July 1, 1914.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



525 



Published on the 1st of each Month by 



THE INDIA RUBBER PUBLISHING GO 



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HENRY C. PEARSON, Editor 



Vol. 50. 



JULY 1. 1914. 



No. 4 



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TABLE OF CONTENTS ON LAST PAGE OF READING. 



HAS SUCCESSFUL SYNTHESIS ARRIVED? 



¥ F during the last few years the plantation has been a 

 ■^ bogy to the dwellers on the Amazon, synthetic rub- 

 ber has hitcl)' pla\ed the same interesting role in relation 

 to the Eastern planters. 



The new synthetic rubber, styled "Pavea," has already 

 been mentioned several times in these columns. Our 

 English correspondent devotes an interesting paragraph 

 to the subject in the letter which appears in this issue. 

 We learn from him that the manufacturers of Great 

 Britain are so impressed with the possibilities of Pavea 

 that they are hesitating about the usual purchase of their 

 crude supplies, preferring rather to hold off for a season 

 to see how the new rubber materializes. 



This new rubber, in some of the details given out 



regarding it, is certainly rather impressive — not so much 



perhaps by reason of the million dollar company that is 



promoting it or the very sizable plant secured for the 



purpose of its production, but rather because of the 



positive statements made by its vouchers that it will come 



on the market before the end of this year to the tune 



of 1,000 tons per week, that it will be sold at a 10 per 



^ cent, discount from the price of first latex, whatever 



,— that price may be, and that it can well afford to be 



I 



marketed at this reduced figure as its cost is only 8 i -mi 

 cents a pound. " 



If all of this should be true — if our English friends 

 have discovered the way to produce a synthetic rubber at 

 8 cents a pound in weekly lots of 1,0C0 tons — the future 

 certainly is dark for all those who derive their rubber 

 from natural sources. In that event the Amazon might 

 as well be dammed up for good and shut off from 

 the world and the carefully cultivated plantations of the 

 Ea.st might better revert to jungle land as speedily as 

 possible. But perhaps after all Para and Singapore 

 would do well to maintain their dock facilities for yet a 

 little while, for this new rubber has been rather more 

 audible than visible, and even if some limited samples 

 have been distributed to the trade, limited samples of 

 other synthetic rubbers have also been produced in the 

 past without any consequent disturbance of the rubber 

 market. The composition of Pavea rubber is kept a 

 profound secret, but it is no secret that the manufacture 

 of any product in thousand-ton lots per week would call 

 for a Yast volume of material of some sort, and nothing 

 has yet been discovered which could be converted — even 

 in small quantities — into synthetic rubber at S cents per 

 pound or any modest multiple of that figure. And then, 

 as noticed in these columns last month, this new rubber 

 has a very considerable constituent of resin, which gives 

 rise to the conjecture that it is somewhat more akin ta 

 natural ruliber than it is to the products of synthesis. 



It is rather an interesting phenomenon that new syn- 

 thetic rubbers generally make their appearance on the 

 approach of the summer season. This, however, is for- 

 tunate, because at that time the more conservative de- 

 partments of the industry are likely to be rather quiet, 

 and these hot season oracles from the laboratory help 

 greatly to maintain the mental activitv of the trade at its 

 proper level. 



THE EXPORT BURDEN RUBBER HAS TO BEAR. 



'"T'HE table published in the January issue of Tjie In- 

 ■•■ Di.\ Rubber World showing the import duties on 

 manufactured rubber goods, levied in the foreign coun- 

 tries which buy such merchandise from the United States 

 in any considerable volume, attracted a great deal of at- 

 tention, as it was the first time any attempt had been 

 made to collect and tabulate this valuable information. 

 This issue contains a table showing the export duties 

 levied on crude rubber by all the countries from which 

 it has yet been shipped in commercial quantities. Some 



