November 1, 1912.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



109 



The India-Rubber Trade in Great Britain. 



By Our Regular Correspondent. 



DTTMAR and Thiebcn in "Zcitschrift fiir Kolloide," August, 

 1912, draw attention to tlic change which certain fillers 

 undergo during the steam vulcanization process. Sulphur 

 and various chemical fillers were mixed and submitted to 

 vulcanization temperatures. It is somewhat surprising to read 

 DETEHMINATIOH OF of 'he production of magnesium and 



MINERAL FILLERS calcium sulphides from the carbonates — 

 IN HUBBEH. Qf ^ijjg sulphide from the oxide— and 



of barium sulphide from the sulphate. These changes, they sav. 

 must inliucnce vulcanization, but their special importance, they 

 add, is in regard to analyses which cannot give an accurate clue 

 to the composition of the mixing. This deduction goes without 

 saying, and it cannot be too clearly understood that an analysis 

 of rubber goods, however accurately carried out, does not nec- 

 essarily indicate the composition as put in the mixing. I am 

 of opinion, however, that an expert can deduce the original 

 mixing pretty accurately from the results of his analysis. Such 

 work, by the way, should not be attempted by those who have 

 attended a course of sixpenny lectures at some technical school 

 or other, in order {vide prospectus) to enable them to under- 

 take rubber analysis if called upon. But to revert to my theme, 

 whatever may be the chemical changes which occur during steam 

 vulcanization, these are further considerably modified when the 

 rubber is incinerated. Potts in his recent book devotes one or 

 two lines to this important topic, but the subject is worthy of 

 greater elaboration. The analyst who works rapidly and cheaply 

 does not always recognize the considerable errors which may 

 be involved in the determination of mineral matter, by the con- 

 venient method of direct incineration and where the result ob- 

 tained is returned without correction, this should be stated. 

 Cases have come under my notice with regard to important con- 

 tracts for rubber goods, where discrepancies in analyses have 

 arisen from the fact that, while one chemist has returned the 

 figures obtained by direct incineration, as representing the 

 original mixing, another has obtained different and more ac- 

 curate figures, by making important corrections. Such correc- 

 tions are usually arrived at by a combination of analyses and 

 intimate knowledge of the manufacture, and I do not see any 

 likelihood of factors being obtained, which could be utilized as 

 necessary corrections. 



Old-established rubber works doing a general business are 

 complaining of the amount of competition which has arisen in re- 



CTJTTING PRICES ''^"'^ years in the mechanical branch. Not 

 IN THE that they fear any disaster to themselves, 



MECHANICAL TRADE, but from the fact that the lower quota- 

 tions, sent out by new people who are compelled to get business 

 somehow, have an unsettling effect upon customers. New- 

 comers in many cases have rapidly acquired what appeared to 

 be a good business connection, only to lose it when the customers 

 find that, while the goods are certainly cheaper, they are at the 

 same time decidedly inferior. Various works established for 

 the manufacture of goods by some special process, or for the 

 exploitation of a particular patent, have, owing to difficultie=; 

 arising, gone into the ordinary mechanical rubber trade, an 

 mstance of this being given in an adjoining paragraph. In many 

 cases also, the various small works, established primarily for 

 the rubber heel manufacture, have added certain mechanical 

 goods to their list. As a rule, the rubber manufacture in Britain 

 in the past has been carried out, not on lines of specialization, 

 but with the idea of covering a variety of branches. It has been 

 thought that this is the best way to avert any disaster in the 

 case of exceptional slackness in a particular branch. This view 



is strongly held today, judging from what the manager of a 

 large general works told me recently. "Look at so-and-so and 

 so-and-so," he said, as a warning illustration as to the unwisdom 

 of engaging in one particular branch only, in face of the com- 

 petition to be faced from those who could afford to lose on a 

 special branch, in order to retain customers, and yet have a 

 successful year owing to good business in other branches. "The 

 new competition in mechanicals," he said, "is viewed by us with 

 complacency, as we feel sure that in many cases the interference 

 with our trade can only be temporary." The managing director 

 of another old-established firm, when spoken to on the subject, 

 said he really could not understand how some of the cheap 

 mechanical goods (including cycle tires) now on the market 

 could be sold at a profit. They were not attempting, he said, to 

 compete; if they had any demand f.jr such goods they preferred 

 to buy them from the people making them, rather than risk the 

 scratching of good machinery by the working of mineral instead 

 of rubber. 



To refer shortly once again to the explosion which occurred 

 at the North Western Rubber Co.'s works in October, 1910, the 



_.,„„ commissioners who conducted the Board 



SAFETY VALVES FOE r t j • l <• „ • 



DEVULCANIZER8. °' ^''^^'^ inquiry in the following year, 



and whose report has been issued re- 

 cently, recommended that an automatic safety appliance should 

 be used in the future. The devulcanizer, they added, could not 

 be said to be worked under safe conditions without some safety 

 appliance, though they did not propose to make any definite 

 recommendation as to what form this should take.. Now this 

 expression of opinion is entirely disagreed with by Mr. J. F. L. 

 Crosland, the chief engineer to the Vulcan Boiler and General 

 Insurance Co. of Manchester, with whom the devulcanizers were 

 insured. In an interview I had with Mr. Crosland he was 

 emphatic that not only would any such safety appliance be use- 

 less, but it would be a positive source of danger under the special 

 conditions, as it would be sure to get clogged. All that was 

 necessary, he said, was to have the manhole at the top of the 

 side of the devulcanizer instead of at the surface. By this means 

 the overfilling which led to the explosion of hydrostatic pressure 

 could not occur, and any danger would be entirely obviated. 



A CASE of some importance to British manufacturers of trans- 

 parent druggists' rubber goods, such as teats and soothers, has 

 just been decided. Some little time ago 

 a French patentee instituted proceedings 

 against Messrs. J. C. Ingram & Son of 

 Hackney Wick, London, the well-known rubber manufacturers, 

 for infringement with regard to transparent rubber. The action 

 was defended by Messrs. Ingram with the support of other 

 English manufacturers, notably the Leyland & Birmingham 

 Rubber Co., Limited. Judgment has now been given in the 

 French courts to the efl'ect that the French patent has been de- 

 clared void. 



.An interesting and important development in connection with 



this well-known motor tire firm has to be recorded. This is 



that the control has passed into the 



SHREWSBURY & CHAL- . j r ,, ,-, ,, . , „ ^ 



LINEE TIRE CO. hands of Messrs. Chas. Macintosh & Co., 

 Limited, whose works at Cambridge 

 street, Manchester, are little more than half a mile distant from 

 the works of the above tire company at Ardwick Green. The 

 tire company owes its rise and progress to Mr. Challiner. the 

 Earl of Shrewsbury and Talbot, though financially interested, 

 not having taken any very active part in the business. Two 

 years ago the factory was considerably enlarged. The main 



LEGAL 

 DECISION. 



