April 1, 1911.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



227 



The India-Rubber Trade in Great Britain. 



By Our Regular Correspondent. 



THE LATE 

 ASSOCIATE EDITOR. 



IT was with imich regret that 1 read in the February issue 

 * of The India Rubber World the brief notification of 

 the decease of Mr. Hawthorne Hill. 1 only had the 

 pleasure of meeting Mr. Hill once and that was about eleven 

 or twelve years ago when he paid a visit to England. It was 

 soon after my association with The 

 Inplv Rubber World began, and 

 though we did not meet again, we have 

 corresponded on many occasions and I feel the loss to be that 

 of an intimate friend rather than of a chance acquaintance. To 

 British readers, except those who have paid visits to the United 

 States in the last decade and found time to call at the offices ot 

 The India Rubber World, Mr. Hill's personality will be un- 

 familiar, though of course this does not apply to his name. 

 Doubtless an appreciation of his journalistic work in connec- 

 tion with The India Rubber World will come from the edi- 

 torial pen and I shall therefore not dwell on the subject beyond 

 these few general remarks. 



A paragraph has been going round the press to the effect 

 that artificial rubber has been made from soya bean oil by a 

 patented process. I have no doubt 

 SOYA BEAN OIL. that the product is merely a variation 

 of the ordinary oil substitute, as made 

 from other vegetable oils, though in the new patent the proce- 

 dure differs considerably from the time-honored chloride of 

 sulphur process or from the heating with sulphur process. Of 

 late years the soya bean, grown so largely in Manchuria, has be- 

 come of great commercial importance, hundreds of thousands 

 of tons being sent to Japan, and in the last few years to Europe, 

 for the production of the oil which is largely used for edible 

 purposes, the oil cake being used for cattle feed. The scarcity 

 and high price of cotton seed oil made the advent of the soya 

 bean in England doubly welcome. The beans yield 18 per cent, 

 of oil and from the fact that it has replaced cotton oil in the 

 soap manufacture, I have no doubt that the substitute makers 

 know all about it, as both require glycerides of the fatty acids. 

 The Gorton Rubber Company, Limited, made a public issue 

 on February 27 to March 2 of i30,000 5 per cent, first mortgage 

 debentures in 300 debentures of ilOO 



THE GORTON EUBBEE i, u ■ ^ r ^r • j • 



COMPANY, LIMITED. '''''^' ^^'"^ ?"* of ^u authorized issue 

 of i40,000. The debentures are repay- 

 able on December 31, 1927, at par, but the company reserves the 

 right to redeem the whole or a part at any previous time at 

 105 per cent. 



The present capital of the limited company formed 

 in 1899 is £62.500 and the proceeds of the new issue will be 

 devoted to extending the company's operations and to paying 

 oflf an existing mortgage of i8,000. The dividends paid have 

 been of a progressive nature, last year's being 10 per cent., and 

 it is now proposed to manufacture other rubber goods in addi- 

 tion to the kinds at present being turned out. 



Mr.. G. H. Cortland is the chairman and the other directors 

 are F. Walmsley, J. P., E. L. Curbishley and George Spencer. 

 The chairman is a Worcestershire man, while Mr. Curbishley, 

 the man on the spot, was formerly connected with the Capon, 

 Heaton & Company, Limited, coming to Manchester with the 

 late Mr. Harry Heaton, Jr., when the latter took over the works 

 some ten years ago. A change has recently been made in the 

 works' managership. Mr. Saunders having left to commence 

 manufacturing on his own account. It has already been men- 

 tioned in this correspondence that the Gorton Rubber Company, 

 Limited, are now in possession of the Droylsden Rubber Works, 

 formerly T. Worth & Company. Mr. George Spencer, to whose 



MANCHESTER 

 MOTOR SHOW. 



initiative and energy much of tlie recent progress is due, was 

 for many years connected with the tire sales' dei)artiuent of 

 Charles Macintosh & Company, Limited. 



The North of England Motor Show was held at the new 

 exhibition buildings, Rushiilme, Manchester, February 17-25, 

 being opened by the Earl of Derby, 

 who, I may say, is by birth, residence 

 and interests a Lancashire man. The 

 present building is far more commodious than any of those in 

 which shows have been held in former years and is situated 

 in much pleasanter surroundings, though it remains to be seen 

 whether the distance from the center of the city will not ad- 

 versely affect the attendance of the business man in the day 

 time. The show was said to be the largest yet held outside 

 Olympia, London. Further than this, with regard to its general 

 features I shall not go but shall limit my remarks to the tire 

 exhibits. Of new comers to the local show I noted the exhibits 

 of George Spencer & Company, Limited, Almagam, Limited, 

 and Wood-Milne, Limited, whose new tire works at Leyland 

 are approaching completion. The main feature of the new 

 Wood-Milne tire is the tread of steel-rubber. The steel is 

 mixed in the form of extremely fine hairs with the rubber and 

 forms a flint-proof tread with a non-skidding surface, the use 

 of studs not being necessitated. 



The Almagam tires, which are made at Harpenden, are made 

 of a rubber compound prepared by a special process by which 

 the rubber is considerably strengthened. The special material 

 used for converting weak rubber into strong is made in the 

 laboratory and sent down into the works ready for use. A con- 

 siderable and growing business is being done in these tires and 

 a depot is shortly to be opened in Deansgate, Manchester. A 

 feature of the Almagam tire tread is that the studs are gal- 

 vanized and have an aperture in the center through which the 

 rubber protudes slightly. The Polack Tyre Company had an 

 exhibit of their well-known tires which were also to be seen in 

 the stand of Leo Swain, their North of England agent. This 

 company is now putting up works at Shepherds Bush, London, 

 where the complete tire will be made up and a repairing business 

 carried on. One of the novelties at the show was a tourist car 

 fitted with the double tire rim made by the Blackwell Rim 

 Co., of Stourbridge. The double rim consists of the ordinary 

 pneumatic tire and in addition an auxiliary solid tire about V/i 

 inches diameter fixed alongside, but which is out of touch with 

 the ground surface so long as the pneumatic, tire is in action. 

 When a puncture occurs the auxiliary solid tire automatically 

 comes into use and no stop whatever is necessary. 



The Kempshall Tyre Co., of Europe, Limited, has a good 

 exhibit of their well-established tires, including the anti-skid, 

 the grooved tire and the combined steel and rubber studded tires. 



One of the most important tire exhibits was that of Charles 

 Macintosh & Co., Limited. A novelty shown was the Macin- 

 tosh patent fiber tread non-skid tire, in which the shedding of 

 steel studs is practically eliminated by the use of the patent fiber 

 tread in which the studs are embedded. This enables the cover 

 to be worn to its fullest extent without losing its non-skidding 

 qualities. It is reported that this type of cover has, after pro- 

 longed tests, been adopted by several of the largest users of 

 motor tires in this country. Other tires shown were the Macin- 

 tosh grooved motor tire, the Macintosh ribbed motor tire and 

 the Macintosh plain motor tire. The new tire protector brought 

 out by the firm last year has, it is stated, been further improved 

 and is being increasingly adopted by motorists who wish to 

 reduce their expenditure on tires. 



