284 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[March 1, 1914. 



LECTURE ON RUBBER BY DR. E. MARCKWALD. 



UPON the invitation of the Merchants' Guild of Berlin, Dr. IC 

 Marckwaid, the wtll known expert, delivered a lecture on 

 rubber which has been reprinted. Owing to the fact of the lec- 

 turer being co-proprietor of the Henricjues Laboratory and of 

 the Rubber Central Bureau for the German Colonies, he had 

 special facilities for handling the comprehensive subject of "Rub- 

 ber, Its E.xtraction, Industrial Importance and Manufacture," 

 which formed the title of his address. 



Speaking, as he did, before a non-professional audience, it was 

 natural that he should touch on many points with which rubber 

 men are already familiar. Thus his references to the history 

 and technology of rubber dealt with many known facts, such as 

 Goodyear's discovery of the principle of vulcanization, and tlie 

 subsequent investigations of Parkes as to the cold process. In 

 the opinion of the lecturer there was no further event of impor- 

 tance in the technical history of rubber, until the production 

 some years ago of the synthetic article. 



In dealing with the various sources of rubber, he remarked 

 that it is found in the gigantic trees of the primeval tropical 

 forests of South America, Africa and Asia, while in the two last 

 named continents it likewise exists in vines. It is, moreover, 

 furnished by the ligneous shrubs of Mexico, and by the mistle- 

 toe trees of Venezuela. He added that it was perhaps reserved 

 for the near future to witness the extraction of the milk from 

 a number of trees and shrubs on the steppes of German East 

 Africa and Natal. In all. there are today distinguished more 

 than a hundred species of plants yielding rubber, and count- 

 less varieties of the same. 



The proportion of rubber in the latex varies considerably ; 

 the best Hevea containing about 42 per cent, and Castilloa 30 

 per cent. Dr. Marckwald's own investigations showed that the 

 Kickxia latex of German East Africa yielded about 30 per cent, 

 and that of the Manihot as low as 20 per cent. The coagulates 

 of the various Eiiphorbium latices of German East .Africa were 

 found to contain S to 8 per cent, of rubber. 



Rubber gathering in South America was fully described, the 

 opinion being expressed that there is a large quantity of rubber 

 m the relatively unexplored territory of the river Acre. Mexico 

 has only acquired importance as a rubber country since 1902, 

 when the first samples of guayule rubber were sent to Germany. 

 It was at first supposed to be impossible to vulcanize this article, 

 but experiments having demonstrated that process to be feasible, 

 guayule rubber was soon taken up by the industry, being used in 

 compounds by practically every factory. Exports of the article 

 from Mexico rose to 5,000 tons in 1907 and to 10,000 tons in 

 1910. In 1912 they had receded to 7,000 tons. The revolution- 

 ary troubles have materially impeded the transport of the shrub 

 to the factories. 



The history of the Eastern Asiatic plantations was then dealt 

 with, from the time of their establishment in 1876 with the Bra- 

 zilian seeds obtained by Mr. Wickham. The areas at present un- 

 der rubber are estimated as being: Ceylon, 138,000 acres; Ma- 

 laya, 700.000 acres. With the anticipated increase of yield as the 

 trees reach maturity, the lecturer estimated the production of 

 plantation rubber as: 1916, 110,000 tons; 1920, 200,000 tons. 



In considering this question he referred to the enormous divi- 

 dends paid by the English companies, which amounted in the 

 years 1909, 1910 and 1911 in various cases to totals of 937'^, 700, 

 596J4 and 510 per cent. He urged the investment of German capi- 

 tal in such a profitable venture as the cultivation of rubber. 



GERMAN COLONIES. 

 Perhaps the most interesting feature of Dr. Marckwald's lec- 

 ture was his detailed reference to the German colonies, all of 

 which with the exception of South West Africa, are interested 

 in rubber, either at present or prospectively. The colonies which 

 are thus interested are : East .Africa. Kamerun, Togo, New 



Guinea, Samoa and the islands of the South Sea. The total area 

 under rubber in the German colonies is about 112,500 acres, with 

 about -to million trees. Of these totals 82,500 acres and 27 mil- 

 lion trees belong to East Africa, which thus has over five- 

 eighths of the entire rubber acreage. As the total cultivated 

 area of German East -Africa is about 200,000 acres, the propor- 

 tion of 82,500 acres under rubl)er indicates its value as a factor 

 in the development of the colony. 



The lecturer expressed his opinion that the future of German 

 East African rubber cultivation was threatened by a number of 

 defects m extraction and preparation, caused by want of knowl- 

 edge rather than by any fault of the planters themselves. He 

 urged the need of German East Africa bringing on the world's 

 markets cheaper and better products of uniform quality; also 

 referring to the lack of support he had encountered when en- 

 deavoring to bring out the tnuh about conditions there. 



M.\NII1(IT RUBBER. 

 Manihot rubber, he remarked, will always be the chief rubber 

 product of German East Africa, and if rightly prepared is of ex- 

 cellent quality. It has not been sufficiently appreciated by manu- 

 facturers and when tested for friction and elongation it has 

 been found, in the speaker's opinion, equal to the best Brazilian 

 Para. 



CONSOLIDATION OF PLANTERS' INTERESTS. 

 Dr. Marckwaid had experienced much opposition in his efforts 

 lo establish a community of interests between planters and plant- 

 ers' associations. He consequently advised the restriction of 

 new capital investments until German East Africa had placed on 

 the market a uniform and rightly prepared first-class standard 

 quality. 



OTHER GERMAN COLONIES. 

 According to the lecturer's statement, conditions in the other 

 German colonies are more favorable than in German East Africa. 

 In Togo plantation culture is fairly well developed by reason of 

 the favorable labor conditions. The situation in New Guinea 

 is relatively satisfactory. Ficus and Castilloa are cultivated in 

 Kamerun in small quantity; Kickxia and (during the last few 

 years) Hevea Brasitiensis having been added. Prospects for the 

 latter in Kamerun are good, it having been successful in other 

 parts of West Africa. Seeing the advantageous climatic condi- 

 tions, the lecturer expressed surprise that the cultivation of 

 Hevea had not been taken up at an earlier date in Kamerun. 



MANUFACTURING, RECLAIMING AND SYNTHETIC RUBBER. 



The various processes of manufacture were touched upon, the 

 lecturer giving a general description of the salient features of 

 each. 



Dealing with the subject of reclaimed rubber, he explained 

 that the principle consisted in the removal as far as possible of 

 the filling material and the free sulphur, thereby making the 

 rubber plastic and fit for use again. The reclaiming industry 

 started about the same time as rubber manufacture, attaining 

 importance only within the last 40 years in America and England, 

 and much later in Germany. It is today of immense extent. 



Synthetic rubber the lecturer characterized as a triumph of 

 German science, the technical solution of the manufacture of 

 which may be confidently looked for from the untiring work of 

 German chemists. 



DISSOLtrTION OF GERMAU BENZtNE TKTTST. 



The dissolution has been announced of the German Union 

 Benzine Works, which has hitherto been acting as the selling 

 agency of the Steaua Romana and the Asiatic Petroleum Co., 

 the agreement between the two last named companies having 

 lately come to a close. From the beginning of 1914 the selling 

 agency is in the hands of the three German works of the Asiatic 

 Petroleum Co. at Diisseldorf, Ratisbon and Wilhelmslnirg. 



