Life, 1909-12-09 · page 2 of 32
Life — December 9, 1909 — page 2: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is **primarily an advertisement**, not satire or political commentary. The Hartford Rubber Works Company is marketing their "Wire Grip Non-Skid" tires (Midgley Patent). The central illustration shows a car skidding dangerously on a wet street while pedestrians scatter—this is the "object lesson" promised in the headline. The ad argues that standard smooth tires cannot grip wet pavement safely, whereas Hartford's embedded steel wire coils provide traction "like cat's claws." The page uses dramatic imagery of near-disaster to sell safety through superior tire design. This reflects early automotive-era concerns about road safety and tire technology. The many branch locations listed indicate Hartford was a major national tire manufacturer of this period.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Published every Tharwlay.. Annual Subscription. Entered at the Post Ofice at New York, N. wry Tharetay, Ans ntered at the ice at New York, N. Y.. a5 Second F H ‘pies. ‘Class Mail Mater. An Object Lesson in Non-Skid Tires @ On a wet, snowy, or muddy street, which shoe would you prefer to trust your equilibrium to? @ The one with the steel wire points, of course. @ A pneumatic rubber tire with smooth tread or with any combination of rubber projections, corrugations, indentations or angles w7// sip on wet asphalt. @@To make a tire skid-proof, mefa/ must positively come into contact with the road. @So we have taken a regular Hartford Tire, with all its superior Hartford Tire quality, and incorporated right into the tire itself, thus: yxa=> four heavy coils of specially made, specially treated steel wire. ‘Those steel coils coming into contact with the road's surface, the rounded coils wear through, becoming thousands of little spikes that grip the ground like cat’s claws, although they do not detract materially from the resiliency and f: take much, “ neh and tru ‘er four years, and they give general and ¢ n your car now. It is the hest insuran fe make the Hartford Wi > lincher, Quick © big feature ple and Dunlop style, odard sizes and in millimetre sizes for everywhere, THE HARTFORD RUBBER WORKS COMPANY HARTFORD, CONN. comicbooks.com