December i, 1909.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



77 



to take a leap forward as soon as the supplies increase and 

 the market settles down to its normal state." 



The entrance of plantation rubber upon the Antwerp market 

 is due to the importance of the investments of Belgian capital in 

 Malaysian plantations, the products of which as naturally find 

 their way to Antwerp as British grown rubber to London. At 

 the November Antwerp auction 36 tons of Malaysian rubber 

 was offered. 



But as has been seen, not even London attracts plantation 

 rubber from Ceyli n when it is to the interest of planters or 

 merchants there to ship direct to America, as is now being 

 done extensively. The Ceylon papers print regularly details 

 of shipments of rubber direct to New York, and it does not 

 appear improbable that before many years large estates in the 

 Far East will be selling rubber direct to consumers, in what- 

 ever country they may be found, without reference to London. 



And now comes Mr. W. Shakespeare, one of the Ceylon com- 

 missioners to the London Rubber Exhibition, who says in The 

 Times of Ceylon that "there is every probability of the estab- 

 lishment of a plantation rubber auction" in Liverpool, in oppo- 

 sition to that in London. The freight from Colombo to Liver- 

 pool is the same as to London. 



MOKE FORWARD SALES. 



The Periyan Rubber Co., Limited, of Ceylon, have contracted 

 for the sale of their 1910 crop up to 50,000 pounds, for Colombo 

 delivery at 5.40 rupees[=$i./5.2] per pound. The estimated 

 crop for this year, which is not being sold on contract, is 32,500 

 pounds; next year's crop is expected to reach 100,000 pounds. 

 No dividend has been paid yet, but in view of the facts here 

 stated the company's 100 rupee shares lately were being quoted 

 at 530, with sales at that price. 



The Grand Central Rubber Co., Limited, have ?old their sec- 

 ond grade crop of 1910 to a local house at 4.50 rupees [=$1.46]. 



The Uva Rubber Co., Limited, of Ceylon, have contracted for 

 the sale of their 1910 crop of best biscuit, or sheet rubber, 

 Colombo delivery, up to 10,000 pounds, at 5.05 rupees [=$1.63.8]. 



Mention is made of a sale of rubber at Colombo on Septem- 

 ber 20 at 6.10 rupees [=$1.98]. The Times of Ceylon (September 

 30) said : "Locally, there is a very strong demand for rubber in 

 small parcels or large. No 191 1 crops have as yet been sold, 

 but this development is soon expected." 



The Klanang Produce Co., Limited, are reported from London 

 to have sold their 1910 crop of sheet rubber at 7s. Sd. [=$1.86.5] 

 and crepe at ys. [=$1.70.2] — the highest figures for forward 

 sales yet quoted. 



WHAT "SYNTHETIC" RUBBER LACKS. 



stitutes hitherto discovered meet these requirements to any great 

 extent." 



A RECENT issue of The Financier (London) contains a 

 *■ communication from which this pointed extract is made : 



"I venture to think that people who talk so glibly about the 

 danger to the rubber- growing industry, owing to the fears of a 

 'synthetic' rubber being discovered which will compete with the 

 natural product, have overlooked several important points in 

 connection with rubber which do not apply to other articles that 

 have been imitated successfully by chemists. In the case of 

 indigo, for instance, that was merely a dye, and it was only the 

 color which the indigo plant gave which rendered it so valuable, 

 until a substitute was discovered. I have talked this matter over 

 with two leading analytical chemists of large experience, and 

 they both agree, that, while it is possible to imitate chemically 

 almost any natural substance that is known, yet that, in regard 

 to rubber (even if the cost were not prohibitive), there are 

 mechanical qualities essential to the successful imitation which 

 cannot be put in artificially, and are only the result of nature's 

 growth. Rubber, to be a commercial success, requires tensile 

 strength, resiliency, elasticity and durability; it is the combina- 

 tion of these qualities which makes rubber so important in the 

 manufacturing world. So far, I understand, none of the suh- 



THE VISCOSITY OF INDIA-RUBBER. 



BY PHILI1' SCH1DROWITZ, PH.D.. F.C.S. 



IN January of this year I published, in collaboration with Mr. 

 H. A. Goldsborough, a paper under the heading "The Vis- 

 cosity of India-Rubber and India-Rubber Solutions" in the 

 Journal of the Society of Chemical Industry. The paper had 

 special reference to the bearing of viscosity of india-rubber 

 solutions on the strength of "nerve" of rubber. Since this 

 paper appeared we have carried out a further extensive series 

 of experiments, full details of which will be published later on, 

 but the subject is of such practical importance to the producer 

 of raw rubber and to the manufacturer, that I may be excused 

 for stating briefly the general trend of the further results 

 obtained. 



In the first place, I may say that the opinions which I expressed 

 regarding the probable practical aspect of testing raw rubber 

 by the viscosity method has been amply confirmed, and the 

 application of the viscosity test in the commercial examination 

 of crude rubbers has become a matter of everyday occurrence 

 in my laboratory. I have no longer the slightest doubt that this 

 method is practicable in its application and practical in its bear- 

 ing. In regard to most crude rubbers, and particularly in regard 

 to the new varieties or forms which are constantly appearing on 

 the market, it is in my opinion the only method which enables 

 one rapidly to ascertain the relative strength or "nerve" of the 

 samples. This is obviously a matter of importance to the mid- 

 dleman or to the manufacturer, who has either not the facilities 

 or not the time to carry out satisfactory vulcanization experi- 

 ments. 



Again we have found the method to be of considerable prac- 

 tical value where there is a question of differentiating between 

 various methods of coagulation in the case of the raw product, 

 and of selecting the most suitable method. Here again the vis 

 cosity method is the only one which permits of a rapid and prac- 

 tical estimate of nerve. In cases where such determinations can 

 be amplified by vulcanization experiments, so much the better, 

 but in the majority of cases arising in practice I have found that 

 this is out of the question. Again I have found that the test 

 is useful to indicate how washed or crude rubber in stock is be- 

 having, i. e., whether it is improving or deteriorating. The 

 method should, I think, also be of aid to the producer of raw 

 rubber for the purpose of controlling his manufacture. 



There appears to be a distinct variation between different 

 species of rubbers as regards their viscosities; for instance, 

 whereas we obtain from the finest Brazilian specimens of Hevea 

 viscosities not ranging higher than 14,000, clean African Funtu- 

 mia, if properly prepared, will range as high as 20,000. It is possi- 

 ble that the reason for this is that as Harries has suggested, the 

 actual rubber molecule is different in different species. For the 

 present I think it is advisable in regard to judging crude rubber 

 by the viscosity method from the point of view of ascertaining 

 the strength of the final vulcanized product, to compare only 

 varieties of the same species and not different species with one 

 another, although even as between species and species it will 

 probably hold good, broadly speaking, that rubbers showing high 

 viscosities will give stronger goods than those which give lower 

 viscosities. In addition, I should like to point out that the vis- 

 cosity numbers given in the first paper on this subject (see 

 above) are, for reasons already indicated there, too low. 

 Roughly speaking, I expect for good Brazilian Hevea a viscosity 

 of 10,000 to 12,000; plantation Heveas range from 4,000 up to 

 about 11,000; good class Futumia will give from 15,000 to 

 20,000. Further details regarding the matters referred to in 

 this brief note will be published later on. 



London, October 29, 190Q. 



