384 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[September i, 1906. 



have to do so. The demand for rubber is rapidly increasing 

 and of course the price of rubber products must increase cor- 

 respondingly. 



•• As to guarantees, we have sometimes given one for ton- 

 nage, though as a rule we do not regard it good business. 

 Time guarantees are out of the question. The ordinary 

 commercial guarantee, which implies good material and 

 workmanship, is a different thing. Most of our conveyor 

 belts are of the trough type, the kind chiefly used for carry- 

 ing ores, coal, and stone. These have to stand the hardest 

 possible strain and the roughest of handling, so it is obvious 

 that we could not give a sweeping guarantee. The condi- 

 tions covering the use of any one belt are never like those 

 covering any other, so each must be reckoned with by it- 

 self." 



Several important e.xperiinents are being conducted with 

 a view to discovering an acceptable substitute for the bi.gh 

 grade rubber conveyor belt that is now most generally used. 

 Several belts in which reclaimed rubber was used have been 

 tried with varying success. The chief trouble seems to be 

 lack of uniformity. On some work the reclaimed rubber 

 belt has proved satisfactory, especially in the narrower 

 widths. A western mining company has secured excellent 

 results from a long, wide belt of particularly heavy duck, 

 with its carrying surface thickly studded with heavy cop[)er 

 rivets. 



COAGULATION OF "CASTILI.OA" RUBBER. 



REPLVINC. to an inquiry from the Editor of the liulhtin 

 of the Jamaica Department of Agriculture, Mr. S. W. 

 Sinclair, manager of a rubber plantation at Bluefields, Nic- 

 aragua, says that it consists of a piece of board through which 

 '+ inch holes are bored, about 2 inches apart each way. Over 

 this board a sheet of absorbent paper is placed. The paper 

 must be laid on the board wet ; if put on dry, it will warp and 

 give an uneven sheet of rubber. Having the board and paper 

 laid on wet, now proceed to tack on the rim or frame, which 

 should be from i '4" inches to 1 % inches high, and your box 

 will be ready for coagulating. As soon as the latex is 

 brought in from the field, he adds four times its volume of 

 water, then strains through a fine metal sieve; then the 

 whole is placed in a cone bottom tin tank to settle, which 

 takes about an hour. He then decants off the water until 

 ihe latex becomes as thick as when it came from the tree ; 

 then he pours it into boxes and the water that is in the 

 late.x, which can't be decanted oft", will jiass through the ab- 

 sorbent paper in about 10 minutes, leaving the rubber. The 

 latter is exposed to a heat of 110° F. for five or six hours, 

 when the rubber can be lifted off" the box. A new sheet 

 has to be put on after being used 10 or 12 times. Tlie 

 time of exposure to heat varies and it is hard to give a cor- 

 rect formula in this respect, but one soon learns by the feel 

 of the sheets, just when to take them from the boxes. He 

 takes them ofT as soon as the fingers don't stick, when 

 pressed against them. It may be mentioned that this 

 method is for Castilloa elaslica. The llcvea latex ])asses 

 through the absorbent paper. Mr. .Sinclair says that rubber 

 coagulated on the above method becomes transparent like 

 biscuits from Ceylon and the Straits, and runs tin.- latter a 

 el )se second in price^ 



THE MATAI.E CEYLON RUBBER CO , LIMITED 

 RiCi'.isTEKiii) in London to acquire, from February i, 1906, 

 the estates of Anibanganga (279 acres), Waredaminie (208 

 acres), and .Vrolsen (208 acres), in Matale North di.strict, 

 Ceylon. There are 187 acres of Castilloa and 179 acres of 

 Hiz'ta rubber, all interplanted with cocoa and 91 acres being 

 planted with Ilcvea alone. Cocoa harvesting is to begin 

 this year, and it is expected to tap 16,000 Castilloa trees (6>^ 

 years old) next year. The price to be paid for the properties 

 is ,/^io,ooo cash and ,^,15,000 in shares. Capital, /[30,ooo 

 [=5i'4.S.995j. Secretary and offices: P. H. Hervey, 30, 

 Mincing lane, K. C, London. One of the vendors is W. E. 

 Gildea, one of the proprietors of Ambanganga estate, noted 

 as an advocate of Castilloa planting in Ceylon. 



t)OS RIOS PLANTATION,'- CO. 



[I'laiit;iti"ii " Dos Kios." In Ihc State Vera Cru/. Mexico OHiccs: 709 B,Tnk ol 

 Commerc e buildnig. Kansas City, Missouri ] 



Til IS company, formed in January last, is a reorgani/ation 

 of the Dos Rios Planters' Association, one of the oldest of 

 the ])lanting enterprises in Mexico. The plantation "Dos 

 Rios " is located at the junction of the Coatzacoalcos and 

 Clialchijapa rivers, on the isthmus of Tehuantepec. The 

 financial condition of the company is reported improved by 

 the new arrangement. W. S. Woods is president, S. W. 

 M.i.son vice president and secretary, and J. W. Rubey treas- 

 urer. Mr. Mason, who returned recently from a visit to the 

 plantation, states that the company purpo.se tapping this 

 fall 15,000 to 20,000 of their oldest rubber trees. 



RUBBER GOODS IN COMMERCE. 



EXI'0<rS FROM THE UNITED STaTE.S 



THE following is an official statement of values of ex- 

 ports of manufactures of India-Rubber and Gutta- 

 percha for eight fiscal 3ears, ending June 30: 



[ (a) Included in " All Other" prior to July i, 1899 ] 

 The number of pairs of rubber footwear exported during 

 the past six years has increased as follows : 



igoo-oi. 1901-02. l'io-.'-03. 190.1-04. 1904-05 1905-06. 



I 469 100 2,594 688 2,307,401 2,310,80s 2,390,539 2,693,670 



The British consul in Bolivia reports that the progress 

 made in rubber planting in the Far V^asX. is having the effect 

 in Bolivia of causing greater care in the production of forest 

 rubber, and in the preservation of the trees tapped. "In 

 former years," he writes, " it was quite a minor question if 

 a tree became useless by over milking it." 



The Diamond Rubber Co. are proud of the record they 

 have made this year in their tire department. Reports of 

 the tire trade which have reached them would indicate that 

 the company manufactured and sent out to the trade almost 

 one-third of tllQ tires that have been made in the country 

 this year. 



