June i, 1906.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



285 



THE PROWODNIK 

 FACTORY. 



the number of 29 were done to death during the nijjht. 

 There seems no evidence that this was the work of the fac- 

 tory hands, but the soldiers' comrades evidently took it to 

 be so and in the course of the next day shells were dis- 

 charged at the works, doing a large amount of damage and 

 bringing down the roof with its elaborate arrangement of 

 sprinklers. My informant along with others beat a hasty 

 retreat into an empty vulcanizing pan, which seemed best 

 adapted to withstand the artillery, and here he had plenty of 

 leisure to ruminate on the superior advantages of emplo\- 

 ment in a British factory as compared with some other coun- 

 tries. Unfortunately, the German manager of the golosh 

 department went to the gate and was shot by a soldier. 

 The works were closed down for 3 weeks and a governnient 

 enciuiry Was held, but things have now resumed a normal 

 condition. 



As an addendum to the above, a viord or two about the 

 business may be of interest. The fourteen departments into 

 which the manufactures are divided seem 

 to comprise everything of importance that 

 is made of rubber. The capacity of the 

 works is evident from the fact of about 5000 workpeople 

 being employed and the available horse power of the engines 

 being 3000. The annual output of goloshes of one sort and 

 another is put at over 8,000,000, China and other Eastern 

 countries being large customers. The newest department is 

 that of elastic thread, in which considerable progress has 

 been made, though no doubt it will take a little time to earn 

 the entire confidence of the Russian weaving mills, so as to 

 get the business so long held by the British thread manu- 

 facturers. In contradistinction to what has obtained of late 

 years in Great Britain the rubber proofed garment trade has 

 assumed increased importance in Russia and the Riga com- 

 pany are putting down new spreading machines, as an addi- 

 tion to their plant. Both sexes of the upper classes have 

 taken to wearing these garments in the summer months, the 

 new demand being for well made goods of light make. The 

 heavier proofed cloth for military uniforms has for long been 

 a regular article of manufacture. With regard to the rubber 

 sponge, in which the tw^o big Russian works so long had all 

 the business, the monopoly has broken down, owing to the 

 secret of manufacture having been gained by other countries. 

 China, I understand, is a large buyer of the rubber sponge. 



An interesting article on this subject appears in \.\\e India- 

 Rubber Jounial, from the pen of Mr. H. V. .Stevens. In ad- 

 vocating that the amount of water in rubber 

 rIw^rubber ^1io"1'1 ''s t-'i'^en into consideration in fixing 

 the price, the author is echoing what has often 

 been said before, but which has never made any progress 

 towards fulfilment. This is not altogether due to conserva- 

 tism or indifference ; it is due to some extent, I imagine, to 

 a feeling that there are onerous difficulties in the way and 

 that the other cases quoted in favor of the change are not 

 strictly parallel. Take, for instance, wood pulp, which is 

 especially referred to by Mr. Stevens. This is a manufac- 

 tured article and not a raw product, and the amount of mois- 

 ture can be fairly accurately determined. I say fairly ac- 

 curately, because it has been shown that the water is by no 

 means uniformly distributed in the sheets, and unless a very 

 particular procedure is adopted in sampling widely differing 

 results may easily be obtained. I am not aware that any de- 

 tailed work hasbeen done to seehow the water is distributed in 



MR. J JOHNSON. 



say a Para biscuit, and if the proposed change is to be adopt- 

 ed it would be necessary to specifj' the details of the test 

 very closely if disputes are to be avoided between buyer and 

 seller. .Vnd apart from the sampling the heating of rubber 

 to deprive it of moisture may easily be carried too far and 

 thus lead to increase of weight by oxidation. I am not, in 

 saying this, wishful of condemning the proposed procedure ; 

 I merely wish to point out that any such change must not 

 be adopted without a careful consideration of the whole cir- 

 cumstances. If its inherent difiiculties could be overcome — 

 and I see no reason why they should not — the desirability 

 of the change needs no emphasis when one considers the rel- 

 ative prices of rubber and water. Mr. Stevens saj's he has 

 not seen any figures showing that plantation rubber is drier 

 than South American, and that if this is so the fact ought to 

 betaken into consideration in fixing the price of the former. 

 I thought that it was well known that the reason of the 

 plantation rubber fetching the higher price was due entirely 

 to its less moisture, and that when the relative moistures 

 are duly taken into consideration the native product really 

 fetches the higher price with regard to actual rubber present. 



TiiK severance of the connection between Mr. Johnson and 

 Messrs. .Spencer Moulton & Co., of Bradford-on-Avon, comes 

 as a surprise to his many friends. In his 

 capacity of manager Mr. Johnson was pop- 

 ular with the work people and to a no less extent with those 

 such as travelers seeking business. These invariably met 

 with a courteous reception there being nothing of the " man- 

 in-povver " demeanor about Mr. Johnson. His father, it maj' 

 be mentioned, filled for man}' years the important post of 

 chief locomotive engineer to the Midland Railway Co. 



African rubber has largely taken the place of fine Para 



rubber in late years for solution making, and where the 



product is sold at a corresponding reduction in 



c,^i",?Ti^1 price there is little to be said against it. Now 



SOLUTION. 



that solution making has passed so largely out 

 of the hands of the regular works into tho.se of the cycle re- 

 pair and outfit dealers, it is not surprising that many alter- 

 ations in procedure are to be noted. One of these is the use 

 of recovered rubber — not that which is produced from old 

 vulcanized goods, but which is got by special processes from 

 certain former of factor}- waste. One such description of 

 waste is the felt cuttings from the tennis ball manufacture, 

 the felt being faced with pure rubber solution, in order to 

 effect its adhesion to the rubber ball. It follows, therefore, 

 that when pure rubber can be got from a variety of sources 

 some dealers in solution will be able to obtain their material 

 more cheapely than others, and aecoidingly will be able to 

 sell a compounding article at a lower rate than others who 

 buy direct from the rubber factor}'. That there is a substan- 

 tial profit in the solution business is evident from the fact 

 that the highest priced rubber which comes to England (from 

 the new plantations in Ceylon) is brought largelv by solu- 

 tion makers, some of the general rubber manufacturers re- 

 garding it too expensive for their uses. 



Thk Mitado Rubber Manufacturing Co. (Mitado (^.omu 

 .Scizo Gomel Kaisha), of Tokio, Japan, perhaps the largest 

 of the companies making mechanical goods in that country, 

 is mentioned by a correspondent of The India Rubber 

 World as having engaged successfully in the manufacture 

 of bicycle tires. 



