[Illustration: MAKING GARDEN HOSE (WRAPPED CONSTRUCTION)] [Illustration: INSPECTING AUTOMOBILE INNER TUBES _Courtesy of the B. F. Goodrich Co._] [Illustration: BELT PRESS AND ROLL OF CONVEYOR BELT] [Illustration: “BUILDING” WATER BOTTLES] [Illustration: VULCANIZING TRUCK TIRES] [Illustration: INSULATED WIRE READY FOR SHIPMENT _Courtesy of the B. F. Goodrich Co._] From the varnishing department the shoes are taken to the vulcanizers, which are large ovens heated by innumerable steam pipes. The shoes remain in these vulcanizers from six to seven hours, subjected to extreme heat. This heating or vulcanizing process fixes the elasticity of the rubber, increases its strength enormously and unites the parts in such a way as to make the shoe practically one piece. The shoes next go to the packing department, where they are taken off the “lasts,” inspected, marked, tied together in pairs, sorted and packed. They are then sent to the shipping department to be shipped immediately or stored in one of the spacious storehouses. How are Automobile Tires Made? In making tires, the strips of fabric are built together about a steel core to form the body or carcass of the tire. The beads are also added. The side strips, the breaker strip and finally the tread are applied. All of these pieces are sticky, and as they are laid together and rolled down by small hand rollers they adhere to each other, and when the tire is completed it looks very much like the tires you see on automobiles, but it is not yet vulcanized. The rubber is much like tough, heavy dough--there is not much stretch to it and in a cold place it would become hard and brittle. The tire on its steel core is taken to the mold room and placed in a steel box or mold, shaped to exactly enclose it. It is then placed with many others on a steel frame and lowered into a sort of a well or oven, where it remains for a time under pressure in the heat of live steam, after which it is removed, a finished tire. Vulcanization is simply the heating of the rubber mixed with sulphur--this causes a chemical change in the substance; it becomes tougher, more elastic and less affected by heat and cold. This process, discovered in 1839, made rubber the useful substance it is today. The discoverer, Charles Goodyear, to whom we referred before, was never connected in any way except by name with any of the manufacturers of the present day, but his discovery was the real beginning of a great industry. * * * * * How did the Expression “Before you can say Jack Robinson” Originate?