November t, 1910.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



51 



TIRE 

 NOTES. 



another fails to effect an entrance. I am not prepared to admit 

 that all the various fossil flours on the market are of identical 

 composition, or will all give the same result in compounding. 

 There are differences in gravity, in color and in te.xture, and 

 perhaps other little differences the importance of which is 

 known to the astute rubber manufacturer. It is not enough for 

 the latter to be told that other fossil flours are of the same char- 

 acter; he is not going to risk a change merely on the strength 

 of a general statement of this sort. I do not know what the busi- 

 ness done in the States in this particular chemical amounts to. 

 In England the amount used in the rubber factories is by no 

 means large, and there arc at least three firms supplying this 

 modest demand with fossil flour, sold under three quite different 

 names, which give no direct clue to the composition of the ma- 

 terial. For purposes other than rubber manufacturing the use of 

 fossil flour — otherwise finely divided silica — has largely increased 

 of late years. In addition to the older districts of Germany and 

 Nova Scotia it is now obtained from Sweden and Ireland. The 

 rigors of the climate are against the Swedish output, but great 

 progress has been made in the north of Ireland, where an impor- 

 tant deposit of high grade material is being worked by the Diato- 

 mite Co. Limited, of Manchester. 



The new scale of duties on pleasure cars which have just come 

 into force are calculated to discourage the purchase of 40 H. v. 



cars, and a slump in the manufacture of 



very powerful cars has already set in. 



Although the increased cost of tires 

 during this year may not have caused the giving up of motoring, 

 in many cases there is no doubt that it has led to a considerable 

 diminution in mileage. "We must save the tires," the motorists 

 have been saying, and many trips have been abandoned. A 

 friend of mine, who lives nine miles from his place of business, 

 says that he has used the train much more frequently this year 

 compared with recent years, in order to save his motor tires, 

 which cost fj66 [=; $292] for the 20 H. p. car. Of course, this 

 sort of econoftiy has not been universal, but from all accounts 

 it has been fairly general. Petrol is also up in price, now being 

 is. 3d [=30.4 cents] per gallon. 



Large additions are now being made to the works of the 

 Shrewsbury-Challiner Tyre Co., Limited, at Ardwick Green, 

 Manchester. These will have the effect of about doubling the 

 capacity of the works, and will include new and more extensive 

 offices. 



I MUCH regret to record the death of Mr. Thomas Rowley, of 

 Manchester, which occurred on August 11 at his residence at 



Cohvyn Bay, North Wales. Mr. Row- 

 OBITUAEY, ley had been in a poor state of health 



for some years, and the business of 

 Messrs. Thomas Rowley & Co. has been for some time managed 

 entirely by Mr. James Wallwork, who will continue to carry it 

 on. Like many other men who later became prominent in the 

 trade, Mr. Rowley was with Messrs. Charles Macintosh & Co., 

 Limited, in early life, gravitating thence to the works of Mr. 

 Clarke, at Newton Heath, Manchester, and later to Messrs. 

 Quinn & Co., of Leyland, the modest works which later on gave 

 rise to the present large establishment of the Leyland and Bir- 

 mingham Rubber Co., Limited. At a later date he carried 

 on business for himself as a proofer at the Victoria Works, 

 Newton Heath, now Messrs. Frankenstein & Sons. During the 

 last period of his life his attention had been mainly concentrated 

 on scrap rubber, reclaimed rubber and a number of chemicals for 

 use in the rubber industry. 



The decease on October i of Mr. Thomas Arthur Hanipsnn, 

 managing director of the Castle Rubber Co., Limited, at 

 Warrington will be much regretted by his numerous friends. 

 Not originally connected with the trade, Mr. Hampson came into 

 it by stress of circumstances, and soon made his mark, though 

 also retaining his directorships of a number of other industrial 

 concerns. 



INSULATED WIRES FOR MOTOR CARS. 



BY JONATHAN MILBORNE. 



KTOTWITHSTANDING the higher price often paid by motor- 

 ^ ^ ists for their insulated wire than is paid for similar ma- 

 terial for other purposes, the quality is, as a rule, far lower than 

 ought to be put in so important a part of the car's anatomy. 

 I have just paid the current price for some low tension wire, only 

 to find that the whole of the insulation could be easily chipped 

 off with the thumb nail. It is usual to find the lowest class of 

 rubber used for insulation, if rubber is used at all, although this 

 material should be almost of the very best. 



In one respect the quality of rubber used for tobacco pouches 

 would be ideal, and this is in point of elasticity, but unfortunately 

 this very highest grade suffers from the disadvantage that in 

 cold weather it hardens, and is liable to crack. A very slightly 

 lower quality is more suitable for all-round good results, and 

 certain grades of the red variety frequently used by analysts in 

 the form of tubing are perhaps the best of all; not forgetting, 

 however, that there is plenty of veritable red rubber rubbish. 



An excellent plan is to buy any ordinary low tension wire that 

 contains plenty of good wire at the core, then to protect it by 

 pushing it into some good rubber tubing, obtained from the firms 

 who deal in chemical laboratory apparatus. Of course the 

 diameter is chosen so as to be suitable for the low tension wire, 

 and if the fit is somewhat loose it does not matter. In this way 

 you can crowd the outer tubing on to the wire so that when the 

 terminal has been attached, the rubber tube will spring itself 

 well over the terminal joint and give a most effectual and neat 

 protection. 



The "insulation resistance" of the rubber tube referred to is 

 such that, although the completed cable may not be quite as thick 

 as ordinary high tenrion cable, it will answer the purpose just 

 as well and probably better. Such cable is particularly applicable 

 to the high tension wires or high tension distributer devices in 

 which the rigidity of the ordinary cable is a disadvantage and 

 often a nuisance. For as a low tension wire it is obviously 

 much better than the ordinary stock article in point of resistance 

 to wear, water, and escape of electrical current. 



For the very best quality of flexible cable, merely stranded 

 wires are now but seldom used, but the makers of motor acces- 

 sories do not yet seem to have thought it worth while to follow 

 suit. The method of construction is perhaps expensive, but it is 

 certainly efficient. Each wire is flattened out into ribbon and is 

 twisted round a cotton thread, a large number of such wires 

 being run together in each cable. The terminals, of course, 

 cannot very well be soldered, but are held witli a neat screw 

 fitting. 



Now just a few words on the subject of terminals. These are 

 generally flimsy affairs which might be of some use if the copper 

 were rather thicker. These neat little ring devices are handy, 

 but the wire sooner or later breaks off close to the ring. That 

 is the weak point with every terminal. There is only one way 

 of making a satisfactory finish of the joint between the wire and 

 the terminal, and that is to cover the whole joint and some of 

 the wire with insulating tape, and this must be very carefully 

 and neatly done; of course the ring type terminal cannot be 

 treated thus, — Motor Print. 



"Robert Dawson Evans, 1843-1909," is the lettering on the 

 outside of a sumptuous little volume, privately printed, as a 

 tribute to the man here named. There is a brief biographical 

 sketch, including a record of Mr. Evans's successes in the rubber 

 and other businesses, and an appreciation of his character which 

 his many surviving friends will ratify. The frontispiece is an 

 unusually good photograph. 



.\ BOOK for everybody interested in tires — "Rubber Tires and 

 All About Them" — this office. 



