February 1, 1913.J 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



231 



believes that fire hose should be judged — not by the 

 various stages through which it maj' pass in course of 

 construction — but by the actual service it gives when 

 put to use. This seems fair, business-like, and ade- 

 quately to cover the requirements. Where the results 

 are satisfactory the methods of attaining them are 

 immaterial ; and conversely the best theoretical 

 meth'tds in the world are of little value if they do not 

 produce the results. When a man gets into litigation 

 all he wants of his la\v\er is to win his case. Whether 

 his brief is written on an Underwood typewriter or a 

 Remington; or whether in addressing the jury he 

 gesticulates with his right hand or with his left, would 

 not to the normal mind appear to be matters of vital 

 concern. 



A BOSTON CHEMIST ON SYNTHETIC RUBBER. 



LIKE most discussions that arise over the advance 

 of science along the border-land which divides the 

 known from the unknown, where the battle of progress 

 continually rages, the discussion of the problem of 

 synthetic rubber has its flood and its ebb, sometimes 

 engrossing the attention of the scientific world, and 

 sometimes lapsing into a condition of profound quiet. 

 This has been the situation ever since Sir W^illiam 

 Tiklcn, o\'er thirty years ago, made the discovery that 

 rubber could be made out of isoprene. 



The synthetic discussion was renewed with great 

 vigor last year by the disclosures made by Professor 

 Perkin, of Manchester, England, in an address given 

 before a body of scientists, showing what marked 

 progress had been made in the solution of this problem 

 by a group of English chemists on one hand, and an- 

 other group of German chemists, both working inde- 

 pendently and both arriving simultaneously at prac- 

 tically the same conclusion. 



Dr. Lothar E. Weber, a Boston chemist of recog- 

 nized authority in rubber circles, contributed a very 

 interesting paper on this subject to the discussions held 

 at the Third International Rubber Conference which 

 took place in New York last September. This paper 

 is produced in full in this issue. Dr. Weber views the 

 situation judicially and dispassionately. He is not dis- 

 posed to join the chorus of chemists who proclaim 

 that natural rubber — whether from the wilds of the 

 Amazon or from the cultivated plantations of the 

 East — will soon be given its quietus by the worker in 



the laboratory. He recognizes the great triumph of 

 the chemical researchers, in being able to produce rubber 

 as good as comes from the South American forests, 

 but he does not believe that they will be able — for years 

 to come at least — to produce it on a scale that will 

 seriously compete with natural rubber. He combats 

 the theory of those who argue from the success of 

 synthetic indigo to the success of synthetic rubber, 

 showing that the two problems are totally different; 

 stating that, while the producers of synthetic indigo 

 had a perfectly definite task set before them, the com- 

 position of indigo being uniform and recognized, pro- 

 ducers of synthetic rubber are compelled to work more 

 or less in the dark, because the process of polymeriza- 

 tion has not yet been brought under chemical control 

 and is seriously lacking in uniformity ; and he contends 

 that synthetic rubber in commercial quantities will not 

 be possible until the polymerization of isoprene is 

 much more clearly understood than it is at present. 

 While he thinks commercial synthetic rubber a possi- 

 bility of the future, he does not believe that anyone 

 now engaged in the rubber industry will see synthetic 

 rubber in open competition with the natural product. 



Of course, the exact time when synthetic rubber will 

 arrive at a commercial basis is only a matter of con- 

 jecture, but many competent observers will be greatly 

 surprised if it does not do so within the lifetime of 

 those now engaged in rubber activities. With the tre- 

 mendous advances made in the solution of this problem 

 during the last three or four years, it does not seem 

 possible that its final success can be many years away. 



THE WORLD'S OUTPUT OF MOTOR CARS— WHICH 

 RUBBER HAS MADE POSSIBLE. 



IN point of attendance — volume and value of exhibits 

 * and artistic setting, the Automobile Show held 

 during the latter half of January in New York, was a 

 triumph. Nearly half a million people attended it. This 

 is not to be wondered at when one considers the tre- 

 mendous hold that the automobile has taken upon our 

 American life. There are at present nearly 900,000 

 motor cars in use in this country — practically one car 

 for every 100 people ; and there will very soon be over 

 a million cars. The year 1912 added 250,000 cars to 

 those already in use, and the aggregate of the esti- 

 mates made by the manufacturers for the present year 

 reaches 600,000. Deducting one-third o^ that as rep- 



