320 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[jiNF. 1, i9ir. 



not yet ready for practical use. Most single wire has next to 

 receive a finish in the form of a cotton, hemp or silk braid rend- 

 ered waterproof or fireproof. Cables also receive one, frequently 

 two braids, cotton, hemp and asbestos being used. Braiding 

 machines, therefore, properly constitute an important item in a 

 fully equipped insulated wire factory. They each hold from 16 

 to 48 spools (so varied are the sizes of insulation to be covered), 

 and are easy to operate, girls being largely employed at this 

 work. The insulated wire is delivered to the braiders on reels 

 holding 1,000 feet or more, to meet requirements or convenience. 

 As fast as covered with braid it is wound automatically upon 

 other reels. A common speed of production is two feet or more 

 per minute. Fireproofing is applied to some braids as fast as 

 produced, and for wire that must be covered with a second 

 braid, as for "duplex," is saves time and rehandling to saturate 

 the first braid as it leaves the machine. Another important 

 province of the braiding machine is to weave or braid into the 

 cover the colored thread or threads that constitute the mark 

 (registered in the trade) of the manufacturer. Thus the maker 

 of insulated wire, if unknown by his fruits, can be identified by 

 his thread. 



But braid, while adding a most attractive item to the appear- 

 ance of insulated wire, is, for many situations of little value 

 until saturated with material that renders it waterproof. This, 

 of course, spoils its beauty, but adds to its utility. Saturating 

 was is applied hot, the wire being drawn through tanks con- 

 taining it. After this, another and final coat is applied in the 

 same manner, with the difference that the wire comes from the 

 process with a brilliant polish. 



Stranded conductors and cables, when of large size, call for a 

 protective finish in form of galvanized iron or steel wire. It is 

 properly called an armor, as its purpose is to prevent external 

 injury. Cables are frequently of very interesting construction. 

 They are made up of small wires twisted together, say, 19, 37, 61, 

 and so on, in accordance with the kind of cable they are to 

 form. These may be simply tinned copper wires, covered in the 

 cabled form, with an insulation of rubber or other material, or 

 each individual wire may first be covered with insulation, and 

 then twisted into a cable. \ cable thus made may form but a 

 part of a larger one. For example, three of them twisted to- 

 gether would form a "three-conductor-cable." They are ponder- 

 ous, and unwieldy, and require the heaviest machinery to handle 

 properlj'. Twisted thus together, the space between conductors 

 is filled with jute laid in from bobbins as the cabling process 

 proceeds. Over this is wound perhaps a tape saturated with 

 rubber compound— or two servings of jute laid on in reverse 

 layers and imemdiatcly pased through a hot asphalt composition. 

 This in turn would be covered by an armor of steel wires. 



For many types of cable, instead of an armor of wire, an 

 armor of lead is used. The lead for this purpose is melted 

 in a smelter which forms part of a lead press. This press is 

 fitted with a die block to preserve the outside diameter of the 

 lead sheath to be applied to a cable. The cable is passed through 

 the die, where it comes in contact with the melted lead (which 

 is applied in much the same manner as rubber insulation), and 

 both are spewed forth by use of enormous hydraulic pressure. 

 This lead cover is seamless, flexible and impervious to moisture 

 Rubber insulated wire thus manufactured into cables lasts for 



THE EDITOR'S BOOK TABLE. 



years. 



(To be cotUinued.) 



Robert B. Baird, vice president of the Rubber Trading Co. 

 and commissioner of The Rubber Club of .America to the Second 

 International Rubber and Allied Trades Exhibition, to be held 

 at the Royal Agricultural Hall, London, accompanied by Mrs. 

 Baird and their son Robert Lisle Baird, will sail on the Campania. 

 June 7, 1911, for Paris by way of London, but will return thither 

 in time for the exhibition. Robert L. Baird will cover the 

 Continental markets while abroad. 



THE PRI.NXIPI.KS OF SCIENTIFIC M.\N.\GEMENT. By Frederick 

 Winslow Taylor, M.E., Sc.D. New York: ILirper S: Brothers. Cloth, 

 Svo., 144 pp. Price, $1.50 net. 



JL'ST at the present time the big and, indeed, the little rubber 

 manufacturers all over the world are tremendously interested 

 in scientific factory management — that is "efficienc}'." The factory 

 manager is a busy man, and if he gets up against a huge book 

 full of abstruse formulae and long sentences, he scents theory 

 rather than practical knowledge and shies. Mr. Taylor has 

 written no such book. It is throughout exceedingly practical and, 

 what is equally vital, is written in everyday concise English. 

 Very rarely have we read anything on any industrial subject in 

 which the author so thoroughly knows how to convey his mean- 

 ing in short, convincing, readable sentences. He begins with the 

 fundamentals of scientific management, and his first chapter is 

 a most readable essay. He then goes on to the proofs of scien- 

 tific management starting with the best type of ordinary manage- 

 ment. From that, sometimes in quoted conversations with work- 

 men, sometimes by illustration, he makes it so plain as to what 

 can be done tli:it tlu- most skeptical reader will be charmed, and 

 stirred. 



The hook, of course, is not written for rubl)er manufacturers 

 particularly, but it is well worth their reading. 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE SEVENTH INTERN.\TION.^L CONGRESS 

 OF APPLIED CHEMISTRY, London: edited by Sir William Ramsay, 

 K. C. B., F, R. S., acting president of the congress. Published by 

 Partridge & Cooper, Ltd.. London. E. C. Eneland. 



This consists of 18 volumes, one of which is devoted to the 

 organization of the congress and the general meetings, together 

 with a list of members from all parts of the world. The re- 

 maining 17 volumes contain more than 800 papers presented at 

 the congress covering almost every chemical subject of present 

 day interest. These essays, in English, German. French, and 

 Italian, by men of every nationality, form a chemical symposium 

 of wonderful value. Those that will perhaps most interest the 

 rubber trade are in the volume entitled, "Legislation Aflfecting 

 Chemical Industry," "Compulsory Working," by Prof. Albert 

 Osterrieth, "The Influence of Patent Law on Chemical Industry," 

 by E. F. Ehrhardt. In the volume on "Electro-Chemistry," 

 "Electrical Testing Laboratories," by C. H. Sharp. "Inorganic 

 Chemistry," "Colloid Chemistry and Some of its Practical Ap- 

 pliances," by Jerome Alexander, and "The Contribution of Chem- 

 istry to the .\rt of Road Building," by .Allerton S. Cushman. 

 Under ".Analytical Chemistry," "An Improved .Apparatus for the 

 Rapid Estimation of Specific Gravity," by G. D. MacDougal, "Re- 

 port of Work in Analytical Chemistry in .American Universities 

 and Colleges During 1906-08," by Prof. Philip Browning. Under 

 "Organic Chemistry," "A Technical Process for Improvement 

 of Low and Medium Grade Raw Rubbers," by Meyer Wilderman, 

 Ph. D., B. Sc, "India-Rubber in North .America — a Synopsis," 

 by Henry C. Pearson. 



OTHER BOOKS RECEIVED. 



THE RUBBER CLUB OF AMERICA publish in convenient pocket 

 size, the Constitution and By-Laws of the Club, together with a 

 list of officers, st.lnding committees and members to .\pril, 1911. It is 

 a neat, paper-covered booklet, ZYi .\ 6 inches, with 31 pages. 



THE BOOK OF BIBENDUM (VOLS. I AND II). IN WHICH, TO THE 

 accompaniment of grotesque illustrations, valuable information on the 

 care of tires in general and Michelin tires in particular, is given. Pub- 

 lished by the Michelin Tire Co., Milltown. N. J. Paper, il pages, 

 6x9 inches. Copies furnished on request to interested applicants. 



U. S. FOR US. A READABLE LITTLE BOOKLET, DESCRIBED BV 

 its publishers as "A Monthly Magazinette, issued by the .Advertising 

 Department of the United States Tire Company, for exclusive circula- 

 tion among members of the family"; it fully bears out its title. Paper, 

 7 .\ 4 inches, 24 pages. 



