382 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[August i, 1909. 



CARBON 

 TETRACHLORIDE. 



raised, and on June 21 a circular letter was sent out from the 

 office of the India Rubber Manufacturers' Association, in Man- 

 chester, stating that the members are compelled from that date to 

 make a minimum advance of 10 per cent., owing to the rise 

 in cost of raw materials and of manufacturing expenses. The 

 customary procedure in announcing this is for the members of 

 the Association to send to their own customers the printed letter 

 of the Association, with their own name stamped on it in large 

 type. 



The great fall in the price of aluminum, owing to its produc- 

 tion electrolytically, has proved rather disastrous to those inter- 

 ested in its manufacture. Electricians, 

 ELECTRIC CABLES— however, are the reverse of despondent 



AN EVENTUALITY. , ■ c tci ,.„ „„ 



at the present price of ioo per ton, as 

 they say that a slight further reduction will enable them to use 

 aluminum instead of copper, if the latter rises above £70 per 

 ton. To avoid the use of technical electrical terms, I may say 

 that aluminum is not quite so good as copper for cable purposes 

 and that rather more of it must be used. As far as I am aware 

 no complaint has ever been brought against aluminum as having 

 any injurious effect upon rubber, and the expense of the turning 

 process which has to be applied in the case of copper wires will 

 be obviated. In all probability the ordinary rubber insulation 

 as used for copper wires would be modified in the case of 

 aluminum, and anyhow it may be expected to last longer in 

 many cases, because, despite the coating with tin, copper sul- 

 phide is commonly found in the rubber next the wires, and this 

 certainly has an injurious effect upon the efficiency of the insu- 

 lation. 



The price of this solvent, though much reduced from that of a 

 few years ago, is still ,very high, compared with coal tar, naphtha, 

 petroleum spirit, or shale spirit, and as 

 far as the rubber trade is concerned, it 

 is only used in small quantities, and 

 mainly by those who are desirous of avoiding the fire risks 

 associated with the hydrocarbon solvents. With regard to the 

 future, it seems a safe surmise that the price will come down 

 further. Owing to the various chemical manufactures in which 

 the electrolysis of common salt or other chlorides is the main 

 feature, there is an increasing amount of chlorine being pro- 

 duced, for which it is difficult to find a market. It cannot all 

 be absorbed in the production of bleaching powder, and efforts 

 are being made to increase the use of chlorine solvents as a way 

 out of difficulty. In the United States carbon tetrachloride 

 is now being made from chlorine produced electrolytically. The 

 chlorine reacts upon bisulphide of carbon with tli£ formation of 

 carbon tetrachloride and a chloride of sulphur. The latter, I am 

 informed, finds an application in the waterproofing of boots, 

 though I imagine that it must be used in conjunction with some 

 other material. 



Since my former reference to this topic it has been officially 



announced that petrol means any spirit, whether derived from 



petroleum oil, shale or coal tar, which 



THE BUDGET j^ ^^^^ ;„ motor cars. The hopes of the 



AND PETROL. , u •. . u lU 



petrol substitute purveyors have there- 

 fore soon been dashed. In a recent conversation with a tar dis- 

 tiller I had some figures given me relating to the use of benzol 

 in motor cars. Their purport was that benzol had been proved 

 not only to be equal to petrol, but to be 25 per cent, superior. 

 Benzol has been sold wholesale recently at as low a price as 

 4^ pence per gallon, solvent naphtha, by the way, also being 

 quoted at a considerably reduced figure for contracts placed at 

 the present time. My informant was strongly of opinion that 

 benzol would soon come to be generally used as a motor spirit, 

 and that in say two years from now rubber manufacturers who 

 use benzol must not expect quotations at anything like those 

 ruling at the present time. The main fact which operates against 

 the increased use of benzol at the present time is that there are 

 no regular distribution centers, as in the case of petrol. A 



motorist knows that he can obtain petrol at numerous places on 

 the route of any particular journey, whereas, if he started with 

 benzol and ran short he could not depend upon getting further 

 supplies. This present difficulty far outweighs the saving of a 

 few pence per gallon, and until its distribution is adequately 

 provided for we are not likely to see any great increase in 

 its use. 



It is with much regret that I mention the recent death of Mr. 

 Arthur Carlton at Hanau, Germany. It is some time sinoe I 

 met the deceased, who has been for 

 PERSONAL ^pj^g jjj^g at. the Hanau works of the 



Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co., G. m. b. H. 

 Some twenty years ago Mr. Carlton entered the clerical department 

 at Messrs. Charles Macintosh & Co.'s works, and went out to 

 Barcelona, Spain, to look after a branch they had there at the 

 time. On returning he occupied other posts in the manufactur- 

 ing departments at the Cambridge street works, and then went 

 to the Dunlop Rubber' Works at Birmingham. Subsequently he 

 joined Dr. H. Schumacher at the works he had for three years 

 at Deptford, and when these closed down he went to the Dunlop 

 works at Hanau. Shock following the amputation of a leg which 

 he had injured was the primary cause of death. 



Mr. William Coulter has left the Harburg- Vienna works at 

 Wimpassing, Austria, and has taken up a position at the Hun- 

 garian Rubber Works, Budapest. A few years ago Mr. Coulter 

 left England to start the elastic thread department at the 

 "Prowodnik" wroks of the Russian-French India-Rubber Co., 

 at Riga, but returned home when work was temporarily stopped 

 by the sanguinary riots. As he remarked to me, it was unsatis- 

 factory sitting in a vulcan pan when the works were being 

 shelled from the street. Mr. Coulter has had other Continental 

 experiences since he vacated his position of manager of the 

 proofing department at Messrs. Charles Macintosh & Co.'s some 

 fifteen years ago. 



Mr. John Gomersall, who retired a few years ago from Messrs. 

 Francis Shaw & Co.'s rubber machinery works, and has been 

 acting as a consulting engineer, has been specially retained by 

 the Irwell and Eastern Rubber 'Co., Limited, as engineer, and 

 the new plant which has been put up at Ordsall lane has been 

 under his supervision. This plant, which has been rendered 

 necessary by the extension of the firm's balata belting business, 

 is run by electricity obtained from the town mains. A great 

 convenience associated with electric power is in connection with 

 night work. 



INDIA-RUBBER GOODS IN COMMERCE. 



EXPORTS FROM THE UNITED STATES. 



OFFICIAL Statement of value of exports of manufactures of 

 india-rubber and gutta-percha for the month of May, 1909, 

 and the first eleven months of five fiscal j-ears, beginning July i : 



Belting, Boots All 



Months. Packing and Other Total. 



and Hose. Shoes. Rubber. 



May, 190Q $145704 $69,202 $303,840 $518,755 



July-April 1,225,882 1,139.271 3,165,096 5,530,249 



Total $1,371,586 



Total, 1907-08 . 1,225,618 



Total, 1906-07 . 1, 135,116 



Total, 1Q05-06 . 1,119,010 



Total, 1904-05 . 892,232 



$1,208,473 $3,468,945 $6,049,004 

 1,486,959 3,443,465 6,156,042 

 1,082,003 3,358,459 5.575.578 

 1,425,324 2,685,511 5.229,845 

 1,135,610 2.327.757 4.355,599 

 The exports for the current fiscal year compare with the cor- 

 responding eleven months in the preceding year as follows : 



Decrease in boots and shoes $278,486 



Increase in belting, etc $145,968 



Increase in miscellaneous 25,480 171,448 



Net increase 



$107,038 



An importation of diving dresses at New York was held 

 dutiable as manufactures in chief value of india-rubber. 



