122 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[Jamary 1, 1903. 



used when entering. I endeavored to find the key. but was not 

 successful, and Mr. Freeman said that he had a duplicate key 

 in his pocket. As the fumes were disagreeable, I again left the 

 dark room with Mr. Freeman. As he went out, he endeavored 

 to close the door. I refused to permit it to be closed until the 

 duplicate key was produced. Mr. Freeman insisted on closing 

 the door (which locked with a spring lock), saying that to 

 leave it open would spoil the brew. I insisted that the entire 

 building was darkened and that no light could possibly get in, 

 and stationed an attendant to hold the door ajar, but as soon 

 as I had gone Mr. Freeman closed the door with a jerk, at the 

 same time locking it with the spring lock. As this left the dark 

 room in communication with the window above mentioned, 

 the whole experiment seemed to me to be quite useless, but as 

 there was still an opportunity to burst open the door, I asked 

 Mr. Freeman in the presence of four other persons whether he 

 claimed that the experiment had been a success. He replied 

 that it had been a complete failure, as he had been overcome 

 by the gases before he had put in all of his chemicals ; that he 

 would make no claim that the experiment was successful, but 

 would give me a further experiment as soon as he recovered. 



The next day he sent word to me that the experiment had 

 been completely successful, and that the batch of rubber which 

 had been made was the finest he had ever produced. I declined 

 to accept this as a satisfactory test, and although I have many 

 times requested a further experiment I have never been able to 

 getone. The gentlemen who had invited me to invest in the 

 company have since notified me that Mr. Freeman has failed to 

 perform the experiment to their satisfaction, and that they have 

 withdrawn from the enterprise. 



Mr. Freeman gave me two samples of a product he claimed 

 to have manufactured. I had them analyzed, and one sample, 

 which he said was the result of a successful experiment, is re- 

 ported to me to have been nothing but rubber which had been 

 dissolved in some volatile hydrocarbon and later recovered 

 upon the evaporation of the solvent. The second sample, which 

 he said was the result of an unsuccessful experiment, is re- 

 ported by the chemist to have been probably made from an old 

 rubber shoe. The fibers of some sort of canvas were plainly 

 visible in parts of this last specimen when he gave it to me. 



In the course of my interviews with Mr. Freeman. I pointed 

 out to him that he claimed to have produced from the 21 

 pounds of raw material 10 pounds of rubber, which on analysis 

 was found to contain 87 per cent, of carbon. I told him that 

 he therefore had at the conclusion of his experiment 8,7 pounds 

 of carbon ; that in the list of materials which he had given me, 

 and which embraced 20 pounds of the 21 pounds he had used 

 there were in all only about 4 pounds of carbon, and that even 

 if we assumed the other pound to be carbon, still the result was 

 that starting with about 5 pounds of carbon, he had finally 

 wound up with more than eight pounds. I asked him where 

 he got the excess, and he replied that he got ft from the water. 

 I asked him whether it came from the hydrogen or the oxygen, 

 but he replied that I did not understand chemistry, and that he 

 could not discuss the matter with me. w. h. stavton.* 



New York, December 19. igoz. 



MR. FREEMAN AND HIS I'ROCESS. 

 A REPRESENTATIVE of THE INDIA RUBBER WoRLD On De- 

 cember 26 called at No. 403 East Twenty-third street. New Yoi k 

 — a large building, across the front of which is displayed pro- 

 minently the name of Walter K. Freeman, M. E., with other 



• Mr. Stayton is a member of llie important leg.'il firm of Stayton & Campbell, 

 No. 30 Broad street, New York He was educated at the United States Naval 

 Academy and was in active service in the navy for several ye.trs before bein^; 

 called to the bar. He is a man of high personal character and social position. —Thk 

 Editor. 



signs indicating that inventions are developed within and draw- 

 ings and patterns supplied. Going up two flights of stairs he 

 entered what was said to be Mr. Freeman's office, and was in- 

 formed by a middle aged gentleman who seemed to belong 

 there that Mr. Freeman had been detained that morning at 

 Rutherford, New Jersey, at " the factory," which he explained 

 was being erected to develop a new rubber product. He said 

 that work on the factory had been interfered with for the reason 

 that parties in New York who were supplying the capital 

 had been "caught in Wall street." When asked about Mr. 

 Freeman and his rubber substitute, the middle aged gentleman 

 said that it had been undergoing tests for two years past, and 

 that the United States Rubber Co., the Goodyear company, 

 the Diamond company, and other concerns had used it in 

 manufacturing shoes, tires, etc, and that the manager of the 

 United States Rubber Co. would be prepared to give a good ac- 

 count of the new material. He said that a gentleman from 

 Germany, representing an association of bankers, had lately 

 visited New York and obtained samples of the product with 

 a view to organizing a company for its manufacture in Ger- 

 many. Mr. Freeman, he said, had left a college at Racine, Wis- 

 consin, to go to South America for Mr. Charles R. Flint, and 

 while in the tropics had become interested in India-rubber. 



Later in the d:iy the representative of The India Rubber 

 World talked with Mr. Freeman in the same office, without 

 seeing the middle aged gentleman above mentioned, and was 

 shown over the establishment, occupying a floor space appar- 

 ently about 50 X 100 feet, and tilled wth machines, models, etc. 

 Mr. Freeman, when asked about his rubber substitute, said 

 that while making experiments in lighting, as an electrical en- 

 gineer, the action of certain chemicals had led him to re- 

 searches on another line, which had resulted in the making of 

 a synthetic product which he thought might be of interest to 

 the rubber trade. He did not know whether it had any value, 

 but had made a few samples of not more than 6 or 8 pounds 

 each, which he had sent to a few rubber manufacturers, who 

 had expressed the opinion that " there might be something in 

 it," while others had said that it had no value. He had no 

 money to spare in developing the process, but if anyone de- 

 sired to invest money for the purpose of further tests on a large 

 scale, he was willing to allow the use of his secret formula and 

 to carry on the experimenting, although his health had been so 

 affected by the poisonous fumes incident to the process that 

 his physician had advised him to let the whole thing alone. 

 The base of his product was cellulose, from which the product 

 was " built up " by a process which he had not revealed to any- 

 one. The product he thought might prove of value for compound- 

 ing with rubber, and, in certain cheap goods, take the p'ace of 

 rubber. He had also prepared samples in which Paid rubber 

 was incorporated — as low as 15 per cent, and as high as 87 per 

 cent. No one had been asked for any capital in connection 

 with this product, though parties had come to him and oflfered 

 to raise capital', and afterwards failed to do so. When asked 

 about the factory at Rutherford, New Jersey, mentioned by 

 the middle aged gentleman, Mr. Freeman said : 



"Oh, that old man talks too much. If I put a shovel into 

 the ground he thinks I am building a big factory." 



Mr. Freeman asserted in answer to a question that he had 

 been in South America very little, and that this had no connec- 

 tion with his interest in rubber. When told of the statements 

 contained in the communication which appears above, Mr. 

 Freeman categorically denied every one of them, and in regard 

 to each detail made a diametrically opposite statement, insist- 

 ing particularly that the test referred to was made by the other 

 parties present and not by himself, and that he did not know 



