October i, 1906.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



13 



THH INUIA-KUBBER TKADE IN GREAT BRITAIN. 



By Our Regular Correspondent. 



COMMUNICATIONS dealing witli tlie progress of the 

 chemistry of rubber were read at the recent York 

 meeting by Dr. Harries of Berlin, Mr. Pickles, and 

 Professor Tilden. As I have not seen anything more 

 than a brief reference I am unable to make any comments 

 as yet. It is noteworthy how in recent 

 THE BRITISH years the cliemistr\' of rubber has received 



ASSOCIATION. * n ■ f ■ »• . .11 



notice at gatherings of scientists, notably 

 the International Congress of Applied Chemistrj-. The Brit- 

 ish association concerns itself primarily with the purely sci- 

 entific side and references to Professor Tilden 's production of 

 rubber from isoprene are more suited to the almosplitre of the 

 Association meeting than they would be to a gathering of 

 technologists who are concerned with the financial aspect of 

 discoveries. One continually meets people who talk about 

 the fortune in store for the manufacturer of artificial rubber, 

 but to my mind there is nothing in it in tlie.se days of Para 

 plantations. 



.\ I'uiENH of mine who has business relations in ICgypt 



and who has recently returned from a prolonged stay at 



Oindurman says that the Soudan rubber iiidus- 



RAW try^ of which so much was expected, has come 



RUBBER 



NOTES ^"^ nothing. The little business there is is in the 

 hands of the Soudan government and it appears 

 that at first the trees were ruthlessly destroyed in obtaining 

 the rubber. The main point, however, seems to be that 

 there is very little rubber to be had and the Nile is not likely 

 therefore to be used as an outlet for the rubber export trade. 

 Turning to anothar quarter of the globe, I am informed bv a 

 man who has been many years in Cearii that the natives who 

 return there after their work in the Brazilian swamps are 

 showing a tendency to smoke the Ceara rubber after the 

 method adopted for ParA rubber. With regard to the im- 

 purities in Ceara rubber, these could be removed before 

 export if it was considered worth while. The exporters say, 

 however, that the difference in price does not recompense 

 them for the trouble of preparing it free from bark, etc., and 

 the initial attempts at reform were not persevered with. 



Ix a recent nuniber of Thk India Rubber World I saw a 

 notice that after a certain time the use of continuous brakes 

 will become compulsory on freight 

 trains in America, or at any rate in 



CO.ITINUOUS BRAKES 

 FOR FHEIQHT TRAINS. 



some parts. The topic has an interest 

 for the rubber trade because it means an extended use of tlie 

 rubber pipes. So far it appears that in this countrj^ the 

 North Eastern is the onl}' railway to use continuous brakes 

 on goods trains, but the attention of the Board of Trade has 

 been recently called to the fact that many of the railwa}- 

 companies are now running express goods trains timed at 

 the speed of express passenger trains and it is proposed to 

 make it compulsory for such goods trains to be fitted with 

 continuous brakes. This is already done in the case of the 

 new large coal wagons which the North Eastern line are 

 using to take coal from the Durham collieries to the ship- 

 ping staithes. These wagons hold 40 tons and are run on 

 bogies. They are fitted with the Westinghouse brake, which 

 is used on the North Eastern system in preference to the 

 vacui m brakes. I don't know what is the case at the pres- 



ent time. l)iit a few years ago the bulk of the rubber pipes 

 were supplied by Spencer Moulton & Co., of Bradford-on- 

 .Avon. The patent rublier and steel buffer spring of this firm 

 is now in general use on the North ICastern express goods 

 trains. 



The leather substitute made by this firm, which has works 

 at Mounton (ireeii. near Manchester, continues to gain in 

 popularity. For some time a business firm 

 ^"com'"panT'"' °^ Manchester have been pushing its sale 

 in Spain. Such progress has been made 

 that a special representative for Spain in the person of Mr. 

 R. M. Nosworthy has been appointed. His offices are at 

 Barcelona, whither he has recently proceeded. The exact 

 composition of Pluviusin has not been made public but it is 

 known to be an oxidized oil product quite different from the 

 nitrated celluloses which Pegamoid and one or two other such 

 bodies are composed of. These leather substitutes are find- 

 ing an increased use in the upholstering of motor cars. 



A CERTAIN sentence in a paragraph I wrote last month 

 seems to have been misread by the lulitor, who will perhaps 

 allow me to make a correction. When I said that 

 RUBBER iin; l)ootiiiaker to the King was regularly putting 

 PADS. rubber heels on to his ordinary boots sold at 3 

 guineas a pair I was in no way referring to the 

 boots of the King, about the price and nature of which I 

 know nothing. No doubt I wrote ambiguously- but what I 

 intended to convej- w-as that the ordinary boots as supplied 

 to the numerous customers who also patronize the establish- 

 ment are being largely fitted with a special form of rubber 

 heel. 



Under this heading an interesting letter appears in our 

 August issue. I think it is pretty certain that in a hot cli- 

 mate the slow drying down of rubber 

 WHENCE THE RESIN j,, ab.solutc drvncss will increase the 



IN RUBBER ? 



resin, that is, it will add the resin 

 produced by oxidation of the surface of the rubber to the 

 resin originally present as derived from the tree. Though 

 these resins are not similar it would be an extremely difS- 

 calt matter to determine the quantity of each present in any- 

 sample of rubber. I am not now writing a scientific article 

 for criticism by experts, and so w-lien I do so I may have to 

 modify my statements. It seems clear, however, that rub- 

 ber which has been practically deprived of its moisture will, 

 if exposed to the oxidizing action of the air or particularly 

 to the sun's rays become resinous on the siirfeice and thus 

 deteriorate in quality. Undoubtedly the greater the attenu- 

 ation of the rubber sheets the greater will be the oxidation 

 under conditions favorable to it. I am not quite sure what 

 the author of the letter means when he saj's that the inside 

 of a piece of G7J^//7/(7a rubber which still contains moisture 

 answers all the visual and tactual tests of fine Para. If it 

 means that the rubbers look the same such a test has no 

 significance nor does a tactual test amount to niucli unless 

 scientifically carried out. But leaving this aside if it is his 

 contention that the damp core is much better rubber than 

 the oxidized outside I agree with him and here we have clear 

 evidence of the action and the adverse infiuence of oxidation. 

 It is agreed on all hands that the game has increased in 



