January i, 1907.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



111 



THE INDIA-RUBBER TRADE IN GREAT BRITAIN. 



By Our Regular Corrtspofident . 



RUBBER FROM 

 CEYLON. 



THE proposal of Mr. Bamber, to vulcanize the rubber 

 latex in Ceylon with chloride of .sulphur, in order to 

 .save trouble to the manufacturers, was referred to 

 in complimentary terms by Professor Wyndham 

 Dunstan at the British Association meeting at York. The 

 topic was mentioned by our Editor in mild al- 

 VULCANIZED belt disparaging terms in the October issue of 

 Th!C Indi.\ KuiiBEit WoKi.u. For myself I 

 feel some difficulty in regarding it with pa- 

 tience. If put forward simply as a laboratorj- experiment of 

 interest to science, such as was Professor Tilden 's prepara- 

 tion of artificial rubber from isoprene it would not call for 

 criticism. But we are told that it is of considerable trade 

 importance, and it is suggested, though more implicitly than 

 explicitly, that the author thereof must henceforward rank 

 among those whose names are to be found inscribed on the 

 roll of those who have made the rubber industry what it is. 

 But can any one seriously say that the proposal has any prac- 

 tical utility at all ? More recently the inventor in enlarging 

 upon it said that the idea was that the rubber manufacturers 

 should send their own representatives to Ceylon to do the 

 vulcanizing. The manager of a works informs me that he 

 has no objection to going out, as he could do with a holidaj-, 

 but whether he goes or not he sa3's there will be plenty of rub- 

 ber to be ground up for scrap on arrival in England if the 

 process is put into operation. The fact that, except in very 

 rare cases, the goods are not vulcanized until they are made 

 into their several forms seems to have been overlooked by the 

 inventor, to say nothing of the circumstance that mineral 

 matter and other materials besides rubber form components 

 of rubber goods and that these must be uniformly mixed 

 ■with the rubber before it undergoes vulcanization. Some re- 

 marks made in reference to this proposed departure made by 

 representatives of some London rubber brokers in a discus- 

 sion at the Ceylon exhibition are certainly much to the 

 point. In substance they were to the effect that the manu- 

 facturers were ready enough to buy raw rubber whenever it 

 was produced, but they did not want partially manufactured 

 rubber; they preferred to do all the manufacturing them- 

 selves. 



This is a matter of importance with regard to rubber solu- 

 tion, the railway and other carrying companies having much 

 more stringent regulations with regard 

 THE FLASH POINT to a solvcut flashing below 73° F. than 

 °naph'tha ^ for such as flash above this point and 



below 120° F. The common idea that 

 rubber solution is an explosive body is not easy to remove, 

 though it can only prove dangerous in this way when the 

 naphtha vapors evaporate in a closed room and a light is 

 brought into contact with them. I have as I write a collap- 

 sible tube bearing on its label the statement that it does not 

 give off" an inflammable vapor under 73° F. Probably it 

 does not, but it still seems advisable to draw attention to the 

 fact that the flash point of solvent naphthas varies consid- 

 erably. This is due to the initial distillation, figures as a 

 rule being ignored in a contract form, the usual stipulation 

 being that 90 per cent, must distill at 160° C. or 95 per cent. 



at 165° C. In the case of the old regular supply of solvent 

 naphtha, chiefly composed of xylenes, only one or two per 

 cent, came over before 130° C. When benzol and toluol, 

 however, are cheap, it has frequently been customary to send 

 out solvent naphtha containing a considerable proportion of 

 these lower boiling constituents, a change which is proba- 

 bly not drawn to the rubber manufacturer's attention. 

 Where such naphtha begins to boil below 100° C, I have 

 found by careful tests on the standard Board of Trade appar- 

 atus that the flash point is from 70° to 72° F. while in 

 naphtha boiling just below 130° C, it is 85° F. I mention 

 these figures to show the variation which maj- occur in what 

 is sold as solvent naphtha and as a matter where a very nat- 

 ural ignorance on the part of a solution maker might possi- 

 blj' land him in trouble. With regard to a certain much 

 advertised soap, I understand that it is shortly to come 

 under the Petroleum act in England, despite the emphatic 

 declaration of experts in a recent enquiry that it did not 

 give off inflammable vapor. 



The frequent references made in this Journal of late with 



regard to Guayule rubber have been read with much interest. 



Now that the price asked for it at first has 



„ ''°T,"°^„ been considerably reduced, it will no doubt 



RAW RUBBcR. 



come into increased demand. Although verj- 

 free from fiber and sand the resin contents are very high and 

 this is regarded in the rubber factories as a drawback. With 

 regard to this point, however, I understand that samples have 

 been submitted practically resin free, and if the process of 

 extraction can be counterbalanced by the increased price ob- 

 tainable, no doubt it will be regularly put on the market in 

 this form. The process of course stands on a much better 

 footing than the suggested one of extracting the resins from 

 Pontianak, as the latter consists in the main of resin with 

 only a small quantity of inferior rubber in it. The follow- 

 ing figures I obtained recently from a sample of Guayule 

 may prove of intesest : 



Rubber. Resins. Water. Ash. Total. 



5302 21.82 2478 .38 100.00 



As a comparatively new brand, the mani9oba rubber is of 

 interest. The chief drawback to it is the large amount of 

 very fine sand it contains, and this makes it very difficult to 

 wash clean enough for the finest work, otherwise its firmness 

 and texture are of the front rank. It is hoped that this de- 

 fect will be remedied, and indeed some parcels of specially 

 prepared rubber which have come to England show that con- 

 siderable progress has already been made in this direction. 



Complaints are rife as to the damage caused to tires by 

 the use of flint as road metal. It is stated that even where 

 sea sand is supposed to be used this consists in 

 reality largely of flint pebbles which grind up 

 by the traffic into sharp splinters. These rap- 

 idly work havoc with pneumatic cab tires and in cases have 

 caused a reversion to solid tires which are not affected to the 

 same extent. This flint}- material is being largely used by 

 municipalities as a surface sprinkling to prevent side slip of 

 motor 'buses. It is found to work well in this direction, 

 but naturally the cab owners who are not concerned with. 



flint as 

 road metal. 



