February 1, 1913.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



247 



SPECIFICATIONS THAT HINDER PROGRESS. 



rj'DITOR or The India Rudder Woklu — Sir: Fire dcpart- 

 ••— ' merits of this great and wealthy country must necessarily 

 continue to be equipped, as they now are, with the best products 

 of the American factories ; with particular reference to hose it is 

 the earnest desire of the manufacturers to obtain recognition for 

 their best output. They arc, however, practically unanimous 

 in the belief that this opportunity cannot be offered through the 

 medium of specifications. This is due to the fact that specifica- 

 tions covering any product of which rubber is a constituent part, 

 cannot be drawn in detail so as to assure obtaining the best 

 quality. Manufacturers of hose having a varying experience 

 of from ten to fifty years have acquired a knowledge of com- 

 pounding rubber, warranting their belief that by their particular 

 process they have obtained the best present compound of rubber 

 for a fire hose tube. This is not necessarily of delicate refined 

 texture, but must possess strength, resiliency and durability. 



Each manufacturer thinks that after experimenting practically 

 all his life, he is making a rubber tube a little better than the 

 others, and each is striving to place in the fire departments the 

 very best result of his experience and factory facilities. As 

 these processes vary it is not natural to expect any established 

 manufacturer to divulge the ingredients of his rubber com- 

 pound. In fact in most cases it would be impossible to formu- 

 late specifications providing for a chemical test that will be in 

 even a moderate degree accurate in showing the value of the 

 tube. The ability of the chemist to determine by his art the 

 rubber component part of a vulcanized compound is not a lost 

 art, but one which has never yet been discovered. Hence the 

 inconsistencies in all specifications. 



It is a mistaken policy for any city to adopt or dictate theoret- 

 ical specifications to which no manufacturer of experience and 

 integrity of purpose can commit himself. It is perhaps, hardly 

 within the province of propriety for the seller to attempt to 

 dictate to the buyer, but the manufacturers may venture to offer 

 the suggestion that if fire engineers and municipal officials con- 

 tinue to make conclusions based upon experience they will make 

 no mistakes. 



We say again, the best rubber products today are not sus- 

 ceptible of accurate chemical analysis. A tube made up of a 

 certain percentage of pure new rubber, mixed with brains and 

 experience, will be much more durable than a specification tube 

 composed of laboratory theory and inexperience. To obtain 

 the best hose put the manufacturers on their mettle, and create 

 among them the spirit of competition in quality, not competition 

 in price alone. 



If the combination of insurance interests wishes fire depart- 

 ftients to buy apparatus and hose of its own makes, why does it 

 ijot maintain fire departments from its own profits. The large 

 revenue even at present rates of insurance would warrant 

 this and leave ample funds for fat dividends. 

 j What is the actual cost of fire insurance, as coinparcd with 

 ^he insurance trust charges? 



The average cost per annum for real actual fire insurance as 

 ^hown by six years' results in the mutual or co-operative com- 

 panies, doing business where they are not restrained, w'as just 

 ^ight and si.x-teiiths cents per annum on each one hundred dollars. 

 If the so-called straight line companies succeed in obtaining con- 

 trol over the tax-payers' fire department property, will the re- 

 duced rate be anything like eight and six-tenths cents per one 

 hundred dollars? If not. why not? 



Large fires and the consequent large losses are seldom the 

 results of imperfect hose and apparatus, or inefficient fire de- 

 partment service, but are most frequently due to causes beyond 

 the control of human or mechanical effort, or within the scope 

 or ordinary fire department organizations to meet; and labels on 



hose or apparatus attesting its popularity with the Underwriters 

 Laboratories would not save the property. 



.•\ large lire in any community is seized upon by the insurance 

 interests and used as a club to pound the fire department. As 

 for instance in the case of the City of New York, having the 

 best equipment obtainable and the best organized fire depart- 

 ment in the world. Is it supposable that a school of theorists 

 should be competent to reform that great modern fire depart- 

 ment? It is said that large fires periodically are productive of 

 great profit to the insurance companies, as they furnish the 

 means of throwing a scare into the people for another juggle 

 with rates — to send them up or keep ihem where they are, when 

 tliey dare not put them higher. 



1 he best method of selecting hose for fire department purposes 

 is to allow the manufacturers to offer prices and samples of their 

 very best products, the departments to reserve the right to re- 

 ject any or all bids, and the samples thus submitted under the 

 supervision of the chief executives of the fire department, would 

 show to the people of the cities that their fire department is 

 self-contained, and well able to select the best tools for pro- 

 tecting property. A city should rely upon the records of its 

 own fire department for the quality of brands of fire hose it has 

 used in the past. It should also try new brands of the very 

 best quality in material and manufacture that may be offered. 

 This course will create a rivalry among the manufacturers on 

 the test of quality alone. Furthermore, it should hold the manu- 

 facturer responsible for any defects in material or manufacture 

 that may develop in three years. 



By distributing their business, buying only the best, the fire 

 departments will soon obtain the absolute confidence of the public, 

 and prove that there can be no better criterion to go by than 

 the judgment and experience of the trustc<l officials of the fire 

 department and their record of past performances. 



The insurance interests claim that they wish to elevate the 

 efficiency of fire departments. Whence comes their knowledge 

 of fire fighting ability, and standards of quality justifying their 

 sweeping condemnation of methods now in vogue? Theory and 

 practice have always been at variance. The insurance labora- 

 tory has the theory. Our fire departments have the experience. 

 Which should command the greater respect? 



Municipalities should, and wmII, protest against the arbitrary 

 inspection and dictation of self-appointed and self-interested 

 censors. City government under our American system is not a 

 failure, and men selected to serve on its boards as fire com- 

 missioners or chief engineers, are capable of making their own 

 judgment, and of following legitimate business methods. 



M.VXUFACTURER. 



Editor of The India Rudder World, Sir. — Coaltar Pitch has 

 recently been offered to us as a compounding ingredient to be 

 used in place of the expensive Earth Pitches. \ow the price 

 is very attractive at twenty dollars per ton. What I would like 

 to know is this : Have any of your readers any experience with 

 this material in the mixing of compounds for mechanical rubber 

 goods? Do these compounds "bloom" or "dry out"? Thanking 

 you for any information which you can give me, I am. — Walter 

 Fercusox. 



The English Society of Dyers and Colorists are offering a 

 prize equal to $100 for an investigation of the maximum amount 

 of copper in dyed cloths for rubber proofing. Papers have to 

 be sent in before June 30, 1913. Another prize of same amount 

 is being offered for a printing machine cylinder obviating the 

 necessity of using blankets or lapping. The use of rubber- 

 covered rollers has been suggested and tried, but results have not 

 been decisive. 



