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THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[August 1, 1913 



The India Rubber Trade in Great Britain. 



{By Our Regular Correspondent.) 



THE FALL IN" PRICE OF RUBBER. 



THIS topic continues an all-absorbing one, though it af- 

 fects the peace of mind of the manufacturer less than 

 It does that of the plantation shareholder. Now that 

 best plantation brands have fallen appreciably under 3s. per 

 pound, the opinions of those who predicted 3s. as the limit 

 for this year have been falsified, and there is little disposition 

 in the trade to cast the horoscope for even a couple of months 

 ahead. Forgetful of the huge dividends that they have de- 

 clared in recent years, plantation chairmen are complaining 

 that everything is against rubber. 



Renewed attention is directed to the potentialities of that 

 material for pavement, which was so confidently pointed to 

 three years ago as the future salvation of the planting in- 

 dustry. On this head some interesting details were given by 

 Dr. Schidrowitz in a lecture at the recent Chemical Exhibition 

 in London. I cannot follow him in detail here, but one of 

 his main conclusions was that the useful life of rubber paving 

 would have to extend to 40 or 50 years if it was to compete 

 with wood or asphalt, when the first cost and maintenance 

 are taken into account. The main diflSculty in estimating 

 comparative costs is that we are at present, as he points out, 

 without any definite figures as to wear and tear of rubber 

 roadways. Rubber pavement has, of course, been in use in 

 London for a great number of years, but only on a small 

 scale, under cover, and where its cost has been quite a sec- 

 ondary matter. I do not find that the trade is looking with 

 any confidence to the rubber road as the main panacea for 

 keeping up the price of raw rubber. 



There is, however, a decided feeling that the use of rubber 

 might be considerably extended in other directions, if some 

 trouble were taken in the matter. During the last year or 

 two, however, as a prominent manufacturer told me, the 

 works have been too busily engaged filling orders on standard 

 lines to pay much attention to experiment. Probably the 

 valuable honorarium to be offered at the 1914 Exhibition 

 for suggestions as to new applications of rubber, coupled 

 with the decided slackness now being experienced in many 

 branches, will act as the necessary stimulant on the manu- 

 facturers' brains. 



At the same time, I may say there is no general feeling 

 that a glut of raw rubber is impending, the opinion being 

 expressed in authoritative quarters that the present lull in 

 the demand will be succeeded by increased requirements, 

 which will absorb supplies at prices certainly no lower than 

 those at present ruling. The premium at which Brazilian 

 fine stands over plantation crepe cannot be explained away on 

 any basis except that of intrinsic quality. This fact is now being 

 recognized by plantation shareholders, who had perforce to 

 sadly admit that the reports of this or that eminent chemist 

 to the contrary do not carry much weight in the trade. Schemes 

 are now being mooted whereby plantation rubber may be valued 

 and sold on a strict basis of quality, determined by analysis. 

 This, of course, is by no means a new question, but it is doubtful 

 whether it will receive more consideration at the hands of the 

 trade in the near future than it has in the past. It will take a 

 good deal to convince manufacturers that a system of scientific 

 testing is better than, or as good as, inspection based on expe- 

 rience. 



A more important matter, in their opinion, would be the adop- 

 tion of a uniform method of coagulation, so as to bring the plan- 

 tation industry more into line with the Brazilian. The efforts 

 which arc being made in certain quarters to induce large con- 



tractors, like the government departments and the railway com- 

 panies, to specify plantation (.all-British) rubber as an alternative 

 to Brazilian fine, do not seem likely to meet with much success; 

 more especially in view of recent events, which, rightly or 

 wrongly, have caused blame to be attributed to plantation rubber 

 having been used in place of fine Para. 



PROJECTED NEW USE FOR RUBBER. 



In textile mills, the operation known as "kissing the shuttle" 

 has in recent years come under condemnation as being unhygienic ; 

 and in England, at any rate, strong pressure has been brought 

 upon the government authorities to make the practice illegal. 

 Nothing definite, however, has as yet been done in this direction 

 as the officials say they are not satisfied as to the evils said to 

 ensue. In a recently patented contrivance to obviate the necessity 

 of "kissing the shuttle," rubber forms an important part. If this 

 — the Wilson-Shackleton Patent Shuttle Threader — came into ex- 

 tended use, a considerable amount of rubber would be required, 

 though perhaps not sufficient to prevent overproduction. 



The present position of affairs with regard to this device ap- 

 pears, however, to be that the mill owners are disinclined to incur 

 the expense of its installation, until the adoption of something 

 of the sort is made compulsory ; so the immediate prospects of the 

 patentees are not too bright. 



A. O. FERGUSON & CO., LTD. 



With regard to the legal action reported in my last letter, and 

 in which Mr. A. O. Ferguson was involved, I may state that the 

 above newly established proofing firm at Hollinwood. Manchester, 

 will not be afTected. The injunction referred specifically to the 

 use of certain proofing formulae, but these, of course, do not com- 

 prise all the formulae which are available for carrj-ing on a suc- 

 cessful proofing business. It might be thought that there was 

 hardly room for another business of the kind in a district which 

 has for so long been associated with the proofing industry, but I 

 may point out that the export trade, especially in proofed cloth, 

 has largely developed in late years, the manufacturers not having 

 to depend so much upon the home trade as was the case in former 

 times. With regard to this branch generally, at the present time 

 it cannot be said that things are particularly brisk. Last summer, 

 of course, was exceptionally wet and a bumper trade was done. 

 This year, however, is more favorable to the sale of tennis balls 

 and garden hose. 



PROBLEMS OF THE RUBBER INDUSTRY. 



A paper under this title was read a few months ago before 

 the Liverpool section of the Society of Chemical Industry, by 

 Mr. H. E. Potts, who will be known as the author of a book on 

 the chemistry of rubber manufacture. Various problems came 

 under review, but very little was put forward as to their elucida- 

 tion, which still remains a matter for the future. The problems 

 of importance were grouped as follows: 1. Quality of natural 

 raw rubber. 2. Synthetic rubber. 3. Vulcanization. 4. Regen- 

 eration. 



With regard to raw rubber, the present conditions of sale were 

 condemned; the establishment of a conditioning house, where 

 representative samples of plantation rubber could be vulcan- 

 ized as a guide to value of the bulk, being strongly recommend- 

 ed. Mr. Potts had nothing to say against synthetic rubber except 

 its high cost of production. Under vulcanization, reference was 

 made to the action of litharge, which has recently been shown to 

 cause a rise of temperature, owing to chemical reaction in the 

 mixing. The reclaiming of rubber after being finely pulverized 

 was said to yield surprisingly good results. I doubt whether this 

 statement would be endorsed by manufacturers and users gen- 

 erally. An important desideratum of the trade was some method 



