288 



THE INDIA RUBBER V/ORLD 



[Jui-y 



1 90 1. 



THE PICKETT PNEUMATIC VALVE. 



SOME recent demonstrations which have been made of the 

 Pickett All-Rubber Valve, in some of the leading tire fac- 

 tories in the country, have brought it into such favor with 

 minafactarers that the new invention seems assured of a 

 very wide adoption. The various advantages of this valve 

 have beeii referred to already in Thk India Rui!I!er World, 

 but the point has not been maae definitely, hitherto, that it is 

 as applicable for all the forms of double tube tires now on the 

 market as for single tubes. 



One fact which commends the Pickett valve particularly is 

 the readiness with which it may be applied to tires which have 

 become damaged through the tearing out of the ordinary stem 

 valve. Hitherto tires which have reached this condition have, 

 as a rule, had no further value except for scrap. The cost of 

 putting in new stem valves is heavy, and the result not always 

 satisfactory. The use of this new all-rubber valve would en- 

 able the manufacturer to save every torn tire returned to the 

 factory for replacement. It is only necessary to cut off the 

 old-fashioned metal valve, patch up the hole (the patch, of 

 course, being concealed by the rim will not show) and then the 

 tire is ready for the insertion of the rubber valve, which as 

 before stated, is inserted just as though it were a plug, and 

 with the same facility. It is then, of course, a new tire, and 

 may be sold as such, 



So far as the tire repair trade goes, the same conditions ap- 

 ply. This new rubber valve can be inserted just as though 

 it were a plug, and with the same facility. This will enable 

 repair men, when tires are given them out of which the old- 

 fashioned metal valve has been torn, to replace this metal valve 

 with a new rubber valve at probably the same price paid to 

 them for their work, but at a very greatly .educed cost to the 

 repair man himself for the materials used in this work. In 

 case by any accident the Pickett valve should become injured, 

 the small opening in the tire which it occasions can readily be 

 plugged, and a new valve inserted, in another part of the tire, 

 bj any repair man, in a few minutes, and at a very trifling cost 

 for materials. 



The Pickett Two-Part Valve has been applied successfully 

 to football bladders, for which purpose it is found to possess 

 many advantages. 

 The inflation of 

 footballs by means 

 of the ordinary 

 rubber stem is not 

 always an easy 

 task, nor is the re- 

 sult all that could be desired. At best, the doubling up of the 

 stem beneath the outer cover gives the ball an uneven shape 

 which interferes often with good play. And in order to inflate 

 a ball by the old method it is necessary to open wide the slit 

 in the cover, and difficult to lace it again, particularly if the 

 ball be inflated hard. There have been valves designed to take 

 the place of the stem, but they had the disadvantage of being 

 composed in part of metal, and it is true in footballs, as in 

 bicycle tires, that metal and rubber valve parts will not work 

 together. The Pickett Valve, however, being composed wholly 

 of rubber, is more reliable and more durable in service than 

 any metal valve, and more easily worked. With the Pickett 

 Valve, a football may be inflated with a bicycle pump, or with 

 a simple and specially designed inflater, and when the bladder 

 has been inflated, the cover can be more easily laced, and the 

 football will present a better shape, than has ever been the 

 case hitherto. With this valve, a smaller slit in the cover is 



sufl5cient, and it is possible often to reinflate a ball by unlacing 

 it very slightly, no opening in the cover being required other 

 than for admitting the point of the inflater. 



SENATOR DR. HEINRICH TRAUN. 



THE election of Dr. Heinrich Traun, proprietor of the Har- 

 burg Rubber Comb Co., to the position of senator of the 

 free city of Hamburg — mentioned in the last India Rubber 

 World — is spoken of in the German press as having given 

 great satisfaction to the people of Hamburg, with whom the 

 new senator is an exceptional favorite. The A^eue Hamburger 

 Zeitiing says, editorially : " We greet with sincere pleasure the 

 selection made [of Dr. Traun] and we do so from a double 

 point of view. First, the personality of the man elected, his 

 sphere of activity in the past, and the general high esteem 

 which he has been able to earn, are a sure guarantee that in 

 this, the highest honorary office of our state, he will act for the 

 benefit of all. Secondly, we rejoice that by this election a new 

 principle in the composition of the senate has been introduced. 

 In the new senator we possess a distinguished expert in chem- 

 istry and large industrial pursuits. Our Hamburg industry 

 has thus obtained, for the first time, a seat and vote in the sen- 

 ate, which means the fulfilment of a demand that has become 

 more pressing every day in modern times." 



Dr. Traun was born in Hamburg in 1858. He attended the 

 college of Dr. Wichard Lange, after which he was prepared 

 for the university by private tutors. He studied the physical 

 sciences in Gottingen, and was graduated at the age of only 21 

 as a doctor in philosophy, choosing " Kautschuk " as the sub- 

 ject of his thesis. Going to London, he worked as a chemist 

 in the royal dockyards, and had an opportunity to come into 

 contact with laboring men at their work. Later he was em- 

 ployed in Paris, after which he entered the Hamburg rubber 

 factory of his grandfather, H. C. Meyer, Jr. After fifteen years 

 of working together, grandfather and grandson separated, Mr. 

 Meyer retaining the cane (stick) business and Dr. Traun the 

 rubber branch, which latter has been developed on a very large 

 scale. By the way. Dr. Traun is a nephew of Mr. Carl Schurz, 

 who is so well known in America, Mr. Schurz having married 

 a sister of Dr. Traun's mother. Dr. Traun suffered a deep be- 

 reavement in November last in the death of his wife, who took 

 a special interest in the benevolent institutions organized for 

 the benefit of the employes of the Harburg factories. 



The inspection department of the Associated Factory Mu- 

 tual Fire Insurance Companies (No. 31 Milk street, Boston) 

 send us a pamphlet [4^4 ' X T%". 28 pages] containing speci- 

 fications for Underwriters' rubber lined cotton fire hose and 

 unlined linen fire hose, adopted August 20, 1900, together with 

 lists of approved brands of such hose and the names of manu- 

 facturers, including fac similes in color of the trade mark of 

 each. It will prove useful at every factory where mill hose is 

 bought for fire protection. 



The postoflice department received bids at Washington 

 until 2 I'. M., on May 2, for supplies for the postal service — in- 

 cluding rubber goods — for the fiscal year beginning July i. It 

 might be supposed that, with the constant growth of the ser- 

 vice, the demand for rubber goods would increase, but such 

 seems not to be the case. For example, in 1899 the advertise- 

 ment called for 9000 pounds of rubber bands ; in 1900 the 

 requisition was for 8250 pounds; and this year the same fig- 

 ures appear. As for the other items in rubber, the details are 

 practically the same as for two years past. 



