November i, 1906.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER ^VORLD 



37 



at once, instead of waiting for the foundry to fill au order, 

 and they look about to see if there isn't something in the 

 second hand line that will answer. Or a beginner, in a 

 small way, as a matter of economy, buys machinery that 

 has been used once, instead of drawing more heavily 

 upon his capital for new outfit. And why not ? We 

 have an idea that at the beginning of more than one 

 very important rubber factory in this country — and most 

 of them began on a small scale — use was made of second 

 hand machinery. 



The fact that in the expansion of a rubber works a 

 mill or machine is discarded for a larger one or a differ- 

 ent pattern doesn't imply that the thing is worn out. 

 Otherwise, the second hand dealers wouldn't be eager to 

 pay cash for it, to sell again. If it be true, then, that 

 second hand rubber machinery is growing scarcer, we are 

 quite ready to regard it as indication of activit)' and pros- 

 perity in the industry. 



A FRENCH SUGGESTION. 



NUMEROUS industrial papers in France, as for ex- 

 ample one entitled L' Illustration, are more or less 

 hysterical about the rate at which crude rubber is being 

 consumed. Indeed the journal named says that this year 

 the consumption has far exceeded the production. Just 

 how that could be accomplished doesn't appear, hut it 

 makes good reading just the same. 



The author of the special rubber article referred to, 

 M. Coustet, believes that he has found three solutions 

 for the rapidly approaching rubber famine. One is the 

 utilization of mineral rubber, another is by treating lin- 

 seed oil with azotic acid and forming a rubber substitute, 

 and the third is by producing a substitute by treating 

 tar or oil of turpentine with sulphuric acid. Were these 

 suggestions new to the world of rubber they would be 

 very valuable, but the learned author should know that 

 mineral rubber is already largel)' used, not as a substi- 

 tute for rubber, but as an assistant, and that its most en- 

 thusiastic friends only claim that it helps in certain com- 

 pounds. The same is true of the long line of oil and 

 other sul)Stitutes, which are useful to be sure, but which 

 cannot in any way take the place of crude rubber. 



The gentleman should have suggested the only feas- 

 ible solution, which is the opening of new wild rubber 

 fields and the planting of greater acreages of rubber pro- 

 ducing trees that have been proved susceptible of culti- 

 vation. 



Thr I'EAR EXPRivSSED that the new English invention for 

 making an artificial rubber from grain will work hardship 

 on the poor, through the conversion of their food into the 

 rich man's automobile tires, may, after all, prove unfounded. 

 It would appear equally practicable to turn the rich man's 

 tires into the poor man's breakfast cereal whenever the 

 general food supply becomes inconveniently short. By the 

 way, in the way of rubber produced from grain, everybody 

 has read about the corn rubber that the newspapers claim 



tires are made of. The English inventor might go further. 

 Whj' not make red rubber from beets, jellow rubber from 

 mustard, green rubber from spinach, extra strong rubber 

 from onions, and so on ? In fact, why not utilize all the 

 vegetables ? 



Wiiv DOES THE British ruiibkr trade continue to com- 

 plain about dullness in the waterproofing trade ? Suppose 

 the demand for mackintoshes and other garments in this 

 class as formerly sold should fall ofif. Cannot the manufac- 

 turers adapt themselves to new conditions? Autoniobiling 

 is on the increase in Great Britain as well as elsewhere; 

 probably that country to-day ranks second in respect of the 

 number of motor cars used. Meanwhile the weather condi- 

 tions in Britain have not changed, and the motorist needs a 

 waterproof coat in nasty weather quite as much as anybody 

 else ever did. ELsewhere the rubber trade appears to be 

 doing a good business in automobile coats. Why is not the 

 same true in England ' 



Some oi' THE TiRic Ki;i'AiR siioi's which have grown up of 

 late in the larger centers of automobiling are on a larger 

 scale than many earlj' rubber factories that were regarded 

 as very respectable establishments. It is natural that the 

 business of repairing rubber goods should first have been 

 developed in connection with articles so costly as motor tires, 

 but now that such shops have brcome fi.xed institutions, 

 why should not the repair stations take on the mending of 

 rubber goods generally — rubber boots, hot water bottles, 

 mechanical goods, and so on ? 



The IIACHINE M.\UE RtJBBKK MIDI lias not yet revolution- 

 ized the trade, but it is making progress. It continues to 

 occupy the attention of inventors, and rubber shoes are act- 

 ually being turned out on a commercial scale by the use of 

 niachiner}-. Progress in this direction certainly has been 

 as rapid as at the beginning of the substitution of machine 

 work for t3'pesetting by hand, and yet within a score of 

 years the typesetting machines have come into universal 

 use. 



Prices realized for plantation rubber at the London 

 auctions have not been so well maintained as on native ParS 

 rubber. For example, the highest price realized for planta- 

 tion rubber during a recent month was 18 cents per pound 

 less than was paid at the same date last year, while the 

 highest price for native Pari was only 10 cents less than in 

 September, 1905. This showing is quite in keeping with 

 predictions made in TliK Indi.v Ruhher World when the 

 Cejlon plantation product first appeared in the market. 

 The price difference between plantation and other rubber 

 has undoubtedly been a trifle higher than was justified by 

 the intrinsic value of the former, and present figures per- 

 haps more accurately gage its appreciation bj' manufactur- 

 ers than did the prices realized at the earlier sales. 



The impression is widespread in the trade that rub- 

 ber scrap is too high There are those who believe that 

 shoes, for instance, should be had at 4 or 5 cents, instead of 

 in the neighborhood of 10 cents. At the same time, there is 

 no indication that such a decline is near at hand. The situ- 

 ation affords an opportunity for introducing such new gums 

 as Guaj-ule rubber, which manufacturers will hardl3- fail to 

 take advantage of. 



