July 1, 1913.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



505 



second Columbus. It is undoubtedly a tremendous temp- 

 tation to aviators. But where there is one chance of 

 gointj down into history, there are fifty chances of going 

 down into the Atlantic. 



It is stated that the German (lovernuii-nt will detail a 

 number of warships to be stationed at regular intervals 

 along the route which the Count will be expected to take, 

 in order to lend a hand in case of need. It would be a 

 good idea if the German Government would employ its 

 entire navy in this capacity, for, in the first place, the 

 aviators would undoubtedly need as many available 

 sources of succor as possible, and in the second place, it 

 would be a pleasant spectacle to see a navy put to such 

 practical use. 



PLENTY OF POTATOES FOR THE SYNTHESISTS. 



•"T* HE centre of the rubber stage has been so fully occu- 

 *■ jiictl of late by the Brazilians with their vast schemes 

 for competing against the shilling rubber of the Far 

 East that the synthesists have almost been lost sight of ; 

 but a dispatch received a few days ago from Minneapolis, 

 saying that there were 100,000 bushels of potatoes spoiling 

 on the railroad tracks, for which no market could be found, 

 brings synthetic rubber once more to mind. For the 

 theory of the laboratory workers, both of England and of 

 Germany — which in fact they have very thoroughly sub- 

 stantiated — is that rubber can be made from starch, with a 

 few intermediate steps such as converting the starch into 

 fusel oil and that into alcohol and that into isoprene, 

 which in turn is changed into rubber. But the basic ne- 

 cessity, according to the leading champions of synthetic 

 rubber, is starch, to be derived either from corn or pota- 

 toes — the chief obstacle in the way of deriving rubber 

 from starch in commercial quantities being the cost of 

 the starch. In the present situation, however, with the 

 country fidl of last year's potatoes for which there is no 

 demand o\\ ing to the arrival of this year's potatoes from 

 the south, it would seem to be the synthesists' golden 

 opportunity. 



THE RUBBERIZING OF CITY NOISE. 



THE staid citizens of the conservative East always 

 associate noise with the exuberant West, but here 

 is Chicago giving serious consideration to a municipal 

 ordinance for doing away with noise, and especially 

 looking to the greatly extended use of rubber for the 

 tiring of vehicles. 



Doctors disagree regarding most things (except the 

 size of the fee they ought to have), but the neurologists 

 all agree on this, that the reason cit\ nerves are so un- 

 strung is chiefly because of city noises ; and of city noise 

 traffic noises constitute seven-eighths. The tremendous 

 nerve-wrack of so much din is everywhere recognized. 

 There is hardly a city of any size in the country that does 

 not have its anti-noise society, seeking to prod the local 

 authorities into lessening the noise nuisance, and par- 

 ticularly the roar of traffic on the streets. 



Here is an unlimited field for the use of rubber. No- 

 body need be pessimistic as to what we will do with our 

 rubber if we have, as the experts promise us, 170,000 tons 

 of it in Vn? and 3-K),000 tons in 1919. All of this rubber 

 and a great deal more can be used if every vehicle that 

 travels the streets is rubber-tired, and if the streets where 

 quiet is particularly desired are rubber-paved, as around 

 hospitals, schools, churches, and in residential districts. 

 From such a beginning rubber pavements could spread 

 indefinitely. The practicability of general rubber-paving 

 lieing once proved, there is no limit to the amount of 

 rubber that could be usefully employed. 



If anyone has imagined that the chemists who have 

 been at work so long on the problem of synthetic rubber 

 have relaxed their energies, he will discover his mistake 

 by simply referring to the recent issue of patents as given 

 in the present number of The Ixdia Rubber World. He 

 will find under the American Patents five that have re- 

 cently been issued for a "Caoutchouc-like substance and 

 process of making same" to Herr Hofman and his collab- 

 orators in the great laboratory in Elberfeld, Germany. It 

 is not to he wondered at, however, that the synthesists 

 keep persistently at work, for the prize they are striving 

 for is a magnificent one, and the success which they have 

 already attained is most encouraging. They have fully 

 proved that s\nthetic rubber can be made. The only part 

 of the problem yet remaining to be solved is how it may 

 be made cheaply enough for commercial use. 



An exceeding!}- interesting event occurred on June 28. 

 The Hod.t;inan Rubber Co. on that date celebrated its 

 seventy-fifth anniversary, the company having been 

 founded in 1838 by the grandfather of its present presi- 

 dent. There were rubber companies in existence earlier 

 than 1838, but they were short lived, for the early days in 

 rubber manufacture were troublous and precarious. Some 

 of the plants of those early companies were later ac- 

 quired by new concerns, but it is doubtful if there is 

 another company besides the Hodgman which was in 

 operation in 1838 and which has had an uninterrupted 

 career up to the present time. If there is, The India 

 Rubber World would be glad to be informed ; and if 

 there is not, the distinction of being the oldest American 

 rubber company must be accorded to the house of Hodg- 

 man. There will be found on another page a brief his- 

 torical review of the fortunes and progress of this com- 

 pany during its 75 years. 



