10 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[October i, 1902. 



ous other industrial uses — tiie new product being given dif- 

 ferent characteristics for each. 



A report of a visit to Mr. Gentsch's factory, by Ed. C. de Se- 

 gundo, A. M. I. c. E., in February last, describes the work as 

 there carried on as comprising these ingredients : Wax (min- 

 eral), tar or pitch, resin, and India-rubber. A mixture of resin, 

 wax, and tar was thrown into a kneadingmachine, steam being 

 applied from below, to keep the temperature at the proper 

 point. Twenty minutes later, the mass having been kneaded 

 meanwhile, the steam was turned off and the rubber (cut into 

 small pieces) added, being fed in slowly to prevent jamming of 

 the knives of the kneading machine. The machine was stopped 

 from time to time to test the condition of the mass, and at the 

 end of three hours the solution of the rubber was found to be 

 complete and the mass was removed from the machine and 

 passed between rollers, coming out in slabs ,'/ inch thick--the 

 finished material. While the best Para rubber was used, Mr. 

 Segundo considers this unnecessary, believing that a mixture 

 of rubbers of lower grades would effect the same purpose. 



The inventor is said to have occupied himself with this ma- 

 terial for seven years, and after five years of observation and 



testing, the German postal authorities certify that it is a proper 

 substitute for Gutta-percha for insulating wires and cables. 

 Two cables, in fact, have been laid for the government — a sub- 

 marine cable about I'/i miles long in the North sea and a tele- 

 graph cable about ]i mile long in a river. These cables were 

 made by Felten & Guilleaune (Miilheim-on-Rhine) who ac- 

 quired the German patents in March, i90i,and who, as a result 

 of their experience with the material, have since acquired the 

 Austrian, Hungarian, and Russian patents, and have begun 

 the manufacture of the material in Austria as well as in Ger- 

 many. 



The English rights have been acquired by the New Gutta 

 Percha Co., Limited, registered on July 30 with a capital of 

 /20o,ooo, and with offices at Dashwood House, New Broad 

 Street, London, E. C, from which address The India Rubber 

 World is informed : " Although our factory is not yet ready, 

 we have received a substantial order for the material for insu- 

 lating wires from one of the largest manufacturing companies 

 in England. We have made arrangements for orders to be exe- 

 cuted for us by Messrs. Felten & Guilleaune pending the com- 

 pletion of our factory premises here.' 



THE mDIA-RUBBER TRADE IN GREAT BRITAIN. 



By Our Regular Correspondent, 



HAVING had an opportunity of seeing the new doubling 

 machine invented by Messrs. Frankenstein and Lyst, 

 of Victoria Rubber Works, Newton Heath, Manches- 

 ter, I am in a position to give a few details of what is 

 a decided novelty in waterproof manufacturing. The machine 

 has been made by Messrs. Francis Shaw & Co., of 

 ANEW Corbelt Street Works, Bradford, Manchester. In 

 DOUBLING j^j^g ordinary process of making double texture 



MACHINE. , , , . 



both fabrics are coated with dough, and then 

 caused to adhere by means of calender rollers. In the ma- 

 chine under notice only one cloth is spread with rubber, the 

 other piece, which is uncoated, being doubled to the proofed 

 fabric by a tight coating of thin rubber solution spread on the 

 surface of the proof, and which meets the unproofed cloth 

 while it is moist by passing between the doubling rollers. 

 Firm attachment takes place, the naphtha being subsequently 

 driven oflf in the passage of the cloth over a drying cylinder. 

 This process dispenses with the coating of the second fabric, 

 by which means a considerable saving is effected. As is well 

 known, it is the first coating to fill up the pores of the some- 

 what airy material used nowadays, which is the expense, and 

 if the full weight of proof can be put on one cloth only it is 

 clear that a saving is obtained. The figures obtained by the 

 patentees quite bear out the claim as to saving in cost of 

 manufacture, and I shall be rather surprised if this process is 

 not adopted elsewhere than in the works of the inventors. 



This branch still continues in a depressed condition, and a 

 revival is eagerly anticipated. The busy season is now com- 

 mencing, the last quarter of the year always pro- 

 THE ducing the greatest activity in the works in order 

 to supply middlemen's demands. The decline in 

 rubber to 2s. n^iti.bas not lasted long, and al- 

 though there is no apprehension of a return to the high prices 

 which have ruled, yet manufacturers do not speak confidently 

 of a continuous period of cheap rubber. Buyers are stated to 

 know the price of raw rubber nowadays much more than used 

 to be the case, and they are thus in a position to criticize the 

 jeremiads as to the high price of raw material which manufac- 

 turers are wont to liberally indulge in. Even if raw material 



should keep at a low figure, it can hardly be expected that 

 proofers should augment the discounts in their price lists to 

 any extent, because, owing to lack of combination, they did not 

 obtain a rise of prices when rubber went to a high figure. The 

 mechanical rubber manufacturers, by means of their associa- 

 tion, did better in this respect, and it remains to be seen how 

 far the spirit in favor of a reduction prevails. Apropos of the 

 great run there has been on the rainproof material, it is sig- 

 nificant to hear that a prominent merchant who does a large 

 business in waterproof and rainproof goods, sees signs of the 

 popularity of the latter declining in the near future. Custom- 

 ers do not seem to have recognized that the rainproof goods 

 are not waterproof, and they have begun to send the garments 

 back with the complaint that they are not satisfactory as re- 

 gards keeping out rain. It will be interesting to see if these 

 sort of complaints become general ; in the meanwhile it is 

 hardly necessary to state that the macintosh manufacturer 

 takes much comfort from this rift in the clouds which have 

 overshadowed his business of late. The printed fabric so far 

 shows no decline in popular favor; there are no particular 

 novelties to record in connection with this process. Particu- 

 lars as to the arrangement come to, between Messrs. Moseley 

 and Messrs. Frankenburg in their legal dispute as to the alu- 

 minium patent, have not yet become public property. Instead 

 of aluminium powder Messrs. Frankenstein use powdered tin 

 according to their patent, the effect being very much the same. 

 As a paragraph which appeared in the August issue of The 

 India Rubber World is apt to convey an erroneous idea of 

 the composition of Dermatine, it seems ad- 

 THE MANUFACTURE yjsabig jq gt^te that the materials given do 



OF DERMATINE. , . 



not at all correspond to what is employed in 

 the manufacture. They may, indeed, have been mentioned in 

 Mr. Zwingler's patents in the somewhat embracing manner 

 adopted by patentees, but the truth is that the original formu- 

 las have been so widely altered by the present management that 

 it would be difficult to show any connection between the new 

 and the old. With regard to the item " waste rubber," which 

 was mentioned in The India Rubber World, I have no hes- 

 itation that it is not used even in the smallest proportion, only 



