.
Page twenty-six
La Crosse Rubber Mills Company
A Bit of History
The La Crosse Rubber Mills Company was first organized
in 1897, the original idea being to manufacture
rubber clothing. While this business developed quite
satisfactorily
for a time, market conditions made it advisable
in 1906 to try the wider and less crowded field of rubber
footwear.
The next six years were admittedly critical years in the
development of the business due to the many technical
problems of manufacture to be solved and the inexperience
of those in charge in this very difficult field of rubber
manufacture.
Among the leading stockholders, all of whom were
La Crosse citizens who had invested in the new enterprise
to help promote a home industry and so help the
city, were Mr. M. Funk and Mr. A. Hirschheimer. These
men, having had successful manufacturing experience,
were not to be discouraged and had faith in the future of
the new and struggling enterprise.
In 1912, therefore, they bought a controlling interest in
the company, placing two sons of Mr. Funk in direct
charge of management and operation. Of these, Mr.
Albert P. Funk, after leaving college, had been connected
with the office force of the company and so was conversant
with business management and finance. As Secretary
and General Manager, Mr. Albert P. Funk took direct
supervision of the reorganized business.
The equally essential department of plant supervision,
directing the processes and methods of manufacture, was
assigned to Mr. Arthur S. Funk, as Treasurer and
Assistant Manager. He had specialized in rubber chemistry
in his college work and before being placed in charge
of the manufacturing had enjoyed valuable experience in
rubber footwear manufacture. The technical knowledge
and experience which had been lacking before, Mr.
Arthur Funk was therefore able to supply. The new
combination
of capable management with skilled direction of
manufacturing justified from the very first the faith of
the
founders. When the new managers took charge, the plant
consisted only of the old wooden buildings shown in
Illustration No. 1, page 2,8. The company had but 150
employees with a daily capacity of only 1200 pairs. The
product was not well known and admittedly not as yet
of a high grade.
Immediately, however, progress and growth began.
The first of the large, reenforced concrete buildings was
constructed the very next year in order to increase
production
and promote efficiency. (Illustration No. 2, page
28.) Production had soon jumped to 6,000 pairs a day and
the
improved product came at once to be acknowledged as
equal or superior to any other standard line of footwear
on the market.
Three years later, in 1916, production had grown to
12,000 pairs a day with another large building erected to
take care of it. The buildings as they then stood are
shown by illustration No. 3, page 28.
Even the "off" year, 1921, which compelled so many
rubber footwear manufacturers to slow down both production
and expansion, many being for weeks shut down
entirely, found the La Crosse Rubber Mills still forging
ahead. It was in fact a very prosperous year. Instead of
Page twenty-seven
Illustration No. 1—Plant in 1912
Illustration No. 2—Plant in 1913
Illustration No. 3—Plant in 1916
Illustration No. 4—Plant in 1923
Page twenty-eight
slowing up production, it was raised to an average of
15,000 pairs daily, with 20,000 pairs "Rush" capacity.
The erection of the large warehouse shown at the extreme
left of illustration No. 4, page 28, with a street
frontage
of 300 feet and a depth of 200 feet, took place that year.
This released much needed floor space in the other
buildings
for increased production.
A laboratory building likewise built in the fall of this
year provided needed facilities for conducting research
and test work. This is a spacious one-story building
immediately
back of one of the large units, equipped with
every kind of testing and experimental apparatus necessary
to the successful study and solving of the many
problems in compounds and processes that come up daily
in a large rubber footwear manufacturing plant.
The new Pressure Cure plant, incorporating the very
latest process in vulcanisation, was also installed in
1921.
Only two years later, in 1923, still another large four-
story building, 210 feet long with 105-feet wings at each
end, was added. This provided for increasing the
production
to 40,000 pairs daily.
The new power plant, recently completed, houses
power generating machinery of the most approved kind.
Illustration No. 4 on page 28 shows on the extreme
left the new warehouse erected in 1921. The laboratory
building erected during the same year is a large one story
building, but is hidden in the illustration by one of the
larger buildings. Views of the laboratory building are
shown on pages 22 and 23. At the extreme right of
illustration
No. 4 is shown the new manufacturing building
erected in 1923. During the same year the new power
plant was also erected, but is hidden in this illustration
by the larger buildings. A view of the power plant is
shown on page 24.
With the original plant now entirely replaced and
supplemented with modern, fireproof, steel-concrete
structures, each supplied with the very latest and most
improved machinery, equipment and fixtures, the La
Crosse Rubber Mills stands easily among the foremost
rubber footwear plants in the country. Built almost
entirely
within the last ten years' period, everything is
new, up-to-date, and thoroughly modern throughout.
Between 1200 and 1500 people are now employed by
the company. With the further plant development now
being planned, it will soon require between 1800 to
2000 employees daily to operate the plant to capacity.
At no time has the company strained its credit or
jeopardized
its business in the slightest degree during this
period of marvelous development.
It would have been absolutely impossible to make the
phenomenal progress that has been made by the La Crosse
Rubber Mills Company had not their products been
right, their prices right, and every customer receiving a
square deal.
Bus and truck equipment, and garage
Page twenty-nine
Albert P. Funk
President and Treasurer
Arthur S. Funk
Secretary and Gen'l Manager
William F. Funk
Vice President
H.J. Putman
Gen'l Sales Manager
Page thirty
Administration
The administrative organization of the La Crosse Rubber
Mills Company is as follows:
Albert P. Funk ......... President and Treasurer
Arthur S. Funk
Secretary and General Manager in Charge of Production
William F. Funk ........ Vice President
H. J. Putman .......... General Sales Manager
The executive and business offices are located in the
plant itself, so that there is
direct and personal supervision by the principals over the
whole system of production
and distribution. Free from the hindering restraint of
limited resources,
with an alert, loyal and capable organization supporting
them in every department
of the business, the management of the La Crosse Rubber
Mills Company has
achieved unusual success.
So rapid has been the growth of the company that any
written report is
almost out of date before it is finished. But the
management realize that there
must be no let-up in the standards of quality of product
or service to their customers,
but rather these standards must be raised to achieve the
constant betterment
which they vision for the future.
In the United States alone, nearly 10,000 retail dealers
sell the products of the
company. A large corps of experienced salesmen, some of
whom have been with
the company since its organization, call on the retail
merchants located in Western
New York, Western Pennsylvania, and the Central,
Northwestern and Pacific
Coast states. Distribution in the New England States,
Eastern New York,
Eastern Pennsylvania and all Southern States is obtained
through the efforts of
over one hundred jobbers who sell the "La Crosse Line."
A Meritorious Organization
Seldom has an industrial enterprise been more fortunate in
building up a factory
organization than has the La Crosse Rubber Mills Company.
It has spared no toil
and no expense to find the best people and provide the
best environment and the
best way of doing each task. As a result of this policy
the labor turnover is small
and the employees of the company are nearly all permanent
residents of the City
of La Crosse. They are faithful, conscientious workers,
who appreciate steady
employment and the opportunity to live comfortably and
contentedly while producing
the products of the factory.
To facilitate transportation to and from the homes of
employees, a large fleet of
modern motor busses is operated by the company.
All employees are covered by a liberal amount of life
insurance. Each employee
receives a policy after three months' service, with
provision for an annual increase
until twenty-four years have been spent in the service of
the company. The entire
cost of this Group Insurance is paid by the company.
Large and Efficient Sales Force
Working in harmonious and never-ceasing effort is a large
and loyal force of salesmen,
fifty or more in all, who keep in constant touch with La
Crosse Rubber Mills
Company dealers and distributors in their allotted
territories. With a sound product
to sell and dependable production to assure prompt
deliveries of their orders,
they are able at all times to render their trade a real
business service.
The above factors are reflected in the quality of the
products and service which
the La Crosse Rubber Mills Company has to offer to its
customers and contribute
in a large way to the uninterrupted success of the
company.
World-Wide Distribution of
La Crosse Rubber Footwear
The original idea of the La Crosse Rubber Mills Company
was to supply
tennis and rubber footwear to the Northwest, to which the
city of La Crosse
is a natural and advantageous distributing center.
Quality of product and dependability of service soon began
to extend sales far
beyond this original territory. Large distributors and
jobbers and important
dealers in other parts of the country sought and demanded
the new product.
The rapid, steady growth, year by year, reflected in the
physical expansion of
plant and equipment, has been solely in response to this
constantly growing
demand on the part of the buying public.
Now the products of the company are not only sold
throughout our own
country, but a large export business has been developed in
many foreign countries.
To take care of this foreign business the company
maintains an office in New York
City that is under the direction of a competent Export
Manager, who has charge
of all details relating to foreign sales.
Page thirty-five
The Story's End
Examining the many varieties of footwear produced by the
La Crosse Rubber Mills
Company, you would little surmise a narrative so varied in
action, so far-flung in
time and scene was back of an article outwardly so simple
and plain. But in
reality it has taken, as you have seen, some hundreds of
years of time, many men's
thoughts and strenuous efforts, and our recent
contribution of manufacturing
activities upon them to make the perfected rubber footwear
of today. We trust
that our organization and modern factory will continue the
epoch of this industrial
history and that our constant efforts towards betterment
will prove to be worthy
successors of past events.
While every manufactured product has
back of it an interesting story to be told,
none, we believe, exceeds in dramatic
incident, in its varied scenes, and in its phenomenal
growth and expansion, the story of
rubber.
Intimately incorporated in our product and
business as this remarkable substance is, we feel
that you will be interested in this brief account of
the history of rubber and of the manner in which
it is manufactured into our La Crosse Tennis
Shoes and Rubber Footwear.
A similar booklet, "Caoutchouc," published
some years ago, was so cordially received that we
are confident this even more complete account
brought up to date will enjoy a similar welcome
at your hands.
When you have read it, pass it on to others
you think would also enjoy reading it, for we
know the booklet has an educational value that
will be of interest to many.
La Crosse Rubber Mills Company La Crosse, Wisconsin
