148 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[February i, 1902. 



A MONSTER BELT PRESS IN A RUBBER FACTORY. 



A BELT press unique in many particulars, and without 

 doubt the largest ever built, is shown in the illustration 

 on this page. It is what is known as a five platen press, which 

 means that four planes of belts may be stretched and vulcan- 

 ized at the same time, and all under the control of one man. 

 The bare citation of the dimensions ot this giant among presses 

 gives but a faint idea of its size or its productiveness. It is, 

 however, interesting to note that its weight is 130 tons, or three 



times that of an ordinary passenger locomotive. Its length is 

 30 feet, and its width 50 inches, which gives a total pressure 

 area of 500 square feet, The hydraulic pressure of each ram 

 is 3000 pounds. The capacity of the press is 8 tons of rubber 

 belting in ten hours, or twelve miles of 2 inch belting a day, 

 This press was built for the Boston Woven Hose and Rubber 

 Co., and is now running in their factory at Cambridgeport, 

 Massachusetts. 



AMERICAN RUBBER SHOES IN ENGLAND. 



A DISCUSSION, in the columns of the London Daily 

 Chronicle, on the relative merits of American and Eng- 

 lish leather footwear, has drawn from Henry Bolton, a London 

 dealer in American boots and shoes, the following expressions '■ 



"The importation of American rubber overshoes far exceeds 

 the importation ol boots and shoes, and it is obvious that these 

 rubbers are not intended for American boots only. There are 

 scores of boot dealers in this country who claim to be too pa- 

 triotic to buy American boots and shoes, but they all carry a 

 large stock of rubber overshoes, which is, of course, a conclusive 

 proof that English boots and shoes are not perfect in the respect 

 of being absolutely waterproof." 



The India- Rubber Journal (London), in a review of the rub- 

 ber trade for 1901, remarks ; " Encouraging also, 10 those con- 



cerned, is the gradual wearing away of British antipathy to go- 

 loshes and rubber shoes. This is owing, no doubt, to the 

 improved elegant close fitting shapes, which are now the rule 

 instead of the exception. The adoption of American patterns 

 in boots has helped this section of the trade." 



The United States consul at Harput, Asiatic Turkey, Mr. Nor- 

 ton, reports: " The value of the American shoe is thoroughly 

 appreciated here, as hundreds of emigrants from the district are 

 employed in the shoe factories of eastern Massachusetts. At 

 the suggestion of this consulate, a returned ex-operative is ar- 

 ranging to establish here an agency for American footwear 

 There would probably be a good demand for rubber shoes, 

 likewise, as the Russian and German wears which reach this 

 market are of a decidedly inferior grade." 



Some American export figures on another page make inter- 

 esting reading in connection with the above notes- 



