August i, 1902.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



347 



PRECIPITATED 

 SULPHUR. 



be mentioned, to be visited by parties of the members of the 

 Society of Chemical Industry on the occasion of the annual 

 meeting at Liverpool in July. — —.The inquiry recently held by 

 Judge Parry into the certain alleged scandals in connection 

 with the Salford (Manchester) electricity works has resulted as 

 was generally expected in Messrs. W. T. Glover & Co. being 

 exonerated from any imputations cast upon their botia fides with 

 regard to the large cable contract which they obtained last 

 year.==Seeing the great increase of electric traction, one 

 would have thought that there would have been plenty of work 

 for the cable, and that close competition would not have arisen. 

 The present competition is, however, very severe, and it must, 

 one would think, lead to a reduction of the substantial dividends 

 which have been paid by the various companies during the last 

 two or three years. There does not, however, seem any possi- 

 bility of a general combine, and it is rather to be feared that a 

 further cheapening of the rubber on familiar lines will be had 

 recourse to as a way of obtaining business. As regards sub- 

 marine work, those cable firms engaged therein seem to have 

 been successful in assuring their shareholders that the devel- 

 opment of the Marconi system does not necessarily spell imme- 

 diate ruin to them. 



This is one of those chemicals which have had a somewhat 

 checquered career in the rubber trade. Known also under the 

 names of Block sulphur and Metallic Sulphur, 

 it has long had a limited application for certain 

 purposes. This brand of sulphur is sold either 

 quite pure or containing about 25 per cent, of sulphate of lime, 

 which, however, is not a direct addition but the result of the 

 particular system of manufacture employed. Unless the sul- 

 phate of lime quality is sold cheaper than the pure, the rubber 

 manufacturers would certainly seem to be in error in buying it 

 in place of the pure. The special qualities possessed by precip- 

 itated sulphur over ordinary flowers of sulphur are neutrality, 

 greater solubility in naphtha, extreme fineness of division, and 

 a decreased tendency to bloom up. The great disadvantage 

 seems to lie in the price, which is considerably higher than the 

 best qualities of flowers, though it should be mentioned that a 

 less proportion can be used. It is understood that Lufbury & 

 Chardonnier, the well known French rubber chemists, have 

 given up the precipitated sulphur manufacture, owing to the 

 small demand, and quite recently The Union Alkali Co., of 

 Soho Works, Manchester, have circularized their customers 

 that they can only continue to supply at an enhanced price. 

 No doubt if large orders were obtainable, the stuff could be sup- 

 plied at a lower price, but it is not surprising that chemical 

 manufacturers prefer to utilize their space and plant to better 

 advantage. There is no doubt that mistakes have been made 

 by those who have used this sulphur without acquainting 

 themselves with its special properties, and a fear of a repetition 

 of such mistakes has certainly militated against its use. Pre- 

 cipitated sulphur, it may be added, is in general use as a com- 

 ponent part of orange sulphide of antimony, it being to its in- 

 fluence that the result of vulcanization by antimony is really 

 due. 



I SEE that a presumably serious proposal is on foot to manu- 

 facture rubber from banana skins, though the intermediate de- 

 tails are not yet available for comment. However, 

 though I am very sceptical as to the result, I am 

 not in a position to say that it is all humbug. I 

 must say, though, that the proposal bears some similarity to one 

 emanating from London not so long ago. The material in this 

 case was the wild plantain which grows in the West Indies, and 

 a certain individual now employed out there conceived the idea 

 of converting this into rubber. This heaverred that he had done 



SUNDRY 

 NOTES. 



ARTIFICIAL 

 RUBBER. 



and showed some pieces of undoubtedly genuine rubber to cap- 

 italists in London, to whom he confided his anticipations of 

 the wealth to be realized by the adoption of the process on the 

 large scale. His story certainly sounded plausible to those un- 

 acquainted with the technology of rubber, but its extreme im- 

 probability was easily apparent to the initiated. A suspicious 

 circumstance was found in the fact that the inventor insisted 

 on keeping the details of the process secret, something on the 

 lines of the electric sugar swindle at Liverpool some years ago. 

 On my first introduction to the case, I felt sure that, to put it 

 mildly, the inventor was suffering from hallucination, and that 

 the pieces of undoubtedly genuine rubber he was showing in 

 the City had never had any connection with the wild plantain. 

 When awkard questions were put to him he sought a refuge in 

 the fact that the chemistry of rubber is incompletely known, 

 and that the chemist, expert or otherwise, was quite unable to 

 follow the reactions of his process. The adoption of such a 

 tone was not, however, quite reassuring to the capitalists who 

 were taking the matter up on the strength of the inventor's 

 representations, and the scheme for bringing out a syndicate 

 which had been rather too rapidly drawn up had, perforce, with 

 sighs of disappointment, to be consigned to the waste paper 

 basket. I have referred to this matter at perhaps greater 

 length than necessary, but it is advisable to point out that new 

 things in commerce are always being hawked about the City of 

 London, and that there are plenty of financiers of a sort who 

 will enter into projects willfully blinding their eyes to palpable 

 inaccuracies of statement and fact. 



Although the wide field from which the recipients of Coro- 

 nation honors did not include any representatives of the rub- 

 ber trade, by reason of their connection with 

 commerce, it is of interest to note that Colonel 

 Richard K. Birley, v. d., of the Seventh Lancashire 

 Artillery Volunteers, a director of Messrs. Charles Macintosh 

 & Co., Limited, received a Companionship of the Bath as a re- 

 ward for military zeal. The C. B., it may be said, has been 

 very sparingly distributed in the auxiliary forces, and the honor 

 is anything but a barren one — that is as a recognition of 

 merit. = -The compulsory order which had been sought to ef- 

 fect the winding up of the Hyde Imperial Rubber Co. was re- 

 fused at the adjourned hearing at the Stockport county court. 

 The works will go on, therefore, though it cannot be said that an 

 era of prosperity seems to be imminent. ^^^^Considerable ad- 

 ditions have recently been made to the premises of the Irwell 

 Rubber Co., Limited (Manchester), the business having in- 

 creased to an extent which necessitated capital expenditure in 

 this direction. ==With regard to a statement I made recently 

 concerning the ownership of the Collier motor tire, a slight in- 

 accuracy crept in. The tire is the property of Mr. Baxter, and 

 not jointly that of the Leyland and Birmingham Rubber Co. 

 ^=Litigation is still proceeding between the Dunlop company 

 and the Clifton Rubber Tyre Co., the owners of the Wapshare 

 tire. The directors of the Clifton company, it may be men- 

 tioned, are the directors of the Leyland and Birmingham Rub- 

 ber Co.^=The recent death of Mr. Frank Shaw removes a 

 familiar figure from the ranks of rubber machinists, though the 

 machinery in which he specialized will continue being made at 

 the old address.==I hear that the Dermatine Co., Limited, of 

 Camberwell, London, are experiencing a lively demand for 

 their specialities for hydraulic engineers. It has not unnat- 

 urally taken some time for " Dermatine " to show its superior- 

 ity to leather or rubber for hydraulic purposes, and it is grat- 

 ifying to be able to testify to the success that has attended the 

 untiring efforts of Mr. John Cooper, the genial managing direc- 

 tor. 



