November 1, 1912.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



99 



Para?'" and "What appears to be the difference between the acid 

 coagulation and the smoking process?" Dr. lluber explained 

 this poini by stating that the smoke of the urucuri nuts probably 

 contained certain chemical products which had a beneficial in- 

 fluence on the gum during the process of conversion. Any 

 laboratory preparation used for coagulation should in his 

 opinion be thorouglily tried out before it is finally adopted. Dr. 

 Dannerth called attention to the fact that the smoke used in 

 Para apparently contained volatile gases and liquids of low- 

 boiling point. In that case a careful examination of the distillate 

 would have to be carried out, in order to determine the con- 

 stituents of the smoke. 



The opening paper was followed by one on "Problems in 

 Vacuum Drying" by Mr. J. P. Devine, which developed con- 

 siderable discussion and brought out such questions as "Can 

 rubber be taken direct from the dryer and put on the mixing 

 rolls, for the purpose of increasing the efficiency of the plant?" 

 and "Why is it that certain rubbers which have been dried in 

 vacuum appear tacky after removal from the apparatus?" 



The paper by Mr. T. W. Miller, manufacturer of dipped goods, 

 was omitted, in the absence of the author. 



Mr. P. L. Wormeley, of the Bureau of Standards, Washington, 

 D. C, delivered a most enlightening address on "Physical 

 Methods of Testing Rubber and Rubber Products." The paper 

 showed that the National Bureau at Washington is at present 

 exerting itself to a considerable degree in devising standard 

 methods for physical and chemical testing of rubber products. 



One of tlie questions brought out at this meeting was that by 

 Dr. Dannerth — "What is the allowable variation in the tensile 

 strength test on crude rubber?" In other words, "How close 

 is it possible to make two results agree, provided the samples 

 have been cured and cut from the same compound?" 



EVENING SESSION, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25. 



On Wednesday evening, at 8 o'clock, a special meeting of 

 the Conference was held to hear the papers on "Factory Man- 

 agement and Organization Methods" by Mr. J. C. Jurgensen 

 and Dr. Frederic Dannerth, in which a plan was proposed for 

 the systematization of laboratory work in rubber factories. 



These papers were followed by one on "A Method of Deter- 

 mining the Density of Vulcanized Rubber Goods" by Mr. B. Denver 

 Coppage, of Wilmington, Delaware, in which he demonstrated 

 an instrument which was devised primarily for determining the 

 plasticity of rubber-covered rolls for paper manufacturers. He 

 has given this instrument the name of "Plastometer." 



These papers started a very lively discussion by Messrs. Stone, 

 Baxendale and Saunders. The meeting adjourned at 10 o'clock. 



MORNING SESSION, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26. 



The Thursday morning session opened at ten o'clock with a 

 paper by Mr. E. A. Barrier, of Boston, on "A Brief History of 

 Fire Hose Specifications in the United States," in which he out- 

 lined the present status of the specifications issued by the two 

 principal underwriters' laboratories. Mr. Pearson drew atten- 

 tion to the wisdom of the recent action of the Isthmian Canal 

 Commission in eliminating from its specifications the phrase 

 "Approved by the National Board of Fire Underwriters." 



The second paper of the morning was by Dr. Lothar Weber, of 

 Boston, Massachusetts, on "The Commercial Possibilities of Syn- 

 thetic Rubber." In the discussion which followed, many interesting 

 questions were asked by Messrs. Boggs, Driscoll, Crosbie-Roles, 

 Smythe and Saunders, as well as by Dr. Huber and Mr. Fol 

 of the Government Rubber Testing Station at Delft, Holland. 

 Mr. Weber showed in the course of his remarks that the pro- 

 duction of synthetic rubber at this time is handicapped by the 

 fact that it is difficult to control the process of polymerization. 



The statement made by one gentleman from London that auto- 

 mobile tires made of synthetic rubber would cost £1.000 or 

 more was contradicted by Prof. Hinrichsen of the Royal Testing 



Station in Berlin, Germany. He drew attention to the fact that 

 a certain large German chemical works is now producing 

 synthetic rubber at a cost slightly above that of Hard Fine Para. 



AFTERNOON SESSION. THURSDAY. SEPTEMBER 26. 



Thursday afternoon, the Conference convened at two o'clock, 

 with an attendance of about 110. This session was attended 

 by a large number of railroad chemists and testing engineers. 

 Fifteen of the principal railroads of the United States had 

 sent delegates to the Conference, in order to hear the views 

 of the manufacturers on such vital topics as "Air Brake Hose 

 and Steam Hose.'' The discussion was led by Mr. C. D. Young 

 of the Penn.sylvania Railroad, presenting the case of air brake 

 hose from the standpoint of the consumer in a concise manner. 

 He called attention to the fact, in the course of a long paper 

 presented by him, that the quality of air brake hose had de- 

 teriorated approximately seven years ago, and showed that train 

 detentions on account of defective hose are more frequent in 

 summer than in winter on railway lines in the United States. 

 In continuing his remarks, he called the .ittention of the manu- 

 facturers to the fact that 82 per cent, of the air brake hose of the 

 present day showed the defect of "porosity." His examination 

 extended over 5,800 pieces of air brake hose. Other repre- 

 sentatives brought out many facts, showing this decline in the 

 quality of the product to be a matter frequently observed in 

 various sections of the country. Chemists and engineers repre- 

 senting the manufacturing interests felt disinclined to discuss 

 with the consumers this most important question. Mr. E. A. 

 Barrier of the Factory Mutual Laboratories, Boston, called atten- 

 tion to the fact that after all it might be that the Master Car 

 Builders' specifications were incomplete and not properly pro- 

 tecting the interests of the consumer. 



Among the railroads represented were : The New York 

 Central, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia & Reading, Illinois Central, 

 Lake Shore & Michigan Central, Norfolk & Western, Lacka- 

 wanna. Erie, Chicago & Northwestern, Atchison, Topeka & Santa 

 Fe and Canadian Pacific ; in addition to many other of the 

 prominent trunk lines. 



MORNING SESSION, FRIDAY. SEPTEMBER 27. 



The Friday morning session opened at ten o'clock with a paper by 

 Mr. E. S. Land, which was a report of the Navy Conference 

 held in Washington in December, 1911. This conference was 

 attended by 40 representatives of rubber manufacturers in the 

 United Stales, and was called for the purpose of discussing 

 the specifications at present in use by the Navy Department. 

 The paper called forth considerable discussion on the part of 

 Messrs. Boggs, Hinrichsen, Barrier, Cutler, Smith, Geer, DriscoU 

 Weber and Stone. 



Mr. E. B. Tilt (Montreal) presented the report of the Rubber 

 Committee of the American Society for Testing Materials and 

 stated that the committee had been at work on a definite plan 

 since February, 1912. The questions taken up will bear on the 

 quality of manufactured rubber goods chiefly from an engineer- 

 ing standpoint. 



This report was followed by official reports from the several 

 rubber sections and committees now at work in the United States 

 on standard specifications for rubber goods, and standard methods 

 of rubber goods analysis. 



Mr. W. A. Delmar (New York) presented a preliminary report 

 of the activity of the Railroad Committee. This committee, com- 

 posed of men representing railroads. LTnited States Government 

 departments and the manufacturers of insulated wire, has been 

 at work since 1911 devising accurate methods of chemical analysis 

 for rubber-covered wires. 



Mr. D. A. Cutler, chairman of the Rubber Section of the 

 American Chemical Society, presented to the Conference an out- 

 line of the work which is contemplated by that Section. He 

 stated that steps had already been taken to determine the ac- 



