SEETEifBER 1, 1914.1 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



67; 



The India Rubber Trade in Great Britain, 



By Our Regular Correspondent. 



run TRADK AND THE WAR. 



THE aLiiuirmal and unprecedented conditions now prevail- 

 ing impose a certain degree of reticence upon trade 

 journali,st5. Jt is permissible, however, to touch upon 

 certain maucrs in a general way, especially as publication 

 takes place in a trieiujly state. Ordinary 'trade is, of course, 

 much disorganized by the trend of events, while, as far as 

 the rubber manufacturers are concerned, it goes without say- 

 ing that those departments of the works which turn out 

 naval and military requirements are working at high pressure 

 to' deliver goods on contract, but which in the ordinary 

 course would not have been wanted for some time. This 

 applies not only to direct government deliveries, but also 

 to the business done with the naval ■construction yards, etc. 

 Owing to the prolonged closing of the stock exchanges in 

 London and the provinces, business in rubber plantation 

 shares has practically ceased and such qucitations as are 

 obtainable are merely nominal. 



' Among the manufactured goods which it is forbidden to 

 export at the present time are rubber bandages and other 

 hospital requisites. No doubt the saline order has been issued 

 with regard to the continental belligerent countries, and pos- 

 sibly the resources of American manufacturers may be requi- 

 sitioned in Europe to a much greater extent than has previ- 

 ously been the case. The high price of petroleum and the 

 general desire to avoid expenditure on luxuries, is causing a 

 large reduction in motoring, though the taking over by the 

 war office of numbers of motor vehicles, more especially of 

 the transport type, should keep up the demand for tires to 

 the exclusion of certain well known makes which need not 

 be particularized. Few rubber goods have their country of 

 origin so clcai-ly marked as have motor tires, a fact which 

 has led to trouble for travelers on the continent. 



CONVEYOR BELTS. 

 With respect to the mechanical rubber trade, the greatest 

 increase as regards individual products in the near future 

 will, I imagine, be in conveyor belts. Although long used 

 in America in connection with the loading and unloading of 

 bulk cargoes, such as coal and iron ores, they arc of quite 

 recent introduction to British ports for this purpose. In 

 the loading of vessels with coal in the north of England 

 it has been customary to tip each wagon of a team load 

 into the vessel; now, however, the plan is being adopted of 

 discharging the train loads into large storage bins, from 

 whence the coal is shipped as required by continuously mov- 

 ing conveyor belts. In this way economies are effected of 

 considerable importance to shipping and railway interests. 

 Large belts have been installed recently by some of the 

 railway companies, and it is expected that many important 

 orders will shortly be placed. Ordinarj' widths of rubber 

 conveyor belting are 36 inches, 42 inches and 48 inches. 



THE I.IMPI.EY STAKE WORKS. 

 The interesting history of this small works as a nursery 

 for rubber trade developments has entered upon another 

 chapter, as one of the latest rubber tires is now being made 

 there, about which I hope to say more on a future occasion. 

 Originally a saw mill, the premises, which are situated near Bath, 

 in the west of England, were the first home of the Avon 

 Rubber Co., now located in much more commodious build- 

 ings at Melksham, a few miles away. Later on Messrs. 

 W'alling^ton and Weston developed their tire business there, 

 before moving into larger premises near Trowbridge. Sub- 



seiiuontly Mr. MacLulich took the preniises to work the 

 Sirdar tire patent, moving after a year or two to an old 

 woollen mill at Bradford-on-Avon, opposite to which, on the 

 other side of the river, are the works of Spencer, Moulton & 

 Co., so long known in the railway buffer trade and now for 

 their solid tires. 



This western district in which the rubber trade is now 

 well established was formerly noted for woollen manufac- 

 ture, its decay dating from the introduction of this industry 

 into the large Yorkshire towns. Contiguity to the port of 

 Bristol and cheap labor are favorable conditions, the cottages 

 occupied by the worlcmen being naturally in more salubrious 

 surroundings than are prevalent in the large rnahufacturing 

 towns. 



RUBIIER MACHINISTS. 



It is a noteworthy fact that, while the number of rubber 

 manufacturers in Great Britain of any real importance has 

 remained stationary, a considerable increase has taken place 

 in the ranks of rubber machinery manufacturers. To some 

 extent the large increase in the use of rubber by firms mak- 

 ing a specialty of tire production maj' be an explanation, 

 but the main reason may be attributed to the plantation 

 industry. The demand for British made washing rolls from 

 the Far East has been large, orders coming not for one of 

 two but for twenty at a time. It may be said that the re- 

 quirements of the plantations having been satisfied orders 

 from this source will cease. Quite an optimistic opinion pre- 

 vails, however, among the machinists on this point, as they 

 say the next moye will be to replace the small rolls now in 

 use by others of larger size. 



PA\EA SYNTHETIC RUBBER. 

 The latest about this is that work has been stopped at the 

 llandforth plant, although a good deal of machinery has 

 been installed. It is said that some difficulty has arisen 

 in carrying out the process and that at the moment rubber 

 equal to the samples sent out to the trade cannot be made. 

 I give this statement for what it is worth. At any rate, the 

 manufacturers are still waiting for their bulk samples, which 

 arc overdue. The works have been taken on a five-year lease 

 at a rental of £3.000 a year. 



PERSONAL. 

 Mr. George Price, formerly of tlie St. Helens Rubber 

 Works and the Gorton Rubber Co., has been appointed as- 

 sistant works manager at the Xorthern Rubber Co., Retford. 

 Mr. Scott retains his old post of proofing manager. 



ENGLISH PROSPECTS OF SOLID RUBBER TIRES. 



A writer in the London "Times" reinrrks tiiat the increased 

 production of rubber has given us tires suitable for all classes of 

 commercial vehicles at a cost which will permit of their econom- 

 ical use even for light traction engines. The Pickfords and 

 other carriers have recently made some very satisfactory experi- 

 ments, proving the great durability of solid tires on light ma- 

 chines, some of these tires showing a mileage of several thousand 

 miles. 



Britisli imports of automobile tires for the first six months 

 of 1914 reached a value of il,264,S0S, against a total for the same 

 period of 1913 of il,308,288. Exports for this period amounted 

 to i298,652, against i39S,98S for the first six months of 1913. 



