January i, 1905.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



125 



SMALL BEGINNINGS OF A COMING (?) GREAT INDUSTRY, 



THE illustration which appears on this page results from 

 photographing a specimen plant mailed to The India 

 Rubber World by Mr. George Leonhardy, of Denver, 

 Colorado, who was mentioned in the November 1, 

 1904, issue of this Journal (page 36) as one of the incorporators 

 of the Riverside Crude and Refined Rubber Co., with $1,000,- 

 000 capital, authorized "to gather the plant and manufacture 

 the rubber therefrom." The specimen referred to measures 

 exactly 13;^ inches from the flowers at the top to the lower ex- 

 tremity of the root as shown in the illustration, from which 

 statement an idea maybe gained of the 

 diameter of the root sections, which 

 are stated to be the only rubber pro- 

 ducing portion of the plant. From a 

 Denver periodical. The Conquest, also 

 sent by Mr. Leonhardy, the following 

 paragraphs are extracted : 



" Actinella Richardsonii, sometimes 

 called Picradenia Jloritunda utillis. be- 

 longs to the Actinella family, of which 

 there are a number of different species. 

 It is found in Chaffee county. Colorado, 

 at an altitude of from 7500 to 9000 feet. 

 It is a shrub from 6 to 16 inches high, 

 which, when in bloom, has a small yel- 

 low blossom resembling in appearance 

 and odor the camomile blossom. The 

 rubber is extracted from the root of the 

 plant. It yields from 10 to 20 per cent, 

 of rubber. The highest percentage is 

 obtained in the fall of the year, after 

 the seed has ripened and the sap in the 

 plant has returned to the root. The 

 plant above the soil has a very small 

 percentage of rubber. While it has 

 been reported that the plant has been 

 found in many localities in the state, 

 Mr. George Leonhardy says he has so 

 far not met with it in any other locality 

 except as above stated. It is also re- 

 ported that there have been other 

 plants found in Colorado yielding rub- 

 ber, a number of such plants having 

 been sent to him for investigation, in 

 all of them he has failed to find rubber. 

 The rubber obtained from the plant has 

 been thoroughly tested and is found to 

 be equal and in some instances superior 

 to the Para rubber. 



" By cultivation the plant increases 

 in size and improves in quality, yield- 

 ing a large percentage of rubber. The plant can be cultivated 

 from the seed, or from transplanting of the root. 



" Mr. Leonhardy has invented a process for extracting the 

 rubber by disintegration. So rapid and efficient is this process 

 that an ordinary gasoline stove and common kitchen utensils 

 can be used successfully for laboratory purposes. No plant for 

 the production of rubber on a commercial scale has been at- 

 tempted as yet, owing to the transition state through which the 

 industry is passing. The increasing demand will undoubtedly 



make a factory of large capacity a necessity in the near future. 

 The present crude apparatus used by Mr. Leonhardy in prepar- 

 ing samples of manufactured rubber in a laboratory way can be 

 enlarged to produce merchantable rubber on a commercial 



scale." 



* • * 



TilEUE is still another Colorado rubber company in the field. 

 The Salida Crude Rubber Co. was organized on December 5, 

 at Salida. Franchises were granted to the company and a 

 building was donated by the citizens and business men, with 

 the idea that a factory would be in 

 operation by January i, with a capacity 

 for treating 10 tons of the rubber weed 

 daily, by "an entirely new process." 

 The principal organizer of the company 

 is Harvie Du Val, who is variously de- 

 scribed as a wealthy lawyer of Santa 

 F<5,as having made a fortune in Louisi- 

 ana lumber before coming west to in- 

 vest in mines, and as having been in- 

 terested in some very successful vent- 

 ures in the rubber industry in South 

 America. Mr. Du Val is said to be 

 backing the enterprise with personal 

 capital, together with that secured from 

 Florida and New Mexico parties, and 

 does not hesitate to say that he already 

 has enough money at hand to give the 

 proposition a thorough test. Associ- 

 ated with him is Ben F. Spencer, one 

 of the original discoverers of the Colo- 

 rado rubber plant, who accidentally 

 came across it in 1902, while at work 

 " quite a distance from water." Be- 

 coming thirsty, he began to chew on 

 the first plant within reach, when he 

 found it to contain rubber. " By chew- 

 ing and saving he had a piece as large 

 as a hen's egg by the time he left for 

 Denver," according to a pamphlet on 

 " The Colorado Rubber Plant." by Mr. 

 O. J. Kennedy, secretary of the Salida 

 Board of Trade, who does not hesitate 

 to add : " From this accident we now 

 have probably one of the greatest in- 

 dustries in the age started." Mr. Spen- 

 cer at one time was under contract with 

 the Continental Crude Rubber Co., but 

 "succeeded in proving to the courts 

 that the Continental company had 

 not fulfilled their agreements with 

 him, and the contract was forfeited. Thereupon Spencer and 

 DuVal joined hands and secured the ccoperation of R. D. 

 Main, of Buena Vista, together with his patented extraction 

 mill. The Salida A'<f(ro/v/ says : 



This machine merely consists of an inner cylinder revolving against 

 an outer one, and in the space between the root pulp will be ground and 

 masticated all the time, covered with hot water containing a very small 

 poMion of a certain chemical. As this process goes on, under the influ- 

 ence of the chemically charged hot water, the gum gradually precipitates 



THE COLORADO RUBBER PLANT. 



[Photographed from a specimen sent by Mi. George Leon 

 haidy, ol" Denver.] 



