June i 1905.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



297 



THE INDIA-RUBBER TRADE IN GREAT BRITAIN. 



By Our Regular Correspondent. 



TO judge by reports from large factories it is clear that 

 the continued high price of rubber is having but little 

 effect on the demand for goods. " We are full up with 

 orders," said the manager of one of our biggest factor- 

 ies to me the other day, "and not in any one department only, 

 but in practically all departments." Of course 

 RUBBER the general revival in trade and the exception- 

 pRicES: g]| jjijg times in the cotton trade are re- 



PROPOSED ' ' 



SUBSTITUTES Sponsible for this, and as in the bulk of cases 

 rubber goods are necessities rather than luxu- 

 ries, they continue to be bought even though the buyer may 

 grumble at the prices. Two consequences of the present high 

 prices are to be seen in the renewed energy of the artificial 

 rubber patentee and in the invitation to the public to subscribe 

 to rubber planting undertakings. Several instances might be 

 recorded of activity in the artificial rubber department, the 

 schemes and ideas in connection thereof being usually put be- 

 fore accountants, engineers, and people generally who have no 

 intimate knowledge of the subject. I heard recently of a rather 

 audacious swindle by which a too confiding capitalist lost con- 

 siderable money. It was a secret chemical process for the pro- 

 duction of " Para rubber," in which, so the inventor stated, it 

 was necessary to use some costly platinum vessels. The in- 

 ventor, pleading poverty, induced the investor to give him a 

 secluded spot for carrying on experiments, and also to give an 

 order for the purchase of the platinum. When the operations 

 had been in progress for some days the patentee vanished, and 

 has not since been seen. The capitalist consoled himself with 

 the idea that he could get some of his money back by selling 

 the platinum vessels, but alas for his hopes, these had van- 

 ished also. From notices issuing from a sort of financial house 

 in Paris it would seem that the artificial rubber problem has at 

 last been solved in Germany and that an opportunity now oc- 

 curs for investors to get in cheaply. Two or three other cases 

 have come to my knowledge where self-deluded people, to use 

 polite terms, are utilizing the present price of rubber to obtain 

 public support for their special venture. With regard to the 

 trade generally even those who are most busy would eagerly 

 welcome a reduction in the price as the present profits are 

 not commensurate with what is expected from brisk times. 



The annual meeting will be held this year in London in July. 

 The proceedings will be more extended than usual owing to 

 the visit of Mr. W. H. Nichols, the presi- 

 dent, and 50 or 60 other American mem- 

 bers. Last year the society met in New 

 York and those who went from this side were entertained on a 

 lavish scale. It is unlikely that our visitors will get an equal 

 return, but still great efforts are being made to make the visit 

 interesting and instructive; it is proposed thatthey shall spend 

 a week in London and then visit the seats of the Northern and 

 Scotch sections. Despite the large influx of Americans of late 

 years into the society, I understood that the rubber trade in 

 the States is very sparsely represented by its prominent mem- 

 bers, and this being so we are, I suppose, unlikely to have the 

 trade in evidence at the July meeting. Mr. Harold Van der 

 Linde, late chairman of the Canadian section and a prominent 

 official of the Gutta Percha and Rubber Manufacturing Co. of 

 Toronto, Limited, has only recently been in England on a visit 

 and is hardly likely to cross again so soon. 



INDIA RUBBER 



SOCIETY OF 

 CHEMICAL INDUSTRY. 



I UNDERSTAND that at the meeting held in Manchesteron May 

 5 no decision was arrived at with regard to a further general ad- 

 vance in mechanical goods. Difriculties which 

 MANUFACTURERS °" similar occasions in the past have been over- 



ASSOCIATION. come remained on this occasion triumphant 

 and the only definite arrangement come to was 

 to fix the price of A rubber— that is. the compound of fine Para 

 and sulphur. Some arrangement also was come to regarding 

 cycle tires, but the idea of a general uniform advance did not 

 come to fruition. This of course is chiefly due to the fact that 

 each manufacturer has his own special methods and bill of 

 costs, a result of which is that one may be able to sell at a 

 profit while another can only just pay his way at the same 

 figure. 



These works, which are situated at Deptford, were recently 

 offered at auction, financial difficulties having been encoun- 

 tered during last year. The principal cred- 



LONDON RUBBER :,„„ .« u -ii. c- o r- 



MANUFACTURING CO. """^^ ''"^ Messrs. Heilbut, Symons & Co., 

 the well known rubber merchants, and they 

 are practically in possession of the premises. They wish to dis- 

 pose of the business and premises as a going concern and so 

 far have not acceded to the desires of those who have been 

 disposed to purchase certain portions of the plant. 



An accession to the ranks of substances which lay claim to 

 be substitutes for leather at a reduced cost is to be seen in a pro- 

 duct invented by Mr. Davis, manager for Messrs. 

 tEATHEH'" Foster & Williams rubber manufacturers of Lon- 

 don. The process which is worked as a secret 

 one and has not been patented is now vested in a recently 

 formed company called Leathern, Limited, So far only trial lots 

 have been made and the stuff is not yet on the market. Unlike 

 several other leather substitutes it is not an oxidized or nitrated 

 oil but in addition to waste leather powder it contains India- 

 rubber and mineral matters and is put through the vulcanizing 

 process. Negotiations are at present in hand with the object 

 of acquiring a factory. 



It is announced that the London fire brigade is to be pro- 

 vided with rubber gloves, now it is recognized that so many 

 outbreaks of fire are associated with electric 

 light or power. It seems to me that this de- 

 cision has been arrived at none too soon, espec- 

 ially in view of remarks made from the judicial bench in com- 

 pensation cases. It is many years since I used these articles 

 and then they were of a rather clumsy nature and very hot to 

 wear. I believe that in recent years two or three patents have 

 been taken out with special reference to the requirements of 

 electricians and in view of the above decision a considerable 

 increase in their sale should ensue. 



I HAVE come across varieties of rubber solution imported 



from America. The first one is a compound body described as 



a quick-cure vulcanizing solution and is sold by 



*=Mri';t'^ The B. F. Goodrich Co. as part and parcel of 



n UBdE R 



SOLUTION, motor tire repair outfits. Motor car people are 

 popularly supposed to be well off and it is just 

 possible that the price charged for this solution leaves more 

 than the average trade profit in ru'-ber goods. The other was 

 the ordinary rubber dissolved in naphtha and was sent out as a 

 sale sample by the Liverpool Dock authorities who had con- 

 fiscated the parcel, it having been consigned without the req- 



INDIA-RUBBER 

 GLOVES. 



