430 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[September i, 1909. 



The India-Rubber Trade in Great Britain. 



By Our Regular Correspondent. 



RUBBER WASHING 

 FOa THE TRADE. 



A FEW months ago I referred to this topic in connection 

 with a new advertisement showing the advantages of 

 buying low-grade rubbers, washed or semi-washed. 

 Though the name does not appear in the advertisement, I under- 

 stand that the Murac Syndicate is running the new business. 

 In my previous comments I referred 

 to the conservatism of the average 

 rubber manufacturer who likes to 

 see his high-grade rubbers in the rough, so to speak, so 

 as to be certain of their identity. How far this desideratum 

 will effect the fortunes of the latest venture I do not care 

 to predict, but that it will not prove entirely fatal seems 

 clear from the success that has followed a similar business 

 founded a few years ago. I refer to the rubber-washing 

 works carried on by Eyre & Co. at the Meadow Mills, 

 Greenfield, Holywell, North Wales, of which W. J. Eyre is 

 the controlling spirit. Mr. Eyre has had over fifty years' con- 

 nection with the rubber trade, mainly in the branch of raw rub- 

 ber and rubber brokerage, and a good many years ago he started 

 purifying low grade and in some cases undesirable rubbers, so as 

 to render them more attractive to the manufacturer. Si.x years ago, 

 owing to the extension of the business, it was mostly transferred 

 from Liverpool to Holywell, the premises taken over being an 

 old copper rolling mill. The rural surroundings of the mill 

 are delightful, but its main business attraction is a large mill 

 dam, 25 feet deep and a water wheel of 45 feet diameter. This 

 wheel actuates all the washing rolls and other machinery at a 

 total yearly cost of the oil for its lubrication. Owing to the 

 extension of the business new washing rolls are shortly to be 

 installed, to be driven by the same wheel. Fine rubber is not 

 washed, the bulk of the work being done on low-grade, sandy 

 and resinous rubbers. As a rule, the company buys the raw 

 rubber in the market and sells it to the rubber works where 

 washed, though in some cases the manufacturers send their rub- 

 ber to be washed on terms. The drying chambers are heated 

 by steam pipes, a current of hot air being also used. 



According to the statements made at the third annual meet- 

 ing, held on July 9, in London, the outlook is not yet as bright 

 LiBERiAN ^s ^^^ shareholders wish. Inter-tribal 



RUBBER warfare appears to be answerable for 



CORPORATION. a lowcr yield of rubber than was e.K- 



pected. From what Sir Harry Johnston said it seems that the 

 indigenous Funitimia elastica has not taken at all well to planta- 

 tion, and it has been discarded in favor of Hevea. Until the 

 plantation of the latter comes into bearing the position of the 

 Corporation clearly depends very largely upon the maintenanct 

 of the present high prices for raw rubber. With Para at 3 

 shillings the native Liberian rubber can only find a market at 

 prices which will be found unremunerative. Of course, there 

 is this to be said for the future — it may be taken for granted 

 that an improvement will be effected in the methods of prepara- 

 tion and that the very objectionable smell which has militated 

 against the use of this rubber in the past will not be so con- 

 spicuous in the future. 



I HAVE read with much interest the articles on this subject 

 receutly ccntributed to The India Rubber World by Mr. H. O. 

 Chute. The general conclusion one 

 comes to from the figures he has given 



DERE8ENATION 



OF INDIA-RUBBER. 



is that the process will pay if about 

 3 shillings per pound can be obtained for the rubber, but he 

 doesn't say anything about the quality of the rubber which has 

 been deresinated. A good deal will also depend upon the rubber 

 market. 



I note that the solvents he suggests are methyl and ethyl 

 acetates instead of acetone. Of course, the proposal to get pure 

 rubber from Pontianak gum is by no means new. More than 

 one plant for the purpose has been erected in England and aban- 

 doned for one reason or another. In case of the most important 

 one, I understand, a market could not be obtained for the rubber, 

 one reason being because of the poor quality of the deresinated 

 rubber. 



Pontianak is estimated to yield 10 per cent, of rubber, but 

 analyses show it contains much less than 10 per cent. The ma- 

 terial that comes to England is usually very wet, containing 

 50 or more per cent, of water. Moreover, the amount and quality 

 of rubber varies considerably. At Liverpool there is a rooted 

 objection to calling in the aid of chemical analysis in judging the 

 value of Pontianak, but in buying for a deresinating plant, 

 analysis would appear to be highly desirable. 



What Mr. Chute says as to the difference between resin and 

 rubber resins is by no means superfluous, as a good deal of 

 ignorance seems to prevail on the point. The great physical dif- 

 ference between the resins found in various brands of rubber 

 must also be matter for consideration in connection with the 

 prospective use of deresinating plants. It is interesting to hear 

 that some quantity of Pontianak resin has found appreciation in 

 the varnish manufacture, though there is nothing attractive about 

 the price. Nor is there any evidence that much larger quantities 

 could be easily absorbed. 



It is more than 25 years since efforts were made in England 

 to find a market for the potato rubber, or Almeidina rubber 

 resins, but with entirely negative results. Altogether having 

 regard to the abundance and low price of natural rosin or colo- 

 phony, I quite agree with what Mr. Chute says as to the blank 

 outlook for rubber resins as a source of profit. Details as to its 

 chemistry are given but there is an absence of information as 

 to the particular demand it is intended to meet. 



Mr. Chute referred very casually to the deresination of gutta- 

 percha in England, This has long been carried out on a large 

 scale at the various submarine cable works and golf ball factories. 

 The solvent most ordinarily used is light petroleum spirit. This 

 so called hardening process is necessary for the manufacture, and 

 the question of cost has not formed such an important item as 

 would be the case in deresinating rubber to sell in the open mar- 

 ket, though, of course, the plants are operated as economically 

 as possible. 



One may be excused for further reference to this topic, as 

 it is such an all-absorbing one at the present time. By the tone 

 of the editorial in the July issue of 

 The India Rubber World it is clear 

 that the writer goes no further than the 

 ordinary law of supply and demand to account for the great 

 rise. Personally, I have no direct information to prove the con- 

 trary, but, as I said last month, other ideas are widely \^e\A. 

 The other day I interviewed one of our most prominent rubber 

 manufacturers on the situation, which he admitted was a very 

 embarrassing one for the trade. His opinion was that the great 

 rise in price was due to a "corner," and he said that there was 

 nothing whatever in the trade demand for goods to warrant 

 the rise. He scouted the idea of the increased use of the taxi- 

 cab having anything to do with it. Of course, there is a some- 

 what new feature that the old-established British firms may 

 possibly have overlooked or minimized, and that is the greatly 

 increased demand from other countries, which of late years have 

 become manufacturers. Leaving out of account America, which 

 has, of course, largely increased its purchases, most of the 



THE PRICE 

 OF RUBBER. 



