21 N i 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



| M VRCH I, I9IO. 



GUTTA 

 JELTJT0NG. 



The brief description which is given of the process of manufac- 

 ture at the Ardwick works contains nothing of nevelty, as men- 

 tion of the vulcanization was omitted as being a trade secret 

 Rubber gloves and gauntlets have of course long been generally 

 made in rubber works for surgical and electrical uses, but the 



increasing usi lectrical currents of high voltage has brought 



the rubber glove into increased demand and prominence. Work, 

 therefore, such as that described in the paper done with a view 

 to the manufacture of goods of the highest reliability is of great 

 interest and importance. 



It cannot be said that the demand for this pseudo rubber 

 grows apace in England, and the United States has apparently 

 no need to apprehend any diminution in 

 their supply by reason of British pur- 

 chases. There are, however, many 

 users of the material, and the present price of £iH per ton, 

 coupled with the scarcity of supplies, has caused some com- 

 ment and grumbling. Presumbly, however, the price has risen 

 in sympathy with rubber brands generally. The quality of 

 what is on offer continues to show wide variations, though this 

 mainly in the water contents. The best quality loses no more 

 than 30 per cent, on washing and sheeting, while other brands 

 lose as much as 50 or 60 per cent. Moreover, the price is by- 

 no means in any direct ratio to the amount of water present. 

 No doubt this sort of material, as in the case of Borneo rubber, 

 keeps better in the web condition, oxidation being thus to a 

 large extent prevented. Indeed, I can testify to a superior pro- 

 duct being obtained on washing out a jelutong with 60 per cent, 

 loss than in the case of some of much less loss. Still this cer- 

 tainly seems one of those few cases in the raw rubber market 

 where chemical analysis might be profitably employed to a 

 greater extent by purchasers. 



The Editor of The India Rubber World has not allowed him- 

 self to be so carried away by sentiment as to transgress the nil 

 nisi bonum in his obituary notice of the 

 •■red rubber." late King of the Belgians. Much the 



same may be said of the more prominent 

 British papers. In many of our papers, however, and papers 

 moreover of good standing, there have appeared notices of very 

 scathing character in which the well-worn adage was utterly 

 disregarded. Congo rubber, however, was by no means the 

 only topic with which these flaming obituary notices were con- 

 cerned. I was glad to see that The India Rubber World has 

 republished a good deal of what Mr. Labouchere has written 

 about the Peruvian rubber atrocities. His indictment is terrible 

 enough to read, and I trust that the accused will not be allowed 

 to get out of it by mere statements that the witnesses were actu- 

 ated by spite. I understand that the matter will be brought up 

 again in Parliament when the House assembles. Mr. Labouchere, 

 by the way, is no longer an M.P., having several years ago relin- 

 quished the representation of Northampton owing to advancing 

 years. 



I was sony to hear of the recent death of Mr. C. S. A. Col- 

 lyns, who for about 20 years had been connected with the 

 management of the Victoria Rubber 

 Co.'s at Edinburgh. The son of a West 

 of England clergyman, his introduc- 

 tion to the rubber trade occurred about 25 years ago, when he 

 was employed by Mr. Huth to carry out experiments in Ger- 

 ner's "H'eveenoid" process, in which camphor and gum kauri 

 were prominently associated. These experiments were carried 

 on at two Manchester factories and the general results proved to 

 be unsatisfactory. Mr. Collyns was of slight physique, and at 

 the time I knew hint a vegetarian, teetotaler, and non-smoker and. 

 as be used to say. was not altogether of the type of that rela- 

 tive of his who was author of the well-known work on "Hunt- 

 ing the Red Deer of Exmoor." There is a good deal of dif- 

 ference in the surroundings of Exmoor and Leith Walk, but 

 it is not the lot or privilege of every man to be able to choose 



PERSONAL 

 MENTION. 



WOOD- 

 MILNE. 



his own surroundings. 



Mr. William Coulter, having terminated his engagement at the 

 Hungarian Rubber Co., Budapest, has returned to England and 

 taken up a position at the Droyledon works of the Garten 

 Rubber Co., Limited. 



By way of elaborating what has been said in another column 

 recently about the new Wood-Milne works at Leyland, I may say 

 that about £40,000 is being spent on the 

 mill, and that it is not intended to 

 limit the manufacture as hitherto to 

 heel-pads. A general mechanical rubber business is to be car- 

 ried on, including, I understand, tires. The manager is Mr. 

 J. W. O. Walker, who has given up his managerial post at 

 Messrs. F. Reddway & Co., Limited, for the purpose. Mr. 

 Walker's earliest appointments were at the Dunlop Rubber Co.; 

 Messrs, McLellan & Co., of Glasgow, and many years back at 

 Charles Macintosh & Co's. On January 26 the large engine fly- 

 wheel burst at the Wood-Milne works. Fortunately no loss of 

 life resulted, though considerable damage was done. 



THE CANADIAN RUBBER INDUSTRY. 



A MONG the addresses in response to toasts at the dinner to 

 ** the directors of the United States Rubber Co., at the 

 Metropolitan Club, in New York, some time ago [see The India 

 Rubber World, December 1, 1909 — page 87], was one by Mr. D. 

 Lome McGibbon, president of the Canadian Consolidated Rubber 

 Co., Limited, on "Rubber and Canada." From a printed report 

 of the dinner, prepared for the guests at that dinner, the fol- 

 lowing extracts are made from Mr. McGibbon's address : 



"The rubber industry depends largely for its success on the 

 size and quality of the consuming market, and the climate of 

 that market. The industry in Canada today offers a field which, 

 to my mind, is unequaled in any other country. There are no 

 seven millions of people in the world who manufacture as many 

 lines of goods as the Canadians, and the ideals and ambitions 

 of the young Canadian carry him far beyond the boundaries of 

 his own land, to the day, in the near future, when he will com- 

 pete, and compete successfully, for the world's trade. The Can- 

 adian climate is peculiarly suited to the rubber industry. You 

 might naturally infer that disagreeable weather stimulates trade 

 in rubber, and that we have therefore disagreeable weather in 

 Canada. [Laughter.] On the contrary, I think we have the finest 

 climate in the world; [Laughter.] a long winter season, plenty of 

 snow and a bracing atmosphere, all of which compel people to 

 consider rubber footwear as much of a staple article as coal or 

 flour. 



"We have been handicapped in the past by the comparatively 

 small home market, but our western provinces and all our cities 

 are growing by leaps and bounds, and we are now kept busy all 

 the year round ; in fact, the immense strides being made in the 

 growth and development of Canada, and her growing importance 

 in the British empire, and among the nations of the world, have 

 brought the business men in Canada to believe that one of our 

 greatest problems is to keep pace with our growing population 

 and to make certain that the home supply is equal to the 

 demand." 



Italy was dependent, up to a short time ago, says a report to 

 the British foreign office, upon foreign markets, especially those 

 of Germany and France, for tires for motor cars and bicycles ; 

 now she exports tires to a considerable value, chiefly to Belgium. 

 The rubber tire manufacture in Italy, as is well known, is chiefly 

 in the hands of Pirelli & Co., of Milan. 



Guide Bridge Rubber Co. is the name of a new rubber manu- 

 facturing company, located at Asbton-under-Lyne, near Man- 

 chester. The production begins with heels and molded special- 

 ties. The proprietor is John Fellows, some time manager of 

 Broadhurst & Co. and later of the Unity Rubber Co. 



