132 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[January i, 1909. 



R. & J. DICK, 

 LIMITED. 



SYNTHETIC 

 RUBBER. 



tions which this rubber company enjoys owing to its very intimate 

 connection with the Dunlop Tyre company have been referred to 

 on former occasions, and there is no need for repetition, though 

 of course the public who only see the general announcement of 

 the dividend in the newspapers— and it is pretty well advertised— 

 are apt to jump to the conclusion that rubber manufacturers gen- 

 erally are making an exceedingly good thing out of their business. 

 The chairman, Mr. Harvey du Cros, made special reference to the 

 fact that they had overcome various difficulties experienced in the 

 manufacture of omnibus tires, after having lost a good deal of 

 money in their primary efforts in this direction. 



The profits announced by this important company as the 

 result of its first year's incorporation amounted to £63,411, which 

 is very near the £65,000 mentioned in 

 the prospectus. A dividend of 4 per 

 cent, is declared on the ordinary 

 shares, and £15.000 is written off the good will which figured 

 rather prominently in the prospectus. As regards the balata 

 belting business the company seem to be holding their own, 

 but liaving regard to the large competition which has now 

 arisen, especially in the cheaper qualities of belting, I shall be 

 surprised if the Glasgow works make any further great strides 

 in this part of their business. Indeed, they may possibly find it 

 necessary to adopt the somewhat lavish advertising tactics which 

 have brought the new competitors' goods before a wide public. 



The following advertisement recently appeared in the Journal 

 of the Society of Chemical Industry : 



WANTED. — Inorganic chemist, having own 

 laboratory, experienced to work with gas. 

 wanted to demonstrate a synthetic rubber proc- 

 ess. Chance for life situation. Api^ly to 

 Motors and Accessories, Limited, i South- 

 ampton row, London, W. C. 



This advertisement struck me as interesting, though my 

 curiosity did not go to the extent of applying for the life situa- 

 tion. I am wondering whether it has anything to do with Heine- 

 raann's patent of October 2, 1907. This reads: "A mixture of 

 acetylene and ethylene is heated at a dull red heat and the result- 

 ing divinyl converted into methyl divinyl or isoprene by the ac- 

 tion of methyl chloride. Caoutchouc condensed from the iso- 

 prene thus obtained is equal in every way to the natural product." 

 Well, perhaps it may be, and the patent deals with a scientific 

 process of great interest. It is, however, of no novelty to prove 

 that rubber can be prepared by chemical experts in a well 

 appointed laboratory. What would be novel is a proof that it can 

 be made at a price to enable it to compete with the natural pro- 

 duct. This is where the stumbling block comes in and I don't 

 see how it is to be easily removed. The search for synthetic 

 rubber is by no means confined to those who are ignorant of the 

 rubber manufacture and its associations because continuous work 

 in this direction is being carried on in the research laboratory 

 of the Continental works at Hanover. In other quarters, how- 

 ever, the mistaken enthusiast and the rogue have been largely to 

 the fore in connection with the business, and each have found 

 supporters of sufficient credulity to advance funds for experi- 

 mental work. 



With regard to the inferiority or otherwise of plantation Para 

 rubber compared with the ordinary Brazilian product some mild 

 recrimination has been going on be- 

 tween experts in the columns of The 

 Iiidia-Rubbcr Journal. I think that I 

 am right in saying that the present position is this : By the 

 employment of certain picked brands of rubber on a small scale 

 it may no doubt have been shown that even for the most import- 

 ant application no perceptible difference is discernible — that is, as 

 far as judgment can be made without the test of time. On the 

 other hand there is so much variation in the rubber marketed by 

 different plantations that manufacturers not unnaturally are in- 

 disposed to use large quantities for any particular best purpose. 

 At present it seems impossible to buy a five-ton lot without 

 finding considerable variations in the quality or at any rate 



PLANTATION 

 RUBBER. 



variations which are not met with in the case of Brazilian Para. 

 For coninioner purposes this matter is not of great importance 

 and the advantage of being able to use crepe rubber straight off 

 without any washing is appreciated in certain branches of the 

 trade. By the way, I hear of rubber being offered as crepe and 

 at similar prices though it was merely a wild rubber of a resinous 

 nature prepared in the form of Ceylon crepe. It may possibly 

 have been offered upon its merits, but judging from what I was 

 told an intention to deceive the buyer was not improbable. 



DR. JOSEPH TORREY. 



■ I 'HE practical thinking chemist in the rubber mill is sure to 



■*• rise, particularly if he has business ability. What inspired 



this thought was the fact that Dr. Joseph Torrey, who began 



as a rubber chemist, 

 is to-day not only 

 chemist but super- 

 intendent and di- 

 rector of a prosper- 

 ous rubber com- 

 pany. Dr. Torrey 

 was born in East 

 H a r d w i c k, Ver- 

 mont, in 1862. He 

 graduated at Bow- 

 doin College in 

 1884 and was assist- 

 ant in chemistry at 

 Lafayette College 

 for one year, then 

 professor of chem- 

 istry at Iowa Col- 

 lege for five years. 

 He went to Har- 

 vard College on the 

 Morgan fellowship 

 in 1890, but soon re- 

 signed it to take an 

 assistant professor- 

 ship. He was made a Ph. D. in 1896. In 1900 he went to Akron, 

 Ohio, as chemist of The Diamond Rubber Co., to which was 

 subsequently added the superintendency of the reclaiming depart- 

 ment. In 1902 he went to Liverpool as consultant for the North- 

 western Rubber Co., Limited, and was made general superin- 

 tendent in 1903, and subsequently put upon the board of direc- 

 tors. Personally, Dr. Torrey is a quiet, studious, modest gentle- 

 man, deeply interested in rubber problems and usually right in his 

 conclusions. 



Joseph Ioekey, ph.d. 



The Anchor Cable Co., Limited, have made a debenture issue 

 of £50,000 [= $243,325], at 4;^ per cent. The company was 

 incorporated in December, 1900, to manufacture electric cables, 

 at Leigh, Lancashire. In 1903 all the issued shares were pur- 

 chased by Callender's Cable and Construction Co., Limited, since 

 which time the Anchor business has been carried on and financed 

 by the Callender company as a distinct concern. The output 

 is confined to rubber wires and telephone cables. The manufac- 

 turing profit in 1907 reached £7,982 j6s. id. The debenture issue 

 is for the purpose of retiring bankers' loans incident to the 

 reorganization of the Anchor business, and is guaranteed by the 

 Callenders. The approaching acquisition of the British tele- 

 phone system by the government gives rise to the expectation of 

 important orders for new telephone equipment. 



At the recent medical exhibition in London R. M. Howison 

 exhibited American goods of the Seamless Rubber Co., Davol 

 Rubber Co., Faultless Rubber Co.. Pennsylvania Rubber Co. and 

 Morgan & Wright. 



