82 



THE I^DIA RUBBER WORLD 



[December 1, 1910. 



OBITUARY 

 NOTES. 



same result was obtained whether paraffine wax was present 

 or not. It is a truism that rubber analytical nicthotis which 

 have been generally accepted are continually being proved in- 

 accurate by the light of subsequent research, but the paper under 

 notice is exceptionally iconoclastic. The bitumen used is de- 

 scribed as refined bitumen, but it must not be overlooked that 

 there arc various bodies generally referred to as bituminous 

 which are now used to a greater or less extent in the rubber in- 

 dustry, and these bodies do not by any means behave uniformly 

 towards the various solvents. There arc, for instance, coal tar, 

 coal tar pitch, stearine pitch, mineral rubber, gilsonite, and one 

 or two other American products of the nature of elaterite. Then 

 there is the regular asphaltum, or Trinidad pitch. There are 

 differences in the behavior of these bodies towards acetone, and 

 as this extraction always precedes that of pyridine, it is easy to 

 see that discrepancies may arise. 



The main point, however, is as to the solvent action of hot 

 p)Tidine on vulcanized rubber, and the authors show that this 

 is great enough to make the estimation of bitumen in this way 

 worthless. With regard to this, it may be noted that they used 

 .a high class mixing, containing 62 per cent. Para rubber and S 

 per cent, bitumen. I am of opinion that much more accurate re- 

 -sults would be obtained in the case of the lower grade mixings, 

 into which bitumenous bodies usually enter. Very accurate re- 

 sults cannot really be expected in any rubber analysis, but where 

 there is over 10 per cent, of a foreign body present it can in 

 most cases be estimated to a fair degree of accuracy. 



Mr. J. H. .Anderson, the governing director of the important 

 waterproofing firm of Anderson, Anderson & Anderson, died on 

 October 2, at the age of 70 years, after 

 having been connected with this branch 

 of the trade nc.nrly all his life. This 

 firm, whose business consisted principally in making up garments 

 from proofed cloth, was located in the Hackney Wick district of 

 London, with large premises in the City for the wholesale and 

 export trade. Although at one time Mr. Anderson was con- 

 nected with the proofing firm of Anderson, Abbott & Anderson, 

 whose rubber factory is in Dod street, Limehouse, the two con- 

 cerns have been for many years quite distinct. Mr. .Anderson 

 was a genial man, with many public interests, and on more than 

 one occasion stood for Parliamentary honors, though without 

 success. In the army and navy the name Anderson is almost 

 synonymous with that of waterproof, owing to the close business 

 connection that the firm has long engaged with these govern- 

 ment departments. Although the firm has been "limited" since 

 1893, it is what is known as a private limited company, confined 

 to members of the family or close connections. 



Mr. Ralph Slazenger, one of the sheriffs of the City of London, 

 died at the end of October. He was early connected with the 

 rubber trade, having, about 3S years ago, founded the firm of 

 Slazenger & Sons in Manchester. In 1878 the business was trans- 

 ferred to Jjjndon, where the manufacture of requisites for lawn 

 tennis and other games was taken up. Of late years this has 

 been the main business of the firm, the covering and marketing 

 of lawn tennis balls being a prominent branch, more especially 

 since Mr. Doherly, the ex-lawn tennis champion became asso- 

 ciated with the firm. All the important business in lawn tennis 

 balls in Great Britain, for many years past, may be said to have 

 been practically in the hands of two firms — Ayres and Slazengers. 

 Mr. Slazenger was a man of many and diverse activities. At 

 one time he held a commission in the Volunteer forces, and was 

 also associated actively with political and phil.-mthropic institu- 

 tions. In 1889 he married the widow of the I Ion. Robert Stokes, 

 of New Zealand, while his early connection with the Manchester 

 rubber trade was kept up by the marriage of his sister to Mr. 

 Frankenburg, of the well known Salford firm. 



Mrs. Sarah Hancock, who died recently leaving many charitable 

 Ibequests out of her fortune of £280,379, was a daughter-in-law of 



PERSONAL 

 MENTION. 



Thomas Hancock, the widely known pioneer of the rubber trade 

 in England. The business founded by Thomas Hancock in Gos- 

 well road, London, in 1820, was afterwards carried on by his 

 son, Mr. J. Lyne Hancock, and is now, under the style of J. Lyne 

 Hancock, carried on by -Mr. Hancock Nunn. It is hardly neces- 

 sary to say that the last 90 years have witnessed many alterations 

 and enlargements of this pioneer rubber factory. 



Dr. C. W. Thiel, who has had more than one reference in 

 these notes in recent years, has given up the directorship of the 

 important concern he joined not long 

 ago at Berlin and returned to Messrs. 

 Reddaway, Limited, at Pendleton, Man- 

 chester, to take up the position of works manager. It must be 

 six or seven years since Dr. Thiel left Reddaways, where he was 

 chemist, to go to the Calmon works, at Hamburg, and later to 

 the Harburg- Vienna works at Harburg. Whether on account of 

 the above appointment or not I do not know, but Mr. J. T. 

 Wicks, who lately has been works manager at Reddaways has 

 vacated that position. It has already been mentioned that Mr. 

 J. W. O. Walker, who for many years was the general and works 

 manager at Reddaways, resigned that position to take up a sim- 

 ilar one at the new works of the Wood-Milne Co., at Leyland. 



CRUDE RUBBER INTERESTS. 



NEW METHOD OF PACKINO BTTBBER. 

 I T is reported from Manaos that Messrs. Pontes de Carvaltio 

 ^ and Samuel Levy have devised an interesting new method of 

 packing rubber as a substitute for wooden cases and barrels. 

 The receptacle is composed of iron rings, and is similar in ap- 

 pearance to the chain purses carried by ladies. It is locked at 

 the opening by a key, the duplicate of which, may be kept by the 

 consignee and complete security is thus obtained. It weighs less 

 than the cases or barrels at present in use, and takes up little 

 space when empty. The inventors have christened this con- 

 trivance the "Chrysophore." 



RESULTS OF MABIRA FOREST. 



The Mabira Forest (Uganda) Rubber Co., Ltd., report that 

 the output for the month of August was lo.ooo pounds. Tapping 

 was interfered with by heavy rains. The yield in August, igog, 

 was 15,125 pounds, and in August, 1908, 3,170 pounds. 



RUBBER WORKERS' "MASCOTS." 



Writing on rubber gathering in Matto Grosso, Mr. J. C. 

 Oakenfull in a recent book ("Brazil in 1910") says of the rubber 

 workers : "Each man bears with him a small figure of his pat- 

 ron saint for luck, and woe betide the fetish if Dame Fortune 

 does not smile on the bearer. The poor saint is either burnt, 

 hung, or chopped up, and another protector chosen. A strange 

 superstition exists that a stolen mascot brings great luck to the 

 stealer, and misfortune to the former owner." 



RUBBER EXPORTS FROM PARAGUAY. 



Thi. United States Consul at Assuncion, Mr. Cornelius Ferris, 

 Jr., makes a further report in rubber in Paraguay. [See The 

 India Rubber World, January i, 1908.] The company La In- 

 dustrial Paraguay, of Asuncion, owning extensive lands in the 

 north of the republic, exploited for lumber and "yerba mate" 

 (Paraguay lea), have discovered many wild rubber trees on their 

 property, from which last year they exported 1,000 kilograms 

 of rubber to Hamburg, via Buenos Aires, realizing 71/2 marks 

 per kilogram [= about 69 cents per pound]. The tree is known 

 locally as "manga-ice" or mangaicy," and by other 

 names, and elsewhere as "mangava" and "mangabeira," 

 and is reported to be the species known botanically as Hancornia 

 spesiosa. This tree is referred to as yielding an important 

 amount of the rubber exported from Matto Grosso in Brazil. 

 The Paragua Company are planting the "manga-ice." [Daily 

 Consular and Trade Reports. September 7, 1910]. 



