September i, 1906.] 



THE INDIA HUBBER WORLD 



389 



THE INDIA-RUBBEK TRADE IN GREAT BRITAIN. 



By Our Regular Correspondent. 



1 



Alll'^ n.|K)it in whiili Mi, 1'. J. Burgess sums up 



what he has gleaned in Kngland as to the rubber 



manufacture will of course prove more interesting 



to the planter for whom it is intended than to the 



rubber manufacturer. There is little in it which calls for 



comment or criticism and pcrhajis the mo.st 



MR. burgess's noteworthy fact about it is that he was able 



REPORT " 



to get so much information at first hand from 

 Hiitish manufacturers. In referring to vulcanization, Mr. 

 Burgess consistently refers to 300° F. as being the tempera- 

 ture. I should have thought, however, that as far as the 

 great Inilk of goods is concerned 275° to 285° would be a 

 more correct figure. Then with regard to the proofing 

 br.uich it is said that benzole is the solvent generally used. 

 I don't think this is correct, because though benzole is cer- 

 tainly used to some extent — and might in my opinicm at 

 present prices be more largely used — ordinary solvent naph- 

 tha is much more generally u.sed. The main objection to 

 benzole is not in its solvent action, but in its greater degree 

 of volatilitj', necessitating the dough boxes being kept 

 lightly closed after mixing to prevent the material suffering 

 loss from evaporation. 



DiTM.VR has recently contributed to the GiDiimi-Ziilinig 



some observations on the use of light carbonate in rubber. 



Their purport is to show that in a mixing of 



THE USE OF Para rubber with 10 per cent, of sulphur the 



MAGNESIA. , . f , 



use of magnesia up to 25 per cent, enhances 

 both the strength and elasticity. This bears out the results 

 which have been obtained in practice in recent 3ears, the 

 use of magnesia having largely increased. Twenty years 

 ago a few hundredweights were used for special purposes, 

 while to-day it is used by the ton by mechanical rubber 

 manufacturers, the bulk of it in solid cab tires. The manu- 

 facture is in the hands of very few firms, as it requires an 

 expensive plant and considerable skill to produce the light 

 carbonate which alone is suited for rubber work. The most 

 common impurity, which is not exactly an impurity, is hy- 

 groscopic water ; this should not exceed 2 per cent., though 

 it is often found to be 4 or 5 per cent. This water must not 

 be confounded with the water of hydration, which is legiti- 

 mately and necessarily present as the very light product is 

 essentially a hj'drated carbonate of magnesia. 



Our London contemporary in a recent issue gives an in 

 teresting account of the large reclaiming works at Copen- 

 hagen known as the Dansk Afvulkaniserings- 

 RECLAiMED Aktieselskab. Mr. Theilgaards name has long 



RUBBER. , , . . . , , , , . 



been known 111 connection with rubber reclaim- 

 ing and the works under notice do credit to his capacity as 

 a technologist and an organizer. Copenhagen continues to 

 increase both in size and in importance as a shipping center. 

 Outside agriculture, however, the industries of Denmark are 

 insignificant, though as regards rubber reclaiming this ad- 

 jective can no longer be used. The use of neutral sulphite 

 solutions for the removal of the free sulphur is a new de- 

 parture, I take it, and certainly as regards effect upon the 

 rubber one can see the advantage over caustic alkali, though 

 I should not have thought the sulphites so powerful in their 

 action. Presumably the sulphites of soda or lime are used. 



We are told that the solutions are so neutral that they could 

 be safely drunk if any one so desired. This bit of informa- 

 tion might be utilized by such of the food preservers as use 

 sulphite as antiseptics. It is suggested that the Danish 

 product in its absolute neutrality .scores over rubber re- 

 claimed by the acid or alkali processes as there is always 

 a danger that these latter maj' turn out a product contain- 

 ing traces of alkali or acid. As far as my experience goes I 

 don't think there is much in this. I have never found free 

 alkali in the product of the alkali process, and probably if 

 traces were present they would be iieutralize<l by atmos- 

 pheric oxidation of the suljihur. 



This year's meeting was held in Manchester in July but 



there was practically nothing of interest to the rubber trade 



in connection with the proceedings. A few 



SOCIETY OF tiiembers of the New York section were present, 



INDUSTRY '^"'^ Professor Lang, of Toronto ITniveisity, but 

 no one connected with the American rubber in- 

 dustry. Speaking at the Uinclieon given by the members of 

 the Manchester section. Alderman Frankenbiirg, mayor of 

 Salford, said that as an old member of the Society it would 

 have given him much pleasure to have held a garden party 

 for the members at Peel Park if the local committee re- 

 sponsible for the arrangements had approached him on the 

 subject. 



I-\jR the last week or two there has been a dearth of rubber 

 plantation companies, that is as far as invitations to the pub- 

 lic to subscribe to new ventures is concerned. 



RUBBER 



COMPANY ^"^ *■ '*■ '^ companj- promoters are displaying 

 FINANCE ^"y lassitude. An acquaintance of mine who is 

 in touch with the I^ondon financial group which 

 has made a specialty of rubber flotations tells me that he is 

 being dailj' bombarded with propositions concerning new 

 companies. Nearlj' everybody who has got an acre of land 

 in Ceylon or the Straits has given a concession on it to 

 some one who is anxious to form a company or else he is 

 engaged in disposing of it him.self on similar lines. About 

 a good many of these concessions which are being hawked 

 about London there is the disquieting feature that the neces- 

 sary legal documents are not forthcoming and this has nat- 

 urally caused a feeling of suspicion in the minds of many 

 who have been approached. In a recent speech Sir Julius 

 Wernher, Bart., a South African gold mining magnate, said 

 that the mining industry was a reputable business and they 

 were not responsible for Stock E.Kchange values. Admit- 

 ting the truth of this without question much the same may 

 l)e said of plantation rubber. It is a genuine industry with 

 what promises to be a most prosperous future and care 

 should be taken to discriminate between the industry itself 

 and the methods of some of those who would foster it to 

 their own immediate advantage. 



A siNGLK bicycle factory at Birmingham — the New Hud- 

 son Cycle Co., Limited — is mentioned as employing 1 100 

 hands, and producing an average of 1600 bicycles per week. 

 That was during the busy season, however, but it is ex 

 pected that the output for the year will reach 40,000, and 

 the expenditure for wages ^60,000 [=$291,990]. 



