366 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[July 1, 1911. 



drawn into a slab which should be as nearly as possible, ex- 

 actly 5 millimeters thick. In every instance vulcanization 

 should be uniformly accomplished in the press or in the vul- 

 canizing heater so as to obtain results that will be similar to 

 each other. The vulcanization should always be uniformly car- 

 ried out to ensure either 1 hour at 4 atmospheres or 1 hour at 

 3 atmospheres. 



IX. Testi.vg the Vulcanized Sheet. 



a. By determining the total sulphur and the sulphur soluble 

 in acetone, the total volume of sulphur tixed, is determined; 

 the difference is taken as the amount of sulphur fixed by the 

 rubber. 



b. Mechanically. For ascertaining the comparative solidity, 

 the German members of the committee recommend the use of 

 the Schoppcr-Dalen apparatus. The remaining members of the 

 International Commission, in other words, the remaining col- 

 laborating colleagues, are at liberty to use other solidity and 

 elasticity testers. It is, however, desirable that the tests be 

 conducted with stamped or cut out rings, having a cross- 

 section of 5 X 4 millimeters. For the comparative mechanical 

 tests, the projection in curve tables, with millimeter subdivisions, 

 carried out as follows, is recommended. In the abscissa, the 

 percentage of stretching should be given, in such manner that 

 each millimeter expresses S per cent, of the stretching. The 

 load required to effect the stretching should be shown in the 

 ordinate, in such manner, that each 5 millimeters of the di- 

 vision represents 1 kilo of loading. Where the Schopper-Dalen 

 apparatus is used, reference is made to the particulars given 

 as to this method by Frank, Gummi-Zeitung, XXII, 1908, page 6, 

 Schidrowitz in the India Rubber Journal of March to May, 

 1909. and by Memmler and Schob, Mitteilungen aus dem 

 Konigl. Materialprufungsamt, Gross Lichterfelde, 1909, XXVII, 

 pages 173 and following. Compare also Hinrichsen-Memmler 

 "Der Kautschuk und senic Priifungen, Teil III, mechanische 

 Priifungen. 



THE ADULTERATION OF RUBBER IN THE BELGIAN 

 CONGO. 



THE following is the text of the decree published in relation 

 to the adulteration of rubber in the Belgian Congo in the 

 Bulletin OMcict Beige. 



First. The placing on sale, the sale and the exportation of 

 adulterated rubber and payments by the assignment of adulter- 

 ated rubber, arc prohibited throughout the territory of th' 

 Belgian Congo. 



Second. Rubber is qualified as adulterated which, containing 

 foreign substances, presents the appearance of a product superior 

 in value to its actual value. 



If it has been coagulated in the form of a pelle or mass, it 

 ceases to be qualified as adulterated after it has been cut through 

 the center, into two parts, approximately equal. This act relat- 

 ing to cutting in half is not retroactive. 



Third. Whoever shall expose for sale, sell, ofifer in payment 

 or export adulterated rubber, shall be punished by at most three 

 months' penal servitude and by fine, not exceeding 500 francs 

 ($95), or by either of these penalties. Tlie offending substance 

 shall be seized or confiscated. 



The accused shall be presumed, until proof to the contrary is 

 furnished, of having acted with fraudulent intent. 



Fourth. Infractions of the provisions of this law are to be 

 investigated and confirmed and the seizures made to be carried 

 out by judicial police officers, invested with special authority and 

 by special judicial police officers. 



Acting in the latter capacity are customs agents, supervisors of 

 imports and officials and agents designated for this purpose by the 



general government, or, in the case of territories constituting a 

 vice-governorship general, by the vice-governor general. 



Fifth. The localities where rubber is customarily the object 

 of trade, are subject, during all the time for which they are 

 open to the public, to visits from the officers of the judicial 

 police. 



Places of the same character, that are not open to the public, 

 are likewise subject to these visits, but only after sunrise and 

 before sunset. 



Sixth. The officers of the judicial police have the right to 

 cut and dissect rubber to determine its composition. 



Seventh. Penalties provided for opposition to the exercise 

 by the judicial police of the rights set forth in articles four, five 

 and six. 



Eighth. Rubber converted by manufacturing into articles of 

 use and consumption, is not subject to the provisions of this law. 



PRETTY GOOD FOR A NON-TECHNICAL OB- 

 SERVER. 



■ I 'HE most interesting sight in Marathon, Texas, writes Dr. 

 Charles G. Percival, who is in charge of the Abbot-Detroit 

 car in its 100,000 mile run. was the guayule rubber factory at that 

 place. It is the only factory of its kind in the United States. 

 For more than two years it has been producing rubber and now 

 that the revolution in Mexico has curtailed the supply from 

 that country, it is being worked night and day. There are 

 over six million acres of guayule growing wild in the State of 

 Texas, but a little while ago a shrewd speculator offered the 

 state $63,000 for all the shrub upon the lands of the state, which 

 offer was quickly accepted by the Land Commissioner. In view 

 of the fact that the shrub has a marketable value of $100 a ton 

 and that one-half to a quarter of a ton may be gathered from 

 an acre, it can be seen that someone made a barrel of money. 

 The plants easily reproduce themselves if cut off at the roots. 

 The shrub is ground into a powder and then made into a pulp. 

 Water is added and the mixture chemically treated and refined 

 after which heat is applied, with the result that the mixture 

 becomes a thick, rubbery substance which is freed of its woody 

 and resinous components, rolled into thick sheets and cut into 

 sections and oven dried. The guayule rubber lands that cover this 

 part of the state of Texas belong to the sairie belt that is furnish- 

 ing the rubber plants in northern ^Mexico with such an enormous 

 supply of the shrub. This valuable desert vegetation grows on 

 the poorest of land and at an altitude of 4,300 feet and the 

 industry has had a marvelous development in Mexico in the past 

 eight years, but the rebels have destroyed many of the the fac- 

 tories and the war has closed the remainder, so that the Texas 

 factory must be depended upon for a great part of the supply 

 during the present war in the republic. Official reports show that 

 over sixty million dollars gold are invested in rubber factories 

 and guayule lands in Mexico and most of this is .American 

 capital. Steps are now being taken by the state and others 

 interested to increase the growth of this valuable shrub by 

 scattering seeds and by cuttings. 



A MEMORIAL TO THE LATE ROBERT D. EVANS. 



Tlie long projected addition to the Boston Museum of Fine 

 Arts has recently been made possible by the donation of the 

 necessary funds for its erection by the widow of Robert D. 

 Evans, the proposed addition, for which plans have been ac- 

 cepted, to be a memorial to her deceased husband. The new build- 

 ing, which will assume the form of a T-shaped addition on the 

 north side, directly back of the rotunda, will be devoted mainly 

 to picture galleries and will constitute a handsome entrance and 

 imposing faqade on the Fenway. 



