July i, 1901.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER W^ORLD 



293 



thus being Targely neutralized. This does not, of course, afford 

 any clue as to why the metal should be present and, in common 

 with others, my curiosity on this head has been aroused. The 

 attempts which have been made on this side with the purpose 

 of producing a body of similar utility do not seem to have met 

 with more than partial success, as far as I can gather. 



This concern, which is only of moderate dimensions, repre- 

 sents the rubber manufacture as far as the Principality is 

 concerned, the managing director being 

 SOUTH WALES j^^ ^ ^ James. It is, I believe, the 



BRATTICE CLOTH , , , , , , , , , 



AND INDIA-RUBBER CO. o^'v rubber works where the brattice cloth 

 business is carried on, though the two 

 businesses have no real connection, as no rubber is used in the 

 brattice cloth manufacture. The company have a large local 

 demand for their goods in the surrounding colliery districts, 

 the large colliery concerns in Soutli Wales and Monmouthshire 

 being in the habit of making yearly contracts for their require- 

 ments of rubber goods. The title of the com pany is not exactly 

 in harmony with its geographical situation, but there is enough 

 historical evidence for the inclusion of Monmouth among the 

 Welsh counties to justify its adoption. 



The.se works, where the manufacture of rubber machmery 



is carried on, have undergone considerable extension since 



their inception, on a modest scale, ten 



MESSRS. iDDON's WORKS g^rs ago, and It is probable that addi- 



AT LEYLAND. . 



tional buildings will shortly be erected 

 on adjoining land. Machinery for the cable manufacture is 

 made a specialty, the firm being at present engaged on turning 

 machines for the paper covered telephone circuits, among 

 other work dealing with modern developments of the cable 

 industry. The rise in favor of the high pressure vulcanizing 

 presses, by which all tendency to blowing is eradicated, has 

 been prominent in bringing business to the firm, the compara- 

 tively high first cost of these machines having been considered 

 by prominent rubber manufacturers as of no particular mo- 

 ment compared with their attendant advantages. 



It has been asserted that pure rubber untouched by any 

 manufacturing processes will remain sound for ever, and there 

 seems no reason to attempt to disprove this as- 

 sertion, bold though it be. It is impossible, I 



LONGEVITY OF 

 PURE RUBBER. 



suppose, for any one to put his hand on a piece 

 of rubber of a hundred or so years old, but it may not be unin- 

 teresting to mention that I have a piece of Pari seventy years 

 old, of undoubted authenticity. It was originally in the pos- 

 session of John Hancock at the time when the sole trade done 

 consisted in selling small rectangular pieces as pencil mark 

 erasers. Beyond having dried up to the toughness of leather 

 the biscuit shows no signs of deterioration. If my memory 

 does not deceive me, the samples of Para rubber to be seen in 

 the museum at Kew gardens, and which were presented by 

 Charles Macintosh & Co., bear a date in the fifties, and so can- 

 not rank with my own specimen in the way of forming an 

 index to longevity. 



In the retail establishment, at Cardiff, of Messrs. Anderson, 

 Anderson & Anderson, the well known London water-proofers, 

 there is prominently a view in the window a 

 large biscuit of Para rubber which attracts 

 a good deal of popular attention. The label 

 it bears states that it is the largest ever imported, the weight 

 being 6yi cwt, and the value ^140. With regard to the value, 

 is not clear whether this relates to the market price at the time 

 of purchase or any other time or to its supposed intrinsic value 

 as a museum specimen. The point, however, is not one of the 

 first importance, what seems of rather more interest is whether 

 the assertion of the biscuit being the largest imported can be 



LARGE BISCUIT 

 OF PARA. 



sustained. Not that this is said in any way to impugn the 

 veracity of Messrs. Anderson, but it is obviously impossible for 

 an individual or a firm to be cognizant of everything that has 

 occurred in a matter of this kind. 



There seems to be a prevailing impression in England that 



Mr. J. Fletcher Moulton, K. c, the eminent patent counsel, is 



connected by family ties with the rubber 



'"i^n^^ I'^Tcn"'' works at Brad ford-on- A von. This, however, 



A OU., LIMITED. 



IS not the case, and the reports that his in- 

 timacy with the intricacies of cycle tires has been gained in the 

 above works is quite groundless. The firm have never gone in 

 for the tire business, mechanical rubbers, more especially with 

 regard to railway requirements, having engrossed nearly all 

 their attention. The one Mr. Moulton who now remains con- 

 nected with the company does not take a very active part in 

 the business, living a life of comparative quietude in the beau- 

 tiful old manor house which was reproduced in the street of 

 nations in the Paris exhibition last year as a prominent type 

 of British architecture. The workmen of this firm being in 

 receipt of good wages, have the local reputation of affecting 

 superiority over such of their fellow townsmen as earn their 

 living in the one or two textile establishments which still exist 

 in this once famous cloth center. Certain facts which are in my 

 knowledge with regard to this matter might prove instructive 

 to people in high places whose limited acquaintance with peo- 

 ple outside their own set has led them to express surprise that 

 social distinctions exist in the community of toilers. With 

 regard to the rubber operatives in our large industrial centers, 

 it is probably due to financial considerations as well as to the 

 somewhat unlovely nature of their home surroundings that 

 little is heard of any pretension to social superiority. 



NEW TRADE PUBLICATIONS. 



THE new illustrated catalogue and price list of the Beacon 

 Falls Rubber Shoe Co. (Beacon Falls, Connecticut) 

 marks a new departure in the style of this company's trade 

 publications. The pages being more than twice as large as for- 

 merly, admit of the use of larger illustrations than are usual in 

 rubber shoe catalogues, and, in some cases, of more descriptive 

 matter on the same page with the cuts. The make up of this 

 catalogue is exceptionally good, in every respect, and a feature 

 which has not been seen in any other catalogue is the illustration 

 of the various styles in pairs, instead of showing only a single 

 boot or shoe, as has been the custom. With such attractive 

 pictures, it would not be surprising if, in time, people should 

 be tempted to buy rubbers without regard to weather condi- 

 tions. f7"X7". 46 pages.] 



The Boston Rubber Co. of Montreal, Limited, are 

 sending out a handsome trade publication, in their "Illustrated 

 Catalogue " of rubber boots and shoes, 1901-02. [3^4"x6^". 

 68 pages.] 



JO.SEPH Dixon Crucible Co. (Jersey City, New Jersey) send 

 us, fresh from the printers' hands, a very handsome example 

 of up to date catalogue making, under the title " Dixon's 

 Graphite Productions." Established in 1827 this company have 

 become the largest miners and manufacturersof graphite in the 

 world. This catalogue illustrates and describes all their various 

 applications of graphite, from crucibles to "lead " pencils, be- 

 sides giving views of the factory buildings and the interiors 

 of various departments. The pages devoted to Plumbago Fac- 

 ings and Graphited Lubricants, particularly, ought to prove 

 of interest in every factory. [8")<9". 77 pages.] 



Rochester Wringer Co. (Rochester, New York) send us 

 an illustrated catalogue of their self-adjusting clothes wringers. 



