June i, 1905.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



305 



NEW GOODS AND SPECIALTIES IN RUBBER. 



THE THERMALITE BAG. 

 '"T^HIC rubber hot water bag, so long recognized as affording 

 I the most efficacious means of applying heat for certain 

 purposes, now has a rival, the field for which is due to 

 the alleged frequent lack of wholly satisfactory results 

 from the water bag, because of the fact that the temperature 

 continually decreases, requiring frequent change of application. 

 -^ It is true that the new bag is made of rub- 



^k\ _ ^^^^gv ber, having the general appearance of those 

 now so widely used, the difference being in 

 its contents. The basic principle of the new 

 article is the storage of heat by means of 

 salts which readily melt or liquefy. That 

 is to say, a certain solution of crystalline 

 salts— chiefly consisting of acetate of so- 

 dium—gradually gives off heat which it 

 has absorbed in melting, upon recrystalli- 

 zation. In order that the body of salts in 

 crystallizmg be not reduced to a compact form, but that it 

 should have a soft, pliable texture, glycerine is added, causing 

 the mass to assume the consistency of moist sand, which is 

 yielding and will conform to the shape of the bag. To prevent 

 damage from the sharp small crystals to the sides of a rubber 

 bag, viscous substances from certain vegetable seeds have been 

 added to the mass. 



Applied to a warming bag, this system gives a uniform heat, 

 maintaining the ideal temperature of about 135° F. for several 

 hours. The contents of a Thermalite bag used with reasonable 

 care never require changing or renewing; there is nothing to 

 leak ; it will not scald or irritate the person or burn the clothing ; 

 it is always in readiness for use. The contents of the bag require 

 to be boiled to a certain point, when the process of crystalliza- 

 tion is suspended, and will be kept thus until such time as it is 

 desired to use the bag, when the crystallization is started again 

 by the simple method of withdrawing and replacing the stop- 

 per. At least this is all that the user has to do; whether the 

 mere admission of air to the solution starts the change, the pro- 

 prietors decline to state, on the ground that it would not be 

 proper to reveal the subject of certain patents now pending. 

 The stopper used, by the way, is similar in appearance to those 

 in ordinary hot water bags. A bag may thus be put in readi- 

 ness for use at any time in the future, and be applied satisfac- 

 torily in the absence of any such conveniences as would be re- 

 quired for heating a water bag. It is desirable to knead the 

 the bag before using, but this is only to distribute the contents 

 equally throughout the bag. 



The discovery upon which this article is based, made origin- 

 ally in France, was perfected in Germany, where it is being 

 utilized by the Deutsche Thermophor-Aktiengesellschaft (An- 

 dernach, Germany), a company founded in 1899, with 730,000 

 marks capital. The details of the discovery having been widely 

 patented, the American rights have been acquired by a com- 

 pany in this country by a somewhat different name, which has 

 undertaken actively to create a market. The price of the Ther- 

 malite bag is not essentially higher than that of the ordinary 

 hot water bag. The United States patents thus far are : No. 

 683,851 — October i, 1901, issued to C. Cronenburg, and No. 

 726,204 — April 21, 1903, issued to Ignaz Timar, but these are 

 stated not to cover all the details of the article now offered. 

 [The Thermalite Co., Nos. i6i- 165 Elm street, New York.] 



[One of the leading manufacturers and marketers of rubber 

 hot water bottles, when asked by The India Rubber World 

 for an opinion of the Thermalite bag, said : 



" I cannot see how it will menace the supremacy of the hot 

 water bottle. It is novel, and to my mind its chief claim to at- 

 tention lies in that characteristic. It cannot be any cheaper, as 

 the rubber bag used costs as much as if it were to hold water, 

 while the chemicals are certianly as expensive as hot water. 

 Then too, it is a bother to get a big kettle of water and set it 

 boiling for the purpose of getting the heat into the Thermalite. 

 It would seem to me much simpler and quicker to fill a bag with 

 hot water, which in the modern home is always on tap. The 

 one point in favor of Thermalite that occurred to my mind 

 when I first had it brought to my attention was that it was a 

 solid, and therefore could not flow out of a leaking bag. But 

 as I now understand it, that solid when hot is liquefied, and 

 only regains its solid form when it gives up its heat. Person- 

 ally 1 should be just as willing to be scalded by hot water as hot 

 melted salts, although with high grade bottles neither is neces- 

 sary." 



Another important manufacturer in the same line said that 

 he believed the success of the new article would be found 

 to lie in the selling organization of the company marketing it. 

 Marked selling ability might succeed in bringing about a large 

 demand. In this event, the rubber trade would not be sufferers. 

 His own firm had made already some of the Thermalite bags.] 

 TWO NEW DESIGNS IN WATER BOTTLES. 



It would seem as if the limit of inventive ability had almost 

 been reached in the line of hot water bottles, but every now 

 and then new and artistic designs appear and novel accessories 

 are added. The " Common Sense " bottle, for example, has a 

 series of ribs made of rubber, four in number, running across 

 the bag almost to binding, the idea being to so stiffen the rub- 

 ber surface that it will hold its shape whether it is full or only par- 

 tially full of water. The idea is exceedingly simple and really 

 practical, for the reason that in many cases the ordinary bag, 

 especially in the larger sizes, bulges so as to render it difficult 



to keep in place, 

 even newer type 



=Another and 

 of hot water 



COMMON SENSE. 



FISH DfSIGN. 



