376 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[August i, 1903. 



when taking on hands, to make efforts to discriminate between 

 applicants for employment. It would not of course be particu- 

 larly easy to arrive at a correct judgment in the slight data 

 available, but something in this direction might be done in or- 

 der to minimize as far as possible the risks of trouble and pos- 

 sible prosecution incurred by employing those who are eminent- 

 ly susceptible to lead poisoning. 



It would be very stale news indeed to enlarge upon the diffi- 

 cult times which British cotton spinners are experiencing, and 

 least of all is it necessary to enlarge upon the matter 

 THE to an American auditory. The factsare well known, 



situation ant ^ il ' s no g°°d enlarging upon them. Where 

 knowledge is not so general, however, is the degree 

 to which different manufacturers have been hit in existing con- 

 tracts with inter alia rubber manufacturers. One rubber firm 

 told me the other day that they had contracted well ahead for 

 their requirements and were therefore not concerned with the 

 rise in prices. I imagine, however, that there must be many 

 who are not in so fortunate a position, and who must perforce 

 feel the pinch. Of course the recent rise in the selling price of 

 mechanicals had in view the rise in cotton and certain minerals 

 as well as India-rubber, and the extra cost of cotton should not 

 therefore prove a serious stumbling block to trade. Another 

 contingency, however, has to be faced, and that is, with the par- 

 tial stopping of so many mills, the demand for mechanical rub- 

 bers must necessarily decrease. 



As far as I can understand the reason why the manufacture 

 of hollow balls by the Cox machine has not proved an entire 

 success is that for efficient working it is neces- 

 sary to use a better quality of mixing than in the 



HOLLOW BALL 

 MANUFACTURE. 



case of the hand made ball. This naturally puts 

 those who use the machine at a disadvantage in this highly com- 

 petitive business. There certainly is a saving in labor, but this is 

 mote than counterbalanced by the increased cost of the mix- 

 ing. With regard to lawn tennis balls, the demand is as great 

 as ever, the game as far as clubs and tournaments are con- 

 cerned, showing none of that falling off which was prognosti- 

 cated at the resurrection of croquet a year or two ago. 



The recent opening of the Anglo-Belgian telephone cable is 



an indication of continued progress in submarine telephony. 



The distance considerably exceeds that of the 



electrical Scotland- Ireland and Dover-Calais cables, being 



MATTERS. ,. , , „ , , 



slightly over 47 miles. Transoceanic telephony 

 is still a problem of the future, and it must be confessed that 

 no material progress has been made in recent years in the way 

 of overcoming the deterrent of the electrostatic capacity of the 

 Gutta-percha insulation. There are obvious reasons why the 

 dry core paper cable used in subterranean land lines cannot be 

 employed for deep sea work, great as has been its success in 

 ousting Gutta percha for land work. Perhaps it may not be 

 superfluous to mention that the electric current used in tele- 

 phony is a very feeble one — much more so than for telegraphic 

 purposes ; a most perfect insulation is therefore required to 

 prevent leakage. Dry air is the best insulator, and if we take 

 this as unity, the figures for the specific inductive capacity of 

 some other bodies in use are: Gutta-percha, 246; India-rub- 

 ber, 2.22; shellac, 274; paraffin, 1 99. The problem is to find 

 some substance more closely approaching to unity than do these 

 substances, and this is a field in which there is considerable 

 profit to be reaped by the successful inventor. =-=With regard 

 to Callender's compound, which has always had a sort of mys- 

 tery attaching to it, it is said by Dr. Weber in his book to con- 

 sist of stearine and pitch heated with sulphur. It was gener- 

 ally supposed to contain ordinary Trinidad bitumen, vulcanized 

 in some way or other. I believe the reference quoted is the 



CAPON HEATON & CO., 

 LIMITED. 



only one in which the veil of mystery has been lifted. In Cal- 

 lender's cable works the manufacture is kept as dark as possi- 

 ble, the employes generally not being permitted access to the 

 particular department in which it is made.==Recent events 

 in the way of interfering with wireless messages have given 

 fresh hope to those interested in the established cable com- 

 panies; it seems that the Marconi system as at present devel- 

 oped has decided limitations to its utility. 



It is to be hoped that this firm, which has recently been 

 formed from the Tubeless Pneumatic Tyre & Capon Heaton, 

 Limited, so long in liquidation, will again 

 achieve something like the success of its 

 earlier days, when the late Mr. Harry 

 Heaton, Jr., was the moving spirit. With the reasonable cap- 

 ital of ^30,000 it should be able to work its old local connec- 

 tion at Birmingham to advantage, despite the new competition 

 of the Dunlop company. 



So numerous have been the failures of attempts to utilize cel- 

 lulose as a substitute for India-rubber, that it is satisfactory to 

 be able to refer to its entry into certain rubber 

 H USE works with good results, though only as an ap- 



FOR CELLULOSE. & , , 



pendage to the mechanical equipment. I refer 

 to the pulleys made of compressed waterproofed paper, which 

 have recently been put upon the market by Samuel O'Neill & 

 Sons, Limited, Castleton, Manchester, the sole makers in Great 

 Britain. The idea originated in Germany, where the patentee 

 has amply demonstrated the utility of his invention. 



Golfers are getting somewhat bewildered by the number of 



special balls which lay claim to their patronage. The Stough- 



ton ball, made by Messrs. D. Moseley & Sons, is one 



mews of the latest. It is one of the rubber variety, Messrs. 



I N BR I E F 



Moseley having the sole British rights of the Ameri- 

 can patent. The fact that the retail price is a trifle less than 

 that of the Haskell and Kempshall balls is a point which is 

 certainly in its favor with a large number of players. =— The 

 extensions to the works of the Irwell Rubber Co. (Manchester) 

 are on the point of completion, which is tantamount to saying 

 that the capacity of the works is now largely increased. I un- 

 derstand that very complete arrangements have been made for 

 dealing with the increased business in rubber covered rollers 

 for paper makers, dye works, etc., a branch for which the firm 

 has long been well known. ==As some misapprehension seems 

 current with regard to a case of similarity in name it may not 

 be superfluous to state that Mr. Herbert Standing, so well 

 known in connection with the India Rubber Journal (London), 

 is quite a distinct personage from the gentleman of the same 

 name who acts as secretary to Messrs. I. Frankenburg, Limited, 

 of Salford.==I saw in process of construction the other day 

 in one of our large works a rubber washing machine of a (to 

 me) quite novel type, and was told on enquiry that it was a type 

 commonly used in America. On a future occasion I hope to 

 speak as to the satisfaction or otherwise given by the machine, 

 which I believe is the first of its kind to be used in Great Brit- 

 ain. ==Mr. Thomas Rowley has had a serious attack of illness, 

 but at the time of writing I am glad to be able to report that 

 his condition shows a decided improvement. = = I am informed 

 by a firm in the substitute trade that the idea of coloring sub- 

 stitute various tints (as recently referred to in these notes) is 

 not at all a novel one, and that it has been tried in former 

 years with results which were anything but encouraging. 



A medal has been conferred by the Soci£:e de Ge'agraphie 

 Commerciale de Paris upon M. £mil De Wildeman, of Bel- 

 gium, in recognition of his work, " Les Plantes Tropicales," a 

 review of which appeared in the February issue of this journal. 



