July r, 1903.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



341 



llll: RUBBER STAMP TRADE. 



TH K same rule seems to hold in refuel to rubber stamps as 

 with all other lines of rubber manufacture — such goods 

 when once introduced continue to be used, and in constantly 

 growing volume. The order book of a large rubber stamp 

 maker reveals as great variety probably as can be found in the 

 production of any other industry. Between the plain signa- 

 ture, or " Paid " or " Received " stamps, used in office corre- 

 spondence, to the 13 X '8 inch stamps used by some manufac- 

 turers to label boxes or packages with a description of the mer- 

 chandise contained, there is a wide range, in which some new 

 thing is apt to appear in every day's orders. Rubber stamps 

 are used nowadays even in many designs for mechanical plans 

 when the same detail occurs often, especially since a stamp ink 

 has been invented that is adapted for blue, print work. 



A very great incentive to the rubber stamp trade followed 

 the introduction of the pneumatic stamp, with its imitations, 

 including the use of sponge rubber pads, it being possible, with 

 a flexible stamp, to obtain good impressions over uneven sui- 

 faces, not to say very much larger surfaces than before these 

 new features were adopted. The sale of rubber type grows 

 apace with the stamp trade. Whereas many goods formerly 

 were shipped with only initials or symbols to indicate the 

 names of consignees, the leading transportation companies 

 now require packages of freight to be marked with the full 

 names and addresses of the parties to be reached, and rubber 

 type has come to be preferred to the stencil plate, ink pot, and 

 brush for this class of work. 



The extent of this industry in the United States cannot he 

 estimated very accurately. No details on the subject appear in 

 the census returns, rubber stamps and type being embraced 

 under the heading " Rubber and Elastic Goods." A leading 

 manufacturer interviewed by the The India Rubber World 

 expressed the opinion that in a year there would be 10,000,000 

 rubber stamps sold, at an average of 60 cents, which would fig- 

 ure out $6,000,000, with a trade in rubber type half as great. He 

 estima'ed the number of legitimate rubber stamp manufactur- 

 ers in the United States at about 300, of which 50 could be con- 

 sidered large concerns. All the rubber used is obtained in 

 the shape of compounds from rubber manufacturers. Compar- 

 atively few orders are received from abroad for rubber stamps, 

 since stamp makers will be found in every part of the world 

 where a demand exists lor such goods. There is a good expoit 

 business in stamp supplies, however. Nothing like a " trust " 

 has yet existed in the stamp trade, though negotiations are 

 understood to be under way for combining three large con- 

 cerns whose output runs largely to metal work, as "self ink- 

 ers " and the like, in which metal enters to a larger extent than 

 rubber. 



" Is the government a good customer of the rubber stamp 

 trade?" a manufacturer was asked. 



" A fairly large user of stamps, but not altogether a satisfac- 

 tory customer," was the reply. "The postoffice department, 

 particularly, calls for a great many stamps, but contracts for 

 these are awarded to the lowest bidder, and quality does not 

 seem to be considered. Whoever can offer the lowest price se- 

 cures the business — the quality doesn't matter." 



Letters sent out from government offices are always signed 

 with a pen, so that signature stamps are not required, and there 

 are very many uses for stamps in commercial and financial 

 houses which find no counterpart in the public service. It ap- 

 pears that in the construction bureau of the navy department, 

 rubber stamps are coming into use in connection with blue print 

 work, on the lines indicated in a preceding paragraph. 



THE "BAY STATE" STAMP VULCANIZER. 



The first requisite of a rubber stamp factory, no matter how 

 small, is a vulcanizer of some sort, and a large factory of this 

 class requires a considerable equipment of vulcanizers. The 

 importance of the trade has led to the development of a special 

 >:lass of vulcanizers, in which has recently appeared the device 

 illustrated on this page— the " Ray State " vulcanizer, patented 

 in the United States January 13. 1903 [No. 7 1 S.286J. In its 

 construction extreme compactness has been obtained, with per- 

 fect freedom from connection with superfluous iron which 



would draw off the heat 

 unevenly from the sur- 

 faces to be heated and 

 dissipate it by its large 

 amount of radiation. 

 The lower box is a steam 

 generator, having itsun- 

 der surface deeply cor- 

 rugated lengthwise for 

 larger fire area, produc- 

 ing heat areas without, 

 and water legs within. The only contact this box has with 

 the frame, which also constitutes a jacket to confine and guide 

 the heat where it is desired, is by four projecting corner lugs 

 which rest upon the points of four adjusting screws, by which 

 thickness of sheet may be regulated. The upper steam box is 

 connected with the lower box by securely guided side rods, and 

 is elevated by springs and drawn down by a toggle lever which 

 locks upon its dead center when the lever is clear down, insur- 

 ing an exact duplicate thickness ol any number of sheets. The 

 No. 6 s ze, accommodating a chase f>%" X 9/4". weighs 105 

 pounds; size No. 7 accommodates achase 10" x 14". The No. 

 6 will generate 70 pounds of steam within fifteen minutes from 

 time of lighting cold, and has been used to turn out as high as 

 fifty separate heats in four hours. The machine is referred to 

 also as an excellent molding press. [The R. H. Smith Manu- 

 facturing Co., Springfield, Massachusetts ] 



OFFICIAL USE OF RUBBER STAMPS IN OFRMANY. 

 A wider use of rubber stamps in public offices in Bavaria is 

 reported in the Gummi-Zeituttg. A Bavarian ministerial decree 

 requires that all stamps (seals) used by municipalities must be 

 ordered from and made by the imperial mint. Recently the 

 municipal government of Munich were in need, for their several 

 branches, of quite a number of stamps. Made of metal, at the 

 mint, these would have cost 8 to 10 marks each. A petition 

 was made by the city authorities to the imperial minister to be 

 allowed to use rubber stamps, which would answer their pur- 

 pose, and could be supplied by private manufacturers at about 

 i% marks each, which petition has been granted. It is be- 

 lieved that this action will go far toward removing the preju- 

 dice which has existed in certain quarters against the use of 

 rubber stamps. 



A recent British patent (No. 14 750-1901), granted to C. 

 Paulitschky, of Vienna, relates to the manufacture of pneu- 

 matic tire covers with the object of rendering the tread sur- 

 faces especially hard. The materials required for an ordinary 

 tire are taken, and after some shellac has been added, 40 to 50 

 per cent, of its weight of sulphur is kneaded into the mass. 

 After uniform vulcamzation at about 100° to 1 10° C. the tire 

 is pressed into a mold made of a bad heat-conducting ma- 

 terial, like asbestos, so formed that, while the tire is further 

 vulcanized under greater heat, the portions which form the 

 tread become hardened and the inner part remains elastic. 



