100 



THE INDIA RUBBER V/ORLD 



[December i, 1904. 



A CARD FROM MESSRS PIRELLI & CO. 



TO THE Editor of The India Rubber World : We note 

 in the November issue of The India Rubber World 

 an extract of the paper read by our Mr. E. Jona at the Inter- 

 national Electrical Congress at St. Louis on " Insulatinjj Mate- 

 ria! in High Tension Cables." Also, under the heading " The 

 Italian Trade " (page 40), we note our name favorably men- 

 tioned, and for all this we beg to tender best thanks. With 

 reference, however, to the above mentioned paragraph on 

 Italian trade, we wish to call your attention to a few statements 

 therein contained which are evidently due to some misappre- 

 hension. 



We do not think there is any important rubber article which 

 is not manufactured by us, with the exception of rubber shoes ; 

 but anyhow, even if there is, this is certainly not due to any fis- 

 cal reason, as the Italian import tax is the same for all rubber 

 articles of a single group, and there certainly is no whole group 

 of articles which is not manufactured here. 



As to tires, the duty on them has never been altered and 

 was, from the first day, 60 centimes per kilo (less than 6 cents 

 per pound). As you see, it is certainly no prohibitive tariff. 

 Elastic thread we manufactured since 1880, and our yearly pro- 

 duction so far exceeds the requirements of the home market 

 that we have always done a large export trade all over Europe. 



It may interest you to know that the cable specially manu- 

 factured by us for 50,000 volts working pressure, to which our 

 Mr. Jona alluded in his paper, was tested in our works up to 

 150,000 volts without any break in the insulation. 



We do not doubt that you will take these remarks of ours 

 into consideration, and again thanking you, we remain, dear 

 Sir, Yours truly. pirelli & co. 



Milan, Italy. November iS, 1904. 



AN OLD COMB FACTORY CLOSED. 



THE manufacture of combs in America was begun by Enoch 

 Noyes, in a very crude way. at West Newbury, Massa- 

 chusetts, some time prior to the revolutionary war. After the 

 surrender of Burgoyne, in 1777, a Hessian soldier who had be- 

 longed to his forces, and who had worked at comb making in 



his native land, entered the employ of Noyes, who profited from 

 the skill of the soldier, and from some tools in the latter's 

 knapsack. The comb factory became very important, in time, 

 and the industry was taken up by others, until West Newbury 

 came to have no fewer than 33 comb shops. The factory es- 

 tablished by Noyes remained in the family, and in 1855 was 

 operated under the style of S. C. Noyes it Co., when Somerby 

 N. Noyes, a great grandson of the founder of the business, be- 

 came a member of the firm. On October 22, 1904. Somerby 

 Noyes, who had become the sole owner of the factory, died in 

 a Boston hospital, and on that day the factory closed. The 

 business is to be continued, however, having been purchased, 

 one month prior to Mr. Noyes's death, by the W. H. Noyes & 

 Brother Co., who will combine it with their comb factory at 

 Newburyport, Mass. Somerby N. Noyes was born March 14, 

 1836, and invented a number of machines for the development 

 of the horn comb industry, but on account of the introduction 

 of India rubber, celluloid, and other materials for combs, the 

 line of manufacture to which he was devoted has become rela- 

 tively less important. 



A QUART OF RUBBER SYRUP. 



ANDREW JACKSON BANTA, for fifty-seven years a shoe 

 clerk in a store in Rochester, N. Y., in commenting the 

 other day on rubber prices [says TAe Shoe Retailei'\, recalled 

 the interesting fact that when he first began life as a shoe clerk 

 the rubbers worn were of pure gum, and the soles were a half 

 inch thick. 



" I can remember that they looked just like blocks of wood," 

 said Mr. Banta. "They came stuffed with hay or seagrass. 

 This we had to pull out and insert a last instead. After being 

 placed on the last we would varnish them and place them on 

 the shelves for sale. One day a man came into the store and 

 put his feet upon the fender of the stove. The fire was hot, 

 and after a while he began to smell something burning. Tak- 

 ing his feet from the stove he found that the rubber had melted 

 and that about a quart of pure gum had formed a pool under 

 the stove. Just think of all the rubbers one quart of pure gum 

 would supply nowadays." 



REVIEW OF THE CRUDE RUBBER MARKET. 



WE have again to report higher prices for crude rub- 

 ber, of all sorts, than have ever before been quoted 

 in these columns. A higher tendency has prevailed 

 throughout the past month, with the result that 

 Islands fine Para now figures at 13 cents higher than at the be- 

 ginning of November and Upriver at 14 cents — for new crop 

 Even higher prices have been reported than appear in the 

 tables below. Madeira fine has been sold to arrive at $1.31. 

 One importing house reports : " We have sold in a very moder- 

 ate way at $1.30, and hear reports of $1.31®$!. 32." The un- 

 precedented price of %\ is reported for African rubber and 

 sales are believed to have been made at even higher rates. Al- 

 though arrivals at New York have been liberal, stocks remain 

 exceptionally small. 



All indications point to still higher prices, especially if the 

 winter should prove of such a character as to stimulate largely 

 the production of rubber footwear. 



Arrivals at Pari (including Caucho), at last advices, compare 

 with the same months of previous years as follows: 



1901. 1902. 1903. 1904. 



July Ions 1260 1290 1280 1240 



August 1290 1370 1230 1250 



September '940 1670 2010 1810 



October 2640 2280 2440 2460 



November 2970 2650 2g8o 02320 



Total, five months 10,100 9260 9940 943° 



\a To November zS, 1904.I 



NEW YORK rubber PRICES FOR OCTOBER (NEW RUBBER). 

 1904. 1903. 1902. 



Upriver, fine I.i2@i.i7 i.oo@i.og 74 ©79 



Upriver, coarse %b@, 90 82@ 91 60 ©64 



Islands, fine i.og@i.t4 96@i.c6 72 @74 



Islands, coarse 6i@ 65 56® 68 4b @49 



Cameta, coarse 6:® 65 56® 67 47 @4g 



In regard to the financial situation, Albert B. Beers (broker 

 in India rubber. No. 68 William street, New York) advises us: 



" During November there has been a fairly good demand for 

 paper at rates ruling about the same as in October, namely 5 @ 

 byi. per cent, for the various grades of rubber notes, though 

 early in the month rates were somewhat easier, and transactions 

 were made at 4|^ per cent." 



