290 



THE INDIA RUBBER ^^^ORLD 



[June i, 1906. 



the Harlem railroad. From there he was sent to Hudson, 

 New York, and afterward opened the offices in Valatie and 

 Red Hook, both in New York state. In 1S52 Mr. Reed was 

 an operator in the New York office of the New York, Albany 

 and Buflfalo Telegraph Co. A year later he was placed in 

 charge of the Poughkeepsie office of the company, which 

 position he held until 1S66. 



When Kort Sumter was fired on, April 12, 1861, Mr. Reed 

 received the news in his office in Poughkeepsie. By his side 

 was Admiral Farragut, an.xious and expectant. When Mr. 

 Reed told Farragut the contents of the dispatch the admiral 

 remarked, "That means that I must go to Norfolk at once. 

 I have many friends there, but if duty requires, I will blow 

 the city to h—1." 



THE SIMPSON INSULATION PATENT. 

 IM connection with the preceding sketch of ^Ir. Reed, it 

 may be of interest to say something more in regard to the 

 Simpson patent for the insulation of electric wires with 

 Gutta-percha. In 1849 George B. Simpson applied for a 

 patent for the insulation of wires with glass beads, enclos- 

 ing the same in an insoluble India-rubber or Gutta-percha 

 case or tube. Finding this process impracticable, he applied 

 for a patent on the use of Gutta-percha applied directly to 

 the \vire. This application was rejected by the United States 

 commissioner of patents, on the ground that the use of Gutta- 

 percha for that purpose was already known and had been 

 practiced for some time. Simpson made repeated applica- 

 tions, changing his claims somewhat, but was each time 

 refused. In i860 he appealed from the decision of the patent 

 office to the supreme court for the District of Columbia, 

 which sustained the decision. Notwithstanding these re- 

 peated rejections, Simpson succeeded in getting a bill passed 

 by Congress granting him a patent fori; years (1867 to 

 1884), although the process covered had been in practical 

 use for 20 years. In 1877 papers were served upon William 

 Orton, then president of the Western Union Telegraph Co., 

 and an injunction applied for, but the suit was not pressed 

 at that time. On the death of Simpson, his nephew, Clinton 

 G. Colgate, obtained control of the patent and began a new 

 suit against the Western Union company, which was decided 

 in his favor in December, 1S78. Suit was then begun against 

 Mrs. Sarah Bishop, the then owner of the Bishop Gutta- 

 percha Co., for infringement of the patent in making the 

 cables that had been used by the Western Union and other 

 parties. This ended in an arrangement whereby Mrs. Bishop 

 acknowledged the validity of the patent and was granted its 

 exclusive use during the remaining years of its life, on the 

 payment of a royalty, 



GOOD RESULTS IN MEXICO. 



THI-; Inpia Ruhbek World has seen a letter reporting a 

 visit to the estate of Ua Zacualpa Rubber Plantation 

 Co., in Mexico, from the manager of another plantation, who 

 says: "The Zacualpa people last year harvested and pre- 

 pared 15,000 pounds of rubber on their property. Their 

 product was white, clean, and as pretty as could be desired. 

 It was coagulated by the creaming process, which worked 

 infallibly, quickly, and no difficulties were experienced, 

 showing that large quantities of the milk can be handled 

 without danger of complication or loss." It would appear 

 that the energies of La Zacualpa management have been de- 



voted chiefly to the production of rubber in the best shape 

 possible, since this letter states that the manager has not 

 kept a record of the rate of yield per tree, or kept the plan- 

 tation rubber separate from the product of the wild trees on 

 the estate. Mention is made of a tapping knife in use 

 which gives "extraordinarily satisfactory results." The 

 wound it makes is clean, uniform, of rounded shape, and 

 (]uick and easy healing. Its efficacious gage prevents the 

 incision from penetrating the wood of the tree, and thelate.x 

 flows down the gash made without a drop running over the 

 bark. The letter continues: "While at La Zacualpa we 

 demonstrated beyond doubt that tapping from day to day is 

 impossible on the Caslilloa, that same can be tapped with 

 favorable results every three or four months, that it is not 

 practicable to tap during the dry season, the production be- 

 ing very small at such times, that the entire trunk of the 

 tree and its large branches can be milked through tappings 

 2 feet apart without injury to the tree, and that the task of 

 tapping and harvesting of rubber milk is destined to be easy 

 and simple. " 



NEW PROCESS FOR GUAYULE. 



'nr^HE invention of Antonio Villalba de la Corte, of vSan 

 ■*- Luis Potosi, IMexico, covered by United States patent 

 No. 814,675 (March 13, 1906), relates to the extraction of 

 rubber from the Guayule or other like plants by a " process 

 consisting in breaking the wood to be treated into suitable 

 size, subjecting this material to successively liner dry grind- 

 ings, and during the final grinding to pressure and heat." 

 The apparatus described in the patent specification com- 

 prises a hopper for receiving the broken bits of wood, and a 

 series of four grinding cylinders, through which the material 

 successively passes. The final cylinder is provided with a 

 steam jacket to raise the temperature of the ground wood, so 

 that the rubber becomes soft or plastic, and readily agglom- 

 erates, and on leaving this cylinder "the wood has been so 

 thoroughly ground that the agglomerated rubber is in a con- 

 dition to be readily separated therefrom by hand, or the rub- 

 ber may be cleaned or freed from impurities by suitable wash- 

 ing or cleaning devices. " 



* * * 



Thk A/t'-vi'ian Herald reports a movement to organize a 

 company to develop the Guayule interest in western Texas, 

 where the rubber shrub is said to be abundant. C. G. 

 Woodruft", of New York, is mentioned as forming a syndi- 

 cate to establish a Guaj'ule factory at Del Rio, Texas, his 

 interest having been enlisted by Judge J. G. Griner (con- 

 nected with the Southern Pacific railway) and J. J. Foster, 

 two citizens of Del Rio. 



The Mexican Herald reports the purchase, by the Con- 

 tinental-Mexican Rubber Co. — the large concern in which 

 several New York capitalists are reported to be interested — 

 of a Mexican patent issued in 1901, covering a process for 

 extracting rubber from Guayule and other plants. It is in- 

 timated that some other companies now at work will be pro- 

 ceeded against for infringement. The patent was purchased 

 from Constancio de la Garza, Reuben Zertucbe, and Miss Sue 

 Greenleaf. The latter is reported to hold extensive interests 

 in Guayule lands. " She is also the half owner of a rubber 

 working machine patented in the United States and will 

 soon go to New York to negotiate for its sale." 



