May 



'905] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



263 



THE INDIA-RUBBER TRADE IN GREAT BRITAIN. 



By Our Regular Correspondent. 



THE 

 TEXTILE 

 BRANCH. 



IT seems pretty certain that a revival in this branch is im- 

 minent, and this not as regards the macintosh for the 

 million, which used to be the mainstay of the trade, but 

 with respect to the needs of the motorist, who seems to 

 have come to the conclusion that as the ordinary shower proof 

 goods are inefficient, he may as well have the 

 non porous rubber article instead of the heav- 

 ier and more expensive leather garment which 

 has during recent years been so much in evi- 

 dence. The man who gives four figures for his car is not likely 

 to haggle over a few shillings more or less for his coat, and the 

 probability is that we shall see a revival of the more durable 

 higher priced macintosh coats which were to be seen more com- 

 monly twenty years ago than in the last decade. This forecast 

 is certainly the earnest desire of the manufacturers, who as a 

 body do not care for the cheap trade which the stress of com- 

 petition forced upon them. Of late years such firms as are in 

 the waterproofing branch alone have had their rubber machin- 

 ery idle to a large extent but have kept up their dividends by 

 what is practically a tailoring business in shower proof clothing. 

 It may be mentioned that the Manchester firm of waterproof- 

 ers B. Cohen has recently been turned into a private limited 

 company with a capital of;/|65,ooo. The premises have been 

 enlarged more than once in recent years and the concern seems 

 to have made steady headway. Our Editor's experience of rub- 

 ber goods garments in the tropics [See The India Rubber 

 World for March] is important testimony as to the limitations 

 of such goods, despite the claims of most manufacturers that 

 their products are vulcanized to stand all climates. Trouble is 

 always being experienced where the extremes of heat and cold 

 are met, and it is quite understandable that the better the rub- 

 ber used and consequently the better the rain resisting qualities, 

 the less is the garment fitted to withstand extremes of temper- 

 ature. This largely accounts for the fact that though at one 

 time the macintosh trade was very profitable in Holland, it only 

 assumed very small dimensions in Scandinavia. It is possible 

 that the Canadian trade can disprove this as a general truth, 

 but I have no personal knowledge of the condition of aflfairs in 

 the Dominion. As I don't suppose that there is much motoring 

 in the tropics or arctic regions yet, what has just been said need 

 not affect the progress of the motoring macintosh referred to 

 at the beginning of this paragraph. 



Although the fire at the Dunlop Works at Aston Cross on 

 March 20 was not quite so disastrous as the first reports indi- 

 cated, it must rank as the most serious which 

 has occurred for a long time at a British rubber 

 factory. The ignition of naphtha vapors from 

 a spreading machine seems to have been the cause, no doubt an 

 electric spark being primarily responsible.^^^Another fire of 

 a disastrious nature occurred at the premises of the Patcho 

 Co., in Bradford, Yorkshire, being due to an explosion of carbon 

 bisulpide. I cannot say that I am altogether surprised at the 

 occurrence in view of the dangerous nature of the company's 

 product. Nor is it surprising to hear that the premises were 

 not insured. The English insurance companies will not insure 

 where this liquid is, used at any premium, and indeed they are 

 getting very particular where naphtha, a much less dangerous 

 article, is used. I have no knowledge of or animus against the 

 directorate of Patcho, but I consider it a menace to public 



SERIOUS 

 FIRES- 



safety to sell such tire cement at shows with no notices as to 

 its extremely inflammable nature. An important point about 

 the manufacture of such preparations is that at least one of 

 those responsible is thoroughly familiar with the properties of 

 the fluid. This may or may not have been so in the case under 

 notice but certainly in other cases where people in a small way 

 of business have started making rubber cements with various 

 solvents I have not found the management half alive to the 

 dangers to be guarded against. In such cases the refusal of 

 landlords to let premises for such purposes seems to me to be 

 perfectly justifiable. 



Molybdenum is one of the rarer metals, being little known 

 even among metallurgists and engineers. It is a safe assump- 

 tion that it is even less an object of familiarity 



MOLYBDENUM j„ f[,g rubber trade. Molybdenum has recently 



BLUE. . . ■' ■' 



come into prominence, however, as an ingredi- 

 ent in steel making, a small addition having a considerable 

 toughening eflect. The localities where it is found are not nu- 

 merous, though recently it has been found in extensive deposits 

 in Norway and a company with a capital of /ioo,ooo has lately 

 been formed to work them. The price of the metal has hither- 

 to shown great variations, according to supply and demand, 

 but I am not far wrong in putting it at about ;riooo* at the pres- 

 ent time. Now as to molybdenum blue this was suggested 

 many years ago by Lascelles Scott as a suitable pigment for 

 rubber, and from a German source it has recently been recom- 

 mended for this purpose, it being stated to have no injurious 

 effect upon rubber. I am not aware that it has actually ever 

 come into use asa rubber pigment, and I do not see any chance 

 of the price falling off so as to enable it to compete with ultra- 

 marine or other cheaper though doubtless less stable blues in 

 regular use. By the way, the reference to this blue in Mr. 

 Pearson's book is not quite accurate. The blue is not the nat- 

 ural bisulphide of molybdenum, nor has it been found chiefly 

 in Sweden. The blue is an artificial product prepared chemi- 

 cally in two tints. In the first case molybdenum indigo is made 

 by acting upon an hydrochloric acid solution of molybdic acid 

 with tin filings, and in the second case the reaction of stannous 

 chloride upon molybdic acid produces blue carmine. As far 

 as I am aware these molybdenum colors have not yet come into 

 use in the British rubber trade, whatever may have been the 

 case elsewhere. If a demand should arise I amagine that we 

 shall see a reduction in price as there seems every likelihood of 

 an output of molybdenum ore in the near future in excess of 

 any demand likely to arise in the steel industry. 



In London financial circles there is a growing disposition to 



consider the planting of rubber as a sound investment. Cer- 



STRAiTS tainly the present high price of Para rubber and 



RUBBER the condition which companies of some years 



CULTIVATION, foundation can show are calculated to promote 

 a feeling of optimism with regard to future profits and stabili- 

 ty. The^i shares of the Pataling Rubber Estates Syndicate 

 are now quoted at £1. and I understand that the company is 

 already in a position to pay a dividend, though for reasons con- 

 nected with its articles of association, no distribution will be 

 made at present. The Selangor Rubber Co.'s shares also show 



*A New York house advises the Thh India Rubber World : "Our latest 

 quot.ilion for Molybdenum, practically pure metal, is J2.75 per pound, which 

 would bring the Ion somewhere in the neighborhood of that figure." 



