352 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[July i, 19*0. 



410,047 (Dec. 6). Chaulange. Elastic tire. 



410.108 (Dec. 7). R. Beien. Elastic tire. 



410,086 (Dec. 6). B. C. Swinehart. Device for holding rubber tires on 

 wheels. 



410.109 (Dec. 7). Same. Elastic tire. 



410,124 (Dec. 7). A. Loiscleur. Fastening for tire air tubes. 



410,202 (Dec. 10). E. Janik. Elastic tire. 



410,274 (Nov. 16). E. Greiner. Elastic tire. 



410,312 (Dec. 11 J. R. Miessen and G. Piron. Pneumatic tire. 



410,344 (Dec. 14). A. de Laski and P. D. Thropp. Machine for weaving 



tire fabrics. 



410,366 (Dec. 15). A. Boerner. Elastic tire. 



410,370 (Dec. 15). P. J. Viel. Manufacture of metallic cables for tires. 



[Note. — Printed copies of specifications of French patents can be ob- 

 tained from R. Robet, Ingenieur-Conseil, 16 avenue de Villier, Paris, at 

 50 cents each, postpaid.] 



"RUBBERWOCKEY." 



surgical appliances, snow-shoes, waterproofs, etc., in which large 

 quantities of the raw material are now employed. 



SOME HEATED IMAGINATIONS. 



' 1 'HE flotation of rubber plantation companies to operate in 

 ■*■ the British dominions beyond the seas, with names some- 

 times so strangely unfamiliar to London ears, has prompted a 

 correspondent of an English exchange to the production of the 

 following jingle, with apologies to "Lewis Carroll," whose "Jab- 

 berwock" lines have amused so many youngsters of all ages : 



'Tis bullig and the rubberspecs 



Do sweeze and shamble on the stange; 

 All freasy are the boromex, 



And the sharket booms outrange. 



Beware the Chempedaks, my son, 



The shares that rise, that cannot lose ; 

 Beware the Karan bird and shun 



The moistrous Semambus. 



lie took his Lanlang in his hand, 



Long time he Kota Bahrose sought; 

 S.i 'vested he all in Seekee, 



Then stood awhile in thought. 



And as in Woodthorpe thought he stood, 



The Senawangs with wings of flame 

 1 ime Semeling through the Padang v\ 1 



And Tebonged as they came. 



Too soon. Too soon. 'Twas after June 



The rubber boom went flicker flack ; 

 Before 'twas off, he with his proff 



Came Kalumponging back. 



And hast thou slain the rubbershorts? 



Come to my arms, by boomish boy ! 

 O wild Para! My footer car 



Shall smell of rubberjoy ! 



TOO MUCH RUBBER AUCTION. 



[FROM "THE FINANCIAL NEWS," LONDON.] 



\ T F.RVOUS holders of Rubber shares are inclined to attach 

 * ' too much importance to the fluctuations in prices paid for 

 raw rubber at the fortnightly sales in London. The [world's] esti- 

 mated output of rubber for 1908 was 70,000 tons, and that for 

 1909 was 75,000 tons. Assuming that 200 tons are sold at each 

 of the 26 fortnightly sales in the year at Mincing lane, this dis- 

 poses of 5,200 tons per annum in these auction sales, thus leaving 

 some 70,000 tons to be sold outside the auctions. 



Large quantities of rubber are sold at Antwerp, at Liverpool, 

 and elsewhere. Large lots are also sold forward by the various 

 producing companies themselves — e. g., the Mabira company 

 have sold forward 36 tons for 1910, the Anglo-Malay company 

 have sold forward 30 tons for 191 1 ; and these are not the only 

 ones. Consequently, it is easy to see that a very small fraction 

 of the rubber used by the world in a year is sold at the Mincing 

 lane auctions. Indeed, it is probable that 26 fortnightly fiascos 

 at the auctions would hardly affect the output of motors at Buf- 

 falo (New York), Toledo (Ohio), and Indianapolis (Indiana), 

 to say nothing of the other important industries — taxicabs, cables, 



THE approach of the "silly season" in London, usually most 

 evident in the letters written to the daily newspapers 

 (and printed in them) about midsummer, has been preceded this 

 year by the extraordinary rubber craze, which seems to have 

 permeated every walk of life. This has led to the appearance 

 in the whole British press — daily and otherwise — before the ap- 

 proach of summer, of "news" and comments relating to rubber 

 most amazing to those who know the difference between rubber 

 and the musical glasses, for example, or the law of gravitation. 

 Here is an editorial article from The Rubber Investor: 



AKRON. 

 A paragraph has been carefully distributed through the usual tele- 

 graphic agencies to the effect that there is a boom on in rubber in the 

 United States. This no one will deny. It is further stated that the 

 town of Akron, which is the home of the tire industry, is using 15,000 

 tons of rubber a year. People believe these silly stories. If one town 

 in the United States used 15,000 tons of rubber a year, then the whole 

 consumption of rubber in that country would amount to about 60,000 

 tons a year, if not more. This we know to be absurd. The United 

 States takes a great deal more rubber than any other country, but it 

 uses most of its fine hard cured Para in the manufacture of overshoes. 

 English peop'l: call them goloshes, and avoid them as they would the 

 devil. But then English people do not suffer from the same winter 

 climate as the Yankee. No American ever dreams of going outside 

 the house without his rubbers. They are just as indispensable to the 

 Russian as they are to the Yankee, and the United States Rubber Co. 

 has the practical monopoly of the manufacture in both countries. Its 

 consumption of rubber is about 10,000 tons a year. It is just as well 

 to mention this, and so pour a little cold water over the heated 

 imaginations of the journalist who writes scare pars [paragraphs] for 

 the press agencies. 



There are no authentic statistics of Akron's consumption of 

 rubber, but the figure is very large, due to the astonishing recent 

 increase in the demand for tires, largely manufactured there, 

 which is the explanation of the great advance in the price of 

 crude rubber everywdiere. The total consumption of rubber in 

 America in 1909 was about 30,000 metric tons, but since July I 

 of that year (the beginning of the government fiscal year) im- 

 ports of rubber have been at the rate of 50,000 tons, and the rate 

 has been vastly larger during the past three or four months. 

 And the increased imports cannot be explained by any evident 

 growth in the footwear trade. 



By the way, it is news to America that any monopoly exists 

 here of the Russian trade in rubber footwear. The United States 

 Rubber Co. do not manufacture any goods abroad, and the total 

 exports of "goloshes" from America to Russia last year, by all 

 producers, were recorded by the customs as 1,676 pairs, of the 

 value of $997 [= about £204]. Whose "heated imaginations" do 

 these figures "pour a little cold water over"? 



And here is the beginning of a prominently placed article in 

 The India-Rubber Journal, which, by reason of its venerable 

 age, should know better : 



THE BRAZILIAN END OP THE BOOM. 

 Our latest advices from Para mention the state of affairs there 

 as somewhat resembling the plight of the Australian coastal towns in 

 the times of the gold rush. Local facilities are suffering from the ab- 

 sorption of a large part of the able bodied working population by the 

 rubber collecting camps. Wages are higher than was ever known be- 

 fore, and so great is the excitement that even the tram drivers, and 

 conductors at Para have deserted. The populace have signified their 

 displeasure by instituting a holocaust of tramcars! 

 The Para newspapers reaching North America evidently have 

 been censored, since no reference occurs in them to the destruc- 

 tion of their street railway service. By the way, does our con- 

 temporary, in mentioning a "holocaust," use the word in the 

 sense of a religious burnt offering, or of a great sacrifice of 

 life by accident, or in some other sense not recorded in the 

 dictionaries? 



