124 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[December 1. 1913. 



highway and canal bridges everywhere, in order that the motor 

 truck way of escaping from slavery to extortionate way freight 

 rates may not become an important factor against the "bottlers 

 up" of most of the railroads. 



SUMMER BOB-SLEDDING WITH RUBBER TIRES. 



SYNTHETIC RUBBER FROM TWO ASPECTS. 



O YNTHETIC rubber has to be considered under two aspects, 

 *^ technical and economic. The technical aspect has been fully 

 treated in scientific literature and to a certain extent in the gen- 

 eral press. The attention which was aroused by the discoveries 

 of Harries, Hoffmann, Perkin, Fernbach and others, will be re- 

 called. 



ECONOMIC .\SPFXT. 



With regard to this branch of the subject, an interesting com- 

 munication has recently appeared in the "Bulletin of the Brazil- 

 ian Bureau of Information in Paris." This article follows up a 

 discussion of the question which appeared last year in the col- 

 umns of the "Jornal do Commercio" of Rio de Janeiro. 



In the first place, a distinction is made between "synthetic" 

 and "artificial" rubber. The former must be identical with 

 natural rubber and instead of being a vegetal production must 

 have been created from raw material and possess the same 

 chemical composition as the natural gum. Factitious or artificial 

 rubbers consist of substances analogous to india rubber, but 

 which have only certain characteristics in common with it. They 

 contain no trace of india rubber, either when used separately 

 or as an admixture with "real rubber" for manufacturing pur- 

 poses. 



\VH.\T IS REQUIRED OF A SYNTHETIC RUBBER. 

 In order to successfully meet the natural product, synthetic 

 rubber must compete in both price and quality. Of all the vari- 

 ous processes tried, that of polymerizing isoprene or carburet 

 of hydrogen has proved most successful ; but the essence of tur- 

 pentine from which the isoprene is derived is a very expensive 

 material. Very few patents, it is added, deal with any raw ma- 

 terial cheap enough to be practically useful. 



QUALITY OF SYNTHETIC RUBBER PRODUCED. 



That, apart from the question of cost, synthetic rubber has 

 been produced in the laboratory, is admitted to be the case ; 

 but the quality of such rubber has considerably varied. In some 

 cases it has been hard and inelastic, while in others it has come 

 up soft and plastic. Some of the samples have been fairly elastic 

 when first prepared, but oxidize rapidly in the air, becom- 

 ing "sticky." Few of them, as far as the "Bulletin's" knowledge 

 goes, are able to stand the first stages of the process of manu- 

 facture. 



"The fact, however, remains." it is added, "that synthetic rub- 

 ber has actually been produced, and the numerous chemists who 

 are investigating the problem may sooner or later discover a 

 means of improving its quality, while at tlie same time reducing 

 the cost of production." 



AccoRni.\-G TO TELEGRAPH REPORTS, the German Secretary of 

 State, Dr. Solf. who has recently visited Southern Cameroon. 

 has refused to consider the abolition of the export duty on crude 

 rubber (9.52 cents on 2,240 pounds), shipped from Cameroon, 

 much to the disappointment of the producing interest. A 

 memorial requesting the removal of the tax, in view of the un- 

 profitable condition of the trade, has been addressed to the 

 State Department by the Berlin Chamber of Commerce. An 

 urgent memorial on the subject has also been forwarded to the 

 government by the Economical Association of the northern 

 district of German East Africa, in which the present unfortunate 

 condition of the rubber intere-^t of the colony is very forcibly 

 stated. 



'T'HERE are certain places in the .Mps where bob-sledding is a 

 •*■ famous sport, but under normal conditions this is a sport 

 that is confined to winter. .\ certain devotee of this pastinte, 

 however, has conceived an idea hy which it may he enjoyed quite 

 as well in July and August as in January and February. He 



SUM.MER BuB-SLEI)DI.\G IX THE AlPS. 



has constructed a bob-sled like the ordinary sled except that \\-. 

 place of runners it has wdieels, about the size of bicycle wheels 

 with pneumatic tires; and this sled coasts down the Alpine slopes 

 as rapidly as it would in winter on the customary runners. In 

 short, the coasters, instead of slipping over the snow, ride on 

 air, with results that are said to be highly satisfactory and under 

 conditions rather more comfortable than those that obtain in the 

 Alps in midwinter. The accompanying illustration is taken from 

 "The Sphere" of London. 



COTTON CONSUMPTION OF THE WORLD FOE ONE YEAK. 



Of the world's consumption of cotton for the year ending 

 August 31, 1913, amounting to 20,277,386 bales (a bale being 500 

 pounds), 13,760,261 of this number were American; and of stocks 

 on hand at the close of the year amounting to 3.540,771 bales, 

 1,622,366 bales were American. The total number of cotton 

 spindles in the world is estimated at 143,452,659, and of this num- 

 ber 129,895.651 spindles (64,325.243 mule and 65,570,408 ring) 

 were in work during the year, 21,149,839 spinning Egyptian cot- 

 ton, and 108,745,812 spinning all other kinds. There are also 

 reported in course of construction 2.563.544 additional spindles, 

 almost half of these in Great Britain, the remainder divided be- 

 tween Japan. Germany, Russia, Canada, Sweden, France, Aus- 

 tria. India, Belgium, Xorway, and Italy, in the order given. 



