140 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[February i, 1902. 



the expression is permissible, but the difficulty of showing that 

 a rubber proof is the cause of its own decay is so great that if 

 the presence of copper in the textile fabric is demonstrated 

 there is in the light of our knowledge of the deleterious action 

 af even minute quantities of copper a strong probability that in 

 the case of a trial the cloth manufacturer would come off 

 second best. That this has not always been the case it is true 

 but then the indictment against copper had not been so clearly 

 made out and more loop-holes were left by which the cloth 

 manufacturer could extricate himself from an uncomfortable 

 position. 



With regard to the interesting article in the December issue 

 of The India Rubber World on this subject, it may not 

 be without interest to say a word in comment. Cer- 

 HOSE '•^'"'y ^^^ author is quite right in deprecating the test- 

 ing of a hose at pressures far higher than it is likely 

 to meet with in practice, because this cannot but weaken it. A 

 prominent hose manufacturer in this country says that it is 

 quite unusual to test the bursting pressure here, because it is 

 always far above what is required, and, moreover, such a test 

 tells you nothing about the durability, which is an impor- 

 tant feature- What is wanted here, he says, is for town officials 

 to give up buying hose from plumbers or small shopkeepers, 

 and to buy direct from the manufacturer, who sells a quality 

 corresponding to the price, which is not at all the universal 

 rule amongst middlemen. It is but rarely that the street main 

 pressure exeeeds 50 or 60 pounds, so there is no object in test- 

 ing up to 400 pounds. With regard to rubber-lined hose, that 

 which is made with a joint has the best reputation, because 

 this method of manufacture permits of better rubber being used 

 than when the rubber is in the seamless condition. A certain 

 amount of German and of American rubber-lined hose finds its 

 way to Great Britain, though a complaint against the latter is 

 that it is too heavy ; that both the canvas and rubber are used in 

 greater weight than is desirable or necessary. This is, of 

 course, merely the expression of individual opinion, which 

 might not be generally supported were a show of hands taken. 

 I don't know how far the average American rubber works 

 superintendent exceeds his British confrere in his grasp of the 

 German language, but the state of affairs here is 

 that the British as a rule do not read German and 

 do not intend to devote themselves to its study. 

 Now leaving out of account the question of translation, the 

 present position gives the Germans an advantage because their 

 study of English is becoming more and more general. How- 

 ever, not to enlarge unduly on this abstract side of this topic, I 

 may say that it is the publication in Germany of one or two 

 books on the rubber trade and which appear to be practically 

 unknown in Great Britain that has prompted me to the remarks 

 in this paragraph. The tendency of the German writer to 

 specialize and to go into minute detail is well enough known 

 and it is therefore not surprising that the world famed press of 

 Leipzig should have recently issued a volume entitled " Die 

 fabrikation der Kautschuk und Leimmasse-typen, Stempel und 

 Druckplatten ; sowie die Verarbeilung des Korkes und der Kork 

 abfalle " (" The manufacture of rubber and glue types, stamps 

 and printing presses, also the employment of cork and cork 

 dust.") This volume, though not on a very important branch 

 of the rubber manufacture, yet conveys a good deal of technical 

 information not otherwise obtainable. In the light of what 

 has been said above it is unlikely that the book will have much 

 of a sale in this country, though no doubt its contents would 

 be appreciated in certain quarters. So far the general treatises 

 which have been published on the manufacture have justified 

 their appearance more by the special features which they pre- 



RECENT 

 LITERATURE. 



sent than by the novelty of their contents as a whole. For in- 

 stance, in Franz Clouth's " Rubber, Guttapercha, und Balata " 

 the botanical information is really very complete, and as far as I 

 know the best of its kind in form of arrangement. No doubt 

 other special volumes will follow that mentioned, though such 

 books can hardly prove much of a gold mine to their authors. 

 A FIRM doing this business now announce in their circulars 

 the specific gravity of their product and further details concern- 

 ing the content of mineral matter. It strikes me 

 that this will involve a good deal of work if the raw 



RECOVERED 

 RUBBER. 



product is what is bought indiscriminately as " old 

 rubber." Where the acid process is used, as for instance in gar- 

 ment cutting, the amount of mineral in the resulting product 

 depends very largely upon its solubility in acid. Thus, while 

 zinc oxide, whiting and litharge are nearly all removed in the 

 acid, both French chalk, barytes, silica, etc., are unacted upon, 

 and go to swell the weight of the product. To produce a uni- 

 form article cannot be at all an easy thing, though all will be 

 agreed that the principle of informing the buyer of the details 

 of his purchase is a move in the right direction. 



That the advantage of Dermatine over ordinary vulcanized 

 rubber for special purposes is becoming more and more recog- 

 nized is clear from the increasing tendency among 



trade engineers to specify that this material must be em- 

 JOTTINGS. . '^ , 



ployed. Among the most recent examples of this 

 is the Edwards patent air pump for marine engines and the 

 Haste patent pump; in which cases the patentees' in their in- 

 structions to the makers specify the use of Dermatine. ==The 

 new works of Messrs. William Warne & Co., Limited, at Bark- 

 ing, near London, are now completed, and practically the whole 

 of the firm's extensive operations are being carried on there, 

 although the business is still being directed from the old works 

 at Tottenham. ==Some trouble seems to be in store for those 

 responsible for the reorganization of the Duniop tire company 

 opposition to the proposals put forward being somewhat strong 

 especially in the Dublin quarter.==The recent lamented death 

 of Mr. Mathew Gray, managing director of the India Rubber, 

 Gutta Percha, and Telegraph Works Co., Limited, (Silvertown) 

 removes from the rubber trade of Great Britain one of its most 

 prominent personages and his loss will be severely felt by the 

 firm with which he has for nearly forty years been connected. 

 =■=■1 understand that the labor troubles recently experienced 

 at the works of the Leyland and Birmingham Rubber Cos., 

 Limited, have now been settled. What has in some quarters 

 been styled the " aggressiveness " of the Rubber Workers' 

 Union does not appear to have been felt at all in the London 

 district, though a different tale has to be recorded of the neigh- 

 borhood which recognizes Manchester as its principal city.^= 

 The announcement of a loss of ;£28,ooo by the Eccles Rubber 

 Co. has caused something like consternation among the share- 

 holders, who had anticipated a much more favorable report as 

 the result of the recommencement of work, though it is quite 

 understandable that difficulty has been experienced in bringing 

 back to the fold those whose custom was lost at the suspension 

 of operations caused by the disastrous fire which occurred 

 rather more than a year ago. 



A Rubber LARVNX.-^The statement is sent from Paris that 

 Dr. Claude Martin, a famous surgeon of that city, has success- 

 fully performed a delicate operation that marks an important 

 step forward in surgical science. He has succeeded in equip- 

 ping a patient with an artificial rubber larynx with a perfect 

 glottis, the vibration of which makes the tone for speaking. 

 For eating, an automatic shutter is appended, which protects 

 the windpipe. 



