Life, 1917-04-12 · page 31 of 42
Life — April 12, 1917 — page 31: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **straightforward advertisement**, not satire or political commentary. The Republic Rubber Company announces their "Prödium Process"—a rubber-compounding technique they claim extends tire life significantly. The ad makes bold claims: tires wear evenly "like steel," possess unprecedented tensile strength (a one-and-a-half-inch strip can suspend three tons), and have generated unprecedented demand (400-500 new customers daily). The company plans to triple production. The page features a photograph of an actual tire showing the tread pattern and sidewall branding. **Context for modern readers:** This represents early automotive-era advertising when tire technology was genuinely evolving and competitive. The hyperbolic language and emphasis on scientific process ("Prödium Process") was typical marketing of the 1910s-1920s, when manufacturers competed aggressively on durability claims. There is **no cartoon or satire** present—this is genuine period advertising from Life magazine's commercial section.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
eENIPRaEe Cnnouncing a Very Important ‘Discovery compounding rubber does prolong the life of the tire. W: KNOW, now, that the Prédium Process of That fact has been established by a year’s exhaustive ex- perience. Republic Tires made by the Prédium Process do undoubtedly last longer. They do undoubtedly wear down slowly to a smooth and even surface—like a piece of steel. This is due to the fact that Prodium Process rubber develops a tensile strength beyond anything hitherto known. The tires are unmistakably stronger and tougher, with ~ greater spring and responsiveness. What we have actually produced is a rubber so tremendously strong that a strip of it, an inch and a half square, will sus- pend more than three tons of dead weight. We have now built more than one hundred thousand sets of Republic Tires by the Prodium Process. The evidence is not only abundant but positive. We are so sure of the facts, that on the strength of our certainty the output of the Republic plant will be trebled. The merit of the tires has so advertised itself that an unprece- dented demarid has sprung up everywhere. From four to five hundred new and unsolicited customers are being reported every day. We are straining every nerve to spread the distribution to every city and town in the country. Republic Black-Line Red Inner Tubes have a reputation for freedom from trouble The Republic Rubber Company, Youngstown, Ohio Originator of the First Effective Rubber Non-Skid Tire REPUBLIC D LY comicbooks.com