382 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[September i, 1902. 



THE INDIA-RUBBER TRADE IN GREAT BRITAIN. 



By Our Regular Correspondent. 



TIRE . 

 MATTERS. 



THE fact that the race for the Gordon Bennett motor cup 

 was won with English made tires is no doubt a triumph 

 for home manufacturers, after having had the superi- 

 ority of Michelin and Continental tires dinned into 

 their ears for so long. We may hope now that the Dunlop 

 company, the makers thereof, will be encouraged to 

 fresh exertions in order to arrive at as near perfec- 

 tion as can reasonably be expected with such a body 

 as rubber. There will shortly take place the special tire trials 

 of the Automobile Club, and, to quote from the London society 

 journal, The World, "the trials are being looked forward to as 

 bringing into notice novelties and improved methods of over- 

 coming the exasperating punctures which are so common." I 

 am not too sanguine myself as to the puncture difficulty being 

 easily overcome, but there is no doubt a very great interest 

 being evinced in the matter by all classes of society, more es- 

 pecially since the King has become an enthusiastic motorist. 

 Under the circumstances the question of cost for an unpuctur- 

 able tire will not prove a bar to its ready sale to a large extent- 

 There is no doubt that the cab tire of the solid type is in in- 

 creasing demand, and several rubber firms have lately added 

 this branch to their business. The desideratum of the coach 

 trade is a tough rubber, but of low density, and one or two of 

 our rubber firms have been especially successful in supplying 

 rubber of this quality. Slight porosity caused in the vulcan- 

 izing and a tendency to crack on the outside are two of the 

 principal troubles which those who have gone into the manu- 

 facture in rather too light hearted a manner have had to con- 

 tend with. It certainly is not an easy thing to turn out a cab 

 tire possessing all the qualities demanded by the trade, and 

 those who are thinking of going into the manufacture should 

 make sure that they or their employes thoroughly understand 

 the intricacies of detail, as many little defects in manufacture 

 will cause a tire to be unsaleable, though not necessarily really 

 defective. I hope in a short time to say something more fully 

 with regard to some firms who have recently gone into the cab 

 tire manufacture. 



In the recovery of rubber from railway brake hose the labor 



of pulling to pieces is a serious item, being generally carried 



out by hand. A recently patented process of Mr. 



RECLAIMED R R Gubbins, of 95, Pelton road, Greenwich, 



RUBBER. , , , / ■ , , 



London, however, does away with a large amount 

 of labor, and indeed reduces the cost from £% to \s. i^d. per 

 ton for bare wages. The process is an ingenious application of 

 rolling mill methods, the machine being suitable for other pur- 

 poses than that just mentioned.= =Judging from all appear- 

 ances the competition between the various makers of reclaimed 

 rubber is becoming more and more acute, though there is no 

 doubt that the consumption is increasing. I was rather sur- 

 prised to be informed by an erstwhile manufacturer of a brand 

 of recovered rubber that the market for it had suddenly died 

 out; I happened to know that that sort of rubber was being 

 largely used, and I have no doubt that the business has simply 

 changed hands owing to price considerations. There seems to 

 be very little old rubber now to be picked up without competi- 

 tion ; possessors of it have now all got a pretty good idea of its 

 market value and are not easily to be caught by the wiles of 

 those who make its collection and re- sale a matter of regular 

 business. No doubt some of the makers of recovered rubbers 



will now begin to writhe under the more onerous condition 

 which modern competition imposes on them and will seriously 

 consider whether the game with its attendant worries and risks 

 is really worth the candle. There certainly is an increasing 

 tendency among the rubber manufacturers to carry out their 

 own reclaiming, or, if they cannot manage the whole process 

 to advantage, to buy it partially treated from those who have 

 collected such as contains wire and cloth and removed these 

 extraneous bodies by economical processes of their own. With 

 regard to the buying and selling of reclaimed rubber, there is 

 an increasing desire of rubber manufacturers to have something 

 in the nature of a certificate of quality with their purchases, 

 and as a proximate analysis of the mineral matter, rubber, and 

 oily or resinous matters does not cost much, the reclaimer will 

 find it advisable to conform to the demand in this respect, 

 though as he does not know how his product is to be used, I 

 think he is wise in demurring against giving guarantees. 



From time to time complaints arise as to the unsuitability 



of rubber for bottle rings, especially in connection with foods 



containing oily matters. The proprietors of a new 



BOTTLE [QQti product told me the other day that they could 



RINGS. '^ . , , , 



not use rubber, at least not the sort of rubber they 

 had tried, and they were rather at their wits end to know how 

 to fill their acquirements. No doubt there is something in the 

 quality of the rubber, and therefore some firms may be more 

 successful than others in this department. All the same it 

 can hardly be contended that rubber is suitable in the case of 

 vegetable oils, and the subject therefore seems particularly one, 

 the study of which might well be expected to yield satisfactory 

 pecuniary results to any one tackling it in earnest. As regards 

 the rings used in mineral water bottles, the objection to rubber 

 does not hold, or at any rate not to anything like the same ex- 

 tent, and complaints have only been loud in cases where a very 

 common brand of African rubber has been used in place of the 

 Pard which should be considered obligatory for this purpose. 

 Attempts have been made to deodorize the finished rings, but 

 only very little success has ever been obtained by this pro- 

 cedure, and for reasons which it seems hardly necessary to 

 enumerate. 



This important cable firm, with which is now incorporated 



the Telegraph Manufacturing Co., of Helsby, was visited on 



July 10 by a party of the members of the Society 



THE BRITISH ^j Chemical Industry, on the occasion of the an- 



INSULATED t , t-. • 



WIRE CO. nual meeting at Liverpool. Previous to inspect- 

 ing the works, the visitors were entertained to a 

 champagne luncheon by the directors— Mr. E. K. Muspratt, 

 who took the chair, being supported by Mr. Atherton, Mr. 

 James Taylor, Mr. Cresland Taylor, and Mr. Ferranti of high 

 tension cable fame. The speech making was cut very brief, 

 as time was short; and a vote of thanks proposed by Mr. 

 Walter Reid, a vice president of the society, and responded to 

 by the chairman, comprised all that was attempted in that di- 

 rection. Perhaps this paragraph may hardly be considered 

 suitable for insertion among these notes, as in these works 

 rubber is conspicuous by its absence, but an excuse may be 

 found in the interest which the rubber cable people take in 

 their strongest competitor. From quite small beginnings the 

 factory at Prescot has grown until it now covers an area of 15 

 acres and gives employment to over 2500 men, the rolling and 



