40 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[November i, 1905. 



gree. Some years ago in certain cases where it was considered 

 necessary to cure in the cold it was customary to use some 

 strong nitric acid to volatilize the chloride ; but of course this 

 was a chemical requiring very careful use and it is not now I 

 believe to be met with in this connection. Metal work soon 

 gets corroded by the chloride and especially is this the case 

 with galvanized iron ; other objections to the chloride are its 

 small and corrosive vapor and there is but little disposition to 

 extend its application. A good many tobacco pouches are now 

 made of sulphured sheet and vulcanized in steam ; especially is 

 this the case with the well known Crocodile red pouches of 

 Messrs. Warnes. It is generally recognized that the steam 

 cured pouch is more lasting than the vapor cured, especially as 

 regards liability to split at the joints. The advocate of the va- 

 por cure admits that African rubbers require more chloride 

 than does Para and I should think that the difficulty in the way 

 of deciding what is the right amount to use is against the pro- 

 cess. All my experience of the vapor cure has been connected 

 with fine rubber alone and here the results were always suffi- 

 ciently uniform. 



An interesting article appears in the last issue of this Jour- 

 nal relative to dust removed by the vacuum process. This has 

 now become firmly established in England, 



'''r'uTb°e^r°hose.°'' '"°'^ particularly perhaps among the 

 larger householders to whom the item of 

 expense is not a matter of great importance. In the towns, it 

 may be mentioned, some little trouble has arisen because of 

 people objecting to the thumping of the machinery while the 

 house cleaning is in progress. The point, however, which I 

 mainly wish to refer to is the suggestion that rubber hose has 

 a large field of development, not only with regard to vacuum 

 cleaning but especially in the way of laying dust in coal mines 

 by the water spray. At first sight the idea seems an admirable 

 one; it would undoubtedly tend to lessen the dangers of fiery 

 mines, but then there is the new and dreaded disease ankylosto- 

 miasis, or miner's worm, to be considered. This has long been 

 prevalent in certain German mines and of late years has caused 

 British mine inspectors a good deal of anxiety. In order to 

 combat its powers of evil it is recommended to keep the work- 

 ings as dry as possible, so it will be seen that the enthusiast in 

 mine hygiene is on the horns of a dilemma. As regards street 

 watering in towns the water cart in general use in England does 

 not bring much grist to the rubber manufacturers' mills. In the 

 large continental towns I recently visited, notably Vienna, 

 Budapest, and Agram. the street watering is all done from 

 stand pipes to which are connected long lengths of rubber hose. 

 In the Bosnian towns is to be seen the somewhat primitive ar- 

 rangement of a water barrel on wheels behind which a man 

 walks with a hose-pipe fitted with a hose. In Montenegro dry 

 sweeping is occasionally indulged in, but the fastidious might 

 urge with truth that a water cart of some sort would greatly 

 benefit the principal street of the capital in dry weather. 



On information which appeared to me conclusive, I referred 

 in the September issue of The India Rubber World to the 

 retirement of Mr. J. K.Burbridge from the 

 firm of Messrs. William Warne & Co., 

 Limited, of Tottenham and Barking. Mr. Burbridge, however, 

 informs me that he is still very much in existence in his old 

 position and that the reports which had got into circulation 

 had reference to a brother of his who had no connection with 

 the India-rubber works. 1 must express my regret to Mr. Bur- 

 bridge for the mistake, while nursing my resentment against 

 certain parties who shall be nameless in that they were though 

 doubtless unintentionally the cause ol my falling into error. I 

 may mention that Mr. Burbridge's withdrawal from the post of 



MR. J. K. BURBRIDQE. 



scientific abstractor for the Journal of the Society of Chemical 

 Industry was largely due to the other demands upon his time. 

 From what I can gatl^er there is no chance of the proposed 

 reduction of capital meeting with the assent of the preference 

 shareholders. [See The India Rubber World, 

 PNETwrTic ^"g"st I, 1905— page 383.] It is necessary for 

 TYRE CO. ^200,000 of preference capital to agree before 

 the reduction can be carried out and the diffi- 

 culty of the situation is augmented by the fact that the pref- 

 erence shareholders are to a great extent Irish. The excellent 

 trading results shown by the company of course largely reduce 

 the importance of the contemplated step, and it will probably 

 be found that things will go on as before. 



Messrs. Bourne Brothers, of Harpenden, have recently 

 put down an extensive plant for making and repairing motor 

 tires. They will also supply rubber strip, etc., to 

 cycle repairers. It may be mentioned that a con- 

 trolling interest in the firm as newly organized is 

 held by Messrs. A. C. Baber & Co., of Bucklersbury, London, 

 waste rubber merchants, whose name was mentioned in this 

 Journal last month in connection with the bankruptcy of Mr. 

 A. V. Stephens. 



The Unity Rubber Co. was registered in London Septem- 

 ber 12, with /33,ooo capital in £1 shares (30,000 preferred 

 ordinary and 3000 deferred ordinary). The 

 RUBBER WORKS, directors. are G. C. Mandleberg. H. L. Roth- 

 band, and S. L. Mandleberg, all connected 

 with J. Mandleberg & Co., Limited, of Pendleton, Manchester. 

 The object is to acquire and operate the plant ol The Hyde 

 Rubber Works, Limited, at Woodley, Cheshire. The fact that 

 this property has been taken over by Messrs. Mandleberg will 

 not surprise a good many in the trade as it has for some time 

 been thought probable. The well known waterproof firm have 

 for some time been looking out for suitable premises in which 

 to carry on the mechanical rubber industry and their business 

 reputation should enable the new Unity Rubber Co. to achieve 

 greater success than has of late years been associated with the 

 Woodley factory. 



The following paragraph in the London correspondence of a 

 Lancashire paper of some note is so interesting that it seems 

 worthy of reproduction in full : 



A Curious Trade. — A curious form of money 

 making is adopted by a London firm. Ragpickers 

 and others bring them goloshes and rubber heels that have been thrown 

 away. These are sent to America to be converted to other uses, the 

 Guttapercha of the goloshes being especially adaptable after a secret 

 process of treatment. 



It is noteworthy that whenever the staff of a daily paper get 

 on the subject of rubber they usually fall into egregious errors. It 

 may be the samewith other technical matters, and my experience 

 of the rubber scribe will make me cautious as regards technical 

 news generally. I remember discussing the Pacific cable a few 

 years ago with a leader writer on a daily paper, and advised 

 him to submit his proof to me for correction. This, however, 

 he omitted to do, and 1 was not surprised to read some com- 

 ments on the cornering of India-rubber at Singapore. There 

 is no need to multiply instances such as this, they are too com- 

 mon ; but it is permissible to express regret that the general 

 writer is so careless in seeking assistance when he is dealing 

 with topics which he does not understand. 



AN ITEM OF 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Air Brakes. — An official statement from Washington men- 

 tions that 1,845,304 locomotives and cars were in use or. Amer- 

 ican railways on June 30, 1904, of which 1,554.772 were provid- 

 ed with air brakes, calling for very much rubber hose. 



