March i, 1903.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



191 



shown that danger attaches to the use of wax of low melting 

 point, this naturally having a greater tendency to soften the 

 rubber and accelerate atmospheric oxidation. A good deal of 

 the scientific evidence which is to be found detailed in the two 

 bulky volumes of transcribed shorthand notes of this trial 

 would prove somewhat amusing " copy " if printed to-day, but 

 we must be charitable and remember that our knowledge of 

 the chemistry of rubber is quite of recent date. Cases of pre- 

 mature decay of elastic webbing were at one time more com- 

 mon than is the case at present, and in a great measure this 

 had an influence upon the decline in favor of the elastic side 

 boot. No doubt the use of copper mordants in dyeing the 

 black cotton thread had a good deal to do with the trouble 

 that arose; I don't know much about the practice prevailing 

 at the moment, but seven or eight years ago I found a con- 

 siderable amount of copper in some black elastic webbing- that 

 formed the subject of a complaint. 



I HAVE it on good authority that it is proposed to establish 



at the Manchester School of Technology a very complete set of 



apparatus for testing dielectrics. The proposal is to 



TESTING OF gg to loo.ooo volts, a Current considerably stronger 



INSULATING j^ is obtainable anywhere in England at the pres- 



MATEHIALS. . ^, , ' , , . . , ^ 



ent time. The school authorities hope to secure 

 the cooperation of the local cable makers in this project, 

 though as to what is the exact prospect of success in this direc- 

 tion I am at the moment unable to hazard a conjecture. 



At the Stanley automobile exhibition, in January, a good 



deal of comment was aroused by the prominent notice to the 



effect that the Maison Talbot were appointed sole 



MOTOR London agents for the " Clincher-Michelin " tiies, 



TIRE " 



INTER- STS. though no information was obtainable from officials 

 of the North British Rubber Co. The Maison Tal- 

 bot, it may be said, is connected with the Shrewsbury-Talbct 

 Co., which has houses in Paris and Italy. In connection with 

 this notice, it is understood that qn arrangement has been 

 made between the North British company and Messrs. Michelin 

 et Cie., for the latter firm to make the "Clincher-Michelin" 

 for sale in the United Kingdom, this being apparently some- 

 what of a counterblast to the arrangement existing between the 

 Continental and Clipper companies. Presumably there will 

 not be an appreciable difference between the " Clincher Miche- 

 lin" and the ordinary Michelin, except in matter of attachment, 

 and those motorists who have wished to obtain Michelin tires 

 and found difficulties in the way will now be able to get their 

 hearts' desire. At the automobile show the rubber trade was 

 not at all strongly represented, Moseleys' and the North Brit- 

 ish, however, having good exhibits. The Dunlop company are 

 making great strides with their motor tire business, and I an- 

 ticipate an increasing appreciation by the public of the work 

 which Mr. Paterson, the manager of the Para mills (Birming- 

 ham) is so carefully carrying out. From all accounts the tire 

 tread they have produced, and which is proof against side slip, 

 bids fair to rem- 

 edy a long stand- 

 ing grievance. In 

 this improvement 

 the tread is some- 

 what increased in 

 thickness, being the new dunlop tire. 



cut transversely with segmental grooves about i inch deep by 



^ inch wide, the grooves occurringat center to center distances 

 of 1 34" inches all round the tread, the object achieved being to 

 thrust the mud skin of the road away, enabling a grip of the 

 surface. The most recent flotation is the Collier Tyre Co., 



Limited, with a capital of ^^loo.ooo, to acquire the business of 



the Collier Twin Tyre Co., Limited (1900). I am informed 

 that the tires will be made as heretofore, at the works of the 

 Leyland and Birmingham Rubber Co. The automobile show 

 which opened on February 4, at the Crystal Palace is, from all 

 accounts, the best ever held in England. Should my represen- 

 tative discover anything of novelty in rubber I shall refer to it 

 next month. 



I A\r not entitled to entrench on politics in these notes, and 

 I may as well disarm suspicion at once by saying that I have 

 no intention of doing so. I wish merely to refer 

 VENEZUELA. ^^ ^j^^ Balata business. According to a friend of 

 mine, who has just returned to this country after a three years" 

 sojourn in Venezuela, there is a great waste of Balata trees 

 going on, the regular method of collecting the sap being in the 

 first instance to cut down the tree. It is generally understood 

 that in Trinidad and the Guianas the wood, which has con- 

 siderable value, is utilized, but this is quite the exception in 

 Venezuela, it being allowed to rot on the ground. Of course, 

 absence of means of traction accounts to a large extent for 

 this, and at the present rate of development this difficulty is 

 not likely to be rapidly surmounted. There can be no doubt 

 that the difficulty of getting machinery and plant into the dist- 

 ricts where minerals abound has been a great factor in retard- 

 ing the development of the mining industry. 



What Dr. Weber has to say regarding sulphur in his new 

 book (" The Chemistry of India- Rubber ") will no doubt attract 

 attention in the trade, though I think the following 

 SULPHUR, ggntence requires a little modification: "It is sur- 

 prising how tenaciously rubber manufacturers cling to the use 

 of flowers of sulphur for vulcanizing purposes, considering that 

 this product is one of the most variable and impure forms of 

 commercial sulphur." Those manufacturers, such as the Union 

 Alkali Co., of Soho Works, Manchester, who have for a long 

 time supplied to the rubber trade a uniform neutral product, 

 will. I imagine, feel that the author should have qualified his 

 words so as to limit his denunciation to crude flowers of sul- 

 phur, the use of which, owing to its variable composition, can 

 hardly be considered as in the manufacturer's best interests. I 

 agree with Dr. Weber in his remarks about acidity, a point 

 which has engaged the attention of the vulcanized rubber cable 

 manufacturers closely. The milk of sulphur he refers to as 

 having nothing to recommend it is, I think, hardly used at all 

 at the present day, though I can remember the time when it 

 was more largely employed. With regard to precipitated sul- 

 phur, of which he speaks highly, there is no doubt that the 

 high price has been a bar to its adoption, and I am not satisfied 

 that it is really worth the extra price to large manufacturers. 



The name of the new company established at Mouton 

 Green, near Manchester, to manufacture an oil substitute for 

 leather, is the British Pluviusin Co., Limited. In 

 CORRECTION. ^ recent reference I made in these notes to the 

 subject, somebody on the staflf of the paper altered it to 

 " Pluvium," which, though certainly a more generally conven- 

 ient title, is not correct. 



Mr. Kenneth Rose, of the Para Rubber Plantation Co., 

 when asked about the adulteration of rubber with farinha 

 flour in the Amazon country, said that he knew of some dis- 

 tricts where this was not likely, because farinha was worth 

 more than rubber. The cost of food is high, wages are high, 

 and rubber has to pay for it all. yN\\tie. farinha is cheaper, 

 however, it is mixed with the rubber in coagulation, being the 

 only substance that can be used in this way without detection 

 when the rubber lumps are cut open for export. Mr. Rose is 

 now at his post on the river Casiquiare. 



