140 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[February i, 1907. 



THRENFALL CARR'S "WHEAT RUBBER." 



'T'O THE Editor of The India Rubber World: An article going 

 ■^ the rounds of the press refers to what is called "wheat rub- 

 ber," or "cereal rubber." the invention of William Threnfall Carr, 

 of England. Will you liindly let the rubber trade know your 

 opinion of this material ? 



By the way, the same article refers to use of rubber at the pres- 

 ent time for street paving, and also to the fact of this "wheat 

 rubber" coming to the manufacturer as liquid rubber. I would 

 like to know if this means rubber in cement form. 



It is asserted of cereal rubber that it will stand the test of vul- 

 canization, the writer describing vulcanization as the process of 

 hardening through the introduction of sulphur, and he goes on to 

 state that but three substances — natural rubber, gutta-percha, and 

 this new product (cereal rubber) — will stand this test. 



It is, of course, something new to us that sulphur is incor- 

 porated with gutta-percha, and when incorporated induces vul- 

 canization, and that this test of vulcanization proves that gutta- 

 percha is rubber, being one of the three substances of the rubber 

 family, the other two being natural rubber and the new cereal 

 rubber. 



This Mr. Carr is evidently not fully conversant with the rubber 

 business, in any of its branches, such as the mechanical line, or 

 boots and shoes and clothing. You probably may be able to ex- 

 plain what Mr. Carr is endeavoring to expound to the world at 

 this late time, so long after Goodyear, who discovered the process 

 of incorporating sulphur with caoutchouc, passed away. We are 

 seeking information, and we do not get it from a reading of this 

 article. A manufacturer. 



Boston, Massachusetts, January 4, 1907. 



[The so called "cereal rubber" has been widely discussed, but 

 most of the matter that has been printed about it is manifestly 

 absurd. Before discussing it. we may inform our correspondent 

 that rubber has been used for paving, though only to a limited ex- 

 tent. In front of St. Pancreas station, in London, is a small 

 section of rubber pavement that has been down many years, and 

 quite recently the circle in front of the entrance of the Hotel 

 Savoy has been paved with rubber. 'ITiis pavement, however, is 

 so expensive that it is not likely that Broadway or Fifth avenue 

 will adopt it with the market for crude as it is. 



Liquid rubber is known, but is used only for laboratory pur- 

 poses. It is melted fine Para rubber, in the form of a very thick 

 varnish, and is used for sealing purposes. 



With regard to wheat rubber, the discovery doesn't seem to be 

 particularly new. The substance produced by treating wheat with 

 ptyalin would be more like a glue than anything else, and un- 

 doubtedly w-ould, after it went through the so called vulcanizing 

 process, be like many of the cellulose products already in use. 

 They may be prepared so as to be plastic and waterproof. They 

 make an apparently good substitute for hard rubber, but are 

 wholly without stretch or resilience. So far none of the rubber 

 manufacturers have taken wheat rubber at all seriously, nor is 

 there any likelihood that it will displace one pound of crude rub- 

 ber except where crude rubber is not absolutely needed. In other 

 words, it is the old story of another discovery of synthetic rub- 

 ber. As a matter of absolute fact, synthetic rubber was made 

 from isoprene many years ago, but only in very minute quantities 

 and at a co>t that discouraged further work along that line. So 

 called synthetic rubber appears once in about three years, and 

 some of the samples show-n by the discoverers are far ahead of the 

 best crude rubber ; that is, in cleanliness. A curious fact about 

 most of it is that the inventors are so anxious to produce real 

 rubber that they imitate even the smell of the natural forest 

 product, which, to say the least, is carrying the imitation a trifle 

 too far. 



The Carr invention, by the way. seems to have attracted an 

 amount of attention from the press out of all proportion to its 



importance. The company formed to exploit it, and of which so 

 much has been written, appears to be only a sort of promoting 

 syndicate, with a capital stated at fsooo. — The Editor.] 



THE ORIGINAL "WHEAT RUBBER." 



.■\n Englishman writes to the Montreal Star: "Mr. William 

 Threnfall Carr's so called invention is nothing new, except in that 

 it is now to be carried on commercially. The process of convert- 

 ing wheat into rubber was known and practiced by English 

 schoolboys to my knowledge more than fifty years ago ; indeed, I 

 have often made wheat rubber simply by chewing the wheat suffi- 

 ciently long, and rubber which would stretch, and could be made 

 into small bladders, and which were easily broken, producing a 

 sharp report. For this result the rubber wheat was made." 



SHRUB RUBBER FROM THE CONGO. 



■ I "O the Editor of The India Rubber World: I have been 

 * much interested in reading in your columns that the Mexi- 

 can guayale rubber is taking a good position in the .-Xmencan 

 market, especially as there exists in profusion in the Congo Free 

 State, as well as in the French Congo, a shrub which yields a 

 very good rubber. The natives dislike the work of extracting this 

 rubber, and there is need of some practical process for getting it 

 out more economically and in better shape. I am sending you by 

 mail a sample of this rubber. s. A. t. 



Leopoldville. December 15. igo6. 



[The sample of rubber enclosed was fairly good, although con- 

 taining considerable bark. It also shows a slight stickiness on the 

 surface. At the present New York market it shows a value of 

 about 90 cents. — The Editor.] 



DEVELOPMENT OF BOLIVIA. 



'T'HE work of construction on the first section of an extensive 

 system of railways projected for Bolivia, and in which a New 

 York syndicate are interested, is reported to have been begun, 

 and important contracts for rails have been placed with the 

 L'nited States Steel Corpoiation. The enterprise is being carried 

 out in the name of the Bolivia Railways Co., the capital of which 

 is being supplied by the National City Bank, with which are asso- 

 ciated the banking house of Speyer & Co. and the firm of W^ R. 

 Grace & Co., all of New York. The plans now being carried out, 

 it is reported, will require an outlay of $35,000,000. The idea is to 

 improve the outlet of Bolivia at least two points on the Pacific, 

 and, by means of stretches of road around cataracts, to increase 

 the value of the Bolivian waterways as means of transportation. 



It will be remembered that when Brazil protested, a few years 

 ago. against the cession of the .\cre district to an .\ngIo- American 

 syndicate, this territory was acquired by Brazil by the payment 

 of $10,000,000, which Bolivia has pledged for the construction of 

 railways. Besides, Brazil undertook to construct a railway 

 around the falls of the Madeira river, thus facilitating Bolivia's 

 access to the Atlantic. Sir l\lartin Conway, who obtained from 

 the Brazilian government the historic .'Kcre concession, in a recent 

 address before the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce, dwelt upon 

 the great natural wealth of Bolivia, in india-rubber and metals, 

 and- added that the prosperity of the country would depend upon 

 the railways now being developed. 



Sir Martin remarked that if the rubber exports from Brazil did 

 not increase very rapidly, the sole reason was the difficulty of ob- 

 taining labor. Experiments had been made with some success in 

 the importing of Japanese coolies. His own opinion was that the 

 best man to be brought to do this easy tropical work was the 

 Hindoo coolie, who would be found to be eminently suited to the 

 labor, although he had never been given a trial. 



