296 



THE INDIA RUBBER ^VORLD 



[July i, 1901. 



used by the Orinoco Co., all the bark is stripped from the tree, 

 after as much Balata as possible has been extracted, and what- 

 ever remains in the bark removed by a chemical process. The 

 high price of Balata is accounted for partly by the relative scar- 

 city of labor. As high as 28 cents per pound has been paid to 

 collectors employed in Venezuela, though payment was made 

 in goods. Again, the better supplies of Balata are remote from 

 navigable streams, one company being obliged to pay 3 cents a 

 pound ( = $60 per ton) for the haulage of Balata to the nearest 

 boat landing. 



Sheet Balata is obtained by spreading the sap in shallow 

 pans and exposing it to the sun, the process lasting sometimes 

 nearly two weeks. The dried sheets are '/s to ^\ inch in thick- 

 ness, and are sometimes rendered thinner by running them 

 between rollers, the chief purpose of which operation is to ren- 

 der the sheets less liable to curl up. Tin plate is well adapted 

 for Balata pans, though the natives use wooden troughs, lined 

 with tree leaves to keep the gum from sticking to the wood. 



Block Balata is formed by boiling the sap in kettles holding 

 from 8 to 12 gallons, until it reaches the consistency of mo- 

 lasses candy at the stage when it can be " pulled." It is then 

 formed into masses in size suited to the packing cases, and 

 placed in water to cool. The boiling requires about 2 hours 

 for the first kettleful ; the proper heat having then been 

 reached, subsequent lots are boiled sufficiently in about 45 

 minutes. The cooling and hardening requiies 3 or 4 hours. 

 Packing cases of wood are usually 18 or 24 by 12 inches, 

 and 4 inches deep. 



The new treatment adopted in Venezuela does not extend to 

 the whole production from each tree, but is rather a supple- 

 mentary process. That is, after the usual method of extrac- 

 tion, the Balata remaining in the bark is obtained by grinding 

 the bark and removing the Balata by distillation. Only the 

 inner bark is ground up, the rough outer bark being first cut 

 oflf. The further processes are kept secret, but naphtha is sup- 

 posed to be used. 



The average yield of Balata milk is about 3 gallons per tree, 

 or 27 pounds, which yields 15 to 21 pounds of Balata. Mr. 

 Tufts mentions having removed all the bark from a felled tree, 

 before extracting any sap, and running it between the steel 

 rolls of a sugar mill, with the result of obtaining three times as 

 much Balata, but it contained more impurities than that ob- 

 tained by ordinary means. 



LATEST BALATA REPORT FROM VENEZUELA. 



In the June issue of Der Tropenpflanzer (Berlin) appears a 

 report by E. Englehardt, of Cuidad Bolivar, Venezuela, to the 

 effect that during the year 1900 the production of Balata in 

 that country was very largely increased, while the output from 

 the Guianas had become relatively insignificant. The preser- 

 vation of the trees, he says, has in no wise been considered. 

 They are simply felled and allowed to rot on the ground, al- 

 though the timber would be of great value if it were possible 

 to convey it to the seaboard. The Balata gatherers are com- 

 pelled to invade the forests deeper and deeper every year, 

 every tree for miles from the original starting point having 

 been destroyed. The only shipments are now made from Bol- 

 ivar. The rate of increase has been as follows : 



In 1897 650,613 pounds. 



In 1898 1,043,170 " 



In 1899 1,659,295 " 



In 1900 2,628,784 



It will be noticed that these figures, obtained evidently from 



official sources in the country of production, are much larger 



than those given in the preceding article, which was prepared 



before Mr. Englehardt's report was available. It is stated, also, 



that very little sheet Balata is produced in Venezuela, the block 

 Balata being produced more readily. 



During 1900 rubber was shipped from \'enezuela only in 

 small quantities, owing to the seat of the revolution which 

 existed for months being in the district whence the necessary 

 labor for rubber gathering is secured. [The rubber from the 

 Orinoco, marketed usually as " Angostura," is of the Para 

 type, and classified as " fine " and " coarse."] The shipments 

 by the river Orinoco were : Fine, 114.970 pounds; coarse. 32.- 

 332; total, 147,302 pounds. However, some Venezuelan rub- 

 ber, from the back districts, finds its way to the Amazon, being 

 exported through Para, but the total export Herr Englehardt 

 estimates at not over 100 tons for the year. The production 

 for 1901 is expected to be much larger— possibly 400 tons, 

 owing to an increased interest in the business and the invest- 

 ment of new capital on a systematic basis. 



USE OF BALATA IN GERMANY. 



The India Rubber World has a report concerning the use 

 of Balata in an important rubber factory in Germany, which 

 consumes a considerable amount every year. It appears that 

 the only use to which this material is put, in the factory referred 

 to, is in the manufacture of belting. A small amount of Gutta- 

 percha is used in the compound. There is no cover placed on 

 the outside of this belting, so that, when completed, the general 

 appearance is much the same as that of the oiled stitched belt- 

 ing commonly used in the United States for threshing machines 

 and in mining operations. The German Balata belting is under- 

 stood to be used in connection with the beet sugar industry, 

 which is quite extensive in that country, the belting not being 

 injured by the beet juices with which it constantly comes in 

 contact. 



AMERICAN GAS TUBING IN ENGLAND. 



THE Birmingham Daily Matlis responsible for the state- 

 ment that a " ring " of English tube makers, by excess- 

 ive demands at the last bidding, forced the Birmingham gas 

 committee to purchase American-made tubing for fittings. 

 The United States consul adds that the British quotations 

 were so high that an American firm succeeded in selling tubing 

 "at a figure which no one in England could touch, and not 

 only was the price cheap, but the quality was vastly superior." 

 The consul reports that although the combination is not so 

 strong this year, " so satisfactory has the American product 

 proved that it will hardly be surprising if the gas committee," 

 now ready for a new purchase, " asks for tenders from 

 America." 



RUBBER STAMP SIGNATURES. 



THE supreme court of Connecticut has held that a letter 

 dictated by a person, typewritten at his direction, and 

 signed with his name by means of a rubber stamp, is a writing 

 signed by such person, in the sense of the statute providing 

 that in order for a case to be taken out of the statute of limita- 

 tions in certain actions, by an acknowledgment or promise, the 

 latter must be in some writing made or signed by the party to 

 be charged thereby. The court said that since typewriting is 

 a substitute for and the equivalent of writing, letters thus writ- 

 ten are to be considered as having been done by the party dic- 

 tating them, and that when a rubber stamp is used for signing 

 they are to be held as having been signed by him, in the absence 

 of any express or implied requirement of law that one shall 

 subscribe a writing with his own hand, — Commerce, Accounts 

 and Finance. 



