374 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[Septemper 1, 1901. 



A NEW TIRE FABRIC. 



A PATENT has been allowed and will issue September 10, 

 to C. E. Woodward (Chicopee Falls, Mass.), for " Fab- 

 rics for Use in the Production of Air-tight Tubing." It has 

 already seen extensive service, having been used for fifteen 

 months in the manufacture of several thousand automobile and 

 carriage tires and with marked success. The fabric is designed 

 especially to meet the requirements of heavy vehicle tires, but 

 in its various forms it may be utilized in all kinds of pneumatic 

 tires, and also hose. 



This fabric differs from ordinary close woven fabric, in that 

 the warp and the woof are different in character, and each has 

 a distinct function in the completed tube or tire. The warps 

 are hard, cable-twisted yarns which resist all tensional strains, 

 while the woofs are single-twisted soft padding threads, which 

 protect the warps from abrading each other, instead of acting 

 to abrade them, as is the case in ordinary close woven fabrics. 

 The soft woof threads also help to distribute all strains and 

 improve the puncture- resisting quality of the tire, on the same 

 principle as the use of wadding. In building up a tube or tire, 

 layers of the improved fabric are applied in the usual manner, 

 so that the strong warp threads of one layer or coil of fabric 

 are crossed at right angles by the warp threads of the other 

 layer or coil. 



Tires made from this fabric are stronger from the fact that 

 when fully inflated the soft woofs allow all of the warps to 

 come to a uniform tension, in which condition they resist all 

 strains from within or without to the best advantage. The 

 tires also are notably easy riding, as the fabric has all the speed 

 quality of the thread fabric in which no woofs are used ; they 

 are durable and repairable, as the fabric has all the advantages 

 of a stable close woven cloth ; they are seldom punctured, as 

 the soft woofs compacted by pressure resist like wadding. In 

 automobile or vehicle tires, where several layers of fabric are 

 used, this fabric is especially valuable, as by means of it inter- 

 nal friction in the thick wall of the tire is reduced to a mini- 

 mum. 



would not, in his opinion, answer, because he found that no 

 true rubber is produced in the first year, but a modification, to 

 which the term " viscin " has been given, having the plasticity 

 of rubber but not the durability. — Druggists' Circular. 



CHEMISTRY OF INDIA-RUBBER. 



IN a paper on India-rubber read by Frederick Davis at a 

 meeting of the London Chemists' Assistants' Association 

 the author remarked that the latter, like the milk of animals, 

 consists of a number of oil globules held in suspension in the 

 form of an emulsion. Chemically, this oil, in the case of rub- 

 ber, is a terpenc, C,oHi„, which, by oxidation, becomes an ox- 

 idized terpene, or resin ; hence its liability to " perish," the 

 juice becoming oxidized so that the resin is formed and the 

 mass becomes brittle. The author mentioned that the latices 

 of Hevea Brasiliensis, Hevea confusa, Castilloa elastica, and 

 Manihot Glaziovii cont.ii'\n very little resin, and do not readily 

 oxidize ; consequently the rubber from those plants is of greater 

 service and more in demand than that from other sources. 

 He also stated that the /a/ex may be stored in stoppered bot- 

 tles for some little time without any apparent change taking 

 place, but eventually it becomes solid. In regard to coagula- 

 tion, experience has shown that the /a/ex may be kept free from 

 coagulation for a time by the addition of a dilute solution of 

 ammonia, but heat or the presence of an acid of any kind favors 

 coagulation. Mr. Davis mentioned that, in order to promote 

 the rapid production of rubber, the suggestion has been made 

 that seeds of plants yielding rubber should be planted annu- 

 ally, and that the year-old plants should be pulled up and 

 boiled in water, when rubber would separate. Such a method 



RUBBER NOTES FROM EUROPE. 



THE Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co., Limited, brought suit 

 against David Moseley & Sons, rubber manufacturers, 

 of Manchester, England, to obtain a construction of an agree- 

 ment whereby the plaintiffs were to have the exclusive use of 

 the " Flexifort" tire fabric, of which the defendants are the 

 patentees. The Dunlops were to take not less than looooo 

 yards per year. It was claimed in this action that the Mose- 

 leys were selling a fabric practically similar to the " Flexifort " 

 to other tire firms. Mr. Justice Joyce, after hearing the testi- 

 mony, decided that the " string cloth," which the Messrs. 

 Moseley were selling for tires, at a lower price, did not come 

 within the definition of " Flexifort " patent cloth, as described 

 in the agreement. 



= The French ministry of public works has issued a circular 

 to the railways, relative to hygienic precautions against infec- 

 tion. Sweeping and dusting in the cars is prohibited, and 

 washing required. The companies are requested to remove 

 all unwashable floor coverings, and substitute those of rubber 

 or linoleum. 



= In the British house of commons on July 15. a member of 

 the government stated that the manufacture of the Pacific 

 cable would be begun during the week, and that the cable 

 board was satisfied as to the ability of the contractors to com- 

 plete the work by the end of 1902. There had already been 

 paid on the contract, on March 31, £207, 4;^^. The house of 

 commons has since voted so much of _£2,ooo,ooo (=$10,000,000) 

 as may be required to pay the home government's share in the 

 cost of the cable. The Pacific Cable board have been adver- 

 tising for a general manager for the cable. The Telegraph Con • 

 struction and Maintenance Co., Limited, the contractors for 

 the cable, are having built an additional cable ship, to be em- 

 ployed in laying the new line. 



= The Asbest- und Gummiwerke Alfred Calmon. Act. Ges. 

 (Hamburg, Germany), have taken new and larger quarters in 

 London, at 6, Sheppy place, Minories, where they occupy an 

 entire building. 



= The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. (Akron, Ohio), are 

 represented in London by Davis, Allen & Co., at 5-7, Singer 

 street, Tabernacle street, and are introducing detachable 

 double tube tires, under the Scott- Rogers patent. 



= The Frankfurter Asbestwerke Actiengesellschaft (Frank- 

 fort o/M.), with 1,200,000 marks capital, earned during the 

 business year 1900, after writing off 67,786 marks, a surplus of 

 183.776 marks, disposed of as follows: 12 per cent, dividend, 

 144,000 marks; reserve, 9035; royalties, 16,100; gratification 

 to officers, 5000; guaranty fund, 4337; carried forward, 5302 

 marks. 



The Amazon Steam Navigation Co., Limited, held their an- 

 nual meeting in London July 25. The profits during 1900 per- 

 mitted dividends to be declared amounting to 4 percent. Dur- 

 ing the latter half of 1900 their business shared in the general 

 depression in Brazil. At the end of the year there was due 

 them from the governments at Para and Manaos arrears of 

 subsidies amounting to ,£28, 311, and from merchants ^50,000, 

 of which latter amount ^10,000 had since been collected. Two 

 of the company's old steamers had been retired, and four new 

 ones added to the service. 



