April i, 1909.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



241 



The India-Rubber Trade in Great Britain. 



By Our Regular Correspondent. 



GARES 

 PATENT. 



I DO not know how far the subject of rubber will be considered 

 at the Seventh International Congress of Applied Chemistry, 

 to b.e held in London May 27-June 2, when there will be a 

 great gathering of chemists, scientific and technical, from all tlu' 

 leading countries. When the fifth congress met in Berlin in 

 RUBBER AND J"ne, 1903, the late Dr. Weber, I re- 



THE CHEMICAL member, was prominent in bringing 

 CONGRESS. forward the subject of rubber chem- 



istry, which was discussed at length in a subdivision of Sec- 

 tion IV — organic chemistry and allied industries. This was 

 not the case three years later, however, when the sixth con- 

 gress was held in Rome. But it is probaible that at the 

 London meeting, where the same classification of topics will 

 be in force, that rubber will come up for important notice, 

 although no special subdivision of Section IV relates to rub- 

 ber specifically. As in most international scientific congresses, 

 the language difficulty presents itself in this case. Papers may 

 be filed in English, French, German, and Italian, but arrange- 

 ments are to be made for interpreting addresses and discussions. 

 The King is patron of the congress and the Prince of Wales 

 vice patron; Sir Henry E. Roscoe is honorary president and Sir 

 William Ramsey, k. c. b., president, -while I notice the names of 

 some American scientists of distinction named on the honorary 

 advisory committee. 



Some time ago a brief editorial notice referred to the patent 

 taken out by Mr. T. Gare, of New Brighton, for the renovating 

 of old tires by submitting them to liigh 

 temperatures and pressure. Sume de- 

 lay occurred in obtaining the British 

 patent, -which has now been granted. The business head- 

 quarters have for some time been located at Hazel Grove, 

 near Stockport, and active experimental work has been 

 carried on. I understand that licenses to work the patent 

 have been granted to some foreign firm, and that an 

 option for the purchase of the British patent is now in existence, 

 the sum mentioned being a large one. At any rate, it seems as if 

 the process is considered of very much more value than the great 

 bulk of those to be seen in the lists of rubber patents, and its 

 evolution will necessarily be watched with interest. 



This solvent formed the subject of a recent paper before the 

 Manchester section of the Society of Chemical Industry by Mr. 

 L. G. Radcliffe. Entitled "The Examina- 

 tion of Carbon Tetfachlorido," it dealt 

 entirely with the determination of its 

 impurities as found in commercial brands. The investiga- 

 tion, it was stated, arose in connection with some tech- 

 nical research work the nature of which was not forth- 

 coming. Whether it had any connection or not with the 

 rubber trade, I am therefore unable to say. It appears 

 that the main impurity is carbon bisulphide, which is usually 

 present in quantities from r to 3 per cent., and sometimes up to 

 5 per cent. This amount was found in no degree to destroy the 

 characteristic of non-inflammability, so that those who employ it 

 for rubber solution making need not feel any apprehension on 

 this score w'hen they declare it as non-inflammable. From being 

 a comparatively rare and expensive chemical, carbon tetra- 

 chloride has come in a few years to be a connnercial body sold 

 by the ton and, besides finding employment in rubber works, it is 

 now used by oil extractors and dry cleaners. It is also stated to 

 have been used in rubber works for putting out fires, but though 

 it is non-inflammable, it is not undecomposable, and I understand 

 that the products of decomposition at a high temperature are such 

 as to make it undesirable as a fire extinguisher. 



BENZOL AS 

 A SOLVENT. 



CARBON 

 TETRACHLORIDE. 



NEW 

 C0HPAN7. 



While not subscribing whole-heartedly to the expressed claim 

 in certain advertisements that benzol is the only perfect rubber 

 solvent, I feel that its advantage as 

 a solvent, taken in conjunction with 

 its now low price, are not sufficiently 

 recognized by the trade. Weber laid stress on the fact that 

 its boiling -within the limited range of temperature was a 

 draw"back of considerable moment compared with solvent 

 naphtha, which has a range of 40° C, more or less. This 

 defect, he said, with special reference to the proofing 

 trade, led to cockling or curling, due to too uniform and rapid 

 drying of the texture. This statement may or may nor, be 

 a matter 'of general agreement among proofers of high class 

 goods, but I imagine that it has not much wearing on heavily 

 compounded proofs or in the various proofings which are not con- 

 cerned with the production of garments. With regard to benzol 

 as a substitute for carbon bisulphide in cold curing, the fact 

 seems to be that in spite of all that has been said in its favor, it 

 has still comparatively little application in England. Perhaps 

 the case is different in America. At one time Weber was in 

 favor of it, and was in business relations with a tar distillation 

 firm who marketed it for the purpose. Later, however, he 

 changed his views, as the result of experience. Where the 

 advertisements referred to say that for this purpose it is superior 

 to benzine, that is to petroleum spirit, I am in cordial agreement, 

 but I am afraid this does not bring us much nearer the denied 

 good of its general adoption in place of bisulphide of carbon. 



One of the most recent flotations is the Paramaribo Rubber 

 and Lumber Estates, Limited, capitalized at i6o,ooo and with 

 headquarters in Edinburgh. Rubber, ba- 

 lata and timber are to be exploited and 

 plantations of Hetea are to be estab- 

 lished. Compared with the Eastern plantation companies the rec- 

 ord of these natural forest companies has not so far been an 

 exhilarating one. In the present case the promoter takes the 

 whole of his consideration in shares and none of the £40,000 

 capital appealed for has been underwritten. So far so good. 

 There is, of course, plenty of the balata in Dutch Guiana ; as to 

 the prospects of the trade in timber I have no qualifications to 

 speak. It was stated in the prospectus that the green heat tim- 

 ber from the property was used in the construction of the Man- 

 chester ship canal. Enquiries made from officials of the canal 

 company elicited the intelligence that the timber had so far 

 proved very satisfactory, and had justified its adoption instead of 

 the alternative steel. It is thought, by the way, that the refer- 

 ence to its use on the canal might have been usefully elaborated 

 by stating that it was for the lock gates ; as it is, the reference is 

 somewhat obscure except to engineers. 



Despite the claims which have been made in so many patents 

 for the devulcanization of rubber, I have not yet been fortunate 

 enough to come across any sample of re- 

 claimed rubber sold on the large which 

 satisfy me as to the achievement of this 

 end, that is as far as solubility in the ordinary solvents is con- 

 cerned. Not that this really affects the trade importance of the 

 various excellent brands of reclaimed rubber now on the mar- 

 ket. It is rather a question of correct nomenclature. I am not 

 aware that any dealers who sell reclaimed rubber from steam 

 vulcanized stock describe it as being desulphurized, and, as being 

 equal to the original rubber, but language of this soit is to be 

 found in patent specifications. As an instance, I may cite the 

 patent of Moritz Koner, of Griinau, Germany, 1905. This refers 

 to the dcsulphurization of the vulcanized rubber with the produc- 



DEVULCANIZATION 

 OF RUBBER. 



