246 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[April i, 1910. 



disease amongst immigrant coolies greatly affects the health and 

 efficiency of our labor force" ; and the importance of good sani- 

 tation is urged in the report upon all employers of labor. — The 

 Editor.] 



The fourteenth show of the Manchester and District Motor 

 Trades Association was held in the City Hall, February 18-26. 

 tires at the 1 ' 1C ven ue is a new one contiguous to 



Manchester Deansgate, where so many of the motor 



motor show. an d tj re companies have their show 



rooms. In many of these establishments the electric light was 

 kept on until 10 p. M. for the benefit of visitors to the show, and 

 in s< .me cases the firms advertised that they were not exhibiting 

 at the show, but that visitors could call and use their goods on 

 the way. In the hall one missed a good many tire exhibitions of 

 former years, such as the North British, Moseley's and Dunlop. 

 Quite the most imposing stand was that of the Polack Tyre and 

 Rubber Co., Limited, of Thuringia and London. In addition to 

 the well known tires, large diameter flexible metallic tubing was 

 prominent ; also, fire brigade hose of various kinds. Their new 

 oil proof jointing, called "granit," was to be had in small pieces 

 gratis. The Polack "'Surprise" solid tires for commercial 

 vehicles are now supplied for vehicles up to 12 tons, the same 

 being the case with the "Hercules" tire shown by the Dook- 

 Swain Tire Co., and the Challiner tire prominent on the stand 

 of the Shrewsbury & Challiner Tyre Co., Limited. This degree 

 of strength is considerably above what one saw in these shows 

 only a few years ago. Xo wonder the demand for rubber is in- 

 creasing with tires 11 inches in cross section. Messrs. Charles 

 Macintosh & Co., Limited, made a special feature at their stand 

 of their new patent tire protector, which is stated to save 33^ 

 per cent, of one's tire bill. The protector takes the form of a 

 supplementary canvas tube, with a circumferential split forming 

 an open overlapping joint. This tube is placed between the inner 

 tube and the outer cover, its effect being to very greatly mini- 

 mize the ordinary disastrous results of a cut or burst in the 

 cover. At the Shrewsbury & Challiner stand was exhibited the 

 "R. R. H." wheel, which is guaranteed as an absolutely non- 

 puncturable pneumatic wheel. The adage "Wheels within 

 wheels" is quoted in this case with truthfulness, for the inven- 

 tion consists, put in the briefest possible manner, of a pneumatic 

 tired wheel within a solid tired wheel. The wheel looks rather 

 cumbrous, and no doubt it is somewhat expensive, but it has been 

 proved on the road that the combination of the advantages 

 peculiar t<> pneumatic and solid tires give exceedingly satisfac- 

 tory results. 



As I am reporting a Manchester show it will not be out of 

 place to refer somewhat at length to the further exhibits of the 

 Shrewsbury & Challiner Tyre Co.. Limited, whose headquarters 

 are at Vrdwick green, Manchester. They had a complete range 

 it" and "World" tires, suitable for all classes 

 of vehicles weighing from 10 cwt. to [2 I ns. The "World" tire 

 is characti i having a double- wearing tread on a single 



foundation, which form has a decided advantage over the case 

 of twi wheel, where any separate strain 



borne bj one of the treads is transmitted to the foundation and 

 may ri- to a fracture. The foundation of the 



gle tire, it follows that any 

 such strains are mi ibuted. The firm's patent de- 



tachable 11 ,1, also in evidenci ; this. I under- 



stand, ha'. 1 d specially valuable for 1 , as it 



rses with the use of a hydr; ^, thus enabling the 



fitting to be done by an ordinary workman. In a new type of 

 wheel which was exhibited, the girders are of II section 

 with welded joints, comparative lightness combined with strength 

 minent features. \ f u ]l range of pneumatic tires was 

 to be seen, comprising plain, steel studded, square and cross- 

 grooved types, and the motorist, whatever his idiosyncrasies, 

 could hardly fail to satisfy his fancy. 



The article 1 n tin- subject in the February India Rtprer 



THE MEW 



MALAYSIAN 



RUBBER. 



World (page 701) is of more than ordinary interest. The 

 marketing of the small rubber content 

 of Pontianak gum (gutta-jelutong), as 

 known to commerce heretofore, has been 

 proposed several times in England, and in at least one case plant 

 on a large scale has been erected for the purpose of extracting 

 the resin by volatile solvents. This venture, however, was not a 

 financial success, both from the quality of rubber produced and 

 on account of the loss of the solvent, a good deal of which 

 escaped the condensing plant. Then, of course, the raw Pontia- 

 nak had to be bought at British prices, with varying contents 

 of water, some of it losing 70 per cent, in washing, though with 

 the best only 30 per cent. On the dry material I have found the 

 rubber to run from 18 to 25 per cent. Possibly improved 

 methods of collection and coagulation may yield a product of 

 higher rubber content, thus minimizing the work of resin re- 

 moval which I presume is the process to be carried out, though 

 no details on the point are given in the article. The rubber is 

 certainly of good enough quality, and there will be no difficulty 

 about a market for it. It only remains to be seen whether the 

 new American company operating in Borneo can control the 

 ivi >rking cost so as to make the venture a success. Of course, 

 this might be possible at present rubber prices, but difficult of 

 achievement if a considerable fall took place. I take it that this 

 is the case with Mexican guayule, which seems to be going on all 

 right now, but which was difficult to deal with at the time of the 

 last slump in rubber. The Dyera rubber is now on offer to 

 British rubber manufacturers, and samples I have seen are satis- 

 factory enough to all outward appearances. Some little hind- 

 rance to business has, however, I understand, arisen owing to the 

 different ideas as to price prevailing between buyer and seller, 

 and it is possible that the price at present being asked .for the 

 rubber will be somewhat reduced in order to facilitate business. 

 I don't know what designation for the new rubber will be 

 adopted uniformly by the trade. "Extracted rubber" is the name 

 by which it seems to be known to our manufacturers. 



EDITORIAL COMMENT. 



Our correspondent evidently has overlooked the detail out- 

 lined already in these pages that whatever rubber content may 

 exist naturally in the latex of Dycra costulata has been well-nigh 

 neutralized by the general employment, in the native practice, 

 of kerosene as a coagulant, and that upon the employment of 

 new agents is based the hope of the new company of being able 

 to market Pontianak gum at very many times the hitherto current 

 price of s or 6 cents a pound. The new method of coagulation 

 remains a secret, but the fact that the ablest chemists in America, 

 and capitalists of the highest standing, have given their approval 

 to the new undertaking, at Goebilt, Sarawak — where two years 

 ago onlj jungle land existed — seems to justify the prominence 

 tha^ has been given to the subject by this journal. As to guayule 

 rubber, to which our correspondent alludes, its merit was ap- 

 preciated In American manufacturers at least 30 years before 

 the material appeared to an important extent in this market. It 

 was only when a $30,000,000 company took in hand the produc 

 tion of guayule rubber that it came into general use. Profiting 

 by this experience the promoters of the new Malaysian rubbei 

 enterprise have not entered the field without ample financial re- 

 sources. Of course it remains to be seen what results will fol- 

 low the new enterprise in Borneo. And. by the way, it remains 

 for time to fix a permanent designation of the new rubber. It is 

 safe to predict, however, that the producers will not favor "Ex 

 tracted rubber," since all real rubber is "extracted" from trees. 



The government rubber plantations in Burma, at Mergui, 1.500 

 acres in extent, is reported to be paying its way, and is expected 

 to make a handsome profit later on. Among the difficulties of 

 rubber growing in Burma, it is reported that deer are in the 

 habit of drinking the latex when they can get at it. 



