220 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



(Al'RII, 



1911. 



Today any British sea captain will tell yoii that in the last hall 

 a dozen years a fourth has been added to the three classes of 

 globe trotters he has known — the traveling American. Not the 

 traveling salesman, but the manufacturer who takes his vacation 

 in winter in the West Indies, in South .Xmcrica, or in the 

 Pacific ; or- his summer relaxation in northern Europe, China or 

 Japan. He goes for rest, but comes back full of new ideas, 

 greatly broadened views and with a desire to have his share of 

 the world's trade. 



It is to this fact that the growth of the American export 

 trade should and will be attributed, and as would be expected 

 the traveling business man is just as often engaged in the rub- 

 ber business as in anv other. 



SELF DEFENSE SAMPLES. 



MANUFACTURING EFFICIENCY. 



IN the last live years there have come into licing, semi-pro- 

 * fessional gentlemen known as "production engineers," whose 

 especial field of effort has been the great manufacturing estab- 

 lishments of the world. One of their particular aims has been 

 to simplify work — or more explicitly to minimize motions, .^s 

 the machinist corrects "lost motion," so they eliminate waste 

 motions. The vaudeville sketch artist who recites "She opened 

 her bag, took out her purse ; shut her bag," etc., caricatures 

 waste motion so that none can fail to see it. Where it occurs in 

 industrial life, however, it is often far from apparent. Many 

 of the most rapid workers make thousands of minor false 

 motions in the course of eight hours, a loss of effort that is not 

 detected either by the worker or the ordinary observer. It is 

 here that the trained simplifier is valuable. His method of pro- 

 cedure is to study one phase of the work at a time. Possibly 

 he observes 10 men. each of whom do exactly the same kind of 

 work under like conditions. He finds perhaps that No. 3 makes 

 the most motions ; No. 7, the fewest. The average of the 10 is 

 fair, but that does not satisfy. Taking No. 7 as a basis, the 

 analyst goes over the work mentally again and again until he 

 is able to cut out quite a number of false motions. Then one 

 man is trained to do the work, making every or nearly every 

 move count. His production, or very nearly that, is made a 

 standard, and soon all doing that sort of work are able to equal 

 it and with less wear and tear than before. 



The efficiency problems are by no means confined to hand 

 work. They apply to arrangement of rooms, of machines, 

 speeds, heats, correlations of departments, inspection of product 

 before vulcanization, to everything from coal passer to presi- 

 dent, and the savings effected are prodigious. 



For a great many years rubber manufacturing companies in 

 the United States specialized along certain lines. Companies 

 that made shoes did nothing in sundries, hard rubber, mechanical 

 goods or any of the other rubber products. There were those 

 who argued that by thus specializing they were able to produce a 

 better product at less cost than if they made everything or nearly 

 everything in rubber. Many large companies were very proud 

 that they knew nothing of anything except their own specialty. 

 Today, however, the spirit of progress or expansion seems to 

 lead away from specialization. Companies that begin with one 

 line as tires, for example, after a time add a complete line of 

 mechanical goods. Later they create another unit for the pro- 

 duction of insulated wire; still later they add rubber shoes. So 

 that today the larger American rubber factories resemble in 

 their variety of product the great European factories that make 

 nearly everything in rubber and gutta pcrcha, 



If you are interested in the manufacture of rubber goods 

 of any description, you will find valuable information and 

 useful trade hints in Mr. Pearson's "Crude Rubber and Com- 

 pounding Ingredients." .'Kn index of its contents will be 

 sent you free on request. 



D UBBER manufacturers are periodically and semi-period- 

 ■^ *• ically subject to the visits of those who are interested iix 

 new substitutes for rubber. Usually the visitors are honest in 

 their belief in the extreme value of the discovery they are show- 

 ing, and it is almost impossible to explain to them the absurdity 

 of their claims. The basis of their faith is usually a small sam- 

 ple of good quality product, made up of, say, 50 per cent, of 

 Para rubber and 50 per cent, of their material, and enough sul- 

 phur to cure it. Sometimes they show with pride a section of a 

 tire made of the compound that has run one, two or three thou- 

 sand miles. The courteous manufacturer spends hours in a vain 

 attempt to enlighten the other as to the absolute valuelessness 

 of his product, and fails. Later he hears of fancy prices quoted 

 for the foreign rights, of a home company, in which are no rub- 

 ber men, who are secretly erecting a factory, and then an elo- 

 quent silence. 



What is needed is a line of self-defense samples to off-set 

 those of the substitute finder and to enlighten him. They may 

 be easily prepared. 



Take, for example, .SO per cent, of finely sifted road dust with 

 an equal quantity of Para rubber, with sulphur sufficient to vul- 

 canize. Then when the substitute man shows his sample the 

 manvifacturer can match it. He may even have prepared tests 

 as to wear, resiliency, etc., and will have little arguing or ex- 

 plaining if his visitor is honest, for nine times out of ten the 

 manufacturer's sample will be the best. Coal ashes, powdered 

 brick, anything common and dry may be used, and the illustra- 

 tion will be just as illuminating. 



INDIA-RUBBER GOODS IN COMMERCE. 



EXPORTS FEOM THE UNITED STATES. 



/^FFICLA.L statement of values of exports of manufactures of 

 ^^ india-rubber and gutta-percha for the month of January, 



1911, and for the first seven months of five fiscal years, be- 

 ginmg July 1 : 



Belting, Boots .-Ml 



Packing, and Other 



Months. and Hose. Shoes. Rubber. Tot.\l. 



January, 1911 $169,351 $76,694 $475,254 $721,299 



July- December 1,045,783 1,523,347 2,922,464 5,491,594 



Total, 1910-11 $1,215,134 $1,600,041 $3,397,718 $6,212,893 



Total, 1909-10 1,096,459 1,371,199 2,739.953 5.207,611 



Total, 1908-09 803,067 958.671 2.0&8.524 3,850,262 



Total,' 1907-08 844.811 1,252,153 2,209,938 4.306.902 



Total, 1906-07 691,286 858,714 2,040,592 3,590,592 



The above heading ".Ml Other Rubber," for the last seven 

 months, inchidcs the following details relating to Tires: 



For All 



IMoNTHS. .Xutiiniobik-'i. Other. Total. 



Julv, 1910 values $146,080 $56,096 $202,176 



August 151,468 71.4«6 222,954 



September 133,735 39,457 173,192 



October 103,788 33,469 137,257 



November ...."...•... 160,214 37,962 198.176 



December 144,645 47,325 191.970 



January, 191 1 175.743 33,227 208,970 



Total $1,015,673 $319,022 $1,334,695 



.An article on the .Acre territory in tlic Riillcliii of the Pan 

 .American Union (Washington: January, 1911) states that the 

 rubber tree — Hcvea — selected for tapping in that region are 

 usually from 30 to 40 years of age, and are expected to yield 

 for twenty years, after which they become useless. -An interest- 

 ing point bearing upon the development of the .Acre is the state- 

 ment that there are already about 25,000 Europeans. Brazilians, 

 and Asiatics in the territory. While not so stated, it is probable- 

 that these new settlers have come mostly from Brazil. 



