412 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[September i, 1905. 



THE NEW REVOLUTION IN RUBBER. 



OUR able contemporary, the Salt Lake City (Utah) News. 

 is again turning its attention to rubber. In its issue of 

 July 22 we read : 



A local rubber stjiinp company has 

 just flnisliod turnin;jr out a rubber ball 

 and blanket from crude rubber received 

 In tbis city from Mexico. 



From the above lines we are prepared to believe that strange 

 things are happening, and the narrative continues : 



Tlie strange 

 thing about the rubber is that it comes 

 not from the far famed rubber tree 

 but from a lirushy relative of it, and 

 is apparently as valuable commen-ially 

 as the product of the bij^rser tree. 



These unexpected developments in rubber never fail to revolu 

 tionize the business, and we are not surprised to hear that — 



Tlie 

 brush exists extensively in tlie south 

 country, jind promises to revolutionize 

 the methods and commercial pi-ices of 

 rubber. 



The responsibility for the new revolution, we are pleased to 



note, has been placed, for the Ne'ws says : 



John Beck of Salt Lake City, 

 Is head of a concern which intends to 

 pioneer the way into rubber numufac- 

 ture from the product of the brush. 



These things are always done quickly; the world is too im- 

 patient to wait long for great impending developments : 



To the " News " today he stated that 

 within a month he will leave for Mex- 

 ico to build a factory. 



The location of the new enterprise is definitely set forth in 



the following informing phrase: 



It will be lo- 

 cated in the heart of a brush district, 

 and contracts have already been made 

 for the deliveiy of several tons of the 

 brush per day. 



It is gratifying to know that Mr. Beck does not talk rubber 



without having the proofs about him, as witness : 



lie had with him 

 when interviewed the rubber ball 

 turned out locally, and a piece of blank- 

 et rubber which seemed to be of ex- 

 cellent quality. 



Of course there are millions in it : 



The company organ- 

 ized to handle the industry is to be 

 known as the ".John Beck Syndicate," 

 and will be heavily capitali/ed. 



And Mr. Beck does not intend to stay up in the air, for the 

 News asserts : 



.Mr. 



Btck will remain on the ground during 



the erection of the factory. 



Of course the revolutionist is free to work when and where 

 he will ; it is not in the nature of his business to be limited 

 by rules and regulations. But might not Mr. Beck accom- 

 plish more by not spreading himself out over so much terri- 

 tory ? The Salt Lake Tribune of May 15, 1904, announced that 

 " John Beck, the pioneer of the rubber industry in the West, 

 has returned from Denver, where he had completed the organ- 

 ization of a company for developing and manufacturing rubber 

 in Utah and Colorado." That company had been incorporated 

 as the Continental Crude Rubber and Exploiting Co., with 

 $1,000,000 capital, to do business primarily at Salida, Colorado, 

 but ultimately all over the Rocky Mountain region, Mr. Beck 



being vice president and general manager. The Tribune 

 then stated : 



Mr. Beck has something more than 

 the incorporation of a cornimny to 

 show. When he made the announce- 

 ment, be pulled out of his pocket a ball 

 r)f crude rubber that bad been ex- 

 tracted frotn plants grown by way of 

 experiment, some sheet rubber that had 

 been maniifiietured ami a rubber stJimp 

 made from rubber thai bad been grown 

 in their boi house at Salida. Colo. 



■'Yes, ir is a pretl.v good thing that we 

 .are stalling," said Mr. Beck, in answer 

 to a (iUe>tion. " In fact It is rather 

 bigger than I care to tell j-ou ju^t now. 

 We have been offered .*<0 cents per 

 pound for the erntle rubber that we 

 have produced, and (be cost to us is 

 only about l.'p <*ents a i)ound. 



Can it be that Mr. Beck's decision to revolutionize the rub- 

 ber interest from Mexico is admission that the Rocky Moun- 

 tain " rabbit weed " lacks rubber } Or has Mr. William Suth- 

 erland, of Utah, successfully contested Mr. Beck's claim to be 

 " the pioneer of the rubber industry in the West .' " 



AN ERASING MACHINE. 



T!Y r.EOROE S lIESSENHKrCII * 



IN a drafting room where certain records have to be kept, 

 such as street records, plat books, insurance books, main 

 records, etc., and where these records continuously change on 

 account of new pipes being laid in place of the old ones, there 

 will undoubtedly be a great deal of erasing done. 



To eliminate the large amount of time and work necessitated 

 in erasing by hand and to do this work carefully a scheme was 

 devised to do this erasing mechanically. 

 The scheme is as follows : 



An ordinary dental engine or ma- 

 chine that is used by dentists for drill- 

 ing teeth was procured and a circular 

 ink eraser set in the mandrel by means 

 of a small screw instead of the regular 

 drill used by the dentist. Everybody 

 is familiar enough with the working of 

 a dental engine without going into a 

 general description of the same. Foot 

 power is used, as is now mostly used 

 by dentists, but a small electric motof 

 could be easily attached to drive the 

 machine without much cost. The flex- 

 ible shaft to which the eraser and handle are attached allows 

 considerable movement and all the draftsman has to do is to 

 guide the eraser by means of the handle. 



Anyone trying this machine will have to watch the following 

 points : 



Keep the machine at a good speed and do not press the eraser 

 too hard on to the paper, as the machine erases very rapidly. 

 It will be found that a good paper will take on a hard surface 

 at the erased place and that the erasing will hardly be notice- 

 able. 



Erasing can be done by the machine in about one-tenth of 

 the time it would take to do it by hand ; besides it is not tiring 

 to the draftsman. It will be found that the draftsman becomes 

 very expert with it, and can erase very fast and when coming 

 to a fine cross line can neatly jump this line without touching 

 it, at the same time erasing completely the line he is working 

 on. 



' From Frogresiive Age (NfW Vork). 



A Poet Buys Rubber. — Helge Lund the celebrated poet of 

 East Norway has commenced buying rubber again. — Thornton 

 (Iowa) Enterprise. 



