May I, 1906.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



253 



THE INDIA-RUBBER TRADE IN GREAT BRITAIN 



By Our Regular Correspondent. 



IN the March issue of Tiiic India Ruhher World the 

 American consul at Bordeaux was quoted on this sub- 

 ject. It is mentioned that the French market is con- 

 trolled by the firm of James Williamson & Sons, of 

 Lancaster, England. This is the firm whose head has made 

 an immense fortune out of linoleum and was 

 o^cLoTH r-iised to the peerage by Lord Roseberj', under 

 the title of Lord Ashton. As regards, however, 

 the particular product under reference, table oilcloth, or 

 baize, as it is commonly called, I was under the impression 

 tliat it was at the opposition Lancaster works of Storey & 

 Sons that it was chiefly made. Fifteen or more years ago I 

 remember being told that though Williamson's could do all 

 tlie heavj- linoleum business, they could not compete with 

 Storey's in table baize, which was somewhat of a trade 

 secret of the latter firm. About the date I have mentioned 

 an analytical chemist in practice in Manchester had an offer 

 from Williamson's to take up the post of chemist at their 

 works. The ofler, I understand, was a tempting one, but 

 entailed the obligation of a life devotion to the work of the 

 firm and an undertaking not to work for any competitor. 

 Anyhow the appointment was taken up and it may have 

 resulted in Williamson's having gained precedence over 

 Storey's in this particular product. I speak w-ith all re.serve 

 because it may be that the consul was imperfectlj- informed 

 on the matter and that the firm of Storey should have been 

 mentioned as prominent in the regulation of prices. It 

 shows at any rate that the French are backward in this 

 manufacture themselves ; how the Americans stand in this 

 matter I do not know but the fact that for a long time there 

 was only one British firm making it and that numerous 

 futile attempts were made by would-be competitors to get 

 hold of the secret, shows that the manufacture is one of con- 

 siderable difficulty. With regard to the ordinary heavy 

 oilcloth, called linoleum, there are plentj' of manufacturers 

 up and down the country, and Williamson's, though probably 

 the largest producers, have in no sense a nionopol}-. The 

 manufacture of what is known as Brattice cloth, for collier- 

 ies, is onlj- carried on by a few firms, though it is probably 

 due to the matter of supply and demand rather than to any 

 inherent difficulties in the process. 



Under this title the St. Helens Cable Co., Limited, enters 

 upon another phase of its existence, this being the third or 

 fourth company which has occupied the 

 buildings originally erected for the Mer.sey 

 Rubber Co., at Warrington. The name of 

 St. Helens came to be associated with the 

 concern because the Messrs. Glover, wire drawees of St. 

 Helens, were largely concerned in its capitalization, and 

 indeed it was the original intention of the last compan3' to 

 n ethe name Glover, but this was prevented as the result of 

 legal action taken by Messrs. W. T. Glover & Co., I^imited, 

 the well known cable firm of Manchester. The Pilkingtons 

 and Mr. Beecham of medicine fame were others financially 

 interested in the company when Mr. Heyl-Dia was manag- 

 ing director. The new company has an interesting constitu- 

 tion as the 10,000 shares are mostlj- held by three prominent 



ST. HELENS 



CABLE &. RUBBER 



CO., LIMITED. 



MESSRS. CAMPBELL, 

 ACHNACH & CO. 



cable companies commonly assumed to be in commercial 

 rivalry namely Callenders Cable and Construction Co., Lim- 

 ited, The British Insulated and Helsby Cables Limited and 

 Siemens Brothers & Co., Limited. The formation of the 

 new concern has been notified to the shareholders of the 

 Helsby company as being beneficial to their interests, and at 

 any rate the financial backing of the company is such as to 

 set at re.st any qualms as to the future. The exit of the St. 

 Helens Cable Co., Limited it may be added, removes a promi- 

 nent company from among those few who remain outside the 

 pale of the Cable Maker's Union for regulating standards of 

 quality and prices. 



This waterproofing firm, which carries on business at the 

 Tiiistle works, Tradeston, Gla.sgow, has sustained a severe 

 loss in the death of Mr. George Camp- 

 bell, a loss which is all the more severe 

 as after the death of Mr. Achnach a few 

 years ago he had the control of the business. The manage- 

 ment will now be in the hands of Mr. David Campbell, his 

 brother. The present works manager is Mr. Paterson, who 

 was at one time with the North British company, and was 

 also manager of the Gorton Rubber Works under Mr. Hea- 

 ton's regime. Though the firm under notice report them- 

 selves as busy they in common with other Scotch water- 

 proofers complain of the competition which admits of but 

 the barest profit being made. 



This body was I think first adopted by Weber as a solvent 



for tar pitch and asphaltum in rubber analysis. Recently, 



however, Esch, as alsoDitmar, have shown in 



PYRID NE. , „ . _ 



the Gumtnt-Zeitung, that on boiling it is not 

 without action on vulcanized and that it cannot therefore, 

 be used for the above determinations. I don't know that 

 this will cause much dismay among rubber anal3'sts, because 

 tar and asphalt are by no means of such common occurrence 

 in rubber goods as the numerous reference to their determin- 

 ation would lead the uninitiated to imagine. All the same rub- 

 ber analysis is not yet such an exact science that slight in- 

 accuracies need cause the abandonment of a process and the 

 pj'ridine extraction may still be used in those few cases 

 where an approximation of tarry matters is desired. Chem- 

 icall}', I may say, pyridine is allied to the alkaloids, of which 

 quinine is a well example, and it is extracted from the higher 

 boiling products of coal tar. Its principal use is for mixing 

 with methylated spirits to make them unpalatable as a bev- 

 erage. For this purpose it has of late by government order, 

 replaced wood-naphtha. It is one of the basic products of 

 coal tar and is the lowest member of a homologous series, if 

 I may use the expression. There are many other similar 

 bodies higher in the series which are obtained as a by- 

 product in the preparation of pure pj'ridine. These higher 

 bases unlike p3-ridine have a strong solvent action on vul- 

 canized rubber and considering that they are much the same 

 chemically, it is rather surprising that pj'ridine should have 

 so little action. It was, I maj- add, from a desire to find 

 some use for these bases that Robinson Brothers and Clift 

 patented their process for the recovery of rubber from vul- 

 canized waste. Their process has already been described in 



