352 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[September i, 1901. 



sought to find some industrial application. In furthering such 

 objects it seems that exhibitions fulfill one of the main func- 

 tions which they should seek to serve. 



I NOTICE that a prominent firm in this manufacture in the 

 United States is now engaged in advocating the use of their 



product among British rubber manufacturers. It 



SUBLIMED ,g j,Q^ some years since the writer experimented 



LEAD.' "'■'h this variety of white lead as a substitute for 



the ordinary hydrated carbonate, and the trials 

 proving satisfactory, some quantity of it was used in one of our 

 largest rubber works on his recommendation. It may be'men- 

 tioned that the brand so used was that manufactured by the 

 now defunct White Lead Co., Limited, of Porril Park, Glasgow, 

 the composition being that of sulphate of lead mixed with 

 a small proportion of oxide. Of course the sulphate is incapa- 

 ble of fixing free sulphur, as the ordinary white lead and lith- 

 arge can, but this did not militate against its use in the particu- 

 ar mixings where it was employed. However, it should be 

 mentioned that the general trend as regards the use of lead 

 compounds of late years in rubber works has been to discard 

 red lead and white lead, and to rely principally upon litharge, 

 so that I do not think there is very much scope for the sale of 

 the American product in this country. A good deal of money 

 was dropped over the Porril Park works, as, in spite of favor- 

 able reports from various quarters, it was found impossible to 

 get the large paint users to take up with it permanently. 

 What the position is in America in this respect I do not know ; 

 it certainly was hinted that 'vested interests had something 

 to do with the difficulties in which the British company 

 found itself.* 



This trade is probably not at all a large one, as far as actual 

 bulk goes, but the wholesale dental supply firms manage to get 



a pretty good profit from their customers. I am 

 DENTAL ^Q[ jj, jjjg secrets of the business, but I don't sup- 



RUBBER. , , LL t 11 



pose that the rubber manufacturers come so well 

 out of it as the middlemen do. The two principal classes of 

 goods are the pure rubber sheet, professionally known as the 

 " dam," which is applied to the mouth of the victim during 

 the operation of stopping, and the unvulcanized compound 

 rubber which forms the frame work for artificial teeth, the 

 curing being effected on the dentists' own premises. The prin- 

 cipal dentist middleman is the old- established firm, Claudius 

 Ash & Co., recently converted into a limited company under 

 the title of the Dental Manufacturing Co., of London, Man- 

 chester, and Dublin. A recent novelty is a rubber dam having 

 one side covered with aluminium powder, so as to give abetter 

 light to the dentist during his operations, though it does not 

 seem that the special advantage is universally recognized. It 

 cannot be said that the average dentist, though he has to work 

 a good deal with rubber, has any real knowledge of the sub- 

 stance or its manufacture. In one respect, at least, the adver- 

 tising American dentist, who is not very kindly spoken of by 

 his British brethren in those towns where they are established 

 side by side, seems to show more cuteness than his confrere. 

 I refer to the prices he pays for his materials. In buying rub- 

 ber compound at a lower price than the British dentist does 

 he may, as the latter suggests, get a very inferior compound, 



PERSONAL 

 MENTION. 



but at the same time it is possible that he gets very much the 

 same stuff without paying any middleman's profit. However, 

 it is beyond my purpose to pry needlessly into professional 

 secrets, and the excuse for referring to the subject at all is 

 that these notes are intended to be of an all-embracing charac- 

 ter and to include in their scope any of the multitudinous pur- 

 poses to which rubber is put. 



I REGRET to record the death of Mr. Harry Heaton, Sr., the 

 founder of the original Capon Heaton & Co. rubber works, at 

 King Horton, Birmingham, now the Tubeless 

 Pneumatic Tyre and Capon Heaton, Limited — 

 a firm which after an unsatisfactory life of a few 

 years, is at present being carried on by the liquidators. Mr. 

 Harry Heaton, Jr., managing director of the Gorton Rubber 

 Co., Manchester, is a son of the deceased.- - ^Mr. Pratt, re- 

 cently works manager of the St. Helens Cable Co., has now 

 severed his connection with that firm. ^ — Mr. David Moseley, 

 of Manchester, having recovered from his long and severe at- 

 tack of typhoid fever, has now returned to business.^ I regret 

 to record that Messrs. H. H. Royle & Co., Limited, of Manches- 

 ter, have found it necessary to call a meeting of their creditors. 

 The business is a comparatively new one, having been started 

 but eighteen months ago, and it was concerned with making 

 up waterproof garments, mostly of the rainproof type.=^ — Mr. 

 Jones, whilom manager for McLellans, of Glasgow, and the 

 Fowler Waring Co., of North Woolwich, is now engaged by 

 the Volenite company at their works near Wembley, where it 

 is said he is bringing outa new compound. Certainly, to judge 

 by the very moderate degree of success which " Volenite " at- 

 tained, there is room for improvement, but I shall not, I 

 imagine, be alone in adopting a sceptical attitude towards the 

 new compound also in the light of the numerous similar cases 

 in the past where realization has fallen far short of anticipation. 

 The old established private company of Broadhurst & Co., 

 Bradford, Manchester, had to call a meeting of creditors on 

 July 24, the result being the appointment of 

 a committee of inspection. At the same time 

 the affairs of Messrs. C. H. Scott & Co., the 

 rubber substitute and chemicals manufacturers, were enquired 

 into, Mr. James Robinson being the moving spirit in both con- 

 cerns. The rubber firm of Broadhurst has a life of over thirty 

 years, and it is to be hoped that means will be found by which 

 the firm can emerge from their present difficulties. With re- 

 gard to Scott & Co., the pioneers in the substitute industry, it 

 cannot be expected in these competitive days that the era of 

 prosperity existing in the life time of the late Mr. Samuel Scott 

 will be reproduced. The fact seems to be that the rubber sub- 

 stitute and recovered rubber business is overdone, that is as 

 far as those dealing in these commodities are concerned ; the 

 rubber trade doubtless looks leniently upon the internecine 

 competition now existing as conducive to their own advan- 

 tage. 



The British Celluloid Co. are reported to have selected a 



site in the vicinity of Swansea for their works. I don't know 



whether the popular game of ping pong has en- 



CELLULOiD. jj^jjj,gjj ji^g prospects of the manufacture, but a 



good deal of celluloid in the form of rackets and balls must be 



used up in connection with this novel pastime. 



•Our correspondent's view of the uses of sublimed .lead is exceeding inter- 

 esting, as reflecting the present attitude of English rubber manufacturers toward 

 all forms of lead. In a measure, the practice in England is similar to that to-day 

 employed in the United States. That is, white lead, pure and simple, is not used 

 in nearly the quantities that it formerly was, whereas, litharge is very generally 

 used, but at the same time, sublimed lead has created fur itself a large and very 

 important place among American manufacturers, and there is no doubt but its In- 

 telligent introduction abroad will result in a very large increase in its consumption. 

 ^The Editor, 



BUSINESS 

 EMBARRASSMENTS. 



A RECENT decision of the United States general appraisers 

 at New York, in relation to an importation of Chatterton's 

 compound, held it to be dutiable as merchandise composed in 

 chief value of Gutta-percha— at 35 per ctnl. a,i va/orem—and 

 not as a chemical compound, as claimed by G. W. Sheldon & 

 Co., importers, of Chicago, 



