XOVEMBER 1, 1913.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



:)D 



WHAT THAT PNEUMATIC SUBSTITUTE MUST 



HAVE. 



ATI'XllNICAL contemporary, in discussing that 

 ever interesting subject, "A substitute for the 

 present pneumatic tire," remarks that "the seeker for a 

 substitute for the pneumatic tire must find somethin;;- as 

 light as air, as resihent as air, as durable as air, and as 

 free of cost as air." 



Now that is rather a hard "stunt," even for the inde- 

 fatigable and irrepressible inventor. If he must find 

 something as light as air his quest is obviously restricted 

 to matter not only in gaseous form, but of a particularly 

 lii^ht gaseous form; and if the only substitute permissible 

 is something that is absolutely without cost — for up to 

 the present time air has not been brought under any 

 modernized system of financial control — his problem is 

 certainly a puzzler, and the substitute seeker mighl as 

 well gi\e up the quest. 



i'.ut is it essential that this sought- for substitute should 

 be as light as air? Air is nearly eight hundred times 

 lighter than water, and a substitute might weigh one 

 hundred times as much as air and yet not add more than 

 three or four pounds' weight to an automobile tire of the 

 usual size — in other words, not more than 15 or 20 

 pounds to the entire weight of the car. This certainly 

 does not appear, on the face of it, like an insurmountable 

 difficulty. Moreover, it seems quite possilile that a sub- 

 stitute might be discovered that was even a little more 

 expensive than air and still be available. Suppose this 

 substitute, instead of costing nothing, increased the cost 

 of a tire a dollar — or let us be altogether reckless and 

 say five dollars — would that necessarily bar it, provided 

 it proved in other respects an improvement on air? 



As a matter of fact, the question of added weight and 

 added expense, assuming that both are within reasonable 

 limits, is not a serious one. The seeker after a pneumatic 

 substitute has just two things to keep in mind: First, 

 resiliency equal to air (for it is safe to assume that auto 

 riders would not care to sacrifice any of their present 

 comfort), and second, greater service for the cost than 

 a pneumatic gives. He may attain this desideratum either 

 by greater durability at the same cost or the same dur- 

 ability at a lower cost; and, of course, if he can secure 

 both of these conditions — that is, more service with less 

 cost — his solution will be doubly satisfactory. The prob- 

 lem is a difficult enough one even when reduced to its 

 simplest terms, without cumbering it with an\- unneces- 

 sary complications. 



WILL AMERICAN COTTON ALWAYS BE SUPREME? 



A M i'RU AXS have felt quite free to criticise Brazil 

 •**■ inv the comfortable assurance it has complacently 

 entertained all tliese years that its rubber would always 

 remain supreme, irrespective of the efforts of the rest 

 of the world to push into tlie rubber market. The 

 ISrazilians have at last seen their mistake, but they did 

 not see it until tlic ])rc)duction of rubber from the East 

 and other parts of the world had equaled that of the 

 .\mazon. Now the question is — Are Americans in a some- 

 what similar jjosition in regard to cotton? We have 

 rested content for many years in an imperturbable con- 

 fidence that America in the cotton field would never 

 have a ri\al. lliU is this confidence warranted? The 

 cotton production for the current year is estimated at 

 12 billion jjounds, or 24 million bales. About two-thirds 

 of this production, or approximately 16 million bales, 

 will ])e produced on American soil. This still shows a 

 good lead, and there is the additional fact that, taking 

 one year with another, the i\merican production is 

 steadily increasing; but over against this reassuring sit- 

 uation is the incontrovertible fact that foreign produc- 

 tion of cotton is increasing vastly faster. In India, for 

 instance, the cotton production in 1910 amounted to 

 1.400,000 hales. The present year it will reach the very 

 sizable figure of 6,000,000 bales, or an increase of over 

 300 per cent, in three years. The Middle East has one 

 tremendous advantage over both Brazil and the United 

 States — its great supply of extremely cheap labor. This 

 is what is likely to prove the undoing of Brazil in the 

 rubber market. Will it also prove the undoing of Amer- 

 ica in the cotton market? 



To be sure this is not just at this moment a jM-essing 

 question, but it is certainly an interesting one. 



THE PERSISTENCE OF RUBBER. 



IT cannot be said that rubber is imperishable, because 

 of course it can be worn out in time ; but it is cer- 

 tainly extremely persistent and clings to its identity with 

 a tenacity displayed by very few materials — a fact that 

 is brought to mind with considerable frequency. The 

 following paragraph recently appeared in one of the 

 New York State daily papers : "The Hospital Guild 

 makes an appeal for gifts of old rubber of every descrip- 

 tion — tires, garden hose, shoes, water bags, etc., to be 

 sold for the benefit of the hospital." 



