324 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



tJuNE 1, 1911. 



or "trade name" under a short term guarantee is chiefly re- 

 sponsible for the present unsatisfactory condition of fire depart- 

 ment hose. Under the guarantee system tlie hose dealer need only 

 figure on a quality of hose just about good enough to last 

 during the term of the guarantee and a few replacements during 

 the term can probably be made at less cost than to furnish hose 

 which would not have to be replaced. The guarantee serves to 

 conceal the real merit of the product. Behind it the quality of 

 the materials and workmanship may be manipulated with but 

 little regard for the purchaser. It usually covers only defects 

 of manufacture, and the more important matter of the safety of 

 those who must use the hose or any damage to property, result- 

 ing from its failure, is, of course, not contemplated. 



The solution of the difficulty lies in the abolishment of the 

 guarantee system and the purchase of hose under a method by 

 which the buyer can be fully informed as to the quality of the 

 goods necessary for his purpose and as to all essential details 

 of the tests and examinations which will enable him to see that 

 he obtains this quality. This can best be accomplished by the 

 use and enforcement of proper specifications. 



It has been argued that specifications drawn by those not en- 

 gaged in the manufacture of hose are theoretical, impracticable 

 and wholly unsuitable and that the long experience of the manu- 

 facturer has placed them in possession of information relative 

 to the materials entering into use and essential details of manu- 

 facture, which enables them to produce superior hose in a 

 manner known only to themselves. 



Up to a certain point these contentions are undoubtedly true, 

 particularly those relating to the details of manufacture, but 

 when the statement is made, at least inferentially, that this 

 very expert knowledge of the details cannot be utilized when 

 materials of the best quality are specified, such claims should 

 be discounted as possibly prompted by too selfish a motive. 



The performance of fire hose in actual service has been ob- 

 served for many years and it has not been difficult to attribute 

 the results to the causes which produce them. Experienced 

 analysts have pulled apart in the most searching way that which 

 the manufacturers have built and have become sufficiently expert 

 to place the causes for results, both good and bad, in their re- 

 spective positions and to assign to them their proper values. 

 This also without intimate knowledge of the details of manu- 

 facture, but perhaps with a more thorough comprehension of 

 the reasons for the results observed. 



The following specifications for the construction of fire hose 

 are presented for adoption with the utmost confidence that 

 their strict enforcement will result in the production of a thor- 

 oughly reliable and efficient fire hose. They differ from the 

 specifications heretofore adopted at the suggestion of the manu- 

 facturers and designated by them as minimum requirements, 

 mainly in the items covering the quality of the rubber and the 

 staple of the cotton to be employed in the fabric. 



Aside from closer lines covering the quality of materials, the 

 specifications are sufficiently broad to permit the maker to 

 employ the expert knowledge as to the details of manufacture 

 which he may have gained by experience. They do not require 

 the best fire hose which can be made, but do constitute a reason- 

 able necessary criterion of quality suitable for enforcement by 

 American fire departments under present day conditions. 



The use of specifications carries with it the obligation to see 

 that they are enforced. To effectually accomplish this necessi- 

 tates that the purchaser have those in his employ who are com- 

 petent to pass on the subject or that he employ experts or that 

 part of the work be done by those in his employ and part by out- 

 side experts. 



[ Specifications for cotton rubber lined fire hose, for rubber fire hose, 

 and for mill hose, were here taken up and passed with only minor amend- 

 ments. They are practically the same as those with which the trade are 

 familiar and which have been already discussed in The India Rubber 

 World.] 



It is probably safe to say that no city or municipality is today 

 properly equipped to render competent judgment on the quality 

 of rubber furnished in fire hose, nor can it be expected that 

 the vast majority of those purchasing fire hose ever will be, 

 for considerable experience and a special knowledge of the chemi- 

 cal and physical properties of rubber is essential. 



The problem is not radically different from those with which 

 the buyer is confronted in the purchase of many other materials 

 ■furnished under specifications. He is able to avail hiinself of 

 the product of such manufacturers as are in a position to fur- 

 nish reliable evidence that their goods are in full compliance 

 with the specifications, or, he can examine and test the materials 

 before acceptance, calling in experts to pass on any particular 

 features which he is not qualified to judge. 



All of the essential items covering materials and workman- 

 ship are included in the specifications, as are also the minimum 

 test requirements. With the exception of the items covering the 



rubber, comparatively little experience and but little test appar- 

 atus is required to obtain the necessary information as to com- 

 pliance of fire hose with the specifications. 



In the matter of the rubber compound the most economical, 

 satisfactory and comprehensive method of securing the neces- 

 sary data on quality and compliance with the specifications, is 

 undoubtedly through the employment of an agent of the buyer 

 stationed at the factory and supplied with the necessary facilities 

 for observing and checking the ingredients and manufacturing 

 process. Chemical and physical analysis of the completed ma- 

 terial are valuable as counter checks on such service, but are 

 not its equivalent as a practical and wholly reliable inspection 

 method. 



Fire hose is certainly of sufficient importance in the general 

 economy of things to warrant an equal position with, if not pre- 

 cedence over other industries in securing the proper quality of 

 the materials entering into its manufacture. 



The steady increase in the concentration of values in con- 

 gested districts and the large number of recent fires of uncom- 

 mon magnitude serve to keep constantly before us the Vital im- 

 portance of the strictest attention to the reliability of all neces- 

 sary safeguards. The question of the reliability of fire 

 hose has assumed an importance far beyond that of any 

 special interest or industry, no matter how large it may be. In 

 fact, from the view point of its possible influence for good or 

 bad in the safeguarding of our cities, this question is of national 

 importance, for the destruction by fire of any one of a number 

 of our larger cities would unquestionably prove a national 

 calamity. 



INDIGENOUS RUBBER AT THE RUBBER 

 EXHIBITION. 



AT a well-attended meeting of gentlemen interested in in- 

 '^ digenous rubber, held in London recently, the desirability 

 of taking some action to secure the proper representation of 

 indigenous, as compared with plantation rubber, at the approach- 

 ing rubber exhibition, was discussed at length. It was pointed 

 out that of the world's entire production of rubber, estimated as 

 approximating 80,000 tons, only about 8,000 tons, or 10 per cent., 

 was plantation rubber. The indigenous rubber movement had 

 been started, said the speaker, the Earl of Errol, k. t., c. b., to 

 make known the special merits of native rubber, and those 

 interested in Brazilian, Bolivian and African rubber should make 

 an effort to make a big exhibit at the forthcoming International 

 Rubber Exhibition. The Brazilian Government, he announced, 

 had already made a substantial contribution to the undertaking, 

 and if those interested in the Hevea Braziliensis, of Brazil, 

 Peru and Bolivia would join those interested in the Castilloa of 

 Mexico, America would be well represented. Those interested 

 in the Funtumia and Landolphia rubbers of Africa, should also 

 join, which would make the representation of native rubber 

 complete. 



A resolution "that an executive committee be formed, com- 

 posed of gentlemen interested in indigenous rubber, to take 

 steps to establish a collectors' exhibit of native rubbers at 

 the International Rubber Exhibition to be opened in the Agri- 

 cultural Hall on June 24, 1911," having been unanimously 

 adopted, the following committee was appointed with power to 

 add to their number, to carry out the scheme regarding the 

 exhibition of native rubber : 



Sir F. Newnes, m. p., Sir Thomas Holdich, Messrs. A. Rad- 

 cliffe, A. Bethune, R. A. Gray, J. A. Douglas, J. T. Dunleany, 

 J. M. Boustead, H. Hamel Smith, J. Darnley Taylor, Fawcett, 

 Edwards and H. H. Vasconcellos. 



Several cases having come before the board of United States 

 general appraisers at New York, involving the rate of duty 

 on imported waterproof coats, an opinion has been given that 

 such goods are dutiable as manufactures of rubber under para- 

 graph 463, Tariff act of 1909, which imposes a rate of 35 per 

 cent, ad valorem. 



