104 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[December i, igoS. 



The Leicester Magic Poiish Co., Limited (Space "), in addi- 

 tion to a wide variety of other products, cxhihited "Magic" rub- 

 ber heels and rubber tips. 



Many of the companies mentioned as engaged in the rubber 

 heel business operate factories of their own, and most of the 

 others have contracts with rubber manufacturing establishments 

 of standing that amount to an important figure during the course 

 of a year. There are no statistics of the volume of the rubber 

 heel trade in Great Britain, where this particular feature of the 

 industry seems to have been developed on a larger scale than in 

 any other country. The business in America is, however, not 

 unimportant, since one home concern mentioned in connection 

 with the London show is currently reported to be doing a good 

 business of $2,coo,ooo or more a year. 



The India Rubber World, May i, 1904 (page 278) contained 

 what was in those days a comprehensive article on "The Re- 

 volving Heel in England," illustrating a considerable number of 

 types, but since that day the extent of the trade and the variety 

 of the product has increased enormously. Some of the new de- 

 signs shown at Agricultural Hall are illustrated in connection 

 with this article. There is also in The India Rubber World 

 (September i. 1904 — page 414) an article on "The Manufacture 

 of Rubber Heels," which may still prove of interest. 



RUBBER VALORIZATION— A MANAOS VIEW. 



HOSE RACK LITIGATION ENDED. 



AFTER more than two years of litigation, a patent has finally 

 been awarded the W. D. Allen Manufacturing Co. (Chi- 

 cago) for a certain type of pin hose rack — the Bowes rack — 

 used for unlined linen hose, which gives to that enterprising 

 firm a monopoly on this type of hose rack. The essential fea- 

 tures of the rack are shown in the cuts herewith. Cut No. I 

 shows the hose in the process of being pulled from the rack. 

 The loops are suspended on the pins and by means of an exten- 

 sion arm, shown in the cut, when the hose is withdrawn the 

 pins are retained on the extension arm and the hose rapidly 

 pays out. A quick and short pull on the hose will bring all of 

 the hose to the floor after it has once acquired a momentum, 

 and it has also been found by experiment that the hose w-ill clear 

 itself from the rack by the pressure of the water when it is 

 turned on. 



[The hose supi>orts remain on 

 the e.xtension arm of rack as 

 hose is drawn off.] 



Bowes Hose Rack. 



[Hose in position to be 

 drawn o(T.] 



Bowes Hose Rack. 



The advantage of this rack over other types of pin racks is, 

 that the pins are retained on the rack and do not fall to the 

 floor as in the case of the others. The rack is simple in con- 

 struction, fulfilling all requirements of a pin hose rack, and is 

 made in a variety of forms and any kind of finish. 



There are other racks on the market which conflict on the 

 Bowes patent, and the firm announce their intention of prose- 

 cuting any infringement. 



"V 



[from ' revista d.\ associacao do amazonas. ] 

 ALORIZATION of India-Rubber" is the title of several 

 articles that have appeared in the daily papers. We also 

 see the word frequently used in official reports. It seems about 

 time to study this question, in order to avoid erroneous ideas 

 pervading the minds of those who are not familiar with our com- 

 mercial life, or with the factors that govern the situation of a 

 world product, such as our rubber is. 



In the first place, we must object to the term "valorization," 

 which is apt to lead to wrong interpretation. Only a thing that 

 has been depreciated can be "valorized." Is our rubber depre- 

 ciated at the present moment? Many think not. But it was dur- 

 ing the first six months of this year, when the price fell to 

 2s. gd. [=66J4 cents] in Liverpool; to-day it is quoted in the 

 consumers' market above 4s. [=gyy3 cents], which is a higher 

 price than the article ever touched in all the period of its 

 existence, excepting the last two years. 



To be anxious to enhance, by artificial means, the price of an 

 article that is already being quoted at an attractive figure, is an 

 absurdity, and nothing else but a speculation. It is this specula- 

 tion that we must strongly condemn, because it disturbs the 

 economic equilibrium of a whole nation, when we consider that 

 it is its principal, if not its only product. There is speculation 

 for both the rise and the fall. The latter is naturally odious to 

 us ; the first is looked upon more kindly. Neverthless, we must 

 not pass it by without censure. A speculation for the rise, that 

 is to say, the forcing up of a commodity to a fictitious price — 

 one that does not correspond to its intrinsic value — cannot fail 

 to meet some day with its due reaction, which will be the worse 

 in proportion as the speculation has been greater. 



Every commodity has its intrinsic value, dictated by the de- 

 mand and the supply. If the former exceeds the latter, the 

 regulator of the two factors — namely, the price — comes into play. 

 Too high a price restricts the demand and stimulates the supply, 

 promoting by this means, after a while, the return to a proper 

 equilibrium. In the opposite case, when the demand at a giveti 

 moment remains below the supply, it is again the price that 

 regulates the situation ; it either restricts the supply or increases 

 the demand, or does both things. 



That is what happened with our rubber toward the end of 

 the last decade. 



The overproduction of pneumatic tires for bicycles caused an 

 enormous demand for rubber, greater than the supply of it. In 

 consequence the price rose from 2s. odd to 4s. odd. But at the 

 same time, this figure, inviting to the planter, stimulated the 

 production not only here, but was also the cause of the activity 

 displayed on every rubber plantation in the world. The inevi- 

 table reaction to this overproduction of tires came, and the de- 

 mand for rubber for them being suddenly and enormously re- 

 duced, prices went down. The fall was so much greater, because 

 many industries had been compelled by the first price of our 

 rubber to take in supplies of inferior quality, upon which they 

 were then relying. The drop in prices did not fail to have in 

 turn its reaction, and the normal equilibrium was slow to return. 



The crisis we have just passed shows about the same course 

 and the same features, the only difference being that this time 

 the immediate cause was the overproduction of tires for auto- 

 mobiles, assisted by the financial crisis that last year pervaded 

 the whole world. Since 1902 the prices of rubber have main- 

 tained an ascending line, from 3.5. in that year to 5s. 8d. 



[=$i.37H] in 1905- 



The encouraging state of the manufacturing industries and of 

 business generally also increased the demand for rubber as well 

 as the number of its applications, so that the supply, although 

 always augmenting, scarcely sufficed to meet the demand. That 

 caused the rise in price, which was checked only when the first 

 large shipments began to arrive from cultivated plantations in 



