November i, 1904.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



39 



THE INDIA-RUBBER TRADE IN GREAT BRITAIN. 



By Our Regular Correspondent. 



T ATU KALLY, with the lapsing of the Welch patent and 



r\^ the forthcoming lapse of the Bartlett patent, the 



present is a busy and somewhat exciting time in the 



tire world. It is too soon yet to gage the probable 



fall in prices, though, to hear some motorists talk, one would 



think that raw rubber could be bought for a mere 



THE song. " It is our turn now ; we have paid through the 



^'"^ nose long enough," said a motorist to me the other 



TRADE. " " 



day. but I am afraid that the lapse of the patents will 

 not, after all, benefit them to the extent they seem to antici- 

 pate. I hear Moseley's new motor tire well spoken of; this 

 is quite distinct from the red Seddon tire, made solely by this 

 firm. The arrangement between Michelin et Cie. and the 

 North British Rubber Co., Limited, has now naturally termin- 

 ated, and, as has been already announced, Michelin's are about 

 to manufacture in Great Britain — that is if the proposed new 

 company comes to maturity. The North British are now going 

 ahead with their " Clincher " tire with wired edges, so there is 

 plenty of keen competition to be expected. It appears that 

 the continuous tire litigation which has characterized the 

 progress of the Dunlop company, is not yet at an end. as 

 actions which were entered before the long vacation will still 

 be heard. Though the rubber in motor tires may be considered 

 to have attained as near perfection as can reasonably be ex- 

 pected, there seems to be room yet for improvement in the 

 canvas; I refer especially to making it rot-proof. Of course 

 the Palmer cord tire is an effort in this direction, but I am in- 

 formed that in the case of a puncture with this tire the car 

 must be stopped at once, otherwise it (the tire) will be alto- 

 gether ruined. With such tires as the Continental, the journey 

 can be finished after the occurrence of a puncture without the 

 damage becoming more than local. In an article in the Field 

 on the tire position, it is stated that most bursts of covers arise 

 through the friction among the threads of the canvas insertion 

 wearing them away, or through wet penetrating a cut and rot- 

 ting the lining. Of course, even if the textile material is made 

 quite rot-proof, this is no preventive of the bad efTects of 

 friction, and theoretically one would expect the principle in- 

 volved in the Palmer cord tire to prove satisfactory in obviat- 

 ing both defects. It should not be long before the matter is 

 placed beyond all doubt. 



This law, which comes into operation at the New Year, 

 promises to do away with some of the incongruities which 

 have too long been associated with our patent 

 laws. A search as regards novelty is to be 

 made, and though the patent will not be denied 

 if there is any doubt in the matter, yet any one taking one out 

 that appears to have been anticipated, will do so with his eyes 

 open. The idea is to get as near as possible to what has so 

 long obtained in Germany and America. At the present time, 

 if a man has a patent to dispose of he is asked at once if he has 

 the German and American, as being the only ones thought of 

 any value as far as real novelty is concerned. It will be inter- 

 esting to watch the effect of the new law upon the rubber sub- 

 stitute or rubber devulcanizer inventor. There really does not 

 seem to be any material, organic or inorganic, which has not 

 been appropriated by some one for a rubber substitute. It is 

 noticeable that the bulk of the specifications relating thereto 

 end with the following expression or one closely identical, " the 



PATENT LAW. 



substitute may be used as a proofing material or for the pur- 

 pose of insulation." It would be interesting to know in how 

 many cases hypothesis has merged into fact. Even supposing 

 there were nothing palpably suspicious about the new body as 

 revealed by perusal of the specification, there Is always a great 

 difficulty to be surmounted in getting the rubber manufac- 

 turer to take it up. " Will you guarantee me for any loss I 

 may incur in using your substitute ? " he asks the inventor, and 

 the latter, despite his expressed confidence in the material, 

 usually answers with a prompt negative, negotiations thus 

 coming to a full stop. One can quite understand the attitude 

 of the rubber manufacturer, especially as among the men who 

 are attracted to the patent substitute business one so rarely 

 finds any one with even a rudimentary knowledge of the rub- 

 ber manufacture. With regard to the devulcanization of rub- 

 ber, only the other day I saw that a patent had been granted 

 for the use of caustic soda ; it really does seem quite absurd the 

 way the alkalies are continually being trotted out as if there 

 was any novelty in their application to this purpose. 



At the recent conference of the Institute of British Carriage 



Manufacturers the president, Mr. W. H. Hamshaw, spoke in 



somewhat gloomy tones of the inroads made 



^^^ by American carriages on our Colonial busi- 



CARRIAQE ' , v^ , , 



MANUFACTURE, ness. As far as England was concerned it 

 was in wheels more particularly that America 

 had ousted the home manufacturer. I am not particularly in- 

 terested myself in the Institute of Carriage Manufacturers, but 

 the wheel question has more than once attracted my attention 

 in connection with the cab tire trade. It is customary for 

 works controlling the sale of special tires to sell the wheel as a 

 whole, and I find that the bulk of the wheels thus made come 

 to England from America in parts ready to be put together. 

 There is no joining to be done ; the aid of the blacksmith, or 

 perhaps I ought to say the wheelwright, alone is required. I 

 suppose that two prominent reasons for American supremacy 

 in this manufacture are cheap timber and the use of labor sav- 

 ing machinery whereby large quantities of pieces of standard 

 pattern are rapidly turned out. 



In an editorial under this heading the India-Rubber Journal 

 makes some remarks which are very much to the point gener- 

 ally, and more particularly with regard to the 



ARTIFICIAL individual who has a secret process for extract- 



RUBBER. . ,_,. , • . . • u 



ing rubber from certain herbage growing in the 

 East Indies. Like the electric sugar swindle of a few years 

 ago, this was a secret process, and the rubber could only be 

 obtained by the " inventor" when interested persons were not 

 looking. It is more than three years since I investigated this 

 matter as far as I was allowed to go, and I had no hesitation 

 in saying that the samples of rubber shown had no connection 

 whatever with the vegetation or the process. The inventors 

 answer to such condemnatory reports is of a personal nature 

 and he assures his prospective patrons who know nothing of 

 rubber that the difficulties in the way of rubber analysis pre- 

 clude the independent investigator from giving a correct report. 

 I hardly thought that anything more would be heard of the 

 process and have been surprised to read in the journal 

 quoted above that two other firms have recently parted with 

 sums of money in connection with it. I trust that they are city 

 company promoters and not rubber manufacturers ; with regard 



