116 



THE INDIA RUBBER \VORLD 



[January i, 1906. 



by weight. A mechanical analysis I recently made of one 

 showed that out of a total weight of 33 grams rather less than 

 10 grams was due to the rubber strip. In this case there was a 

 solid core as well as outer cover of gutta. I notice in a recent 

 patent of the Perfect Golf Ball Co. that it is proposed to make 

 the cover of Gutta-percha tape, so as to obtain more perfect ad- 

 hesion to the core. 



Improvements and increased competition have continually 



to be reported in the engine packing branch. Of late years 



American packings have been increasingly e.x- 



DANiELS s pioited in England, most of them possessing cer- 



PACKING. ' » ' r & 



tain claims to novelty which attract the steam 

 users' interest. My attention has lately been drawn to Daniels's 

 " P. P. P." packing, made solely by the Quaker City Rubber 

 Co., whose representatives in (jreat Britain are Ronald Trist & 

 Co., of Coronation House, Lloyds avenue, London, E. C. From 

 all appearances India-rubber, asbestos, plumbago, and other 

 common constituents of steam packings enter into its composi- 

 tion, but I understand that the chief claim for novelty and ef- 

 ficiency lies in the mode of construction, whereby it is enabled 

 to resist high pressures of steam in an eflective manner. The 

 booklet issued by the Ouaker City Rubber Co. gives a good 

 deal of information of interest to engineers, being the most 

 complete brochure on the subject which I have come across. 

 Reports from a works in the north of England using super- 

 heated steam state that it stands a temperature of 7co° F. suc- 

 cessfully. For a fibrous packing it is claimed that it is the only 

 one which has the particular action which causes a variation in 

 the pressure, and consequently in friction on the piston rod 

 strictly in proportion to the pressure of steam existing at any 

 moment in the cylinder. 



It has often formed matter for comment that such a valuable 



commodity as raw rubber should be bought by inspection only 



of samples without the ancillary assistance of 



WASTE chemical analysis. Yet there are solid reasons 

 RUBBER . ■; , , 



VALUATION, against any change in present procedure. In 



the case of rubber scrap the amount of money 

 involved is not so great, but still it is recognized by pur- 

 chasers that it is very difficult to accurately gage the value of 

 any particular lot, especially of mechanical rubbers. The 

 main safeguard which it is now customary to employ is in 

 the form of a negation. The purchaser stipulates that the rub- 

 ber shall not contain certain defined goods or qualities. Thus 

 in drab waste, it is stated that no rubber toys are to be in- 

 cluded, and this not so much from the common quality of the 

 rubber as from the point with which it is adorned. It is 

 obvious that chemical analysis to be of any real benefit would 

 have to be on a scale and consequently involve an expense 

 which puts its adoption as a precautionary outside considera- 

 tion. Probably the best course to pursue in the interests of 

 both seller and buyer is to adopt sorting and classification to 

 an increased extent, and already much more is being done in 

 this direction than was the case a few years ago.* 



Of late the specification of this article has undergone some 

 change. It was formerly compulsory to destroy the adhesive- 

 ness of the rubber tape by a slight cold cure, a 

 job that was always an unpleasant and ticklish 

 one, in orderto prevent the sulphur rising above 

 the low limit specified. Now this partial cure is not demanded. 

 Another alteration is the substitution of cotton tape in the rolls 

 instead of paper. This is a white tape and has nothing in com- 

 mon with the red variety with the possession of which the War 

 office is so commonly credited. This class of business does 



WAR OFFICE 

 TAPE. 



not cause much enthusiasm among the manufacturers. The 

 profits of this, as also in other government contracts, are not 

 considered at all commensurate with the trouble of keeping 

 strictly to specification, and this sending in of tenders is more 

 often than not influenced by considerations other than expec- 

 tation of profit. 



Our London contemporary in a recent issue reprints with 



suitable comments a letter from a new technical journal on the 



subject of adulteration in rubber goods. In 



AQCMDnfTicc '^ spirit of kindness that journal refrains from 

 giving any details as to the name of the paper 

 or the writer's identity. Had the letter come under my notice 

 in the first instance, I don't think I should have shown any 

 scruples in pilloring the author of such a farrago of nonsense. 

 By careless readers hypothesis is often mistaken for fact, and 

 the dubiousness of argument from analogy is frecjuently over- 

 looked. It is often said that practical men can afTord to smile 

 at what they read in print concerning their industries, but I 

 don't altogether agree with this. It is astonishing in these days 

 of scissors and paste how a paragraph with anything novel or 

 superficially attractive about it goes the rounds and grotesque 

 perversions of the truth may easily do harm to a reputable in- 

 dustry. From these considerations I take it that it is not only 

 within the province of trade journals to pillory offenders against 

 the tenets of accuracy but it becomes essential on behalf of 

 those whose interests they subserve. 



A MEETiNGof the joint committee of the dissenting ordinaty 

 and deferred shareholders was held on December 6 in Dublin. 

 Mr. Du Cros made various propositions with 

 regard to the reduction of capital, the origi- 

 nal scheme, it will be remembered, not hav- 

 ing met with the approval of the necessary number of share- 

 holders. In the end it was decided to submit the new pro- 

 posals for counsel's opinion before doing anything further. 



A FRIEND of mine who lately returned from a prolonged 

 tour in South America has interested himself in the rubber for- 

 ests. He finds, however, with regard to the con- 



RUBBER 



IN PERU cessions which he has obtained that English cap- 

 italists look askance at his proposals to engage 

 their interest and assistance. My friend confirms the state- 

 ment that a large proportion of the output of Peruvian rub- 

 ber figures in the statistics for Manaos. At present it is 

 about fourteen days mule carriage to ship the rubber from the 

 principal producing centers to the Pacific ports and the lack 

 of labor which has so long militated against the exploitation of 

 the country's resources is still being acutely felt. Of course 

 the value of forest concessions in regions where there is no bar 

 to general gathering can easily be overestimated and there is 

 always the chance of private rubber being annexed by gather- 

 ers who are not troubled with scruples. I imagine that the nec- 

 essity of maintaining an efficient police force must continue to 

 discourage the prospective concessionnaiie. 



Mr. Charles Coops, who was originally in the employ of 

 Messrs. Charles Macintosh & Co., being subsequently manager 

 of the Eccles Rubber Co., is now acting as Lon- 

 MR. COOPS. jJqj^ representative of Messrs. Adler. of Coven- 

 try, Amsterdam, and Cologne. This firm has the sole agency 

 for the sale of Messrs. Macintosh's tires on the continent and 

 are also at liberty to sell in Great Britain, though in this case 

 they have no monopoly. 



DUNLOP 

 REORGANIZATION. 



*Such classificition is tiow the rule in tlie American trade, under conditions 

 which become generally recognized, and with satisfactory results. — Thk Editor, 



Malay States.— The big Chinese firm. Chow Kit & Co., at 

 Kuala Lumpur, advertise motor car tires from " The Goodyear 

 & Rtibber Co.," but this name is not acknowledged by any firm 

 in the trade known to this Journal. 



