290 



THE INDIA RUBBER Vv'ORLD 



[July i, 1901. 



the best of compositions are only too often ruined by careless- 

 ness at this stage of manufacture. 



In some of the best grades of hose a light coating of India- 

 rubber is applied to one side of the fabric, after both sides of it 

 have been frictioned, which, of course, gives it greater strength. 

 In all well regulated factories a list showing the average 

 weight of composition of various densities applied to each roll 

 — or 120 yards— of fabric is kept, and used as a guide to good 

 work on the friction calender. 



We next find this frictional roll of fabric in the cutting room 

 laid out on long tables and being cut on the bias, or at an angle 

 of about 45", in widths to suit the diameter and ply of hose into 

 which it is to be made up. As these pieces are cut they are 

 turned end for end and made into one continuous piece by 

 overlapping the end of one piece on the other and so making 

 a continuous length. This is done to give the hose its greatest 

 strength in the direction of its length, so as to resist the pres- 

 sure exerted on it by the passing of fluids through it under 

 pressure. 



This strip of fabric is then passed to the preparing or mak- 

 ing up table and a long stiip of sheet rubber wide enough to 

 cover the outside circumference of the hose is attached to one 

 side of the fabric along its entire length, so that when the 

 fabric is rolled up in the form of hose it will be protected by an 

 outer coating of India-rubber. The fabric is then ready to be 

 wound around the inner tube of the hose, which has been pre- 



pared by joining around a pole of suitable diameter a sheet of 

 rubber cut wide enough to cover the outside circumference of 

 the pole. This pole with the inner tube of rubber is placed in 

 the winding machine, which consists of two rolls of the desired 

 length, working parallel to each other and in the same plane, 

 and a third roll which is so arranged that it may be raised or 

 lowered at the will of the operator. 



The fabric edge of the strip prepared as previously described 

 is then attached to the tube along its entire length, and the 

 third or movable roll of the machine is lowered so that it 

 strikes the edge of the fabric when the operator puts the ma- 

 chine in motion, and the fabric is rolled around the inner tube 

 with sufficient pressure to insure the adhesion of the compon- 

 ent parts of the hose. 



To prepare it for vulcanizing it is then wrapped around with 

 wet strips of cloth, first with a strip rolled around its entire 

 length, and then with one applied spirally with sufficient pres- 

 sure to exclude all air and hold the parts of the hose under 

 pressure while being vulcanized, after which it is placed in a 

 boiler of a desired length and subjected to the required heat 

 for any desired time to effect vulcanization. Upon the com- 

 pletion of the vulcanizing the cloth wrappers are stripped from 

 the hose and air under pressure forced between the hose and 

 the pole on which it was made, thus releasing the hose from the 

 pole, when it is ready for inspection and shipment. 



Bristol, Rhode Island, June 12, 1901. 



THE DUNLOP TYRE CO.'S NEW PROCESS. 



THE affairs of the Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co., Limited, 

 were gone over very thoroughly by the chairman of 

 the company, Mr. Harvey Du Cros, at a recent extra- 

 ordinary general meeting held at Birmingham. The 

 first business was the formality of confirming the purchase, by 

 the Dunlop Rubber Co., of the Rubber Tyre Manufacturing 

 Co., Limited, as from July i, 1900— in both of which companies 

 the Dunlop tire company had control. The Dunlop people, as 

 early as 1896, acquired a going rubber concern at Birmingham 

 from the Byrne brothers, which was continued under the name 

 of The Rubber Tyre Manufacturing Co., for making tires under 

 the Dunlop control. Later in 1896 the Byrne Brothers India 

 Rubber Co., Limited, was registered, and a new factory erected 

 at Birmingham, which also was acquired by the Dunlop tire 

 company, who in time thought it advisable to change the name 

 of the Byrnes works to the Dunlop Rubber Co., in order that 

 all possible goodwill there was to the name might be realized 

 on. The subscribed capital of the Rubber Tyre Manufacturing 

 Co. was ;£i 20,000, for which the shareholders accepted ^120,- 

 000 in debentures of the Dunlop Rubber Co., secured by all 

 the property of the latter, including the Rubber Tyre plant. 

 The Dunlop Rubber Co.'s indebtedness to the Dunlop Pneu- 

 matic Tyre Co. has been converted into stock in the Rubber 

 company. It is the intention to manufacture all the rubbers 

 for the Dunlop tires at the two Birmingham mills ; also to close 

 the Coventry works where Dunlop tires formerly were put 

 together, and concentrate their whole tire making at Bir- 

 mingham. 



The keynote of these transactions may be found, perhaps, in 

 some extracts from the address by Chairman Du Cros which 

 follow : 



" The most important reason for this purchase — although 

 the others are all good — was the application of a new process. 

 This process, which is very important, was brought under our 



notice 2% years ago. It was then, we considered, incomplete, 

 and we have kept in touch with it from that day to this, and 

 recently, whatever the Rubber company thought of it, we 

 thought we saw our way to make it complete. The directors 

 were careful to study the question practically ; the Rubber 

 company afforded us facilities for doing so, and we demon- 

 strated at their own mill that it would suit our purpose. 



" The acquisition of this process will effect further economy. 

 Up to this time we have had great difficulty in using mechan- 

 ical processes in our manufacture, because a strong point of 

 our manufacture is that our tires were made by hand, and 

 made very carefully, and that certain features were preserved 

 through hand work. This process destroys none of the features 

 that are peculiar to our tires through hand work ; on the con- 

 trary, it will undoubtedly make the tire considerably better 

 than anything we have ever made before, and considerably 

 better than anybody else has ever made. 



" We give practical effect to our belief in that, because when 

 this manufacture is established it is the intention of the com- 

 pany to extend the guarantee of its tire, which was hitherto for 

 twelve months. So confident are we of the results given by 

 this process that we will extend the guarantee of the tire and 

 make it, I think, more difficult for other persons to follow us. 

 The purchase of this patent will give us an extension of an im- 

 portant patent of a manufacturing character — not a master pa- 

 tent in relation to the manufacture of tires, but a very impor- 

 tant patent — till the year igio, which is in itself of great impor- 

 tance. 



" You might wonder why the Rubber company should part 

 with such an important patent; but the reason is that the Rub- 

 ber company could not work it without infringing our patent ; 

 so that, although it was exceedingly useful to us, it was of little 

 or no use to them, and could not have been of use (or some 

 years to come." 



