284 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[June i. 1907. 



JOHN BOYD DUNLOP. 



John Royd IJuNuor. 



WHEREVER pneumatic tires are used the name of Dun- 

 lop as an inventor is known — one who was a pioneer 

 and whose invention possessed enough novelty and 

 merit to make a definite impression upon the world. The suc- 

 cess which the pneumatic tire speedily attained naturally ap- 

 pealed to a host of other inventors, or those who wished to be 

 such, and the combined product of their work is a standard of 

 tire construction to-day that is far removed from the type de- 

 veloped by John Boyd Dunlop twenty years ago. Yet the chief 

 essentials of the pneumatic tire were embodied in Dunlop's first 



patent specifica- 

 tion, and all the 

 improvements in 

 detail that have 

 been wrought in 

 the trade have not 

 resulted in giving 

 sncli universal 

 prominence to any 

 other one inventor 

 in this field. 



It was about 

 October, 1887, ac- 

 cording to Mr. 

 Dunlop's own ac- 

 count, that he be- 

 ^an to consider the 

 possible advantages 

 of a pneumatic 

 tire. The bicycle 

 had already gained 

 considerable vogue 

 and solid rubber 

 tires were coming into use, but Mr. Dunlop was trying to think 

 of something better than these. For some years he had been 

 studying spring wheels, but at the date above mentioned he 

 gave this up to deal with the problem of a more resilient rubber 

 tire. He was at the time busy with his practice as a veterinar>- 

 surgeon at Belfast, Ireland. He really intended postponing the 

 actual work of an inventor until he should retire from prac- 

 tice, but his son, who had begun to ride a tricycle, knowing 

 what was in the father's mind, pleaded with him for the new 

 tire until further procrastination was impossible. 



Procuring a disk of > wood about 16 inches in diameter and 

 lyi inches thick, Mr. Dunlop proceeded to construct the rubber 

 fittings he desired to convert it into a resilient wheel. He first 

 constructed an air tube of sheet rubber one-sixteenth of an inch 

 thick, inserting in it for the purpose of inflation a short piece 

 of tubing such as is used in children's feeding bottles. Placing 

 the air tube on the periphery of the disk of wood he covered 

 the air tube with a strip of thin linen cloth and secured the 

 cloth in a temporary manner to the disk by means of small tacks. 

 The tire was inflated by means of a pump used for footballs 

 and the little air supply tube tied with a piece of thread. This 

 tire was completed one evening in December, 1887. 



That evening Mr. Dunlop, accompanied by a few friends, 

 went into his garden to test the rubber-tired disk in connection 

 with the front wheel from his son's tricycle, the latter being 

 equipped with a solid rubber tire. When they were rolled down 

 a garden path the pneumatic-tired disk seemed to go farther 

 and faster. The two wheels were then tested for resilience, 

 the result being in favor of the pneumatic. The disk when 

 dropped to the floor from a height of about 4 feet was found 

 to rise nearly to the point from which it was dropped. 



These experiments confirmed Mr. Dunlop's theories regarding 

 the advantages of a pneumatic tire and led him to complete the 

 invention on which he applied for and obtained his first tire 



patent -in 1888. Mr. Dunlop lives now in Dublin, still taking an 

 interest in pneumatic tire development, though no longer con- 

 nected actively with tlu- business. 



RUBBER EXPLOITATION IN PERU. 



A T the statutory meeting in London, on May 14, of the 

 ^ ' Inambari Para-Rubber Estates, Limited [organization re- 

 ported in The India Rubber World, March i, 1907 — page 200], 

 it was stated that of the 200,000 £1 shares allotted at the public 

 subscription in February, 150,278 shares had been fully paid, and 

 the total cash received to date on the shares was £165,959 

 [=$807,739.47]. The preliminary expenses amounted to £21,941. 

 The disposition of the capital thus far is as follows : 



Purchase price, shares iioo,ooo 



Purchase price, cash ■• ^ .\- • • 100,000 



Preliminary expenses j. .y. ";,, 21,941 



Working capital ;. , .'. .:•. . . 78,059 



Shares reserved in ireasury .....:.... .".., 50,000 



Total capital •. •. , £350,000 



The vendors to the new company are Frank Squier, of New 

 York, and Sir George Newnes, Bart,'~M. P., of Lopdon, who 

 are understood to be under agreement to disburse £130,000 of 

 the £200,000 coming to them as follows : To the Sociedad Ex- 

 plotadora de Gomales Porras y Cia. and the Sociedad Gomera 

 del Bajo Inambari, jointly, for leasehold properties. £40,000 

 in cash; to the Carabaya Rubber and Navigation Co., for a 

 road concession, lands, properties, and rights, £40,000 in cash 

 and £40,000 in shares. This would leave for the vendors £20,000' 

 in cash and £60,000 in shares of the newly formed company. 

 The location of the rubber properties is in eastern Peru, on 

 the river Inambara, an affluent of the Madre de Dios. Two 

 of the companies mentioned above have headquarters at Lima, 

 Peru, while the Carabaya was organized at New York, 



TEST FOR FARINHA IN RUBBER. 



THOSE manufacturers who now and then receive lots of Para 

 rubber adulterated with the starch like meal of the mandioc 

 or cassava plant — also called farinha flour — may be interested to 

 know of the method of detecting such adulteration employed 

 by Mr. Walter E. Piper, at the Boston Rubber Shoe Co.'s fac- 

 tories. Starch is a characteristic test of iodine, forming with it 

 a deep blue compound. Mr. Piper uses a solution in water of 

 iodine and potassium iodide, which is applied with a brush to the 

 interior of a "ham" of fine Para, If there is farinaceous matter 

 present it will speedily take on a bluish appearance. Ordinarily 

 the adulterant is not visible, and the manufacturer becomes 

 aware of it only from the extra loss in washing rubber. Pro- 

 vided with a suitable test, the manufacturer would be in a posi- 

 tion to refuse delivery of adulterated rubber, or to claim a rebate, 

 and the buyer of rubber, say at Para or Manaos. could similarly 

 protest against the acceptance of rubber containing impurities 

 beyond an agreed upon standard. 



TIRE FACTORY AT SINGAPORE. 



THE first rubber factory to be established in the British Indies 

 is the Singapore Rubber Works at Singapore, at which has 

 been begun the manufacture of solid rubber tires for vehicles. 

 Hooglandt & Co., a large firm of commission merchants of 

 Singapore, at 19, Collyer quay, have been appointed agents for 

 the new company for India, the Straits Settlements, Siam, 

 Cochin-China, and China. The Malay Mail observes : "The 

 works are buying their rubber direct from the producing centers, 

 and the cheap labor makes it possible, we are informed, to com- 

 pete successfully with the American and other tires up till now 

 being imported." 



