August 1, 1914. 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



611 



THE NEW YORK MACKINTOSH CO. TO MAKE DRUGGISTS' SUNDRIES. 



The New York Mackintush Co., witli main orticc and factory 

 at Mamaroneck. New York, and salesrooms at 39-41 West 32nd 

 street. New York City, and in the Lytton Building, Chicago, 

 was founded fifteen years ago by Charles A. Place, formerly 

 president of the Metro])olitan Rubber Co., and vice-president of 

 the New Y"ork Insulated Wire Co. After Mr. Place severed 

 his connection with the above mentioned companies, he started 

 the New York Mackintosh Co. at 114-116 HIeccker street. New 

 York City, ui a small way. The business has jjrown in the past 

 fifteen years so 

 that t h e com- 

 pany's plant now 

 comprises over 

 75,000 s(|uare feet 

 of floor space. 



The plant is 

 equipped for the 

 manufacture of 

 w-aterproof cloth- 

 ing from the raw 

 material to the 

 finished article. 

 One building is 

 devoted to 

 spreading and 

 calendering, and 

 mill work, an<l 

 the company has 

 just erected a 

 new building, 50x100, two stories high, for the manufacture of 

 druggists' sundries. All the guaranteed products of the New 

 York Mackintosh Co. are put out under the "Bestyette" trade- 

 mark, which enjoys an enviable reputation in waterproof cloth- 

 ing circles. The druggists' sundries will be advertised under the 

 same brand name. 



Pi..\XT OF New ^'(RK M.\ckinto.sh Co., Ma.makoneck. 



DESTRUCTION OF THE MEXICAN CRUDE RUBBER CO. PLANT. 



Proba1)ly our readers will recall the account which appeared 

 in the June number of The India Rubber World of the de- 

 struction on May 15 of the above plant at Detroit, Michi- 

 gan, but only recently the report of the coroner's investiga- 

 tions and other data at hand allow a surmise as to the cause 

 of the explosion, which was most severe, and resulted in the 

 loss of life of ten operatives, and the serious injury of six 

 more, out of a total of 27 chemists and operators. 



It will be remembered by many that several years ago this 

 company was formed from several mining and land interests 

 in Mexico, and supplied a large quantity of guayule to the 

 .•\merican market under the trade mark or brand of "Viesca." 

 It had two guayule plants at Vie.sca, Mexico, and one at Cadral. 

 Its main offices are at Detroit, and during the time it was active 

 as a rubber producer R. M. Dyar was its president and W. E. 

 Parker its general manager. It appears that the Detroit plant 

 was not at the time of the disaster employed in any way in 

 rubber work, but in the manufacture of artificial leather, using 

 the niti'o-cellulose coating process. 



The most astonishing thing about the disaster was the testi- 

 mony of the manager at the coroner's inquest, to the efTect that 

 he did not know that nitro-cellulose was explosive. It is evi- 

 dent that in these days of complicated manufacturing processes 

 it becomes necessary to conduct operations under the direction 

 of real experts who are educated for the w'ork and who know' 

 the character of the materials they handle. The probability is 

 that the explosion was caused by the ignition of the volatile 

 solvents, which in turn detonated the nitro-cellulose. The ex- 

 plosion tore the fine, isolated steel and concrete building to 

 pieces. 



LIQUID CORE GOLr BALL. 

 A company that lias been quite successful in making golf 

 balls in the United States, which advertises itself as making 

 "the only Liquid Golf Balls on the .American Continent." is re- 

 ported to have been sued by a caddy for injury to his eye 

 through the bursting of one of the company's balls. According 

 to common report the ball was filled with acid. This did not 

 seem reasonal)le, therefore one of the staff of The India Rub- 

 ber Wi.RLu. who is a chemist, look occasion to purchase a ball 

 and discover its fluid contents. There was no acid, but, on the 



otlier hand, it 

 wasn't pure 

 water. The re- 

 (lort of the chem- 

 ist, briefly, is: 



"I find it to 

 weigh 42.120 

 grams ( I 'A 

 ounces). On bor- 

 ing into it I ob- 

 tained 1.3 c. c. of 

 liquid, which 

 weighed about 

 2.34 grams, giv- 

 ing a specific 

 gravity of 1.8. 

 The liquid was a 

 concentrated so- 

 lution of zinc 

 chloride, with no 

 sulphate. It was in a solution of about 65 per cent, zinc 

 chloride. Owing to the small quantity of liquor the results are 

 not as reliable as might be obtained under better conditions, but 

 this is approximately correct. The zinc chloride was slightly 

 alkaline to methyl orange, though strongly acid to phenol 

 phtalein. This means that there was a slight amount of zinc 

 oxide dissolved in the chloride. The specific gravity of the whole 

 ball was 1.023. The liquid was about 5.5 per cent, of the total 

 weight of ball. On cutting tlie ball with a saw, when it was 

 about half cut it sprung open and a mass of rubber bands under 

 high tension was exposed, and an inside ball formed of a large 

 number of laminated sheets sprang out. The outside of the 

 ball was painted red, and had a rough surface. Beneath this 

 was a thin, tough, white skin; then about 1/16 inch of a black 

 rubber casing ; after which came the rubber bands or strings, 

 and the inside ball was about one-half the diameter of the out- 

 side. It is possible that the liquor was held in the inside ball 

 in the laminated films and did not touch the outside bands, but 

 they were wet when I opened the ball, thougli this might Iiave 

 been due to the wall being bored into." 



In justice to the manufacturer it is only fair to say that all 

 they were trying to do was to make one of the most resilient 

 balls possible ; that it was an exceedingly good ball, and 

 that accidents, if they did occur, wxre rare events. The re- 

 port is that this type of ball has been withdrawn from the 

 market. 



MILLER RUBBER CO.S NEW STOCK ISSUE. 



The Miller Rubber Co., of Akron, has recently issued new 7 

 per cent, cumulative preferred stock to the amount of $500,000, 

 of which $400,000 is said to have been purchased by brokers in 

 Cleveland, this being the total amount of preferred stock out- 

 standing. The common stock outstanding amounts to $1,000,000. 

 The new issue is redeemable at 120, and restrictions are provided 

 that no mortgage or other lien nor any new issue with prior or 

 etjual rights shall be effected without the consent of 80 per cent. 

 of the outstanding preferred stock ; w-hile a sinking fund pro- 

 vides for the retiring of $25,000 par value annually. The total 

 tangible assets of the company, after deducting all debts, are 

 said to be $1,654,000. 



