AlGLST 



1911 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



455 



Unit. 



A 7. Erasers 100 kin 



A 8. W ater bottlos 100 kin 



A 9. Teats ( including inner packings') 100 kin 



A 10. Mats and mattings 



All. Other [[', 



B. Other — 



B 1. In lumps, bars or rods, plates and slieots 1(X) kin 



B 2. Tubes 100 kin 



B 3. Rings and washers 100 kin 



B 4. Combs { inchiding inner packings) 100 kin 



B5. Other 



P.\R.\GR.\rH 355. (Extract) — 



1. Boots (of india rubber) 100 kin 



2. Overshoes (of india rubber) 100 kin 



ANOTHER USE FOR RUBBER TUBING. 



IN large poultry establishments fowls are often fed 1)\ niacliin- 

 ery, the forced feeding resulting in quicker and better fat- 

 tening. The apparatus consists of a reservoir full of pasty 

 food, a small force pump and a short length of rubber tubing. 



Feeding M.vchixe Showing Fowl Svv.vllowing Rubber Tube. 



The fowl is held under one arm, its neck stretched out, the 

 rubber tube run down as far as the crop, and a charge of food 

 forced in. It does not hurt the bird, is profitable and is one 

 more unusual use for rubber. 



The experimenters had to determine whether or not the thin 

 rubber constituting the top of the cap had body enough to admit 

 of the letter being pressed into it and vulcanized there. Then 

 tliey had to find out by trial whether the "touch'' of the top of 

 the cap had been impaired by the application of the letter. 



Xext they put the keys to long and severe usage to ascertain 

 wliether the union between the letter and the key was strong 

 cnoutih to withstand the continuous pounding that the keys 

 undeiUM in use. It was possible that under such continuous 

 llrxing the letter would come away from the key; or, at any 

 rale, open up seams between the letter and the key so as to 

 destroy its smooth surface and also weaken it. Few vulcanized 

 joints between two pieces of rubber had ever before been placed 



P.\RTs That M.\ke Up a Rubber Key Cushion. 



Ij-Tom left to right, first is a blank cut out of rich stock; second letter 

 died out of semi-vulcanizcd stock; third, letter placed in middle of the 

 Wank; fourth, cushion after vulcanization; fifth, cross section of kev with 

 cushion attached.] 



Ill a position where they were called upon to withstand any 

 usage at all analogous, and it was only when the cushions stood 

 up to the work that the inventors knew they 

 successful. 



were really 



FLUCTUATIONS IN AFRICAN RUBBER EXPORTS. 



pV grouping in comparative form, the principal amounts 

 *-' quoted by Mr. Cuthbert Christy, in his work upon the 

 "African Rubber Industry," the fluctuations of the exports of 

 the various African rubber producing countries may be seen. 

 The average result would seem to be a reduction of about 45 per 

 cent, from the highest point. 



MAKING TYPEWRITER CUSHIONS. 



Those who are familiar with the rubber cushions that cover 

 the keys of typewriters may wonder how the letters on the rub- 

 ber are applied, or they may not. Yet the manner of doing 

 it was the result of much experimentation and was guarded by 

 a patent. To begin with, it may be well to state that the letter 

 is not painted on but is inlaid. The minute pieces of rubber that 

 formed the letter could not be cemented and stuck on as they 

 would curl and prove infinitely troublesome. The problem vva> 

 finally solved by making the caps of very rich stock and semi- 

 vulcanizing the stock from which the letter was cut. Then 

 when it was laid upon the cap and pressure applied, it sunk into 

 the softer stock and was then vulcanized securely in place. And 

 that was only one of the many vexatious little problems that 

 arose before the cusliions were perfected. 



.\i-ric.\n rubber exports (pounds). 



Earliest record. 



Cold Coast 1890 3.400.000 



Sierra Leone .. . .1890 

 Southern Nigeria 1S93 



Liberia 



I'rench Ivory 



Coast 1899 



Togoland 



Belgian Congo ..1887 



Kanieruns 



Portuguese 



.Angola 



Uganda 1902 



1,000,000 

 100.000 



1,600,000 

 ' '200,666 



70,000 



Maximum. 

 1898 6,000,000 

 1896 1,500,000 

 1896 6.800,000 



1906 3,500,000 



1901 13,000,000 



i966 6,'7'oo,666 



1908 100.000 



110.000 



.'\mong the relics recovered from the wreck of the battleship 

 "Maine" in Havana harbor, may be mentioned a number of rubber 

 bands. Strange to say they are found to have survived their 

 many years' submergence in the mud and water, whereas a few 

 weeks' seclusion in an office desk often suffices to render them 

 hard and useless. 



