316 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[July 



1902. 



THE INDIA-RUBBER TRADE IN GREAT BRITAIN. 



By Our Regular Correspondent, 



DESPITE optimistic reports from some quarters, the gen- 

 eral tone has been one of quietness almost verging on 

 depression. This perhaps is only to be expected, as in 

 consonance with the bulk of the trade of the country 

 during the last six months, and it behooves manufacturers 

 therefore to bide with what degree of patience 

 STATE they can command a turn in the tide of affairs. 

 Whether this turn will coincide with the declara- 

 tion of peace in South Africa is a matter on which one does 

 not care to be prophetic ; it certainly seems that such a coinci- 

 dence has been too readily assumed. One result of the recent 

 quietness in the rubber trade, and one fraught with sinister 

 consequences, too, to those immediately concerned, will prob- 

 ably be seen in the weeding out of some of the smaller firms. 

 There is no doubt that the manufacturing capacity of the Brit- 

 ish rubber works is in excess of the demand which is existent, 

 and which can be looked forward to with confidence, and the 

 closing of a few concerns would in no wise indicate that an 

 opening exists for the investment of new capital in a similar 

 direction. That is, unless some new use for rubber is found. 

 During the last seven years, since the cycle tire boom, no new 

 use for rubber on anything like a large scale has been found, and 

 although pressure was at first caused by the cycle trade de- 

 mand, there is no difficulty whatever in meeting the demand at 

 the present time promptly. So far indeed from the use of rub- 

 ber being on the increase, except in the tire trade, it is notori- 

 ous that in some directions it is being replaced by other and 

 more lasting material. The engineer does not pin his faith so 

 closely to rubber as he used to do; he finds that other mate- 

 rials answer his purpose as well, if not better, while at the same 

 time costing less money. The use of rubber in electrical insu- 

 lation is also another instance where a decline has been expe- 

 rienced, and there does not seem any likelihood of its again 

 achieving its quandom prominence in this direction. How- 

 ever, I don't wish to be accused of adopting an unwarranted 

 tone of depression, and certainly reports which have quite re- 

 cently come to hand from some of our large firms show that 

 since Easter, trade all round has experienced a decided fillip, 

 overtime being necessitated where a few months ago extreme 

 dullness prevailed. It is all the more satisfactory to be able to 

 report this as it savors somewhat of the unexpected, though at 

 the same time such reports are not by any means general. 



A NOTICE has appeared in the technical press that the Board 

 of Trade are advised that precautions should be taken as re- 

 gards the carriage of lampblack on board ship, 

 LAMP- although the occurrence of spontaneous ignition is 

 extremely rare. It would seem rather late in tlie 

 day to draw attention to this possibility of disaster. What 

 is wanted, however, is something in the nature of a careful 

 research to indicate the conditions which are most favor- 

 able to spontaneous ignition. I daresay there are few rubber 

 manufacturers who have not had an instance of it in their 

 works. My own experience in the matter goes to show that 

 some blacks are much more liable to this danger than are 

 others. The name lampblack as commonly used is rather 

 misleading, as it is applied to products differing widely in 

 coloring power and density and prepared in quite difTerent 

 manners. Almost as misleading is the term " vegetable black," 

 which in many cases is but a courtesy title. As applied to 



an oil product it does not seem particularly appropriate. But 

 space does not permit of enlarging upon the subject of nomen- 

 clature, and to keep to points of more practical importance it 

 seems clear to me from cases which have come under my ob- 

 servation that a good deal depends upon the black manufac- 

 turer exercising a requisite degree of caution. The filling of 

 orders hurriedly has in the case of a special make of black led 

 to trouble which under normal conditions did not occur. 1 

 have not known of any cases of spontaneous ignition in con- 

 nection with very light carbon blacks, and although I don't 

 pretend that 1 am entitled to generalize from my own observa- 

 tion alone, I don't think that I am out of order in recommend- 

 ing the use of the lightest carbon blacks in place of heavier 

 blacks where immunity from tire is an especially important con- 

 sideration. Some years ago a good deal o( heavy black was 

 sold to rubber works under this name, but it finds very little 

 favor now-a-days, manufacturers having awakened to the fact 

 that the purchase of whiting or silica admixed with lamp black 

 is by no means a truly economical act. Heavy black of this 

 sort must not, of course, be confounded with genuine heavy 

 black, which may be all carbon, though prepared in a dense 

 form. Comparatively little black is used in the mechanical 

 trade, the waterproofer and especially the rubber shoe manu- 

 facturer being the principal customers, freedom from resinous 

 or fatty matters being the chief desideratum. 



We are still expectantly awaiting Dr. Weber's book on rub- 

 ber analysis, which some time ago was stated to be in the press. 

 Other chemists have of late been prominent in 



ANALYTICAL contributing to this branch of our chemical litera- 

 NOTES. , ^ , ., , . 



ture, and we may be said now to be in a pretty 



good position as regards methods. The weak part of the busi- 

 ness, however, seems to lie in the tediousness of so much of 

 the necessary work and the number of separate determinations 

 which are necessary in the case of anything like a complete 

 analysis of a rubber mixture. The rubber works chemist can- 

 not always afford the time thus requisitioned, while the outside 

 chemist finds that it is difficult, if not impossible, to get ade- 

 quate remuneration lor the number of hours he has perforce to 

 work. From one cause and another there has been a reduction 

 generally of late years, in the fees paid for analytical work, and 

 so, although there has been no falling off in the publication of 

 detailed analytical methods, there seems a strong likelihood 

 that many such will find very little employment. We are now 

 told that a correct rubber analysis should include an ele- 

 mentary analysis by combustion for the carbon and hydrogen, 

 and this, with the various precautions against error which are 

 necessitated, will certainly not tend to lighten the analyst's 

 burden. This combustion, which is recommended by Heintz, 

 has been criticised by Frank and Marckwald, who in the course 

 of their observations remark that it is extremely difficult to re- 

 move the alcoholic potash used in the extraction of substitutes. 

 The writer can testify to this point, which does not seem to 

 have been sufficiently recognized. Some time ago corrobora- 

 tion on this point was obtained by the writer in a communica- 

 tion from Mr. Van der Linde of the Gutta Percha and Rubber 

 Manufacturing Co. of Toronto, who has devoted considerable 

 time to matters connected with rubber analysis. To refer to 

 another point, it is somewhat unfortunate that analysis fails us 

 in cases where there is an admixture of bodies, which, although 



