THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



lOcTOBER I, IQIO. 



RUBBER FOUND IN MILKWEED. 



TO THE Editor of The India Rubbf.r World: At the risk 

 of being classed with the chasers of the "rabbit weed," 

 the writer would direct attention anew to the common milkweed 

 as a possible smircc of rubber. 



Ten years ago I gathered a sufficient quantity of the latex 

 to yield upon inspissation something over 2 grams of gum No 

 means of coagulation or curing were employed, the aqueous 

 content being simply driven off by gentle heat. The pressure of 

 other matters prevented an examination at that time and the 

 investigation was discontinued. 



An analysis recently made- of a portion of this ten-year-old 

 sample showed a quantity of vegetable matter, resins, chiefly 

 a white, crystalline resin resembling albanc, and 20 per cent. 

 of hydrocarbon. 



By the precipitation method I obtained 21 per cent, of hydro- 

 carbon in character not unlike a combination of rubber and 

 balata, with the qualities of rubber predominant. 



This extracted gum has a specific gravity slightly higher 

 than I. It yields to the usual solvents of rubber, resists the 

 same reagents, so far as tested, softens somewhat at a tem- 

 perature which softens gutta-percha, has elasticity not pos- 

 sessed by the latter, and, most important, is susceptible of cure. 

 A bit of the gum rolled into a slender thread and subjected to 

 the acid cure is extensible to five times its length, and upon re- 

 lease returns sharply. 



It is believed that the matter will repay attention. At least 

 it offers to the student an interesting subject both for study 

 and practice — opportunity to actually gather, coagulate and an- 

 alyze a rubber-bearing latex. Special methods of treatment may 

 be found to greatly improve results. 



The plant flourishes throughout a great part of the United 

 States, and at this season is already flaunting its fat, rubbery- 

 looking leaves, waiting to be milked. 



The proportion of hydrocarbon may be found to be larger 

 than here reported, since oxidation to a considerable extent is 

 not improbable in the sample tested, due to its age. Should 

 results seem to warrant, the cultivation of the plant could offer 

 no great difficulties. 



There is an interesting possibility of profitable by products. 

 The strong fiber of the stalk is capable of many uses, and the 

 cotton of the seed pod might prove a substitute for ordinary cot- 

 ton for some purposes. 



The character of the plant is such as to make the extraction 

 of the latex easy as compared, for instance, with guayule. 

 "Burbanking" might develop an improved variety which would 

 repay planting if the present did not. 



Should The India Rubber World see in this matter suffi- 

 cient of promise to warrant its lending encouragement it would 

 be interesting to have investigators report results in its columns 

 as the season progresses. 



The writer is forwarding the remaining gram of the old sam- 

 ple of gum to Dr. Charles Knight, chairman of the committee of 

 the American Chemical Society on standardizing rubber analysis, 

 and head of the new school of rubber chemistry connected with 

 Buchtel College, Akron. a. t. saunders. 



Cllicopte. MassacluiSfK?. .Scpttmhcr 7, itjio. 



RUBBER INDUSTRY IN JAPAN. 



'T'HE number of rubber factories in Japan continues steadily to 

 increase. It is true that many of these are yet small, but 

 the same was true of the rubber factories of America and Eu- 

 rope at the beginning. A number of the Japanese concerns are de- 

 voted alone to the insulated wire industry, and few of them as yet 

 make a diversified line of goods. The India Rubber World 

 February i, 190S (page 14;) contained what was at that time 

 the most complete list of Japanese rubber factories that had yet 



been compiled, embracing l" names. There is now in hand a 

 list of what are classified by a competent Japanese authority as 

 "rubber factories," embracing twenty-eight addresses, their out- 

 put including practically every form of rubber goods. The lo- 

 cation of these concerns is as follows ; 8 in Tokio, 7 in Osaka, 6 

 in Tokiofu, 3 in Kobe, 2 in Osakafuka, I in Kyoto, and i in 

 Yokohoma. 



* * * 



With two exceptions the names of the Japanese rubber com- 

 panies are expressed in the vernacular, which sounds strangely 

 to the English ear. The two companies referred to are branches 

 of British corporations, being respectively the Dunlop Rubber 

 Co. (Far East), Limited, at Kobe, and the Ingram Rubber 

 Manufacturing Co., of Japan. Limited, also at Kobe. The 

 growth in consumption of rubber in Japan is indicated by these 

 statistics of imports from a consular report : 



In 1906 l)ouiids 606.728 In 1908 pounds 1.039,430 



In 1907 693,125 In 1909 1.331,826 



"PALO AMARILLO" RUBBER BOTTLED UP. 



■"PHE Mexican "Palo amarillo" (yellow tree) is still being 

 •*■ "boomed" as a rubber producer, and more extravagantly 

 than ever. The $20,000,000 Consolidated Palo Amarillo Rubber 

 Co. has been mentioned already. [See The India Rubber 

 World March i, 1909 — page 214]. Now are to be taken into 

 account these additional companies, organized to "handle such 

 subsidiary enterprises which could not be advantageously con- 

 ducted by the Consolidated Palo Amarillo Rubber Co.:" 

 Palo Amarillo Mexican Crude Rubber Co., S. A. Incorpoiaterl in the 

 Cily of Mexico, April 12. 1910, with a capital of $10,000. ■ - ■ Gen- 

 eral Manager: Mr. Guillermo H. Ellis, banker, broker, and capitalist; 

 head of the banking firm of W. H. Ellis & Co.. 2q Wall street. New 

 York City. 

 Mexican Consolidated Palo .Amarillo Rubber Co., S. A. Capital. $2oy,ooo. 

 President: Mr. Guillermo H. Ellis. 

 In a lengthy report on "Palo amarillo" a Mexican newspaper 

 states that "The general office of the Consolidated Palo Amarillo 

 Rubber Co. is at No. 3 Broad street, New York." The name 

 "Guillermo" evidently has been adopted by Mr. Ellis since his 

 becoming interested in Mexico. In the New York Telephone 

 Directory is the entry — 



Ellis, W. H 3 Broad, 6826 Hanover 



No occupation is given, though this is done in the case of most 

 telephone patrons. The New York City Directory records — 



Ellis, Wm. H., broker 29 Wall R lOS 



The last figure indicates that the business of this capitalist is 

 domiciled in room 103. Furthermore, the two addresses are 

 only around the corner from each other, the intermediate 

 corner entrance being utilized by the greatest banking firm in 

 the city. The title Duke of Hawash, conferred upon the .Ameri- 

 can capitalist by the Emperor Menelik <loes not appear to be 

 used anywhere in booming "Palo amarillo." 



A fact not generally known is that "the company owns the 

 only process for the extraction of the rubber from the Palo 

 amarillo tree, having secured that patented by James McConnell 

 Saunders, an English expert, at present employed as chemical 

 expert by the Mexican Government." It would appear, therefore, 

 that Mr. Guillermo H. Ellis has the supply of this kind of rubber 

 effectively bottled up, and that the impatient world will have to 

 wait for it tnitil he gives the word. 



Late racing news from Hnghuul indicates that people who 

 have to do, in an important way, with rubber planting have both 

 the time and the money to figure prominently on the turf. The 

 purchase is reported, by Mr. William Wellington Bailey, director 

 of rubber companies in Ceylon and the Malay peninsula, of a 

 horse named "Bachelor's Double," a recent winner of important 

 racing events, at the reported price of 7,000 guineas [=$35,768.80]. 



