December i, 1908.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



93 



The India-Rubber Trade in Great Britain. 



liy Our Regular Correspondent. 



THIS exhibition, held from October 3 to October 31, was 

 perhaps the most comprehensive of its kind which has 

 been held in Great Britain. Originating from the desire 

 of Manchester and other large Lancashire towns to familiar- 

 ize the public with the advantages of electricity for lighting 

 HANCHESTEa '""' general industrial purposes, it was 



ELECTRICAL Well Supported by the electrical engi- 



EXHiBiTiON. neering lirnis, and it must be pro- 



nounced a great success from all points of view. I can only 

 notice here such exhibits as are closely connected with the 

 rubber trade, and may make a start with Heinrich Traun & 

 Sons, of Hamburg, who had a large and varied exhibit of 

 their vulcanite, presided over by Mr. F. Winter, who has for 

 nearly 40 years looked after the firm's London depot. In 

 search of novelties I was shown the distributor plates for 

 use in motor cars — a comparatively modern and rapidly in- 

 creasing business. The vulcanite, which is of a brown color, 

 has brass insets which I am not sufficient of an expert to 

 say more about. The vulcanite is made of a special heat- 

 resisting compound and the very great accuracy requisite in 

 the molding accounts for the high price charged. They have 

 also a new semi-vulcanite packing hardly exceeding a milli- 

 meter in thickness, which is said to be much superior to vul- 

 canized rubber of greater thickness. Acrimonious discussions 

 have taken place more than once in town councils about 

 orders being given to Germany for electrical vulcanite goods, 

 but at any rate those responsible for placing the orders can 

 point to the absence of any Iiome exhibitors of vulcanite 

 goods at this exhibition. As regards rubber cables the case 

 is different, the British Insulated and Helsby Cables, Messrs. 

 Siemens Brothers, Limited, The Liverpool Electric Cable 

 Co., and the Xcw Gutta Percha Co., showing up well. The 

 last named company, making the "Gutta Geutsch" and 

 "Peruax" insulation, can now point to five years' satisfactory 

 working of their product, and the factory at Greenwich is 

 now being enlarged to meet the demands of an increasing 

 business. It is frankly announced that "Gutta Geutsch" con- 

 tains no gutta-percha whatever, but is an unvulcanized com- 

 pound of Para rubber and wax specially treated. It is 

 competing to a much greater extent with vulcanized rubber 

 cables than with gutta-percha cables, though the insulation 

 is applied in the seamless manner as in the case of the latter. 

 Their latest application, I understand, is in connection with 

 colliery work, where they will compete successfully with 

 rubber cables as regards cost at all events. Among the 

 cables shown by the Liverpool Cable Co. was their hard cord 

 braided twin cable designed specially for trailing work in 

 mines. Many other classes of cables were also on view, in- 

 cluding samples of rubber tape and compounded sheet. Some 

 washed fine Para had a label indicating that it alone was used 

 in the Association cables, while some contiguous African 

 rubber was labelled for use with cheaper non-Association 

 cables. The stand of the Briti.'ih insulated and Helsby Cables 

 was a very comprehensive one, with posts and overhead con- 

 ductors and electrical instruments in great variety. In addi- 

 tion to vulcanized rubber cables the fibrous and paper-covered 

 varieties were prominent, especially the multiple stranded paper- 

 covered lead-cased cables for telephone work. Other exhibits in- 

 cluded golf balls and motor tires, the latter a new departure at 

 Helsby, which I commented on earlier in the year when 

 referring to the "Radax" tire. Their inner tubes are of the 

 jointless molded type, a remark which applies also to those 

 to be seen on the stand of the Calmon Asbestos and Rubber 

 Co., of Hamburg, whose motor tire T am given to undcr- 



AIR SHIP 

 FABRIC. 



Stand is second to none on the market. A novelty which is 

 now being made at the Calmon works may be mentioned, 

 though it has not much to do with electricity or rubber; this 

 is the asbestos roofing slates and firejjroof sheets which are 

 destined to supersede ordinary slates and can also be used 

 for flooring purposes. 



Personally, I have no ambition to go sailing about in the 

 air, but there is no gainsaying the enthusiasm of acroplanists 

 and the votaries of high speed rail- 

 ways, and certain new demands upon 

 the resources of the rubber works are 

 doubtless destined to grow with the efflux of time. Several 

 newspaper articles have appeared of late with reference to 

 the gas-tight material used in the conquest of the air, and I 

 have been making some inquiries as to what is being done 

 in the rubber. It may be that these inquiries have not been 

 sufficiently, prolonged or reaching, but as far as I can make 

 out the principal part of the business going has been annexed 

 by the Continental Rubber & Gutta-percha Co., of Germany. 

 The fabric which they have supplied with such success is a 

 silk double texture, the proofing of which is especially de- 

 signed to prevent the transmission of the hydrogen gas. The 

 rubber balloons of pure sheet now so much at the meteorologi- 

 cal stations of our universities for taking therniometric read- 

 ings of the upper atmosphere are somewhat of a specialty 

 with the firm. These balloons are merely larger editions of 

 what have so long been familiar as playthings: they cost, I 

 understand, somewhere about S shillings each, and the 

 demand is an increasing one. 



I UNDERSTAND that the Leyland and Birmingham Rubber Co. 

 have recently perfected a type of rubber bufifer which has 

 given the greatest satisfaction in use 

 on stamp batteries at the South Afri- 

 can gold mines. Buflers for this class 

 of work are large and cost several pounds each, the price 

 being no particular concern with the engineers if they can 

 get lasting power and so avoid constant renewals. I am 

 informed that the new Leyland buflfers have stood a practical 

 test of 60 tons pressure for 60 hours, and have come out of 

 the ordeal with practically no alteration. In past time Spen- 

 cer's buflfers, made at Bradford-on-.\von, easily distanced 

 competitive makes and proved a considerable source of reve- 

 nue. I don't know how they stand today, but it rather looks 

 as if the Leyland company had hit on a good thing. I don't 

 know whether the new buff'ers have been used on Cornish 

 rolls as well as on stamps. In the old-fashioned rolls driven 

 generally by water wheels the movable roll was pressed up 

 against the fixed roll by means of a long weighted lever. In 

 modern practice, where the rolls are driven by gearing from 

 a steam engine, the lever and bo.x of weighting material is 

 replaced by strong rubber buflfers which require renewing 

 from time to time, and it follows that the better the buflfer 

 the less will be the trouble associated with renewals. 



In a previous paragraph I have referred to the asbestos 

 boards now being made by Calmon's. From inquiries I have 

 made it appears that asbestos in the 

 form of roofing felt and boards is 

 finding increased application. Asbes- 

 tos boarding, besides rendering a building fireproof, is also 

 damp proof, and can be usefully employed instead of plaster 

 or cement, though I suppose the first cost will be necessarily 

 greater. As far as buildings are concerned, I understand 

 from Messrs. Turner Brothers, Limited, of Rochdale, that 



AN IMPROVED 

 BUFFER. 



ASBESTOS 

 DEVELOPMENTS. 



