472 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[September 1, 1911. 



(according to the promoters) may or may not prove highly re- 

 munerative to the investor. Then there is the patented process 

 of the Bayer Company, of Elberfeld, Germany, in which isoprene 

 is also used. This company was reported a year ago to be about 

 to erect a factory at Kiel, but I do not know whether the project 

 has matured. With regard to the Heinemann process it is stated 

 that a factory to treat 80,000 tons per annum of Baltic turpentine 

 for the production of 7,500 tons of rubber is shortly to be 

 erected in England, as it will be seen that events are moving 

 rapidly forward. I see that Mr. Bethune, when addressing the 

 annual meeting of the Rubber Growers" Association, said it 

 would be advisable to test syn- 

 thetic rubber for several years 

 before adopting it for manu- 

 facture "for the tendency with 

 many synthetic articles was for 

 them to dissolve after a time 

 into the constituent atoms." 

 With the desirability for pro- 

 longed tests of the synthetic I 

 quite agree, but I don't quite 

 understand why synthetic or- 

 ganic compounds should be li- 

 able to dissolve into their con- 

 stituent atoms. Synthetic bodies 

 may, of course, undergo de- 

 composition through oxidation 

 or other causes, but I doubt if 

 the elementary atoms of carbon 

 and hydrogen have ever been 

 produced from the various syn- 

 thetic organic compounds now 

 firmly established on the mar- 

 ket — that is outside the chem- 

 ical laboratory. 



MR. REIMERS, THEN AND 

 NOW. 



■ I 'HE many friends of Mr. 

 ■*• Herman Rcimers, that is, 

 on this side of the Atlantic, 

 will remember him as a stout, 

 athletic, exceedingly jolly indi- 

 vidual with keen blue eyes, 

 tightly curling blonde hair, and 

 a general apeparance of tre- 

 mendous vitality. He was a 

 large man and so much resem- 

 bled Sandow that he was often 

 taken for him. But he has 

 changed. It is only necessary 

 to glance at the accompanying 

 for "The India Rubber Journal, 

 Europe has done to and for our friend. Few who knew him 

 would recognize in the dapper, clerkly (pronounced clarkley) 

 figure, the once robust Reimers. London fog? Mincing Lane? 

 Home-sickness? Is it any or all of these that have thus wrought 

 upon one whose physique was the pride of the .-\merican rubber 

 trade? 



WASTE LEATHER; WHY NOT KUBBER WASTE? 



English advices speak of a road made of leather waste treated 

 with tar as being resilient and silent, while showing no signs of 

 wear after a year's service. This mode of dealing with a waste 

 product (for which no real use has existed) is considered a 

 distinct advantage of the leather industry. No claims are, how- 

 ever, made for leather waste, which are not equally applicable 

 to rubber waste. If rubber ever readies 50 cents a pound to 

 remain there, roads of rubber waste would be a pmbability. 



Mr. Herm.\n Reimers. 



illustration drawn especially 

 ' London, to appreciate what 



TEN YEARS IN THE AOTOMOBILE TRAD! 

 .•\ preliminary statement, showing tlie rapid growth of the 

 automobile industry during the past decade, has recently been 

 issued by the Director of the Census. It shows a most remark- 

 able development of the business, the number of establishments 

 having increased from 57 in 1899, producing 3,723 machines, val- 

 ued at $4,548,100, to 316 in 1909, with an output of 127,289 

 machines, and a total value of all products of $194,722,6(X), an 

 increase of 4,001 per cent. Of this, $165,115,100 was the value 

 of the machines manufactured, and $29,607,500, of automobile 

 parts and repairs. The increase in the number of establishments 



represents 454 per cent. ; in the 

 number of automobiles turned 

 out it amounted to 3.319 per 

 cent. 



The banner automobile manu- 

 facturing state is Michigan, 

 where about 45 per cent, of the 

 total output originated. It is a 

 fact worth noting that the 

 states in which carriage build- 

 ing flourished as an industry, 

 lead in the building of auto- 

 mobiles. The passenger car ex- 

 ceeds its commercial rival 

 numerically, 122,505 of all the 

 cars listed being classified as 

 "pleasure and family vehicles." 



SPECIAL GOTERNMENT CHEMICAL 

 INVESTIGATION. 



With a view to remedying the 

 disproportion between Amer- 

 ican imports in 1910 of chem- 

 icals and drugs, of about $90,- 

 000,000 a year and exports of 

 about $20,000,000, the Bureau of 

 Manufactures of the Department 

 of Commerce and Labor is about 

 to undertake a special investiga- 

 tion of the question. This step 

 has been decided upon in view of 

 the growing American desire to 

 secure information concerning 

 the remarkable expansion of the 

 European chemical industry. Im- 

 ports have, it is added, increased 

 from $67,000,000 in 1908 to $90,- 

 000,000 in 1910, while exports 

 have remained almost stationary 

 in the neighborhood of $20,- 

 000.000. 



MICA INSTEAD OF TALC. 



Inner tubes in automobile tires would stick and heat much 

 worse than they do were it not for the thorough dusting with 

 soapstone, talc, or sometimes graphite that they receive. The 

 former substances, however, are not ideal, as they absorb water, 

 and cake, while the last named is very apt to soil the hands 

 and the clothing. An ideal substance is powdered mica. It is 

 a perfect insulator and really prevents heating to a degree. It 

 does not absorb moisture, and always stays in powder form. 

 [L'nited States Mica Company, Chicago, Illinois.] 



Mexico's rubber shipments during five months ended Novem- 

 ber, 1910, aggregated in value $4,970,000 gold, against $2,148,000 

 during the same period in 1909, and $1,480,000 for the same period 

 in 1908. These figures do not include guayule rubber, which 

 totalled $2,500,(XX) in the five months of last year, compared with 

 $1,700,000 and $564,000,, respectively, for the same perfocis in 1909 

 and 1908. ' , , ' 



