January i, 1906.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



109 



is turned by two coolies. The late Dr. C. O. Weber long tried 

 to coagulate latex by a centrifugal machine, and finally declared 

 that it could not be done. The Michie-Clolledge machine has 

 been termed a centrifugal machine, but this is erroneous, because 

 centrifugal is often popularly understood to mean meiely a 

 revolutionary motion. The Michie-Golledge machine is a cen- 

 tripetal machine ; instead of fleeing from the center of the ma- 

 chine, the globules of Caoutchouc in the latex aie induced to 

 seek the center, the narrow blades above mentioned rushing the 

 mass of coagulating rubber into the center where it gradually 

 comes out a creamy spongy mass. 



The latex on arriving from the plantation at the factory is di- 

 luted with four times its bulk of cold water, and for every gal- 

 lon of diluted latex one drachm of acetic acid is added. Up to 

 6 gallons or more can be coagulated at a time, but probably 

 when more estates and trees have come to maturity large sized 

 machines, holding 20 to 50 gallons or more, will be built, to be 

 worked by steam or water power. 



The latex with the acid having been placed in the drum the 

 machine is set at work, revolving rapidly at first and then slow- 

 ing down as the latex is nearly cf^agulated. A large amount of 

 froth comes up on the latex at first, this seeming to diller in 

 quantity according to the age 

 of the tree, the length of time 

 it has been tapped, and so on. 

 Also the same considerations 

 seem to affect slightly the time 

 coagulation takes. In from 6 

 to 8 minutes the latex is coag- 

 ulated and appears as a huge 

 mass of white sponge in the 

 middle of the machine, of the 

 consistency of thick clotted 

 cream. This freshly coagulat- 

 ed rubber is very porous and 

 full of water. The " sponge " 

 is then placed on a mangle 

 and passed rapidly through it ; 

 the surplus water is pressed 

 out, but the rubber must not 

 be too heavily pressed, as this 

 tends to lessen its porosity 

 and consequent rapid drying 

 and the very object of the machine and method is rapidity in 

 turning out dry rubber ready for shipment. After mangling, 

 the rubber is ready to be cut up by shears or clipping knives into 

 small shreds 8 inches long, now popularly known in the East 

 and on the London market as " worms." 



There is room for improvement in the machine, as the clip- 

 ping process by hand is slow and laborious. I can conceive of 

 a rolling and clipping machine in one; the rubber coming out 

 of the rollers in a continuous thin sheet and automatically clip- 

 ped into shreds by a chopping blade. 



This machine does not waiA the rubber, as in the case of the 

 washing machine employed in the Federated Malay States, but 

 it removes all mechanical impurities. The cut up "worms" 

 are exposed to currents of hot air in the factory, where they are 

 spread out on tables and the rubber is perfectly dry and fit for 

 packing in 30 hours. It may be stated that " worm " rubber has 

 fetched top prices in the London market. 



MR. HOLI.OWAV'S LACE RUBBER MACHI.NE. 



The " lace" rubber machine is of Mr. Francis Holloway's own 

 invention. The latex is very rapidly coagulated and comes out of 

 the machine with nearly all the water pressed out of it by roll- 

 ers. It is turned out in a continuous sheet, 12 inches wide, and 



very thin and torn and broken into holes, which give it the 

 name of " lace rubber." While the writer was at the factory 

 latex was brought in fresh from the Hevea trees, coagulated and 

 turned out as "lace" by themachineanddriedbycurrentsofair, 

 at a temperature of 90° to 95° and completely dried ready for 

 packing for shipment in 19 hours. The machine feeds the "lace" 

 on to wire frames ; it is cut into segments 6 feet long to fit these 

 frames and then rapidly dried on them. When dry the rubber 

 is of a fine golden amber color, with a sweet fresh odor. The 

 pressed samples in the factory storeroom ready for packing 

 looked when unfolded like huge blankets of lace rubber. It 

 can also when dry be compressed into almost solid blocks if re- 

 quired, and in bulk itsown weight compresses it ; but as "blank- 

 ets" it is readily examined and its purity and color are at once 

 obvious. Samples are being sent to the London market. It is 

 one of the most expeditious methods of making and drying rub- 

 ber for market artificially yet brought out. 



RUBBER SMOKING APPARATUS. 



The third machine in the Kepitigalla factory is the Dickson 

 coagulating machine, the invention of Mr. R. C. Dickson, of 

 Colombo. This coagulates the rubber by a smoking process, 

 thereby closely copying the methods of the Brazilian seringuei- 



ros, only doing the business 

 more scientifically and expedi- 

 tiously, and therefore more 

 economically. The machine is 

 a coagulatjr and drier. It 

 consists of a small charcoal 

 furnace on the top of which 

 is a smoke box containing a 

 large revolving drum. Be- 

 tween the furnace and the 

 smoke box is a set of baflle 

 plates to divert fumes from 

 the furnace and prevent flames 

 or sparks passing into the 

 smoke box. At one side of 

 the smoke box is a shallow 

 pan for receiving the fresh 

 latex; and in the pan a small 

 roller, partly immersed, works 

 in contact with the surface of 

 the revolving drum. The 

 smoke fumes pass through the baffle plates round the large re- 

 volving drum and out of a chimney in the top of the smoke 

 box. The small roller is turned by hand or machine power, 

 and being in contact with the big drum revolves it, and at 

 the same time coats it with a thin film of latex. This thin 

 film coagulates and dries in the smoke as the drum revolves. 

 The process is continued until the rubber is coagulated, film by 

 film, on the drum, and a thick deposit of rubber is formed. A 

 damper is then closed between the smoke box and the furnace; 

 the rubber on the drnm is slit across with a knife and unrolled 

 in a long sheet. The antiseptic properties of the smoke tend to 

 cure and preserve the rubber, and the sheet is dry right through. 

 The machine is a cheap one, and the inventor has in mind a 

 number of the machines erected in small sheds over the rub- 

 ber estate. 



These three machines are all in the Kepitigalla factory, which 

 is one of the most up-to-date and well equipped in the East. 

 The factory and huge drying and storerooms make it about 

 the largest plantation rubber factory in the world. 



The washing machine had not arrived at Kepitigalla at the 

 time of my visit ; it will probably arrive in sections very soon, 

 as most Kepitigalla purchases do, on the back of an elephant. 



DRYING ROOM NO. 4. 



[Ceylon Biscuits Suspended on Wires, or Laid on Frames to Dry.] 



[Photograph by Mr. Etherington.] 



