252 



THE INDIA RUBBER ^VORLD 



[May I, 1902. 



little reason to doubt that the charges made against the lessees 

 of rubber yielding areas are substantially true and that his 

 Majesty of Belgium will be ill advised if he does not take ener- 

 getic measures to insure that the disgraceful treatment re- 

 cently meted out to the natives is abandoned for methods more 

 in consonance with Western civilization. 



The explosions that have occurred in the London streets in 



the electric lighting mains and the disaster in the tunnel of the 



CABLE Liverpool overhead electric railway have resulted 



INTERESTS, in expressions of expert opinion which are rather 

 against the interests of rubber insulation. As against other 

 insulators, rubber of course has the disadvantage of giving off 

 inflammable vapors when exposed to high temperatures. The 

 board of trade expert in his report on the Liverpool disaster 

 states that rubber cables might be dispensed with in many 

 cases where they are now used and he recommends bare con- 

 ductors as an alternative. In this connection it may be useful 

 to recall the fact that the first system of cables laid down in 

 Manchester was on the bare conductor system, but it was not 

 long before it was replaced by insulated wires on account of 

 the difficulty experienced in keeping the stone conduits free 

 from moisture. It can hardly be supposed that the outspoken 

 remarks of the government expert against rubber cables will 

 be received with acclamation in interested quarters, but there 

 can be no doubt that the street explosions in London, which 

 seem to have been largely if not entirely due to the ignition of 

 a mixture of air and distilled rubber vapors, have caused the 

 rubber cable to be looked upon as an evil and its employment 

 only to be tolerated where special circumstances demand it. 

 This seems rather a severe indictment and a matter on which 

 those who are interested in the rubber cable might well make 

 some public pronouncement to show the other side of the case. 

 The last year or two has shown us the inventor busy in the de- 

 partment of rubber gloves for electricians, improvements upon 

 the ordinary glove of twenty years ago being conspicuous in 

 several that have recently been brought out. One of the latest 

 of these, patented by Mr. F. Pegler of the Northern Rubber Co. 

 (Retford), has an inner lining of rubber within a glove of leather 

 as textile material. If no other advantage is offered by this 

 glove the fact that the rubber is not exposed to sunlight or 

 other deleterious influences should make for its longer life, 

 though against this it must be remembered from the analogy 

 of fishing stockings that the sudor of the body has a very dele- 

 terious action upon rubber. With regard to the mechanically 

 protected glove of the St. Helens Cable Co. it is pointed out 

 that it protects the workman effectually in the case of running 

 his hand against a nail and that such a glove may therefore 

 prove of more utility than the plain rubber one of the Silver- 

 town, even though the latter may stand a test of 5000 volts. 



The company with this English name and which has works 



at Gand, Cologne- Ehrenfeld, and at Prouvy-Thiant, France, was 



founded three or four years ago. It has recently 



THE COLONIAL ^ decided to close the Cologne works en- 



RUBBERCO. , , , , 



tirely, though the others are to be kept going. 

 The manufacture of hollow playing balls was a great feature of 

 this company, they having acquired the Continental rights of 

 the Cox machine at the time that the Eccles Rubber Co. got 

 possession of the British rights. From the position which the 

 latter company found themselves in last year it is a fair suppo- 

 sition that the manufacture of balls by this patent is for some 

 reason or other not exactly the Golconda which at one time it 

 seemed likely to prove. The Colonial Rubber Co was largely 

 financed it is understood by Brussels bankers, M. de Scham- 

 pelaere being the most prominent director and taking charge 

 of the works at Gand, where the manufacture of tires is the 



mainstay of the business. The financing of industrial concerns 

 by banking houses is a common feature on the Continent, more 

 especially in Germany, but that such procedure has its dark 

 side has been clearly evidenced by the acute depression which 

 has been recently experienced in so many branches of German 

 industry. 



This motor tire, of which brief notice has already been made 



in these notes, under the heading of The Collier Twin Tyre Co., 



Limited, of St. Albans, is now the property of the Ley- 



COLLIER j^i^ij gj^jj Birmingham Rubber Co., Limited, at whose 



TIRE. " 



works it will be exclusively manufactured. Some 

 very good results have been obtained over long mileage and 

 the car which is to represent England at the forthcoming 

 French international motor car races is to be fitted with this 

 tire. Mr. Baxter expresses his confidence in its future in no 

 uncertain terms, and has himself turned a motorist, another in- 

 stance of whilom horse lovers proving fickle to their first love, 

 or at any rate of being without prejudice with regard to inno- 

 vations. The Collier tire, which isa solid upon a pneumatic, is 

 consequently a heavy one, which of course means that it is ex- 

 pensive. I am writing without any inspiration, but I under- 

 stand that the price of the tires necessary for a 12 h. p. Daim- 

 ler car is ^80, which is considerably higher than what is charged 

 for competitive tires, the reason for this being as just stated. 

 It has been suggested that though the great strength of the 

 tread is a good feature, yet that this means an extra pressure on 

 the thinner part attached to the rim, and that this may prove a 

 source of weakness. However, there may be nothing in this 

 objection, and I do not put it forward as of any importance. It 

 may be mentioned that the tire is patented in the United 

 States. 



In connection with a recent article in The India Rubber 



World on the use of rubber on British railways, a reference 



is made to the use on one railway of metallic 



RUBBER ON (ubjng fgr the feed pipe from tank to injector. 



LOCOMOTIVES. ^, . ^ . , . , . ^ , , ^ , 



This pipe, which is commonly known as the 

 hogger pipe, is one which has important functions to fulfil and 

 what is the best material for its construction is a matter which 

 has closely engaged the attention of loco engineers. The pipe 

 must be of a flexible nature, rigid material being inapplicable 

 under the circumstances of its application. It may be taken 

 that the great majority of our railways are using rubber for this 

 purpose at the present time. Certainly at one time the London 

 and North Western used canvas hose, but I cannot say at the 

 moment whether the employment of this material has been 

 persevered with. 



Exhibitions at which rubber goods will form a more or less 

 prominent feature will open this month at Wolverhampton, 



England ; Lille, in France ; DUsseldorf, in Ger- 

 INDUSTHIAL ^ j^^j ^^j St. Petersburg. The last named 



EXHIBITIONS. \' , T^ ■ ■ , r- 1 -u- • L 



IS to be known as the British Exhibition, the ob- 

 ject being to bring British goods prominently before the in- 

 habitants of the Muscovite empire. I am not yet in possession 

 of details of firms exhibiting and cannot say whether British 

 rubber mauufacturers will be to the fore among the various in- 

 dustries which will find representation on the occasion. It is 

 a far cry to St. Petersburg, and the summer months are apt to 

 prove trying, but no doubt the exhibition will induce the influx 

 of more British visitors than usually extend their travels on the 

 continent to that distance. 



The limited company into which Mr. Thomas Rowley, rub- 

 ber machinery manufacturer, has recently converted his busi- 

 ness is of a private nature only, having been formed, as in so 

 many other cases, from motives of family convenience, and not 

 with the intention of attracting the capital of the public. 



