January i, 1906.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



105 



upon it as a partially manufactured product ; that it has 

 been handled on rolls similar to those that they use in 

 compounding, and, therefore, that it may be adulterated. 

 On the other hand, the planters find that they can handle the 

 latex much easier and more rapidly, and have apparently 

 determined to deliver it in one or both of these forms. 

 The chances are that unless some better method is discov- 

 ered, the planters will triumph. 



Samples of the rubber that have been examined by the 

 writer are excellent, and it can easily be proved whether 

 adulterants are present or not by very simple tests. Fur- 

 ther than this, there does not seem to be the slightest fear 

 that any of the Far Eastern planters will adulterate their 

 rubber. The tendency has been from the start to make just 

 as good a product as possible, and to identify whatever is 

 sent out with the plantation where it is grown. It is possi- 

 ble that the customs offices in " protection " countries may 

 at first classify such rubber as a manufactured product, 

 but there is little doubt but that such decisions could be 

 reversed if the matter were put before the proper officials 

 in the right way. What is needed more than anything else 

 is to get out more rubber, and whether it is "crepe" or 

 " worm " or "pancake " or "sheet," it is bound to find a 

 good and profitable market, and in the long run the sim- 

 plest method of coagulation and handling is that which 

 will prevail. 



"WORKING OUT OF IT." 



T^H.\ r there has been a notable advance in the knowledge 

 of rubber and of rubber manufacture in the last few 

 years goes without saying. Chemists, superintendants, and 

 rub Jer workers are all far better equipped and know more 

 about the business than ever before. At the same time it 

 comes to even the best manufacturers every now and then 

 that they are but at the beginning of the solution of the 

 great problems that the industry presents. This appre- 

 ciation of lack of exact knowledge is driven home when 

 certain high grade goods that are most carefully compound- 

 ed, and where every detail of the manufacture is apparent- 

 ly guarded against accident, suddenly begin to '' go bad." 

 Then it is that all the experts are called in, and the com- 

 bined experience of the factory brought to bear to locate 

 the cause. Usually there area half score of theories formu- 

 lated, any one of which appears reasonable. M'hen these 

 are all exploded and the goods still come out of the heat- 

 ers damaged, the sense of helplessness is something piti- 

 ful. Then as a rule the damage lessens, and to use a 

 factory phrase, they "work out of it, "the result being that 

 they neither know why the trouble began nor why it end- 

 ed. There are, no doubt, expert and enthusiastic chemists 

 who will claim that to day no such conditions should ex- 

 ist. The only answer is, that they certainly do, and in the 

 face of all expert knowledge. This is the reason that when 

 any compound or process is working well on high grade 

 goods in any rubber factory, and a new ingredient, a new 

 process, or a new machine is urged by an enterprising 

 salesman, the manufacturer so often turns a deaf ear and 

 insists upon letting well enough alone. 



It used to be a common remark in the trade that, so nar- 

 row is tne margin between the production and consumption of 

 rubber, the loss of a single cargo at sea would notably influence 

 prices. The assertion has had partial proof of late, though as 

 yet, we believe, no important cargo of rubber has ever been lost 

 on the high seas. But recently a shipload of 210 tons went down 

 in the Amazon, and the fust effect was an advance in London 

 prices. This was only temporary, however, since stocks were 

 larger than for some time, and the hope prevailed that the sunk- 

 en rubber would be raised. It now appears that all of the CyriTs 

 cargo has been salved but 17 tons. But a single ship has some- 

 times carried a thousand tons of rubber from the Amazon, and 

 the loss of such a quantity in midocean would indeed upset all 

 market calculations. The shippers might be protected by the 

 insurance companies, but the world would miss the rubber. A 

 consoling feature of the Cyril's case is that rubber is not injured 

 by so slight an accident as being dumped in the bottom of a 

 river for a few weeks. It is, indeed, subject to fewer ill influ- 

 ences than almost any other cargo known to commerce. 



It is pleasing to know that somebody is getting a "square 

 deal " in connection with " rabbit weed " rubber. Oureslcemed 

 contemporary, The Democrat .o{ Durango. Colorado, in a report 

 on preparations for producing rubber in that locality, says that 

 " those who gather the weed are paid in accord with their efTort 

 and intelligence in harvesting it." This, of course, is most 

 commendable. But we had been led to suppose that it was the 

 lack of intelligence that counted in the much vaunted develop- 

 ment of the Colorado rubber industry ; the less intelligence on 

 the part of investors, the greater the success of the company 

 promoters. 



The scare headlines in the newspapers, in regard to 

 an alleged Tire Trust, are interesting, even if they are not ac- 

 curate. The truth is that certain licensees under the G. and J. 

 patents are making tires, and none others are able to use exact- 

 ly the same fastening. The result has been that the quality of 

 the tires has been kept up, and just as good a product put on 

 the market as possible, nor have exorbitant profits accrued to 

 the manufacturers. It is doubtful if the average profit of the 

 licensees has been 10 per cent, since the automobile tire first 

 found a market. 



THE EDITOR'S BOOK TABLE. 



ELECTRICIANS' HANDV BOOK. A MODERN WORK OF REFERENCE. 

 A Compendium of Useful Data, Covering the Field of Electrical Engineering. 

 By T- O'Conor Sloane. a.m.. e.m., ph.D. New York : The Normnn VV. Hen- 

 ley Publiihing Co. 1905. [Leather. Svo. Pp. 7''i8, Illustrated. Price, $.-.50 ) 



THIS is by no means Professor Sloane's first literary effort 

 in the electrical field, and it is barely possible that the 

 single word " Sloane," on the cover, will sufficiently recommend 

 the book to the initiated. Beginning with a treatise on algebra, 

 the reader is hurried over the general principles of theoretical 

 and applied electrical engineering, descriptions of processes, 

 and of instruments, the main points being illustrated with cop- 

 ious drawings and diagrams. It must be confessed, however, 

 that it conveys not the slightest idea of the immense importance 

 of India-rubber to the electrical industries. Beyond the recom- 

 mendation that" good India-rubber shoes "be worn when woik- 

 ing around electrical machines, it is impossible to find in the 

 book any mention of India-rubber or Gutta-percha. 



IN CURRENT PERlODICAtS. 

 ZURCa3tilloakultur. By Th. F. Koschny. (Relates to the obseivs- 

 tions of the author in Central America.] = /J<T Trofeti^flanzer, ReT'in, 

 IX12 (December, 1905). Pp. 690-697. 



