December 1, 1913.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



151 



has a branch works entirely devoted to the rubber shoe business. 

 This is managed by Mr. Frederick H. H. Smith, eldest son of 

 Sir F. H. Smith, Bart., who is chairman of Messrs. Macintosh 

 & Co., Ltd. Mr. Ivor W. Davies is the works manager. 



MR. HERBERT STANDRING. 



Mr. Herbert Standring has somewhat startled his numerous 

 friends in the rubber trade by the announcement that he has 

 resigned his position and all connection with the "India Rubber 

 Journal" in order to embark on a new venture. Mr. Standring 

 has been associated with our contemporary since its birth in 

 1884. At that time he was connected with the production of other 

 trade journals and happily hit upon the rubber trade as offering 

 good scope for further journalistic enterprise. For many years 

 he retained the editorship, relinquishing this when the paper 

 was taken over by Messrs. Maclaren. I know nothing of the 

 details of the new work to which he has set his hand but have 

 no doubt that he will bring to it all that industry and enthusiasm 

 which has characterized his connection with rubber journalism 

 in the past. 



MESSRS. J. E. HOPKINSON & CO., LTD. 

 This firm, whose works are situated in rural surroundings at 

 West Drayton, Middlesex, has recently found it necessary to call 

 its creditors together, and the upshot of the conferences that 

 have been held is that, with the assistance of some of the 

 principal creditors, a new company is to be formed. The matter 

 has not exactly gone through yet but it is fully expected to do 

 so by the first of January, the date fixed. The name of the new 

 company is to be the Caxton Rubber Manufacturing Co., the 

 capital being £10,000. Mr. Hopkinson, with whose financial 

 predicament there is general sympathy, explains that the present 

 situation has been brought about by the falling through of a 

 scheme whereby his works were to have been purchased by a 

 certain firm and a large company formed to manufacture goods 

 from murac, a body which was more extensively advertised 

 some years ago than it is at present. The Murac works are at 

 Edmonton, near London, but I understand that business is 

 practically at a standstill owing to an injunction against them 

 by the local authority for causing a nuisance. 



BALATA IN FOOTWEAR. 

 A compound consisting largely of balata is being increasingly 

 used by Messrs. R. & J. Dick, of Glasgow. In leather boots the 

 soles are made of this material, which is said to have advantages 

 over leather mainly because it is absolutely impervious to water. 

 Such soles cost about the same as leather but have three times 

 its life. Tennis shoes for grass or asphalt courts are now made 

 with balata soles on a thin leather basis, these soles being also 

 used instead of leather for sand shoes. 



MR. EATON'S REPORT ON EUROPEAN FACTORIES. 



FEENCH MANTTFACTURERS TO EXHIBIT IN LONDON. 



The Syndical Chamber of Rubber Manufacturers, Paris, of 

 which Monsieur G. Lamy-Torrilhon is the president, met recently 

 and unanimously decided to give the Fourth International Rubber 

 and Allied Industries Exhibition to be held in London next June 

 their official recognition. This now completes the list of impor- 

 tant associations in all parts of the world connected with the 

 rubber industry, producing and manufacturing, which have ac- 

 corded the coming exhibition their recognition. The list includes 

 the following associations: The Rubber Manufacturers' Asso- 

 ciations of France, Germany, Austria, and Belgium ; the Rubber 

 Club of America ; the Rubber Growers' Association of London ; 

 the Planters' Associations of Ceylon, Indo-China, Belgium. British 

 Malaya, Malacca, Johore, Southern India, and Java ; the Rubber 

 Association of Holland (Amsterdam) ; the Commercial Associa- 

 tions of Para, the Amazonas, the Republic of Peru, and other 

 producing countries. Every important producing country will be 

 .officially represented. 



IN the report of his visits to different European rubber 

 * factories and testing stations, Mr. B. J. Eaton, of the Agricul- 

 tural Department of the Federated Malay States, has pointed out 

 several facts of interest. He refers in the first place to the com- 

 plaints (.which he considers justified) of the unclean condition 

 in which plantation rubber is often received in Europe, contain- 

 ing pieces of wood, splinters, sand, and other impurities. This 

 fact necessitates thorough washing, imposing more work on the 

 manufacturer and frequently affecting the quality of the rubber, 

 the methods of cleaning used in the East having in many cases 

 not proved satisfactory. 



Mr. Eaton recalls the fact that previous to vulcanization the 

 rubber is cut fine and placed in large tanks of cold water. It is 

 then worked by means of a "Hollander," in which the heavier 

 foreign substances such as sand sink to the bottom, while the 

 lighter impurities such as bark and splinters rise to the surface. 

 The rubber is then removed by means of forks; this method 

 seeming to be more efficacious than the process of direct washing 

 in the creping machines. Mr. Eaton expresses himself in favor 

 of the machine in which the washing and further operations are 

 conducted under water. 



Any one acquainted with the later processes of rubber manu- 

 facture will understand the importance of preliminary cleaning, 

 every particle of undesirable substance left in the rubber pro- 

 ducing a weak spot in the subsequent vulcanized product. Such 

 weak places when subjected to mechanical strain naturally give 

 way. 



There is no uniformity between the width of the rollers of the 

 washing and creping machines and the dimensions of the packing 

 cases. The employment of rollers of interchangeable diameter is 

 recommended for the production of rubber in any desired uni- 

 form width. 



With regard to coagulation, Mr. Eaton does not approve the 

 present system, but recommends the latex being allowed to flow 

 into long troughs, divided by partitions. 



[Details of these new coagulating tanks were pubHshed in the 

 October issue of the Indi-^ Rubber World, p. 44.] 



A point on which manufacturers complain of plantation rubber 

 is the lack of uniformity in quality. It appears impossible to get 

 a quality equal in uniformity to the standard of Fine Hard Para. 

 Even in the good qualities there is much variation. This fact 

 is attributed to the diversity in methods of coagulation, each 

 plantation using a system of its own. 



Mr. Eaton remarks that too little attention is paid to the color 

 of rubber by manufacturers, who in general consider that it 

 forms no criterion of the value. Hence rubbers of various 

 colors are treated at the same time. He adds that makers of 

 "dipped goods," calling for translucency, require for that pur- 

 pose the lighter shades of rubber. 



According to Mr. Eaton's experience, there is in Europe a 

 diversity of opinion as to the drying of rubber, the vacuum 

 dryer being generally used where quickness is desired, while 

 drying chambers are usually employed under other circum- 

 stances. The temperature of the vacuum dryers he found to 

 vary from 140 to 160 degrees Fahrenheit, some qualities being 

 dried at a higher and others at a lower degree of heat. Certain 

 fine grades, such as Fine Hard Para, can be dried without injury 

 at a very high temperature. 



The preparatory operations to which rubber has been subjected 

 are of considerable moment in connection with its subsequent 

 treatment. Plantation rubber of the highest grade undergoes no 

 preliminary washing, but is hung out in order to permit the 

 evaporation of the moisture it may have absorbed in transit 

 This grade is seldom met with. All other qualities of plantation 

 rubber are washed as far as possible at one time, to insure uni- 

 formity of product. 

 With Fine Hard Para and other grades packed in like manner. 



