THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



! < >< roBER i. 1909. 



Brazil at once." The Times heads an article "Rubber Prices 

 Still Soar." ["he sides mes's rubber editor must be 



still sore from laughing ovei how he has outdistanced all 

 rs in sizing up the rubber market situation. 



The mscoveri 01 hi ' Poli has given risi to 1 contro 



between rival explorers as i" their respective honors in 

 the matter, .ill of which is outside the scope "f ["he India Ri b 

 World li ma; be permitted, however, to express satisfac 

 tion that the m 'bus brought to the knowledge of the 



world can hardly be utilized by the professional rubber-planting 

 prbmi field for mapping out new plantatii 



That ver' 1 cellent and 1 -1 ■■.! 1 \ vcci rate magazine, The 

 Automobile, ui mber id, not only skids badlj 



but completely turns turtle when it comes to a description of the 

 preparation, of rubbei F01 tii manufacture, ^fter a preliminary, 

 in wl fs that the proi ol a long one, or compli- 



cated, it goes on: "The crude rubber is cleaned, sulphur added 

 -Hid then baked into a unit by the application of heat. The 

 cleaning process is called curing and it is in this part that the 

 ilu truth is, the cleaning process 1- called wash- 

 ing; thi ■ ■■ process is called baking or vulcanizing. In the 

 process of curing by he; ed 



I v the past the oxidized oils, the cheaper gums, the asphalts 

 and earth waxes ha\ it use in rubber compounding 



re rubber is used with either a fabric insertion or backing, 

 which precludes stretch, but leaves plasticity, they have all been 

 useful in displacing a certain amount of crude rubber. So much 

 been done in adopting various plastics to rubber compound- 

 ing that one wonder- it' much more cannot be accomplished. 

 Suppose, fot example, cellulose could he produced in such 

 form that it would make a cheap, strong, lasting friction, what 

 a wide use it would find and what a lot of rubber ii would dis- 

 With crude rubber higher than before* is not some such 

 product about d 



SUCCESSFUL RUBBER PAVEMENT. 



Jl'S I I 1 wonderful lasting qualitj of india-rubber in 



pavements, it is interesting to noti a Scottish instance. 

 Thirty years ago the North British Rubber Co., Limited, paved 

 the whole sidewalk 111 front of their warehouse on Prino • street, 

 Edinburgh, a very busy thoroughfare, with rubber. The walk 

 was u feet widi and thi -lore front 50 feet. About a month 

 ago, to carry out their agreement with the city, as they were 

 vacating the- premises, the rubber pavement was removed and 

 regular city pavement substituted, Careful examination of the 

 rubber failed to detect the slightest sign of wear. The surface 

 was no where oxidized and it seemed to be absolutely unaffected 

 by the elements or by the millions who bad passed over it. 



THE FIRST ATLANTIC CABLE. 

 T'HE celebration of the centennial of the laying of the 



1 Atlantic cable of 1858 was the occasion of .1 papei ol 

 -oine length on thi- subject, in The Electrical World 

 1 August 22, 1908), by Mr. William Mayer, Jr.. which has 

 lately drawn a lettei of criticism from Mr. Charles Bright, 

 To the latter Mr. Mayer makes reply in The Electrical 

 World (August tq. 1909), in an article filling more than four 

 pages. It does not appear that the two distinguished con- 

 tributors named hav< don. anything to settle the question 

 whether England or America is entitled to greater ere. lit 

 for the first accomplishment of transatlantic cable laying. 

 In other words. Mr. Mayer, the American, and Mr. Bright, 

 the Britisher, has each convinced himself on this point, and 



not each other. The controversy is hardly one for review- 

 in these columns, but Mr. Mayer's last paper is of special 



interest from bis liberal quotations from an important | 



en -eeii in iwad.iv - 



"Report of The Joint Committee appointed by the Lords 

 of the Committee of Privy Council for Trade and the At- 

 lantic Telegraph Company to inquin into 'In Construction 

 of Submarine Cables; together with the Minutes of Evid 

 and Appendix. Presented to both Hou P rliament by 



command of Her Majesty. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 

 Printers to Her Majesty's Stationery Office. [861, [] 

 I ol Pp. xi. iv 519 ■ plates.]" 



WHITING FOUND IN MEXICO. 



' I ' 1 1 1: discover} 1- reported of an important deposit of 

 •*• whiting, in the Mexican state of Canipecbe. Tin story 

 is that it was found while a well was being drilled on 

 a henequen (sisal) plantation on the Champion Ri 

 miles above the town of Champton. For developing this 

 discovery the International Whiting and Fibre Co has been 

 incorporated, at Mobile. Alabama, with $000,000 capital \V. 

 II. Bell, of Yicksburg. Mississippi, is president, and J. T. 

 Burke, of Mobile, vice-president. A refining plant has been 

 established at Mobile, at a cost of $10,000. The India k 

 World is advised : 



"From expert tests, we have the best whiting for the COm- 

 po nan of rubber that has ever been used, as its extreme 

 natural fineness and silkiness gives it a density that other 

 similar articles on the market are unequal to. < >ur deposit 

 contains an approximate amount of 2.000.000 tons, 

 accessibli to good and easy transportation." 



Mr. Bell is quoted by The Mexican Herald as saying: "The 

 product differs from the English whiting in that it 1- found 

 on our property in a decomposed state and is almost lit for 

 its. at the time it is taken from the ground. The I'm 

 product is found in the form of a very hard bun -ton,, and 

 thus the cost of refining and treating it is far more than 

 will be the cost accruing to our work." 



The United States, during the fiscal year 1906-07; ii ported 

 [,858,339 pounds of whiting and Paris white', mainly from 

 England and France. The duty was '., cent per pound, which 

 rate is maintained under the new Tariff act. 



RUBBER FACTORIES IN AUSTRALIA. 



THllli Barnet Class Rubber Co., Limited, of Melbourne, lave 

 ■I erected new and larger buildings, t" enable them to 

 handle conveniently their growing trade. The new premises, 

 situated in Swan-ton street, Melbourne, have been laid out 

 in the most modern style. The firm referred to were the 

 pioneer rubber manufacturers in Australia. As B. Glass & 

 Son they had been interested in the india-rubber trade for 

 twenty years, including tin manufacture of mackintoshes 

 from imported materials, when some ten years ago | mt 

 The India Rubber Won i>. December 1. 1809 — page 80] 

 they opened a factory for proofing cloth and for making 

 \. 11 ions lines of rubber goods, including bicycle tires. The 

 company to-day are making tires of their own. in addition 

 to which th.y are agents for the Michelin tires. Then are 

 now two rubber manufacturing companies in Australia, the 

 Dunlop company having entered the field a little later. 



Figures are not available showing the imports of crude 

 rubber into Australia, but these details may be of interest. _ 

 Exports from Great Britain to Australia for live years have 

 been : 



Years 1904 1005 1006 1907 1908 



Tounds 394.688 341,488 616.448 681,184 706,832 



t eylon exported direct to Vustralia in 1908 over .^9.000 

 pounds of home-grown rubber. 



