October i, 1906.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



23 



RUBBER DECORTICATING MACHINE. 



SOME macliines usc<I in the Congo country of late for de- 

 corticating rubber yielding lianes or creepers have 

 developed a very satisfactorj- degree of efficienc}'. One such 

 nruhiue, illustrated herewith, and made under the patents 

 granted to PC'licien Micliotte, an engineer of Paris, was de- 

 signed primarily for use on vines of the Landolphia species, 

 but it has proved equally applicable to the extraction of 

 " root rubber, " or even to working up of young Ceara rub- 

 ber plants. It has four crushing rollers, about 10 inches in 

 diameter, which receive the butts of the vines or brush, and 

 split and flatten the wood. Following these rollers is a 

 kind of (Inini formed often stout rods, upon which, as axles. 



little claw hammers hang. VVMien the ilium is rapidly 

 turned, these claws are thrown out by centrifugal force, so 

 that they rapidl3' hammer and tear the bark from the 

 crushed stems. 



The machine, set up, weighs a ton, but it can be taken to 

 pieces, none of the parts weighing over 200 or 300 pounds. 

 Thus it can be easily transported to distant plantations ; and 

 when set up, it requires no special foundation or under- 

 pinning. 



The capacity of the decorticator is something like a ton of 

 stems a day, yielding about 600 pounds of bark. The illustra- 

 tion is derived from [.e Caoutchouc et la Guttapercha, of Paris. 



RUBBER RECLAIMING FOR RUSSIA 



^ I ^O THE Editor oi- The India Ribber World : It is 





well known to you that about 8000 tons of old rubber 



boots and shoes are exported yearly from Russia to Amer- 

 ica. On March i last (old time) an export duty of ^10 a ton 

 was laid upon these, making a total revenue of about /80,- 

 000 a jear. 



Let me suggest that a factory be built in Russia to reclaim 

 this stock, since new rubber may be shipped duty free. 



I learned in America that the machinery for such a fac- 



tory would cost ^6000 ; add to that the cost of plant and 

 buildings, which would be about ^^5000 to ^6000, making a 

 total of ^11,000 to ^12,000. 



Say that we could work up 3000 tons of old stock a year, 

 we could thereby save ^30,000 in dutj-, leaving a clear profit 

 of ^iS, 000 for the first year. In America these old rubber 

 boots and shoes now cost up to 9 cents a pound, while Ihej- 

 only cost 534' cents in Russia. Since these old rubber boots 

 and shoes would cost us so much less than the American 

 rubber factories, we should be able to sell the new rubber to 

 them at an advantage. a. b. n. 



Odessa, Russia. July 21, 1906. 



[The above communication is of much interest. A prac- 

 tical side is given to it by the fact that not a little reclaimed 

 rubber is now produced in Russia, for their own consuni|)- 

 tion, by the two great factories at St. Petersburg and Riga. 

 But how does our correspondent know that reclaimed rub- 

 ber could be exported from Russia duty free.' There is no 

 such material exported now, and this may explain its ab- 

 sence from the tariff .schedules, but a country which taxes 

 the exports of a raw material, such as scrap rul)ber, might 

 be expected to add to the taxing list reclaimed rubber so 

 .soon as the trade in this connuodity became im]>ortant. — 

 The Editor. | 



NEW WARMING AND MIXING MILL. 



THE illustrations show two views of what is designed to 

 be an improvement over smooth roll warmers and 



mixers, 

 grooved 



Described very briefly, 

 not like "cracker" rolls, 



the rolls are heavilj' 

 but more like the steel 

 rolls used in iron work. 

 That is, the ridges and 

 grooves run around the 

 circumference of the 

 roll at right angles to 

 its length and are ar- 

 ranged to mesh. As 

 in an ordinarj' mi.xer 

 one roll runs faster 

 than the other, and the 

 contention of the in- 

 ventor is that by having greater mixing surface in small 

 compass he not only increases the friction but is able to mix 

 very much more stock. A rather curious point that he 

 brings out is that, on account of the difference of speed of 

 the rolls at the periplierj' and at the base of the groove- 

 angles, the rubber is 

 worked at a different 

 speed in the grooves 

 than it is on the ridges. 

 In other words, the 

 kneading is much more 

 effective and cjuickly 

 done. If this is the 

 case one would imag- 

 ine that the rolls might 

 be difficult to cool unless the water chamber were exceed- 

 ingly large. Whether or not the invention is practical it is 

 impossible to .say without test. It is, however, interesting 

 to see any attempt at variation upon the old time mixing 

 mill. This machine is patented by C. F. Obermaier, Yonk- 

 ers. New York. 



