268 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[June i, 1907. 



THE COTTON MANUFACTURERS MEET. 



Ar the annual meeting of the National Association of Cotton 

 Manufacturers (Boston, April 24-25) the president, Mr. 

 James B. McColl, in his address, referred to the great and con- 

 tinued prosperity in the United States of the industry which this 

 association represented. He declared that adequate consump- 

 tion, or at least demand, existed for the employment of every 

 spindle in the country. Although there had been a normal addi- 

 tion during several years past to the number of spindles, the im- 

 ports of cotton manufactures into the United States had in- 

 creased last year by $14,500,000, while exports had decreas.;d 

 $13,500,000. Yet there had been no evidence of over supply or 

 glutted markets. Extension of foreign trade is for the tini'- 

 ignored on account of the home demand absorbing all the output. 

 This condition of prosperity was not confined to America. A 

 year ago England's increase of 6,250,000 spindles had been re- 

 corded, and now reports show 10,000,000 spindles added or pro- 

 jected within five years. Meanwhile the industry is making 

 progress in other countries. If, said Mr. McColl, from any 

 cause there should be an insufficient demand for the product of 

 England's enormous number of spindles, there might be expected 

 an intlux of foreign made goods into tliis country, at prices below 

 the capacity of our manufacturers to produce. It was important, 

 therefore, for economy of production to be studied to the utmost. 

 The United States had been in the lead in the use of labor-sav- 

 ing machinery, but this condition would not necessarily continue. 

 He quoted reports showing that in England in 1882 5.71 em- 

 ployes were required for 1,000 spindles; in 1893 the number had 

 fallen to 4.86 persons, and to-day 2'/: hands per i.ooo spindles is 

 considered a maximum in the more modern mills. 



As a means to furthering the interest of the manufacturer, and 

 rendering him capable of withstanding any competition, the 

 speaker was pleased to note a grow-ing tendency toward closer 

 relations and a better understanding with the cotton growers, 

 who now have an organization for mutual interest. The manu- 

 facturers' association would hold a meeting at Atlanta in Octo- 

 ber which, it was hoped, would be helpful in advancing the better 

 understanding referred to and afford a common basis for the dis- 

 cussion of the preparation and marketing of cotton, the question 

 of contracts, and so on. 



President McColl felt that the cotton exchanges had a legiii- 

 mate relation to the trade, and he would like to see an exchange 

 in New England, in which section so large a proportion of the 

 cotton industry has its seat. The establishment of fixed stand- 

 ards of grade and staple and a system of arbitration by sworn 

 classcrs would be of great value to New England spinners. He 

 would like to see developed there the spot feature of the Liver- 

 pool market. A concentrated stock of spot cotton in New Eng- 

 land, such as always exists in Liverpool, where the Engh^li 

 spinner can go at almost any time and find what he needs, would 

 lead to an important economy of money and time. 



In a paper on "The Textile School a Necessity to the Future 

 of the Industry" Edward W. France, director of the Philadelphia 

 Textile School, declared that a great scarcity existed in the way 

 of artisan labor spinners, weavers, and machine tenders in gen- 

 eral in the cotton industry. Not only were technical schools 

 needed for the training of more and better w-orkmen, but it 

 should be considered that goods were rendered salable by their 

 attractiveness as well as their utility, and the matter of artistic 

 training should be included in the scope of the schools. 



The membership of the National Association of Cotton Manu- 

 facturers, which is hy no means confined to the United States, is 

 divided about equally between those who are interested on the 

 financial side of cotton manufacturing and those who are occu- 

 pied with the technical side. The work of the association dur 

 ing the year has had to do with perfecting cotton statistics and 

 with the tariff on cotton goods. 



ZAKINGUMMI. 



A FRENCH patent issued to Zacharias Olsson, of Upsala, 

 Sweden (No. 369,719, application of September 13, 1906), 

 to cover the manufacture of an "artificial caoutchouc." relates to 

 the material referred to in various receni publications as "Zakin- 

 gummi." According to the specification it is produced by mixing 

 colloid and hygroscopic substances — for instance, glycerine, chlor- 

 ate of calcium and chlorate of magnesium — with water and- 

 neutral substances, in mills, and introducing into the homogene- 

 ous mass chrome salts or other substances that exercise an effect 

 on colloids when exposed to the light. Additions of parafline or 

 mineral or fatty oils are also advantageous. The mass can be 

 colored by additions of ocher, red lead, vermilion and aniline 

 colors as desired. 



The inventor is understood to be an apothecary who formerly 

 was employed as a factory chemist. He claims that his product 

 contains no trace of rubber, all its constituents being of vege- 

 table origin and obtainable in Sweden. He claims that for almost 

 all purposes it is a perfect substitute for rubber and that its cost 

 is one-third less than rubber, .\ccording to Swedish newspapers 

 experts of standing, including L. Anderson, director of a rubber 

 factory, express skepticism in regard to the invention. They 

 call attention to the fact that samples of "Zakingummi" shown 

 at the Norrkoping exhibition possessed no capacity for resisting 

 moisture, nor could it be used for insulation purposes. 



The Gummi-Zeitung, after an investigation of a small sample, 

 says that whatever the material may be, "it certainly is not a sub- 

 stitute for rubber." Immersion for a brief period in water causes 

 it to crumble ; in a dry condition it is readily divided by the 

 finger nail, and it offers no resistance when operated on with a 

 file. The fact that it is not affected by machine oil, for instance, 

 as certified by the materials testing laboratory of the Royal 

 Swedish Technical High School, does not compensate for the 

 lack of elasticity and resistance to water. The Gummi-Zeitung 

 compares this material with the many hardened colloid substances 

 that have been "invented" in Germany, and expresses the opinion 

 that "Zakingummi" will not be found patentable in Germany as 

 a substitute for rubber. 



MURAC. 



'T'HE name Murac has been given to a commercial product 

 ■^ resulting from the treatment, by a new chemical process, 

 of the latex of certain plants of the Sapotoceac family, said to 

 l)c abundant along the Amazon river, in Venezuela and the 

 Guianas, some of the West India islands, Africa, Madagascar, 

 and Australia. These trees are referred to as yielding latex 

 freely, so that the supply is practically inexhaustible. Thus 

 far, however, the new process is understood to have been ap- 

 plied only to balata. Murac is referred to, not as a substitute 

 for india-rubber, but as being serviceable for use in connection 

 with low grade qualities of rubber and bringing them up to a 

 higher standard. Certain rubbers, for example, are mentioned 

 as having been more than doubled in value by the addition of 

 a few pence worth of Murac to a pound in weight of the rubber 

 to be improved, Murac, however, is vulcanizable alone, and 

 may be used for many mechanical purposes, without the em- 

 ployment of other rubber, under treatment similar to that given 

 to gutta-percha. It is also capable of being used in liquid form, 

 particularly for waterproofing. The rights to the new process 

 are owned by The Murac Syndicate, Limited, subsidiary to 

 which is the British Murac Syndicate, Limited, registered in 

 London on March 20, 1907, with £12,500 [=$60,831] capital, to 

 exploit the material referred to in Great Britain. 



Mk. R. \V. Bi'KGESS, manager of an important rubber plantation 

 in the Malay peninsula, has received permission from the Java 

 .sTOvernment to recruit 500 coolies there to labor on his estate. 



