July i, 1901.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



289 



THE MANUFACTURE OF RUBBER HOSE— A REVIEW. 



By Richard A. Leigh. 



IT is interesting to note the attempts that have been made 

 since 1861 and up to the present time to improve the 

 methods used in the manufacture of rubber hose, and 

 particularly to find that at the present time about the 

 only noteworthy improvement made is in the use of the ma- 

 chine for wrapping the fabric around the inner tube. 



Many inventors have devised methods and machines for the 

 production of hose composed of fabric and India-rubber, but 

 none of them, up to the present time, has been adapted in any 

 form for the purpose it was devised for. The more important 

 of these improvements will be found to be those practised by 

 Thomas J. Mayall and fully described in his specifications in 

 Patent No. 31,552, issued February 26, 1861, and Patent No. 

 88,887. dated April 13, 1869, and that of Coles, Jacques and 

 Fanshaw, issued in England August 17, 1864, and allowed in the 

 United States October 20, 1868, as No. 83,132. 



It can be shown that the mechanical construction prior to 

 these patents was the same as that in use today, with the ex- 

 ception of the wrapping machine tal<ing the place of hand- 

 wrapping, or, in other words, the plies of fabric were wound 

 around the tube by hand instead of by machine. It must be 

 borne in mind that we are not discussing compounds and fab- 

 rics, but only methods of construction as practiced in the art 

 of hose manufacture, where various kinds of fabrics, coated 

 with India-rubber, are made up in tubular form and vulcanized 

 together. Mayall says that the great difficulty to be overcome 

 in his day was to make a hose of sufficient strength to resist 

 any great pressure and at the same time not have it bulky and 

 clumsy. 



To accomplish this he made up a tube of India-rubber in the 

 usual way and, after placing it over a mandrel or pole, wound 

 around it several layers of twine wire or other suitable thread. 

 It was then covered with an outer tube of India-rubber and 

 vulcanized in the usual manner. 



It is evident that at this early date it was seen by Mayall that 

 the most successful hose would be that which contained the 

 maximum strength with the minimum weight, or further, that 

 his method of winding threads would place the strength where 

 it was most needed to resist the pressure of fluids, viz. ; in a 

 transverse direction, as threads so wound would receive the 

 strains and pressures In the direction of the length of their 

 fibers and thus could sustain the greatest force without break- 

 ing. 



In his further experiments It Is evident that some difficulty 

 had been experienced with this type of hose elongating, in 

 consequence of which we have his patent No. 88,887, dated 

 April 13, 1869, In which he describes the use of longitudinal 

 binders of thread, wire, or narrow strips of cloth fastened to the 

 periphery of the tube along its whole length, combined with 

 strands or threads wound around the binders in the manner de- 

 scribed In his prior Invention. 



Both of these types of hose were made up in the primitive 

 way of the times, and If any attempt at devising a machine for 

 its production was made no record of it exists. It is apparent 

 that the attempted change In methods of construction was 

 never used to any extent by Mr. Mayall, but the idea of winding 

 threads by machinery for the production of a practical hose for 

 commercial use was first made possible by Coles, Jacques and 

 Fanshaw, of Tottenham, England. There is ample proof that 



they did for a number of years manufacture in the factory of 

 Wm. Warne & Co. (London) a large amount of this so called 

 " Volute " hose, and that it gave excellent service and was prof- 

 itably conducted. 



The manufacture of this Volute hose is best described as fol- 

 lows : It consisted of covering a rope of suitable size with a 

 sheet of India-rubber and winding around it by the machine a 

 number of layers of threads, each layer being wound in an op- 

 posite direction and being coated with a solution of India-rub- 

 ber. When a sufficient number of layers or plies of thread had 

 been wound on, an outer covering of India-rubber was then 

 applied and the piece was ready for vulcanization. 



I think aclear ideaof the machine's operation can be obtained 

 from the following description : It consists of a framework sup- 

 porting a hollow shaft upon which are mounted loosely two 

 disks or wheels, on which are mounted in suitable bearings a 

 series of bobbins provided with a supply of yarn or threads 

 which pass separately from the bobbins through holes or eyes 

 in a circular plate mounted on stud pins fixed in the face of 

 the disk so as to rotate therewith. 



At the back of each disk or wheel is a pulley around which 

 passes a driving band from another pulley on the sleeve shafts, 

 which may be actuated In any convenient manner. The driv- 

 ing shaft carries a double acting sliding clutch, capable of be- 

 ing thrown into gear with either of the clutches on the inner 

 ends of either of the sleeve shafts, so that either of the disks 

 with their bobbins may be actuated and made to lay the 

 threads round the core on which the tube is formed. This 

 core passes through a hollow shaft and central holes in the 

 disks. It can be seen that If the core be drawn through the 

 tubular shaft and disks, and one of the latter be set in rotary 

 motion by throwing the clutch on the main driving shaft Into 

 gear with the clutch on the end of the sleeve shaft correspond- 

 ing to the disk and set of bobbins It is desired to rotate, then 

 the threads from the bobbins will be laid helically round the 

 core from end to end. When the entire length of the core has 

 been covered In this manner It will be drawn back again 

 through the disks and hollow shaft, and the other disks thrown 

 Into gear, when the threads from the bobbins of the second 

 disk will be laid helically round the core In the opposite direc- 

 tion to the first layer of threads. 



This method of construction, we find, went out of existence 

 owing to the method of construction being too expensive to 

 compete In price with the hose made of woven fabric and rub- 

 ber, and yet, after being in use a number of years, and con- 

 structed by practical rubber mechanics, it seems to have left 

 no impression in a mechanical way upon the manufacture of 

 to-day. In fact, the most important feature in my mind — the 

 angle at which threads or fabric should be laid to obtain the 

 best results In hose — appears to have been lost entirely. 



At the present time fabrics of a suitable weight and weave, In- 

 tended for use in the manufacture of India-rubber hose, are first 

 passed over hot drums so that all moisture may be dried out, 

 and in this way prepared for the frictloning, which means the 

 grinding into the pores or meshes of the fabric a suitable plas- 

 tic composition of India-rubber and other materials used In its 

 adulteration, by a machine known as a friction calender. This 

 step is very important, as the quality of the friction often de- 

 termines the value of hose as regards strength and weight, and 



