134 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[December 1, 1912 



ranges. A splendid proof of this was given shortly after the 

 loss of the "Titanic," when we sent to the mid-Atlantic two of 

 our naval scout cruisers for the purpose of patroling the area near 

 the steamship lanes upon which dangerous icebergs wandered 

 south. These ships, the "Birmingham" and "Chester" alternated 

 in this duty, and by means of their powerful apparatus, were 

 able to send daily warnings to the far northern coast of this 

 continent whence the news was relayed to our hydrographic 

 office for distribution among our Atlantic ports. There is no 

 telling how many lives and tons of shipping were thus saved 

 from needless peril. 



As an outcome of the "Titanic" catastrophe, Congress has 

 recently passed a rigid law prescribing the more general in- 

 stalling of wireless equipments upon all sea-going passenger 

 vessels. It will be necessary for every ship to carry at least 

 two operators and to have an auxiliary apparatus wliich will 

 be available for service in case of failure of the regular outfit. 

 This will mean still more rubber. But Congress went further 

 than this : while the foregoing provision went into effect upon 

 the first of October of this year, another requirement of the 

 same law is that even freight vessels, after the first of next 

 July, shall also be provided with wireless. The reason for this 

 is plain, quite apart from the immediate protection of the ves- 

 sels concerned : freighters are quite able to render assistance 

 and to be of material aid to a damaged ocean greyhound, and 

 by substantially compelling all ocean-going craft to carry this 

 means of communication, the chance of detecting danger and 

 giving prompt warning to others is thus correspondingly 

 bettered. 



Figures 1 and 2 illustrate the application of hard rubber in- 

 sulators (marked X in the cuts) in the aerials of wireless 

 telegraphy. In order to keep ' these insulators in a more effi- 

 cient condition, they have to be coated at least onee a month 

 with vaseline.. This makes them shed water better and keeps 



Fig. 3. The Auxiliary 

 Wireless Outfit. 



Fig. 4. 



We.\ther 



Protected 



Insulator 



With Rain 



Cone. 



On the 23rd of July the President of the United States signed 

 a bill making it mandatory that all vessels carrying fifty pas- 

 sengers and upward should be equipped with an auxiliary wire- 

 less outfit to do duty in case the prime installation should fail. 

 Sixty days were allowed to accomplish this innovation, which 

 involved the making of quite 250 auxiliary sets and their de- 

 livery to the various vessels. The Marconi Company accom- 

 plished this by working its manufacturing plant night and day 

 and calling into service two other establishments. This in- 

 volved an expenditure of substantially a quarter of a mil- 

 lion of dollars, and many of the instruments were delivered 

 by express rather than by freight in order that they could reach 

 tbeir destination and be ready for service inside of the time 

 limit set by Congress. The law was for the better protection 

 of the public in transit upon the sea, and the Marconi Com- 

 pany made every effort to facilitate subscribing to this law. 



The auxiliary <6et, shown in Figure 3, draws generously upon 

 the rubber trade for its get-up — the cylinder, the two promi- 

 nent upright posts, and much of the apparatus on the right 

 above the box being made of hard rubber. The storage bat- 

 tery is also held within a hard-rubber box. 



Figure 4 shows a form of weather-protected insulator sliow- 

 ing the hard-rubber tube passing from the rain cone thmugh 

 the top of the operating house or station. 



A HUBBER PIPE MAKES DIVING EASY. 



Anyone who has a penchant for diving can now follow his 

 inclination without cumbering himself with a helmet to go over 

 his head and a heavy suit to cover the body, for an inventive 

 genius connected with the French navy has recently given a 

 demonstration of a simple diving device which he has invented. 

 It consists of a mouth-piece kept in place by a teeth-grip and by 

 a rubber band going around the head. This mouth-piece, which 

 is not more than 10 or 12 inches long, and small in its other 

 dimensions, is connected with a rubber pipe of any Isngth that 

 the diving operations may necessitate, at the other end of which 

 is an air pump, such as is used to inflate auto tires. The sailor 

 who gave the original demonstration walked into the Seine and 

 disappeared into its depths ; an operator kept the air pump in 

 motion so as to supply the diver with the necessary amount of 

 air, and air bubbles along the surface of the river showed what 

 progress the subaqueous perambulator was making. This mouth- 

 piece is so constructed that the diver's exhalations are not in- 

 terfered with, while his inhalations are amply provided for by 

 the pipe and the air pump. 



A rubber LIFEBOAT. 



Since the horrible Titanic disaster hundreds of inyentive 

 minds — we might say, with just as much accuracy, thousands of 

 inventive minds — have been busy on the lifeboat question, which 

 is natural enough, considering the impressive way in which the 

 lesson of the need of life boats was taught — not only to the 

 steamship companies, but to the traveling public. Among the 

 results of all this inventive application there is one device in- 

 vented by a Jerseyman which is particularly interesting to rub- 

 ber men, as it is an all-rubber boat. The frame is made of 

 hard rubber and over this frame, both outside and inside, are 

 laid sheets of tough rubber cloth. The frame is fairly thick, 

 leaving air chambers in the open places which are inflated. This 

 gives the boat buoyancy and at the same time makes practically 

 the whole boat a pneumatic buffer in case it comes in contact 

 with any other object. The boat can be made of any size. 



On first thought it would appear that a wooden frame would 

 be quite as serviceable as the hard rubber frame. The efficacy 

 of the boat lies in its double rubber covering with the inter- 

 vening air chambers. 



the surface of the rubber from becoming coated with carbon 

 from smoke. Either water or carbon would constitute elec- 

 trical conductors and. to that extent, neutralize the insulation. 



A BOOK for everybody interested in tires "Rubber Tires and 

 All About Them" — this office. 



